Background

Chatashalee in oriya means “a place where children come and learn”.  In earlier days when there was no formal schooling system in villages, it was the collective responsibility of villagers to teach children by appointing an educated person. In those times, many educated people after getting education in the cities preferred to go back to their villages and teach the children. This was mostly done on a voluntary basis. In some cases, villagers especially the parents paid remunerations in the form of cash and kind to the volunteer teachers. Today, this process no longer exists as the education system is completely covered by the Government barring few instances. Mo in oriya means “mine”. This word brings in a sense of ownership among the villagers and their children.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a shutdown of schools since March 2020. As per UNESCO data, over 143 million primary school children and more than 133 million secondary school children in India were affected by school closures due to the pandemic induced lockdown. All schools in state were also affected by the lockdown. After few months of lockdown being imposed, the Union and State governments initiated online classes through WhatsApp, YouTube, Television etc. as an alternative method of imparting education. The government also launched Siksha Sampark Karyakram to impart education, without much success. Recently schools have reopened for Class 10 and 12 with a lot of COVID related guidelines and restrictions. However, there is still uncertainty around the opening of school for other classes.

 

When the state machinery fails, it is the responsibility of the citizens to step up, recognize their duties and perform them. The concept of Mo Chatashalee comes from this principle. Atmashakti Trust and its allied organizations, Odisha Sharamajeebee Manch (OSM) and Mahila Shramjeebee Manch Odisha (MSMO) have been motivating volunteers under its Mission 3-5-8 after the easing of the lockdown restrictions to initiate remedial classes for the village children. Till date, we have managed to run 561 remedial class centers for students of elementary education with the help of spirited volunteers. Mission 1 lakh is the extension of Mission 3-5-8 imbibed with fresh energy, new strategies and approaches to cover 1 lakh students of primary classes for remedial education. The target of 1 lakh is one tenth of the household covered in 18 districts by our regional organization. We have also conducted survey of 10000 elementary schools for infrastructure development. Through this campaign, we will be reaching out to an average of 10 students from the above surveyed schools.

 

Objectives:

• To minimize the learning gap created due to closure of schools
• To improve the quality of education status
• To bring out equitable learning outcomes of the rural children
• To make parents understand the importance of continued education even during hard times
• To encourage and promote the spirit of volunteerism among the students, youth, migrant laborers, women and educated village elders
• To make the Government accountable in ensuring quality education for primary education
• To effectively use the learnings from the campaign for policy advocacy

 

Why is this campaign important?

 

According to the report of Mission Antyodaya, a nationwide survey of villages conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development in 2017-18, only 24% Indians owned a smartphone and only 11% of households possess any type of computer. Similarly, the report of the National Sample Survey on Education (2017-18) revealed that internet facility is available to only 24% of Indian households. While 66% of people in our country live in villages, only 15% of them have access to internet services.  Apart from that, lack of favorable study environment, access to electronics devices, interrupted electric supply are few more challenges to learning. The media reports says that in Odisha out of around 60 lakh elementary school students only 22 lakh accessed online education provided by the state government. Thus, this pandemic has deprived thousands of students from access to education.

 

As per ASER 2018 data, only 73% of Class 8 students can read a Class 2 level text. And only 44% of children in Class 8 can answer a basic arithmetic question nationally. Atmashakti Trust along with people’s organizations from Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, UP and Delhi conducted a study during the pandemic to assess the learning level of school children of Class 3, Class 5 and Class 8 in the mentioned states. The assessment report flagged poor level of learning outcome among students. The study revealed that 49.79 %, 54.35 % and 79.14 % of students of Class 8 passed the test in English, Math and Language respectively. Uttar Pradesh was the worst-performing state in English assessment as 79% of its students could not meet the class appropriate learning standard followed by 71 % in Bihar. Similarly, 41.04 %, 48.72 % & 71.12 % passed the test in English, Math & Language respectively in Class 5. And in Class 3, 56.58 % & 73.36% passed the test in Math and Language. During the lockdown, rural students have remained mostly disengaged from educational activity and with the above-mentioned abysmal level of learning outcomes, it is obvious that there will be serious implications on further learning of the students.

 

There have been media reports of children being pushed back to domestic works, farm works and subject to violence during the lock down period. From the above stated facts, it is clear that students learning has already been severely impacted and it needs urgent attention from parents, civil society organizations and concerned citizens. The MO CHATASHALEE campaign is thus important to provide alternative learning avenues for children else the future will be bleak.

Our previous education campaign, Mission 3-5-8 for ensuring quality education through engaging volunteers have shown positive results in the improvement of learning outcomes.

What if we don’t act?

The age of primary education is crucial for psycho-sociological growth of children. The foundation of academic success in higher level of education is laid at the primary level. Because of the pandemic, a year of education has been lost and the closure of schools have led to an even more negative learning outcome. Children are deprived of growth and development. The literacy gain is slower due to closure. The learning gaps cited in above studies as per class has further widened. If not engaged in educational activity immediately, the learning process will worsen and the loss will be irreparable.

