Tribal schools project, Jharkhand.

A report by Sandesh Sawant

The beginning

The Art of Living tribal schools project in Jharkhand state of India was started by Shri Brij Bhushan
Chawla in 1999. Mr. Chawla initiated on this project after a discussion with the founder of the Art of
Living Foundation His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji, regarding the need for such schools in the tribal
areas of India. The tribes benefiting from this project have been secluded from the mainstream
development in the nation. They have been ignored for centuries and have hardly received any help
from government so far. The tribal schools project in Jharkhand is run under the Sri Sri Vidya Mandir
trust by a small team of Art of Living volunteers from Kolkata (viz. Mr. Chawla, Mr. Bakshi, Mr. Ghosh,
Mr. Mahajan) with help from the local coordinators in the Ghatshila town (viz. Mr Arindam and Mr
Ashok banarjee). Today we have ten tribal schools in the area run throughout the year by around twenty
local teachers trained by the project coordinators.

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Project Fact file

- All over India, more than 7500 tribal students studying in 86 schools run under SSVM trust.
- Today around 2500 students, from 60 villages, studying in 20 schools in Jharkhand.
- Girl to boy student ration has increased to reach 50-50%.
- Totally free education to students, including midday meals facility.
- Adult education for parents of the students, regular medical checkups for all.
- Efforts going on to setup a local vocational training institute for the students.
- Names of the tribal villages covered: Kalchiti, Chatridanga, Kesharpur, Haludbhani,
Hendaljudi.

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The challenges

The first and foremost challenge faced in setting up these schools was the lack of proper connectivity to
these remote tribal areas. When the project was started in 1999, there were no roads, no electricity,
and no proper water supply in the area. This lack of infrastructure prevented sufficient and timely
medical help from reaching these far-flung tribal natives. This at times resulted in deaths in emergency
situations. The team had to work hard to get the electricity lines and the roads built to reach these
places. They also facilitated clean water sources by installing hand water pumps at every school and by
digging wells for the villagers to solve the problem of safe drinking water.

The rising spread of Naxalism in the surrounding area was also a matter of great concern. Today, looking
at the good work that has been happening over the past decade in this area, there is no threat or
trouble from the naxalites to the running these schools.

The tribal areas chosen to setup the schools were draught-prone and the natives found it hard to make
the ends meet. Primary source of income for these tribes is farm cultivation and its associated works.
The area is at times troubled by elephants passing by that destroy the crops. Initially the parents were
reluctant to send their children to school. This is because the children were otherwise taken to work by
the parents or were left at home to look after the babies in the house. The volunteers had to convince
the parents the importance of education and make all the necessary arrangements for the kids to attend
the schools. All the educational expenses of the students are taken care of with the help of donations
received from numerous donors most of whom are the Art of Living devotees in various parts of the
country. Today cases of child labour and child marriage have reduced significantly in the area.

Comprehensive upliftment of the tribal population

As of today, there are around 1600 students are being imparted education in these schools. The
attendance in most of the schools is about 95% which is rare at schools in tribal areas. The number of
parents seeking admissions for their kids in these schools has increased in spite of government schools
being nearer to their homes.

It is not only the students who are getting benefitted from this project. Their entire families are getting
uplifted. The teachers provide counseling to the villagers and adult education program is also underway.
People are getting access to regular medical assistance at medical camps by our doctors and medicines
are made freely available for the patients. Before the project started, malaria was rampant in the area
and child and mother mortality rates were pretty high. Today the regular supply of medical help by our
volunteers has minimized the death tolls.

When the project started, the volunteers noticed that most of the children were mal-nourished and
therefore they were susceptible to falling prey to various diseases. Therefore program to provide
nutritious food supplements including milk was started in every school that was established. The
students are provided with nutritious mid-day meals at all the schools.

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Holistic approach for stress free education

The schools impart education in a holistic manner as per the philosophy of His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi
Shankarji. In Guruji’s words, “Every parent would like to have a child whose personality shines wherever
the child goes. It is the personality that is appreciated everywhere. Such pleasing personality is what is
the main aim of this education.” This is very much visible when we look at any kid studying at our tribal
schools...

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A glance at the teaching methodology

 Progressing as a team

Group-based learning is instilled in the students. This helps them in imbibing human values such as
sharing and helping each other to grow. Each group is assigned a leader to encourage the leadership
qualities in the students.

Each tribal school has its own garden in the vicinity of the school structure. The garden is maintained by
the students themselves. Fruits and vegetables are cultivated using zero budget natural farming. The
students learn the value of teamwork and hard work while toiling in these gardens.

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  Fostering the hidden potential

The tribal kids are found to be very good at arts and their creativity is encouraged by giving them
opportunities to make craft and decorations at the school. All the charts put up inside the school are
either prepared by the teachers or the students themselves.

The classroom walls are fixed with blackboards which are used by the students to draw paintings of their
choice. When we look at the paintings of these kids, it is unbelievable to learn that there is no teacher
appointed to teach them drawing and painting!

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  Fine balance of indoor and outdoor activities

Sports activities are made an integral part of their routine at the school and sports events are regularly
organized where students from all the schools get a chance to come together and interact with each
other.

The culture of the tribes is maintained by encouraging the children to perform dances and dramas in
their own traditional language and costumes.

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  Taking advantage of the technology

There is a well-equipped computer lab with solar power as well as complete battery backup in the
middle school. This facility provides the students access to quality educational material available in the
form of edutainment CDs, etc.

