This SAIL Employee Has Set Up A School In Rural Jharkhand To Provide Free Education To Tribal Children
With an objective to offer free education to those living in remote villages of Saranda forests in Chaibasa, a fourth-grade employee of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) runs a primary school with 35 children enrolled in it.
With an objective to offer free education to those living in remote villages of Saranda forests in Chaibasa, a fourth-grade employee of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) runs a primary school with 35 children enrolled in it.
According to The New Indian Express, Santosh Singh Panda has set up his school in an abandoned house built by his father. Kids from adjoining villages also attend the school.
Panda was born and brought up in the same region and has observed how lack of education is leading the children into a life of roaming in the jungles. Apparently, once the children are old enough, they refuse to go to school.
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The New Indian Express
Panda's aim is to inspire these children to study further; he began his mission with Vikas Nursery School - an English medium school. His wife and two more women volunteers began their inspirational story by teaching 20 children.
¡°We had to make huge efforts to convince the parents, who are mostly unlettered, to send their children to our school for free,¡± says Santosh.
From 20 students in 2017, the school now has 35 enrollments. Even during the lockdown, Panda has been providing study material to the doorstep of children. He said, ¡°They don¡¯t have smartphones enabling them to attend online classes. So, we have prepared study material which is available at their doorstep."
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Panda wants to open such a free school in all parts of Saranda forests so that people in those areas could have access to education. He wants to spread the message to each and every family that educating their children is important.
One of the volunteers working with Panda, Bharti Barua said, ¡°I was impressed with the idea of starting the school. I joined it from the very first day."
She added, "It¡¯s really very sad that people here do not give much importance to education and roam around in jungles aimlessly. That¡¯s the primary reason for their backwardness."
The New Indian Express
The school even provides notebooks, uniforms and school bags for free. Since Panda doesn't have to pay rent or salary to volunteer teachers, they do not need much money to run the school.
Teachers have come forward voluntarily for the job.
¡°Sometimes, I also have to put in some money,¡± said Panda, who makes time for the school after his eight-hour duty.
His effort has been recognised by the locals. ¡°We feel like helping him,¡± says Sanat Kumar Sethy, a SAIL employee.
Somwari Purty, the mother of 4-year old Martha Purty studying in the school, believes that Panda is a ray of hope for tribal children. ¡°He is educating our children, who otherwise would have wasted their time in the jungles. He also encourages them to do better in life," she said.
