Kendrapara: Subhasmita Tripathy (13) of Pentha village in Rajnagar block of Kendrapara, a student of Class VIII, has won accolades for her contribution in bringing dropouts in her area back to school, and for helping children with their academics.
The Nature Club of Kendrapara recently sent the case of Subhasmita Tripathy to the New Delhi-based NGO ‘Save the Children’. The case study drew praise and she won laurels for her noble work.
A student of Pentha Project Upper Primary School, Subhasmita said children from poor families were often discouraged by parents from attending classes and were forced to support their parents in farming, housekeeping and herding livestock.
Education is secondary for them. Engaging their wards in farming, herding livestock and housekeeping are the main things for them.
Many children have low levels of learning, remain absent for days from school and eventually drop out. She came to know about the importance of education from the Nature Club members in her locality, when she was education minister in the child cabinet of Pentha Project Upper Primary School.
She decided to bring back the dropouts of her village, and took the help of her friends to bring them back to school.
“I led the intervention bid with irregular, dropout children. We managed to motivate four poor dropout children to come back to school and they are now attending classes regularly. It was not easy to bring the students back to school. The families of the children were a challenge to us. We took the parents into confidence and told them about education and its importance. Finally, they agreed and are now sending their wards to school,” said Subhasmita.
Subhasmita is not only good academically, but is multifaceted. She participated in several block and district-level competitions and has made her school proud. Some of her literary works have been published in Odia magazines. Her aim is to bring all dropouts back to school.
“She has also been helping poor students and has managed to improve their learning levels,” Biranchi Narayan Tripathy, her Headmaster said.
“We are proud of Subhasmita who has been doing an excellent job in bringing back school dropouts and also motivating their illiterate parents about the importance of education,” said Samarendra Sahu, an assistant teacher of her school.
“When I came to know about Subhasmita Tripathy, I did a case study on her and sent it to Save the Children. To my surprise, the study on Subhasmita’s won accolades,” said Biraja Pati, the advisor of Kendrapara-based Nature Club.
“We parents are proud of our daughter. We have always encouraged her,” said Bhagabati Tripathy, mother of Subhasmita.