Malkangiri: Members of the Koya community of Kawasiguda village in the state’s remotest area in Malkangiri district have ensured providing education to their children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to reports, in order to provide necessary education to the children in the absence of online connectivity, the community with help of local civil society opened ‘Mo Chatashali’, a remedial education centre in the village where children can continue with their education with the help of trained educated youths.
Kawasiguda is a remote village under Koimetla Gram Panchayat of Kalimela Block – just five km away from the block headquarters.
The Odisha government has started numerous initiatives to provide education to their children amidst the uncertainty of schools reopening again.
However, the initiative has failed to have any impact on those not having digital devices. The school in the village is closed since mid-March 2020 due to the Covid-induced lockdown.
The prolonged closure of the school has compelled the children to return to household chores like collecting firewood, forest produce and grazing domestic animals.
‘Mo Chatashali’ is a community-based education initiative of CSOs Atmashakti Trust and Shramajeebee Sangathan that aims at providing remedial education to 1 lakh children in 17 districts of the state, including Malkangiri.
“Since the beginning of the second wave of Covid-19, the government declared the closure of schools once again in February 2021. As parents had almost lost hope it was critical to strike a balance for them to address the learning needs of their children,” said Ere Madhi, president of a women-led people’s collective in Malkangiri that runs the initiative in their area.
“Therefore, we mobilised them to open ‘Mo Chatashali’, a remedial education centre in the village where children can continue their education with the help of a trained volunteer,” Madhi added.
Soon, the villagers decided that they can’t do away with the future of their children. They decided to start the centre and ensured that children have all facilities in the centre, such as learning aids, Covid protection kits and drinking water facility by mobilising resources from the locality.
PNN