Dantewada district is located in southern part of the state of Chhattisgarh and at the centre of Bastar Plateau, surrounded by dense forest, hills and rivers. Its been habitat of tribals communities for thousand of years and in present, demographically dominated by them in the region. Vibrant social customs & traditions, rich cultural heritage,Unique arts & crafts, Eco-friendly, self-sustaining and sustainable lifestyle of tribals are something which is the most evident to and captivating for people who are acquainted with these words & concepts.
As Bachpan Banao Organization envisages to strengthen the public education system in the region through its STP program.
This year in January-February 2019, we conducted a survey to map Out of School Children of age 6-17 years in 14 villages where we found total around 740 students were not going school due to various reasons.
So in this summer, we organized a month long summer camp “Patang” in 14 villages where various kind of events ranging from Academics , sports and arts were conducted.
Objectives of Summer Camp :
- To create a conducive and lighter environment through conducting various events in the camp so that out of school children in the vicinity of each school can be motivated and their mental inclination could be grabed towards schools and education.
- To introduce various extra-curricular and co-curricular activities, various skills and flairs of which the children have rare opportunity to learn through-out the year thus help them to determine and foster their hobbies and interest areas.
Outcomes :
After completion of summer camp and just before the starting of schools, we also started to pursue the parents, teachers, various Edu. dept. officials and other stakeholders for the admissions of those children. Considering the various challenging factors for a child to not to go school, we are happy to say that we were successful to brought back around 110 children to schools this year. For this, we are thankful to all the team members, volunteers, trainers , teachers, various govt. officials & civil society of Dantewada for their efforts. Our next objective and challenge will be, to retain these children in schools through introducing various innovative,interesting learning methods and activities throughout year.
Bachpan Banao 