Yatra highlights plight of village schools in India

Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh: National Confederation of Dalit Organisations inaugurated a Shiksha Adhikar Yatra on October 2, 2009, in Lalitpur District of Uttar Pradesh. The team interacted with the villagers and shared with them the objectives of their visit.

Ashok Bharti, Chairman, NACDOR inaguates the yatra/ Photo credit: NACDOR

People were excited to see a nukkad natak (street play) and found it very useful to convey the message. The volunteers met many people and filled the survey form. Pamphlets were distributed among the villagers.

A general discussion with the parents of school going children was also held. Parents shared the problems of quality of education in the village school. The volunteers also distributed Shiksha Adhikar Card to those children who do not go to school and ensured that these children will get enrolled in the village school.

The Shahriya community of the village is most backward and do not focus on children’s education. They were surprised to know that students of class 5 do not know proper counting and basic mathematics. Around 60-70% children of this community are out of school. Nutrition levels also seemed to be poor. In schools, the children belonging to the community face caste based discrimination.

In Siraunji Khurd village, Malti Devi, Anita Devi and Mukesh Kumar shared the issue of untouchability practiced in schools and that most of the time teachers didn’t turn up. Also, students get mid-day meal once or twice in a month.

Shiksha Adhikar Yatra reached Sirsi village and met District Magistrate and NGO representatives. The officials promised to take strict action and appreciated girls’ participantion in the yatra team as it made easier to visit houses, meet women and girls and understand the real scenario of education.

On October 5 Shiksha Adhikar Yatra reached Satgata Village of the district and mobilised people for getting children enrolled in school. The team presented a Nukkad Natak on the importance of education. Volunteers distributed pamphlets, badges amongst children and wrote slogans on the wall. 

Phool Singh from Satgata village shared that 30 – 40% of the population of the village comprises Adivasis who do not send their children to school. He further shared that they felt threatened by  upper cast people.

The school in Ravatyana village is an Adivasi village having only six literate people out of around 60 families. They are neither having land nor any specific job. They all struggle to feed their family by daily labor and some times they don’t get work. They are not able to send their children to school, they want them to work. 

The block development officer of Jakhaura block commended NACDOR initiative and promised support to the volunteers to seek help in future.

For more information, contact:

National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR)
M-3/22, Model Town-III, Delhi 110009 INDIA
Telephone: +91-11-27419002
Fax: +91-11-27442744
website: www.nacdor.org