Mrida Education and Welfare Society

VISION: To end poverty in the Mahakaushal region. MISSION: To build and scale impactful education, nutrition and livelihood practices for scho Read moreol-going children in tribal belts and demonstrate an environment of love and care for the child. OUR COMMUNITY: As per the Annual Health Survey (2010-11), in Mandla, one of the districts in Mahakaushal region where we currently focus, 56.5 percent children are underweight, while 47.3 percent and 29.6 percent are suffering from stunting and wasting (decreased fat mass), respectively. Families residing in the Mahakaushal region in Madhya Pradesh comprises three of the most backward and tribal populated districts in India. With an annual income of just Rs. 30,000, these families are at a disadvantage due to lack of education and skillsets. The current livelihood opportunities for these families are only through their small landholdings, but low farm production due to one crop farming and lack of irrigation facilities, leads to high rate of migration, and children dropping out of school along with a high rate of malnutrition. OUR JOURNEY SO FAR: Mrida Education and Welfare Society was set up in 2016 with an objective to establish Excellence in Education and Sports for girls and boys from tribal communities in rural India. We work to bring a fundamental change in learning through Education in Sports, Agriculture and Skill Development. We provide child-specific experiential education with an emphasis on hands-on skills and a balance of heart and mind, going from classes pre-primary till Class 7. The curriculum is steeped in a strong value system with service at the core. Mrida’s founders have more than 10 years of on-the-field experience in the region. They have identified the cultural capital of the local communities to mobilize innovative development programs. HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR WORK IN THE REGION: Some of the key on-the-field development programs we have initiated are: Riverside Natural School (RNS) and hostel: The school takes care of the educational needs of the children with a full-time residential facility from Grade 1st - 10th. For Class 11th and 12th, we have another hostel in Mandla where children attend another School and stay in the hostel. The hostel is the most important of all our interventions because it makes it possible for us to implement all other projects. A structured routine, yoga, prayer and a dedicated study time that is supervised, helps enhance overall outcomes, whether in academics or sport. Narmada Valley Football Academy (NVFA): NVFA is our excellence program in football that focuses on nurturing and developing talented children with an aptitude for sports. We have children who have played for Mohun Bagan FC's youth i-league team in 2022-23, for Gokulam Kerala FC and training at Minerva Academy, Chandigarh on full scholarship. Our girls team are the MP champions for 2022-23, qualifying for the 61st Subroto Cup played in Delhi. Two of our girls won scholarships of Rs. 25,000 each from the Subroto Sports Welfare Board. This scholarship is given to top 25 players of the tournament. Narmada Valley Football Program: This Program is our work in extending the benefits of sports to more children across the region. We have successfully organized 3 editions of the Raja Hriday Shah Golden baby League that has seen 465 children participate from remote villages of the region. The participation of girls has increased every year. In version 2.0 of NVFP, we are collaborating with village Panchayats and helping set up mini-grounds, train sports and child well-being committees in the village who can organize events and create an inclusive environment that can allow participation from women and children. This will create a dynamic ecosystem in the village with access and opportunities to children to rise if they play well, finish school and become productive members of the society. In 2023-24, we are working with a total of 1000 children in 50 villages and 30 Panchayats. Narmada Valley Aavishkaar Lab: In 2018-19, Mrida worked with a Government High School in Phulsagar where we conducted our four-year robotics program. Some of these students participated and won at IIT Indore’s Robotics design fest in January 2019. The program had to be discontinued at Phulsagar due to lack of funding but 14 of the children from Sagar transferred to RNS to continue their work in the area in a focused way. That batch of students is now coding in Python and 3 of that batch have picked Science with Mathematics in a region where 60% of students pick Arts. Subsequent batches of children are able to code on Scratch, building projects to express ideas. Our students have won the CEL Hackathon twice in a row, a first for this region. This hackathon sees participation of children studying in cities and metros many of whom have seamless internet connectivity and access to computers.

Mrida's vision is to end poverty in tribal belts of rural India. We are doing this by developing impactful and contextual education for children from tribal communities that will enable these children to start earning and supporting their families by 19-20 years of age.