The 11th of September, 2020, is indeed a momentous day as the first Learn From Home (LFH) class was conducted in the Narauli village of Uttar Pradesh. A drop in the education ocean, one might suppose. But drops like these make the ocean complete. Till date, the LFH classes have been going strong and steady. Has the journey to this drop been easy? Definitely not! But when the journey gets tough, the tough get going, isn’t it? What follows next is an account of the LFH experience at Narauli.
In the last year, eVidyaloka had been conducting digital classes in one of the schools in the Basti district of Uttar Pradesh. However, due to the complications caused by the pandemic, they started the LFH mode of class delivery. The class assistant (Sushila Kumari) went to the Narauli district and spoke to the parents of the students to convince them to send their children to these LFH classes. However, some of the parents opposed this idea vehemently. Sushila Kumari knew that the cause for this was a deep rooted belief in the caste system.
The students in the class group came from mixed backgrounds, with three of the students from the scheduled castes and the rest of the students coming from castes like the Yadavs and other OBCs. Most parents refused to send their children to the LFH classes due to the presence of the children from the scheduled castes. They gave the reason that if they allowed their children to go to classes with them, they will be seen as untouchable themselves. There were also a few hurdles with deciding the location of the classes. When the class assistant asked a few parents if they could use their veranda for the classes, they denied her.
Considering this situation, the field coordinator Prakash Kumar had a detailed discussion with the village head Mr Anil Yadav, the parents and the students. When addressing the parents, Prakash Kumar pointed out that when they sent their children to school, their children interacted with students from different social backgrounds and this helped them learn so much from each other. Furthermore, he also said that when children study and learn, issues of caste and class should not enter the classroom. After a lot of convincing and with the never-give-up attitude of Prakash Kumar, it was decided that the classes would be taken in a common area, where all the students could come and attend. An historic day indeed as Prakash initiated a mindset change in the parents.
Mr Anil Yadav spoke to the ward members and arranged for the classes to be taken under a tree behind the school. Initially, this location was faced with some complaints from neighbours. At last, the objections were overcome, and classes were conducted in this place, with a one hundred percent student attendance. With two sessions already successfully completed, eVidyaloka has plans to set up another LFH group in the same village. Plans have also been made for many more class sessions to come.
Education is a fundamental human right that enables children to reach their full potential. This right is not suspended during times of crisis. In the face of unprecedented school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic there has never been a greater need to ensure every child can continue to access education and learning. More power to people like Prakash who pursue to drive a mindset change in the community and ensure that LEARNING NEVER STOPS!
This article is written by Kavitha Joan. Kavitha works with the content management team at eVidyaloka.