Nagpur: When the school remains closed almost all through the last academic session, there are main concerns about children living in remote areas that have no online educational choice.
But the unique pilot project initiated for the Eklavya Residential School (EMRS) model ensures that registered tribal students have never fallen from the academic ecosystem.
In many villages of the Chandrapur district, the teacher rolled around to villages in a special car that was baptized ‘school on wheels’ and brought classrooms right on the verge of the student’s door.
Under the Aegis Tribal Development Department (TDD), this pilot project was launched in Devada (Chandrapur Regency) during July last year.
Emrs Devada Principal Borekat Fine, “The pilot project discusses learning needs and psycho-social from 600+ students in a very remote area on radii 50 to 300 km.” Two staff teams including teachers, headmaster, guards and non-teaching staff were formed, which then planned a visit for six days a week to appoint villages using the rented van.
Borekat said, “Van is equipped with a Covid-19 safety kit, teaching learning material, worksheets, activity sheets, nutritional food items etc.
Our team visits villages in the green zone and do various activities for about 6 hours every day .
“These activities consist of awareness sessions regarding pandemic, the curriculum aligns multi-grade teaching, and co-curricular activities with groups of 10 to 15 students ensure safety compliance.
In addition to academics, the EMRS teacher also taught children about personal hygiene, specifically focusing on preventing Covid-19 infection.
In some villages closer to city centers, there are parents who have access to smartphones, which are blessings for Master Emrs.
“Our teachers form whatsapp groups with parents like that and can keep in touch about their studies and future visits to villages.
These parents’ bonds strengthen into community bonds, which help us ensure that all stakeholders are involved evenly distributed in the process, “Borekat said.