VISAKHAPATNAM: Whatever we experience and learn in our early years of age shapes us into what we become in the future,” said Rani Patel, president of Aarohan, a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation. Recognising the alarming conditions faced by children and women in the tribal areas of Araku and Anantagiri in Alluri Sitarama Raju district, Aarohan has taken action to bring about a change.
It has set up digital classrooms in the area to bridge the digital divide and improve the quality of education for underprivileged children.
The NGO’s year-long work in the region has touched the lives of over 5,000 people in more than 120 villages, and it continues to make strides towards improving literacy rate, providing basic health facilities and promoting basic human rights.
The NGO established and refurbished three early childhood education and development centres and set up two digital classrooms for computer training for youth. The organisation conducted training programmes for 40 public school teachers, organised 16 health camps and feeding drives and 12 livelihood training workshops, among other initiatives.
“We are giving training to 40 teachers initially with 15 days of offline and 15 days of online training. It is basically a three-month programme, but from what we have seen, we are not sure if we will be able to achieve our goal in three months, but we will continue to train them as long as we can to see the result we want,” asserted Rani Patel, highlighting their dedication to the cause.
The teachers are being taught Microsoft Office and 12-14 apps that the government provides to the students at government schools for educational purpose. Aarohan’s efforts not only focus on the children but also their mothers, as a healthy child makes a healthy mother, which results in a healthy family. She thanked the donors Foxconn and IRCTC and continuous guidance from government agencies like the National Human Rights Commission and local government stakeholders, including Sumit Kumar, District Collector. The project team members and volunteers from IIT Delhi, IIM Visakhapatnam and other organisations are also contributing to the cause.
“As part of IRCTC’s CSR initiatives, Aarohan has developed two digital classrooms named Digital Patashalas in Tokuru Girls School and Borra Boys School,” said Rani Patel, underlining the need for education on digital technology. Aarohan invites support and help from all kinds of players to come and work in these untouched areas. “The blessings of the tribal families will be with us for generations,” averred Rani.