Our Experiences | Avaniti Education and Training Foundation

Santoshi's story

We stumbled upon Santoshi's story while documenting the consequences of COVID-19 over tribal communities in Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh. With the global pandemic situation, it was decided that schools/classes will be conducted online, but makes one wonder what promise does online learning platforms hold for kids like Santoshi? We met Santoshi in the deep forest of Seelpani looking after her younger siblings. Every year Santoshi and her family has to abandon their house and make their way to the deep forest to collect forest produces. The duration of their stay lasts between 15 days to 3 months, depending upon the abundance of produces.

Mor Chia ke photo

"Mor chia ke photo Lena hai ka( do you want to click my baby chicken's photo)?" He asked hesitantly.

He said that it is wild chicken's baby which was lying alone in the forest when he had accompanied his parents to collect forest produce, a major source of livelihood for them. He seemed fond of chick.

Fight with malnutrition

The children are getting ready for a mid-day meal in an Anganwadi center located in the remote tribal location of Dhamtari district in Chhatisgarh. The state government opened Anganwadi centers on 16th September 2020 after a long gap of 6 months, that too for just providing a hot cooked nutritious meal to children and pregnant women. The decision of opening centers is obvious with the vulnerable conditions of the state in health and nutrition.

Paahi

Paahi is a custom that is followed by the Kamar tribe community residing in the Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh. In this custom, the families leave their houses and head towards deep forests to collect forest produces. The families stay for 3-4 months in the forest, depending upon the availability of forest produces. Their kids tag along with them as nobody is at home to take care of them while they are away.

Just a child's play

As educators, we are so obsessed with the end result of an activity that we do not pay attention to the process and as a result the learning in between the activity gets lost.

Take a moment and visualise Pinky (2 years' old) playing happily with the clay and suddenly she drops a piece of clay in the sand. She realizes for the first time in her life that sand sticks to the clay and the more you press it with your hand the deeper it gets. She tries to express her joy of learning something new but we as "educator" dismisses it as "just a child's play."

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