Educational Initiatives in Dantewada

Project in Brief:
South Bastar and Dantewada are known for incidences of naxalism and consequent violence.
As a result of which children drop out of school and the literacy rate is currently at a low level
of 33 per cent. Due to the increase in the conflicts between security force and naxalites in
2005-06, 82 villages were left with no administration as the writ of the government ceased to
run in the area. The only way to contain extremism was to prevent future generations from
following this ideology based on murders. With this view, the District Collector embarked on
a mission to spread a tool of mental transformation.
Implementation Highlights:

Residential facilities are provided to all out-of-school children. They convinced MOHRD
to sanction 500 seater residential campuses for the out-of-school children.

No closing of community school must be closed. As the situation gets better, these
schools can be given more emphasis.
a) Assessment of panchayats was done with the help of the locals, in places which were
shut down due to conflicts or destroyed by the extremists.
b) Use of educated and unemployed local boys and girls as volunteers (BRG Volunteers
or Anudeshaks) for the survey of drop out children and enrolling them in
prefabricated structures. Incentives were given to these volunteers for every
enrolment.
c) In the cases where permanent structures are not possible, the District administration
has pre- fabricated structures certified by the National bamboo mission.
d) Education was made attractive for children and their parents, so that they will send
their children even from far off places. Activities like Children talent festival, summer
camps provided children with a platform to express their talent.
e) All the infrastructures were created in record time and 21 more pota cabins /
residential schools are currently under construction.

TAMANNA: With a view to broaden the horizons of all levels of children

A science museum, a district library and an audio visual theatre was completed in one
month time at the District Headquarter. Tamanna film festivals are held regularly,
where almost 150 students visit every day. This has led to the exposure visits of more
than 13000 students. Over 3000 of the students are sent to far off places like Raipur,
Visakhaptnam, by Tamanna express.

NANHE PARINDE

The central school which admits student based on merit usually rejects those
students who are not from an urban profile. Residential facilities are created by the
private coaching centers like Vedanta to train the students. The entire reengineering
has diminished the inequalities in the system. Deprived tribal children have been
focused under nanhe parinde. Pratham, an NGO working in the area for long has also
certified the effectiveness of the programme.

IMPLEMENTATION

OF

THE

PROVISIONS

OF

RIGHT

TO

EDUCATION (RTE) IN LETTER AND SPIRIT:

Right to Education (RTE) envisages 25 per cent of the children are from the deprived
society. But in places like Dantewada, it goes waste as there is no provision for
residential facilities. The nominee convinced the private and public schools to enroll
students whose parents were killed in naxal violence. They are also provided with
residential facilities. Additional construction work is underway for accommodating
1,100 more children for the nearby private schools.

HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION

Out of 38,000 students (from classes 1st to 8th) in Dantewada, only 5,116 make it to
study 9th standard to 12th standard. To address the issue, clusters from important
junctions are chosen to provide residential support. It, thus, increased the enrolment
numbers and also improved quality of education.
The facilities are provided under the CSR initiative of NMDC and other district level
funds. The students in 9th are given bicycles under Shiksha savari yojna initiated
only in Dantewada and supported by IAP fund. Thus, 3,000 students are now
benefitted and 98 per cent of the students from the 8th have moved to 9th standard.

CHOO LO ASMAAN: An initiative for the qualitative improvement in11th and

12th science education.

Realizing the difficulty of bringing quality teaching in science for a handful of

children, a common centralized residential location was chosen to bring in all the
students to this location. All the qualified and experienced teachers from the District
were selected for regular schoolings. Post classroom tutorials were supported by the
teachers of reputed institutes like Vision Kota to train the students for any
professional education and, in turn, contribute to the society.

EDUCATION CITY

In a backward district like Dantewada, it is extremely difficult to set up residential

facilities for the children, which results in shortage of infrastructure. Therefore, the
district administration embarked on putting 97 acres of township at the cost of 100
crores dedicated exclusively for the residential and classroom educational facilities.
The CSR funds of NMDC, the private companys funds from the tribal department
and SSA and funds from IAP/BRG are utilized to bring the concept to reality.
The education city is located on a national Highway, and has become the gateway for the
District. Various educational institutes from schools to colleges to technical education are
brought under one roof. The students are given quality education along with sports and
cultural activities. There are other facilities like sports complex and indoor stadium.
Roads are linked with the solar streets, integrated drinking water and drainage plan.

SKILL EDUCATION

To add value to those students who have no basic literacy levels, a livelihood college was
established on a PPP model. The main focus is on the pass-out students of 10th and 12th
standards and unemployed youth. Through coordination and participation, organizations
like IL&FS, indicant, tomorrow foundation, L&T, skill building is imparted .the trained
youth are then provided employment through, linkages to the industries. At a time, 400
of them are trained and the target is 2,000 for the next year.
Under the skill building, various skills like vocational, hospitality, tailoring, and security
guard training is also provided. The trainees get at least a salary of Rs 2,500 minimum to
a maximum of Rs 8,000, depending on the work they do.

ROLE OF THE

DISTRICT COLLECTOR IN THE IMPLEMENTATION

Shri Omprakash Choudhary, the District Collector, has displayed leadership qualities
and was a mentor to the project.

He engaged NMDC and ESSAR about their CSR commitments and ensured that they
contribute back to the society from their earnings.

He engaged and discussed with public representatives regarding the need of a

residential schools for the children of such a social background.

He visited the project regularly and encouraged people to move the project forward.

OUTPUTS/OUTCOMES

The magnitude of the facilities provided at the township is an asset to the future
generations.

With district administration to outsource the running of the Education City to

organizations like Ramakrishna Mission, the future seems to be better.

The key functions of the initiative are the education and literary programs to those
who are disadvantaged in the society. No child is deprived of education and more
over skill building adds value to their personality and will help them fetch more jobs.

Increase in faith in the system, as people from the interior villages now come forward
to educate their children, and thus the reduction in gap between government and the
people.

Enrolment, pass percentage, employment for the youth has improved at a high rate.

The beneficiaries are realizing the quantitative and qualitative change in the
education system prevailing in the district.

EVALUATION:

The outcome of Nanhe Parinde has been audited by Pratham. The quality of
education being imparted at the facility is checked and compared to the other
schools.

UNICEF has done the assessment of the livelihood college. The college has also been
studied by the Chhattisgarh State Skill Development Mission as a path breaking
initiative.

The initiative was Conferred Prime Ministers Award for Excellence in Public Administration
for 2011-12 in the Individual Category.