Addressing the Learning Gap: Education for All Efforts in Remote Tribal Districts

Tribal districts of Odisha are amongst the most underdeveloped regions where literacy and poverty go hand in hand. 70% of the population is below the poverty line, less than 10% of infants below 2 years receive adequate nutrition. With an overwhelming 80% rural population, the stunting and underweight figures for rural children is 46% and 44% respectively, indicating huge deficits inadequate nutrition. Education and female education is also dismal, with only 43% of the total female population having ever attended school. The female literacy is less than 40% and overall literacy less than 50% in the tribal districts. 

A major problem is the lack of tribal mother tongue teachers. Though the state has a 22.5% tribal population, there are only 8.4% tribal teachers. Even in the tribal districts, only 16% of teachers are tribal teachers. 77% of tribal children drop out before they complete high school. According to the ASER (Annual Survey of Education Report), 46% of children in Class V across the country cannot read. Agragamee Surveys find that in the tribal regions, this figure is more than 90%. Without being able to read there is almost no school learning for the vast majority of children in the tribal regions. 

Agragamee will work towards the objective of building up a Generation of literates empowered to lead their community out of poverty and exploitation. Towards this end, the following efforts will be taken up:

• Agragamee will establish villages learning centres by training village youth as Edu-leaders to provide quality education in their own village. 
• The edu-leaders will be supported through training, and adequate teaching learning material to take up the challenge of addressing the educational gap for children in the school going age-group. 
• Edu-leaders will also provide leadership to facilitate entitlements to the vulnerable sections, and better participation in local governance.
• There will be community mobilisation for maximum participation in and support to the village learning centres,
• Learning centres will also be developed as resource centres to provide information and knowledge on various relevant subject matters to the village community
• There will be support for village libraries which will provide material of interest for different age groups, and encourage the reading habit amongst all. 
• Agragamee will also link up with the Government, and provide demonstration and training to teachers and other functionaries so that the methods and approach can be taken up by the Government as well for replication. 

• 1500 students and youth in 25 villages will be empowered through quality education in 25 villages,
• School education and learning outcomes will improve and enable 1500 young people to look forward to a better future
• There will be overall development through better local governance, and problems of vulnerable sections will be addressed in 25 villages, 
• In additional 50 villages, teaching in Government schools will improve, and there will be quality education
• In the long run, replication of the model through appropriate training and Teaching Material will help to reach quality education in all tribal regions in Odisha and help bridge the learning gap in underdeveloped tribal districts in other states.
• A generation of literate and aware youth will be built up, who can lead their community out of poverty and exploitation