The Government of Odisha has completely overlooked the children of primary schools. The opening of schools is declared for only students of Class 10 and Class 11. The online teaching was also geared towards higher elementary classes. The Government is in no mood to open schools or engage students in educational activities still. If no corrective action is taken now, children will continue to remain idle for the next few months.

There are several civil society organizations working in the state. However, none of them could meet the challenges of education during the lockdown period. Some attempted to provide education through volunteers but the reach was very limited.  They could not create a sustainable alternative model for the Government to recognize and adopt. If not worked on remedial classes to create alternative models, the Government will not be serious about providing education through alternative arrangements during this time of crisis.

Children and adolescents are likely to experience high rates of depression and anxiety after the current lockdown and social isolation. According to a review published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, young people who are lonely might be as much as three times more likely to develop depression in the future than others, and that the impact of loneliness on mental health could last for at least 9 years. It’s time we engage children without further delay in educational activities to avoid loneliness and ensure social assimilation.

What is unique about this initiative?

The uniqueness of this initiative is people taking up the responsibility for the future of their children in a collective manner. The campaign would be largely driven by the villagers and parents through the mobilization of volunteers. The sangathan people associated with OSM/MSMO and local organizations will facilitate the process.

The focus is on local talents and local resources for local development.  The volunteer teachers will be from villages, the resources required for running this campaign will be raised locally through the support of villagers. The promotion of ownership and volunteerism would be thus ensured.

To provide meaningful education and improving the basics of literacy and numeracy at primary level is our prime agenda. Therefore only, Oriya and Mathematics are chosen out of other subjects. Once the fundamentals are clear and a good foundation is laid in the beginning, chances of achieving academic excellence in later part is higher.

Children drop out of school at various stages. Those children dropping out especially at the primary level are left with no skills of basic survival techniques. Through this initiative, we are focusing also on drop out children so that they can be taught the basics of literacy and numeracy.

Disproportionately hit are students from villages, from deprived communities like Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Caste and OBCs due to lockdown and the pathetic condition of primary education. These, often neglected group living in the remotest and inaccessible parts are our primary target in Odisha.

Who are we?

The Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha (OSM) and Mahila Shramajeebee Manch Odisha (MSMO) are two leading peoples collective in Odisha. It has regional organizations in 17 districts in Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bolangir, Boudha, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Khorda, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Deogarh and Sambalpur. Atmashakti Trust has been working in 118 blocks of these districts in right based approach. The right to food, employment, safe drinking water, education and right over natural resources are our focus areas of intervention.

We initiated Siksha Swastya Amo Adhikar, Jawab Dio Mo Sarkar a state wide campaign in 2019 to ensure quality education along with quality services at the grassroots level.  In this process we also launched People’s Manifesto prior to the general election. In that campaign, we urged the government to fulfill the infrastructure norm of Right to Education in rural areas.

As a follow up, we carried out Mission 3-5-8 campaign to ensure quality education in the month of June 2020 wherein we conducted survey of 10000 primary schools to ascertain the infrastructure gaps in elementary schools. At the same time, we also conducted a student’s assessment survey of Class 3, 5 and 8 using the ASER model to understand the learning outcome of students. Based on the survey findings we initiated remedial classes in 561 centers.

What is our core strategy?

The people’s mobilization for volunteerism is core to our strategy: The village committee and parents will come together to take up this initiative with the help of volunteer teachers from the villages.

Collective approach of all sections of villages: There are several kinds of people in the villages, some might have children studying at Government schools, some might not have school going children at home, some might have children going to private schools, some might be well established but all the villagers join hands to run Mo Chatashalee in the village.

Orientation and training: A continuous skill upgradation of the team involved, especially the volunteer teachers is the key to the success of this mission. Volunteers will be engaged in orientation and skill development training on regular basis. They will be trained and equipped with skills vis-a-vis teaching tools, techniques and behavioral aspects to make teaching successful.

Continuous monitoring and evaluation: The campaign will be monitored by the Delhi core team, State core team and at the district level.  The progress of the campaign will be monitored on a weekly basis at the state level and on a daily basis at the district level.

What is the expected outcome?

Through this campaign we expect that the Government would initiative volunteer based remedial classes at the village level.

The learning gaps created due to pandemic induced school closure will be minimized for 1 lakh students.

The students of primary level in our intervention will acquire basic knowledge on literacy and numeracy. Around 1 lakh children will benefit directly from this campaign.

Approximately 7500 ‘’MO CHATSHALEE’’ will be opened across the state.

A pool of volunteers will be identified for future involvement in education as well as other development sector.  On an average 3 volunteers will be identified to run the ‘’MO CHATSHALEE’’ programme per center. Approximately 22500 volunteers will be associated with the organization and they will be supported with skill development initiative as well.

The parents and guardian will take further responsibility of ensuring quality education is provided to their children. Ensuing quality education to children does not stop with this initiative or all problems of education is not solved with this campaign. This campaign will infuse a sense of responsibility to the parents to take further responsibility to educating their children.

The acceptance of our regional organizations among the community will be manifold.  The regional organizations will have more support base and more committees will be activated.