Ritarani Champia, a 16-year old girl from Sukinda, has turned an inspiration for her community. Battling financial hurdles, health issues and societal pressure, she has successfully completed her matriculation examination this year.

Ritarani spent her childhood in the tribal hamlet of Ghusuriapada and was very smart and loved to study. She completed her primary education in 2014 and thereafter faced an unfortunate incident. She had a serious accident and her right leg was severely injured. Hailing from a family of daily wage earners, she had to drop out of school and had to discontinue her education for three years. As their family could not afford modern treatment, she stayed at her sister’s house and took to ayurveda.

Our team took efforts to get her into learning in 2017 through the 1000 Schools Programme. She is the only one in her family of five siblings to have completed matriculation examination. She was put into the Residential Bridge Course (RBC) that is meant for those children who never went to school or are long drop outs. Thereafter she was mainstreamed into formal schooling in Mahamayee Ashram School in Class - VIII. After three years of learning, she appeared 10^th examination in 2020 from the school and passed it. She aspires to become a government officer in future.

The Thousand Schools Programme was launched in January 2015, with the goal of creating a replicable and scalable model of universalization of elementary education within the Right to Education Framework. The program, run along with Delhi-based NGO Aspire, has demonstrated success by making six tribal blocks of Odisha free of child labour by bringing 14,200 children (99%) back into schools.

Like Ritarani, despite facing challenges from the community, Sunita Hembram, passed the matriculation examination this year. In a family of 12, her parents being small-time vegetable farmers had been sustaining on meagre income. Most of the children in her village are dropouts with most of the girls aloof from education altogether. Her sheer interest in studies got her in touch with our team by chance from where she was enrolled in the non-residential bridge course from where she moved to an RBC and finally into formal schooling. She also passed the examination this year and hopes to study further.

So far, 3050 children have been mainstreamed through RBCs in Odisha. Currently we have 14 RBCs with more than 1900 children.