The Learning Center Initiative was a program designed to address learning deficits and lack of support systems available for children that we are witnessing across rural, marginalized communities, including the community here. With the CoVid-19 pandemic continuing, education goals have taken a side stand. School openings are uncertain and its functioning erratic, irregular and unpredictable. The education system responded to this by shifting attention and efforts to Online Learning, however this platform does not really reach children in places like most of the adivasi villages at Gudalur & Pandalur Blocks in the Nilgiris where we have been working. The Learning Centre Initiative run by members from the community steps out of the singular approach of ‘Online Learning’ and makes an effort to help children stay connected to learning and ensure their well-being.The ownership of childrens’ well-being and learning is equally shared by the community where they are participating in ensuring that their children do not further fall behind due to challenges imposed by CoVid-19 pandemic.
“Children had completely forgotten what they had learnt in schools two years before and it was sad to see how they lost touch with learning,” said Prasad, a community facilitator at Koottatu adivasi village. “Even when schools reopen after such a prolonged closure, it might be difficult to get them motivated and enable them to feel confident. They might fear studies and lose interest”, said Prasad. But now, having run a Learning Centre consistently for the last year, he says “We are working with children in these times to get them excited about learning. And we can already see that this is reducing their fear in approaching schools. All the 22 children I worked with have gone back to school when schools reopened and have not forgotten much because their learning was uninterrupted. I could see that they were able to catch up, feeling confident”. What Prasad has shared is similar to what we hear from the other community facilitators who have been running similar Learning Centers at their own villages the last one year.
We are aware of the fact that, despite schools reopening, the children will continue to need connection, social interaction and support systems. In the coming years, we hope to further stabilize and strengthen this initiative by mobilizing and capacity building a cadre of young facilitators who will take ownership of supporting children from their communities. And together we will work towards the vision of enabling communities to take ownership of their children’s learning.
We have also named this initiative ‘Makkale Keeche’. In Paniya Language (Paniya is the language spoken by the Paniya Adivasi Community), it means Childrens’ Pockets. Children usually keep only things that are very important and close to them in their pockets and we hope through this initiative we are able to create learning spaces that children consider to be very important and close. We hope to become friends with the children and in the process make the possibility of childrens’ learning an important agenda of the community.