 Expanding the horizons of the tribal mind

Once in a while excursion tours are organized to give the students exposure to the outside world and
expand their thinking horizons. Today these kids are developing the ambitions of becoming doctors and
teachers to go back and serve their own native population.

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A day at a tribal school
Every morning the students arrive happily at their respective schools. Those students who reside far
away from their school are provided with bicycles to come to school. Their day at school begins by
cleaning the school campus. This imbibes qualities like responsibility and cleanliness in the students. This
activity is followed by fetching water from the hand pumps and watering the plants in the garden next
to the school building.

After this activity students wash their hands and feet and then stand in rows on the ground besides the
school for the prayers. The kids are self disciplined and do not require much governance from their
teachers. A school containing 100-200 students is easily handled by 2/3 teachers. During the prayers
session students chant Sanskrit shlokas and sing patriotic songs. This helps in building qualities such as
respect for one’s own culture and patriotism in the minds of the young ones. The chants and prayers
recited help cultivate moral attitude in the children.

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After the prayers, students give attendance and go back to their respective class rooms. The teachers
then guide the students to do breathing exercises and meditation. These techniques help in improving
the student’s concentration levels during the studies and keep them fresh and peaceful throughout the
day.

The teachers impart the education in a manner that makes learning an enjoyable experience for the
students. The smile and enthusiasm exhibited by the students sitting in the classrooms show that the
education is a stress-free and fun activity for them!

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The students are encouraged to participate in various activities like singing, dancing, storey-telling, etc.
to boost their confidence. When the students encounter visitors, they greet the person in front of them
with coridality and enthusiasm.

The education is imparted in the national language Hindi as well as English to ensure that the kids are
competent enough to face the outside world. While doing this stundet’s touch with their native
language which is Santhali is also preserved.

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Every child brings along a piece of vegetable e.g. a tomato or a brinjal, and a piece of dry wood while
coming to the school. The wooden sticks are used as the fuel to cook their meal and the vegetables that
they bring are put in the rice cooked for their meal. This instills a sense of contribution in the students.

Every day the midday meal in the school is cooked by a parent of one of the students in the school. The
parents take turns throughout the year to do this seemingly small activity; but it goes a long way in
building belongingness for the school among the parents.

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There are ample amount of outdoor activities happening at the schools. A lot of importance is given to
practical learning rather than the rote learning approach. For example how to calculate area of a circle is
taught with the help of the circles painted on the archery board. This make learning subjects like
mathematics an interesting exercise for the students.

At the end of the day the students should go back home happily with no stress whatsoever. This is
achieved effortlessly at the trials schools near Ghatshila!

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Providing Vocational Training

The volunteers running the project are paying particular attention to the development plan for the
students when they will grow up. A vocational training center is set up to allow the students to learn
skills that can help them earn their livelihood. All the uniforms worn by the students are stitched by
some of the students and their elders at this center.

The project coordinators have also fund a source of income for the natives. They have taught the
villagers to prepare ropes from a particular type of grass available in abundance in this area. The ropes
are prepared in large quantities and sold in the nearby villages to earn a living by many. Also students
prepare decorative crafts items that are sold at the nearby town. The volunteers keep coming out with
innovative ideas like converting students’ drawings into greeting cards that are sold on a small scale
through the volunteer network throughout the country to raise funds for the schools.

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Vision for tomorrow

The volunteers are well aware that the tribal kids moving to the cities and metros in search of
employment will not be the right kind of solution. Because this model leads to issues in the cities like
poor living conditions in the slum habitats and exploitation through cheap labor work. The project
coordinators firmly believe that the students should be facilitated with the skills that will help them to
earn a living while residing in their own native places.

With this vision in mind, twelve students from the middle school have been enrolled into a rural
vocational training program at an institute named “VigyanAshram” near Pune in the state of
Maharashtra. The one year diploma program that they are undergoing will empower the students to
learn the tools and trades required to earn a living in their native land.

At VigyanAshram the students are imparted practical training in the fields such as agriculture, animal
husbandry, mechanical workshop, electrical and masonry work, use of natural energy resources, etc.
They are trained in tasks such rewinding and repairing of motor of water pump which would be helpful
for them in farming and save them of dependence on city visits for such chores. The project organizers
plan to build a similar training center with the help of the pilot batch that is undergoing the course at
VigyanAshram.

Generating quality teachers

The team responsible for running these tribal schools firmly believes that the locally trained teachers are
much more suited for these schools than the teachers brought from the cities. The reason being the
local teachers understand the mentality and culture better than those coming from outside. Also
language is not a barrier for them and therefore the students can connect to them with ease. Periodic
teacher’s training workshops are organized to generate quality teachers at the local level.

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Epilogue
His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji says, "Knowledge and spiritual awareness should go hand in hand with
social and political system. Only then can justice prevail in the society and there be a sense of
belongingness with everyone in the world, irrespective of their religious and cultural background or age
group. We need to impart this education - at the levels of schools and colleges."

After visiting the tribal schools in Jharkhand, one can truly fell that this vision of the founder is becoming
a reality in this nation with the dedicated efforts of the volunteers of the Art of Living under his
inspiration. For more information on the tribal school of Jharkhand, visit http://www.aoltribal.org/

For more details or contributions, contact Mr. Brji Chawla +91-9433259464, bbc108@yahoo.com

About author: Sandesh Sawant is a faculty of the Art of Living foundation and works as software engineer at Cisco Systems in India. The author
enjoys working on social causes and visited the tribal schools in Jharkhand prior to writing this article. He can be reached at +91-9423076562.

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