Bhubaneswar: As a step towards bridging the learning gaps among students of primary grade (Class 1-5) in the state, ‘Mo Chatashalee’ initiative was launched here Saturday by civil society organisations.
Film actress and founder of ‘Sammanita’ Varsha Priyadarshini inaugurated the initiative. She appreciated the efforts of the organisation to start a large scale programme on education for children.
The initiative also known as #Mission1lakh will cover 1 lakh students from 17 districts (Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Rayagada, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bolangir, Boudh, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Deogarh and Sambalpur including slums of Bhubaneswar under Khurda district) who mostly depend on government schools. These students could not access online education during the lockdown due to the lack of resources such as a smartphones, TV or where internet connectivity is erratic that pushed them to the periphery of education.
The initiative which will have 100 days of learning will serve as an alternative learning avenue for the children to bridge learning gaps among them.
“During the lockdown, we started a Mission 3-5-8 campaign where we provided remedial classes in 82 blocks of 17 districts to bridge learning gaps of 4364 schoolchildren of Class 3, 5 and 8 so that they can be at par with their peers. The result was encouraging which helped us run this large scale education programme,” said Anjan Pradhan, convener of Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha; Ruchi Kashyap, executive trustee of Atmashakti Trust and Shanti Bhoi, President, Mahila Shramajeebee Mancha, Odisha.
“The unique feature of the programme is that it will be run through community contribution and volunteers will teach these children free of cost,” they added.
Under this initiative, more than 7500 remedial teaching centres will be run with 10 to 25 children each. These will impart education, based on the location and taking care of the physical distancing norms. They will be looked after by a trained volunteer selected from the locality. These volunteers will be trained to take remedial classes for these students so that they can achieve minimum levels of learning appropriate to their class and can bridge the learning gaps, caused due to the loss of learning following the outbreak of Covid-19 and subsequent school closure.