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eVidyaloka in Chengarbasa, Jharkhand

Chengarbasa- Impact Story
A little over 3.5 years and 38 centres down, my journey in evidyaloka always felt like an eventful and meaningful journey. Among all the centres that I handled, one centre lead the path for me and showed me time and again what more can be done in this space. This is the Chengarbasa centre in Giridih district. It has given me milestones everytime to reach, for other centres. eVidyaloka established online classes in Chengarbasa in the the year 2015, just when I joined eVidyaloka.
The first among the highlights of this centre is the connect of the volunteers, school staff and class assistant with the community. This is the centre where a volunteer teacher, Dr. Maleka Fakhri initiated the mother’s day celebration and same was celebrated in the village the same day to include all mothers who could not make it to the school. The PTMs have been a regular feature since the first year of this centre. Thanks to a superbly dedicated and determined centre admin Dr. Anupama Gupta. She joined as a Science Teacher but has almost adopted the centre as a the admin since then.


The centre is also special because of its geographic location. About 17kms from Giridih town in Jharkhand, the road to this village is literally carved through a hillock by the villagers in the areas. One has to go through a narrow road, motorable by one car at a time, to reach Chengarbasa.


As we enter the Chengarbasa High School, a beautifully maintained school surrounded by lush green fields and some cheerful faces of students and staff welcome us.


                       
In the midst of nothingness, lies this school, where evidyaloka volunteer teachers from across the world teach children from 5th to 10th. Yes thats right. There are a couple of volunteers who take extra effort to prepare and teach the 9th and 10th graders for their boards. This is given the fact that the school has a total of 4 teachers including the Head Master who doubles up as a Science Teacher.
This is the only evidyaloka centre in Jharkhand which has been upgraded to a high school from being a middle school 2 years back. Hence the volunteers who taught the 6th, 7th and 8th graders in 2015-16 were able to keep in touch with the evidyaloka alumni and continue to guide them in their own capacity.


A special mention to Deepak sir who has been a silent crusader in this mission. All thanks to the centre admin, Dr. Anupama Gupta, who managed to get her son’s teacher onboard to teach Mathematics to the 9th graders. Deepak sir will continue to teach the 10th graders this year as well. He will be joined by Anjana Nagpal, another volunteer teacher for 5 years now to teach Maths to the 9th graders.
Deepak sir teaching the 9th grade Students
Efforts put in by the other volunteer teachers needs a special mention. These efforts and their result has set a benchmark for other centres to follow.
  1. Quarterly Parents Teachers Meeting where parents come in big numbers to meet and know about their child’s progress from their evidyaloka teachers.
  2. Anjana Nagpal ma'am started a drive and other Volunteer teachers took up responsibility to provide sweaters to the middle school students even if they have never taught some of them.
  3. Use of science kit available in the school by volunteer teachers with the help of CAs.
  4. Initiating Star Student of the Month system for the students.
  5. Organizing various competitions like quiz, Poetry, Vocabulary etc.
  6. Being a pilot centre for Leadership Curriculum Programme. As an outcome Rohit of class VIII came all the way to bangalore and gave a Ted Talk in front of an audience composed of corporate heads and other senior members from various walks of life.
  7. Celebration of teacher’s birthday online.
And many more…
Celebrating Teacher’s Birthday Online
Students visiting the village health centre as part of the NSIC Project
Celebrating Mother’s Day
Classroom Activity- Use of plastic bottles to plant trees
Star of the Month display board in the digital classroom
Wishing their online teachers on Teacher’s Day
Class Assistant Basant Verma receiving the award for Best Class Assistant in Giridih in the AY16-17 from the Head Master of the school
IMPACT STORIES
  1. Children doing science experiments in the classroom with CA’s Assistance.
  2. Children confident to participate in various inter school and inter state competitions.
  3. Increasing attendance in the school.
  4. Very good Performance of children in their board exams.
                         Classroom Experiments
Inter-school and Inter-state Vocabulary Competition
Rohit talking to a large audience in Bangalore and his performance in 9th boards
The growth of Chengarbasa centre is an example of active and dedicated volunteerism. It feels like a movement, where a school and along with that a village, is being transformed through education. The children seems to have got an avenue to realize their dreams and their parents have got an opportunity to dream better for their children. With a starting student enrolment count of 78 in the AY-2015-16, in AY-18-19, 117 students are enrolled for eVidyaloka classes. During the PTMs, we have heard stories of children staying with their aunts in the village to attend this school.


It has not been an easy journey, but it was surely a very fulfilling and exciting one. May this endeavour continue to positively transform the lives of the villagers and impact many more.




Location: Delhi, India

Comments

  1. Unknown24 May 2019 at 10:04

    Very Good Performance..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anupama Gupta24 May 2019 at 10:35

    Thank you so much Pratima Dhar( State coordinator Jharkhand)...Team Chengarbasa along with students is thankful to you ... Without your support and positive attitude nothing was possible.

    ReplyDelete

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