In the backdrop of COVID -19 pandemic and it's an upward trend in India, health and safety measures forecast that primary/middle schools, especially in rural India, will remain closed for many more months to come. Online education is not an option for the extremely marginalized tribal communities that we work within remote villages of Jharkhand. 

To continued learning of these children and also make sure that they do not drop out of school when schools reopen, we went back to the idea of the common schooling system and decentralize it further at the level of each village where the children reside. Hence we started informal learning centers in remote villages of East and West Singhbhum districts in Jharkhand. These centers are spaces where activity-based learning is fostered among children and they learn by doing and from the environment.

Sauda, Timra, Khudposh, Kisansai, Goradih, Hitku are some of the villages where centers are located in extremely interiors of Seranda jungle. Parents of children of these areas are either daily wagers who had migrated to other cities and have come back due to lockdown or collect leaves or firewood to source their family income. Many families are struggling to get their BPL cards done and therefore struggle to have access to monthly rations. In a situation like this, it's difficult for them to concentrate on the education of their children which is the only way to better their existing situation. Also, due to other beliefs, they are scared to send their children to school even if the local government school teacher tries to bring them to school.

But, with the continuous efforts from our centers, children have begun to take interest in studies, and children from adjacent villages have started to enroll themselves for class even if the classes are held at night.
Nitima Cherwa is an eight-year-old school drop out and helps her mother in collecting leaves. When she found out that the classes are held in batches beginning from the evening she began to attend it. She eventually started liking the class as there were many activities along with learning. She also made a lot of friends while indulging in group activities and is a more confident girl now. She went back to ask her neighbor girls to join the classes.

We are presently working with over 1000 children in over 10 centers in East and West Singhbhum. There is an urgent need to cover more children in other remote areas so as to ensure continued learning.
We aim to cover 5000 children across 50 centers. The children would be primarily engaged in English,Hindi,Maths and Science. The learning centers would be functioning with all COVID guidelines in place. The cost of educating one child comes to approximately 2400 rupees a year per annum.

These children need our help to continue their learning and education during these times.
Please contribute towards a noble cause for the children to fight poverty and see a better tomorrow. You can generously contribute to the cause in the link given below.