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Camp School is an endeavour by the
Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS), Noamundi
to enhance the educational status of the rural and urban
communities in and around Tata Steel’s operations. It is
an initiative which addresses the needs of education of
children in the age group 9-14 years. |
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The concept is unique in
itself. The objective of the school is to impart intensive
teaching to the children so that they complete the education up
to 5th standard in nine months. This is targeted at children
within the age group of 9-14 years who have never enrolled in
any school or are school dropouts. The Camp School is a residential school, where the
children besides getting education are trained in other
life skills so that they are equipped to adjust to the
demanding nature of society. The education imparted to
these children is free of cost. At present TSRDS Noamundi,in
collaboration with “Jharkhand Education Project” (JEP), is running 4 batches of such a school. There are 2 batches for girls and 2 batches of boys with 100 students each. The girls’ school is situated at Noamundi and the boys’ school is at Deogaon in Jagannathpur block of Singhbhum (W). The students are from the nearby villages of Noamundi and Jagannathpur. Almost all students belong to the tribal community. The girl’s school has students from 21 villages and boys school has students from 19 villages. This school and the task of educating its students is a challenge, as the children enrolled spend their time in jungles or are guarding cattle. They are illiterate and do not understand the importance or relevance of discipline. Leading a disciplined life in camp school for these children is not an easy task at all. However with a dedicated team from TSRDS and teachers who are committed to imparting education and providing a better life to these children, the challenge has been overcome. The entire project is managed by Dr NC Mahanta, unit leader of Noamundi unit and Mr Sampuran Singh of TSRDS, Noamundi. The teachers are Miss Sulekha Das, Mrs Sombari Pareya, Ms Asrita & Miss Pravasini Pradhan. At present two such batches of girls have already passed out from Noamundi camp school. Among the passed outs 49 students have joined in “Kasturba School”. It is another school by JEP which imparts education up to +10 level free of cost. The students had also visited Jamshedpur to know about city life and the importance of education. They visited Dimna Lake, Jubilee Park, Zoo and Laser show. The trip was an eye opener for them and they had some interesting learning’s through their interactions. They also performed and participated in cultural programmes at Tribal Cultural Centre. This exercise and initiative by TSRDS is yet another activity that shows Tata Steel’s commitment to serve the communities that it operates in. This is one of the numerous literacy initiatives undertaken by the steel company to improve the standard of living of the people in the areas that it functions and provide them with better standards of living. |
