WHERE STUDENTS ARE FORCED TO DROP OUT OF SCHOOL !
SAMBALPUR: It is patch of land lying on the river Mahanadi and one has to take a boat to reach the village. Welcome to Kudgunderpur, located about 35 kms from here. And interestingly it is Gram Panchayat comprising 6 villages – Kudgunderpur, Tabda, Jampali, Amlipali, Mahada and Patakhai - where people continue to suffer with communication badly reflecting on the fate of the residents. Denied of virtually all amenities including health and education, it is education, which seems to be badly hit.
The GP has four Primary School which has 6 teachers making a mockery of the much hyped Sarva Sikhya Abhijan. And even if some students manage to get through the Primary Education getting High School education is an uphill task in this GP, which has a population of 2, 178. While there are no school in Jampali and Patakhai, there is Primary School in Tabda and Amlipali, the Upper Primary School comprising Class VI and VII is located in Kudgunderpur and Mahada. The Upper Primary School at the GP headquarters at Kudgunderpur built exactly a century back in 1907 has 64 students has just two teachers besides a Sikhya Sahayak.
But the students are not only deprived of teachers. Leaks in roof of one of the room during monsoon has made the room unsafe for use with threat of it being razed looming large over the fate of the students who have to go to their homes to drinking water with the school devoid of a tube-well. The school also does not have a boundary wall.
In Mahada Upper Primary School, which has 76 students, there is only one teacher to teach the students. After attending to daily office work and arrangement of mid-day meal, he hardly has much of time to impart education to the students. And in case he is engaged to some survey or enumeration work by the administration, the school remains closed. This has made the teacher look like a ring master out to ensure that the students sit silently rather than teach them anything which would make them responsible citizens of tomorrow. Here also the classrooms built under SSA have leaking roofs and the office and kitchen may cave in anytime.
But the problem of Tabda Primary School is different. Although two teachers has been posted here for 40 students on pen and paper, villagers have not seen one among them since last more than a year even as he is being paid salary. They alleged that despite repeated requests and pleas to replace the teacher in leave, no action has yet been taken. In Amlipali Primary School the situation is equally grim with students almost like having to read under the open sky with gaping holes in the asbestos roof of the classrooms. However, they are blessed with two teachers.
None have of the schools in the GP has a tube-well or boundary and villagers said that request to DI of Schools have evoked only false promises. Ironically the GP does not have a High School and this forces many students to drop out of education after clearing the Upper Primary School. Even though some take the pain of traveling 10 to 15 kms to join the High School in Khuntipali, Chiplima, Bargaon and Dhama, going to school during monsoon gets impossible due to swelling water in river Mahanadi which the students have to cross in country boats to reach the school.

POVERTY THREATENS SOMBARI OF HER THIRD CHILD
NUAPADA: Penury and poverty had snatched Sambari and her husband Nabin Patel of their two child and they had pinned their hope on the only surviving child now suffering from problem with his excretory system. While the first child of the couple had died one month after birth of some unknown disease, the second offspring died barely five days after birth. And now the third child, a son, lovingly named as Gyanadas by his parents is struggling for survival as the couple are making a valiant attempt to keep him alive to ensure that the legacy lives on.
A marginal farmer of village Birunpadar in Konabera Gram Panchayat of Komna Block of this backward district under KBK region, Nabin depends on rain for cultivation. Already grieving at the loss of their two earlier children, they had little to rejoice when Gyandas was born as two days after his birth they found his stomach bloated and no discharge of excreta. And with it began their numerous trips to hospitals from the CHC at the Block Headquarters to District Headquarter Hospital at Nuapada to a private hospital in Raipur in Chattisgarh since the place is located 125 kms from Nuapada.
At Raipur, the doctors diagnosed the problem of Gyandas and performed an operation three months after his birth which cost the couple Rs. 25,000. But their ordeal did not end there as the doctors advised for one more surgery to set things right completely which would cost the couple another Rs. 50,000. With no more money to carry on with the treatment, both Sambari and Nabin are back at their village leaving the fate of their child unto God.
Although Komna Block Chairman Bhaktaram Sabar and Block Development Officer Biswaranjan Nayak visited the village, they only assured them of aid about which they are not sure. And while the couple await help, the child wreathes in pain every time he excretes into an attachment fitted to his stomach.

“RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY…LITTLE JOHNY WANTS TO READ”
SONEPUR: “Rain, rain go away, Come again another day, Little Johny wants to play, Rain, rain go to Spain, Never Show your face again”. This may be popular nursery rhyme and continues to be shrouded in controversy with line of the rhyme changing and reflecting the bitterness between England and Spain. But for the students of Saradhapali Upper Primay School, the rhyme holds true excepting that Little Johny wants to study rather than play in.
Today the 200 odd students enrolled in the school today learn in open after the roof of their school got blown up in the summer storm. And this then the school is also entwined in problem with the DRDA and SSA putting the onus on each other for the repair of the school even as it the education which has taken a backseat.
Located barely seven kilometers from here, both the students and the teachers reach school in time but instead of class room they sit outside the school with their bags marking the beginning of the school. The school had six rooms with asbestos roof and five out it does not have roof today after being blown up by the summer storm. The only room which has a roof has official documents and other materials which cannot be stored in open. And this forced the students to pursue education under the shade of the Mango tree outside the classrooms and little rain forces the teachers to suspend the class for the day.
Although much is being said about Universalisation of Education and construction of additional classroom under SSA, the fate of the school remain unchanged. Villagers said that even though they have apprised the district administration about the school and requested for construction of classrooms, no action has yet been taken. While District Project Co-ordinator, SSA, Sarat Chandra Mohanty said that replacing the roof is the responsibility of the DRDA, Project Director DRDA, Shyam Sundar Nayak said that the district administration is aware of the problem and Block Development Office has been asked to submit the estimate for repair of the school. Moreover, he said that SSA has been asked to provide new class rooms for the students.

EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS A FAR CRY
SAMBALPUR : SSA ensures that every child with special needs, irrespective of the kind, category and degree of disability, is provided meaningful and quality education. Thus, SSA has adopted a zero rejection policy. This means that no child having special needs should be deprived of the right to education and taught in an environment, which is best suited to a child’s learning needs. These include special schools, EGS, AIE of even home-based education.
Sambalpur district had 3842 physically challenged below the age of 18 years and 344 among them have been provided with aids and appliances in the year 2007-08.
Sources in the District Project Office of Sarva Sikhya Abhiyan (SSA) said that diabled children under SSA are provided with aids and appliances as per provision in the Integrated Education for Disabled (IED). From among the 3678 disabled aged between 6-14 years 3266 are being provided with education. However, out of the 3266 disabled, 57 have been handed over tricycle, 76 distributed with wheel chair, 53 have been given Crutches, 158 provided with hearing aid. Yet a lot of physically challenged children continue to deprieved of aids and appliances making coping with life difficult for them leave aside pursing education.
Those who can manage to spare time carry their children to schools but things are different for the hearing impaired children who hardly end up learning anything withouth hearing aids. These problems coupled with indifferent attitude of the Project officials has left as many as 412 children with special needs (CWSN) out of school.
But the adoption of a zero rejection policy of SSA has been defeated with the denial of CWSN in to the formal elementary schooling And till such time the multi-model of educating CWSN is not implemented, the Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) under SSA remains a far cry.

GIRLS SCHOOL OPERATING SINCE LAST 39 YEARS SANS BUILDING
SAMBALPUR: Ever heard of a mobile school which gas to change premises even after 39 years since it came into existence. Even as Chief Minister declared sops for teachers on Teachers’ Day, education continues to suffer in absence of infrastructure. Although the much-hyped SSA promises a lot, visit to Balibandha Girls’ High School (BGHS) presents a dismal picture.
Situated in the premises of Parsuram Mishra Institute of Advanced Studies (PMIAS) in Sambalpur town, the 39 years old school lacks own building besides no adequate classrooms for the students. Surprisingly, due to lack of classroom the teachers are forced to take classes under trees in the PMIAS premises. The PMIAS authorities have provided only two rooms for functioning of the school. Add more to the woes, Class IX and Class X are running in a single room with plywood partition in the middle. And students and teachers as well have to face difficult times as noise erupted from both the classes create disturbances in study.
Of the total 332 students in BGHS, 84 students are studying in Class X, 112 girls are pursuing their study in Class IX whereas there are 136 students in Class VIII. Interestingly, Class VIII has been divided into three sections while two sections each have been created in Class IX and Class X in pen and paper. Actually, there is no section in any classes of BGHS due to lack of classrooms. However, the students have to face problems a lot during the periods of optional subjects due to inadequate classrooms. The helpless teachers are forced to take optional classes under the trees to carry on the timely completion of courses.
It all began when the school was started in 1968 Bijepur now in Bargarh district. But in absence of much of students, it was shifted to Sambalpur in 1968 and the classes were held in the morning in the Lady Lewis Girls’ School (LLGS) to ensure that the curriculum of the host school is not disturbed. It was named Balibandha Girls’ High School (BGHS) till LLGS had problems as classes are held early in the morning during summer and BGHS was shifted to Patnagarh Palace. After operating here for sometime the building was found tobe unsafe and the school was again shifted to rented premises in Mudipada. At long last it was resettled in the PMIAS in 1992 and since then it has been operating here. However, now the PMIAS has expressed its desire to use the two rooms it had handed over to the school, the school is on look out for a new premise.
And while the school remains on its toes, the school authorities have suspended the classes of Class VII and IX keeping an eye on the Pre-test examination of Class X, which started on Thursday.
Contacted Headmistress Surekha Mishra of the BGHS said we have suspended the classes unwillingly due to shortage of classrooms for conducting the examination. She said that it was difficult to teach students under tree, yet they have no other way out. Repeated efforts to contact CI of School Prakash Joshi provided futile as his mobile phone no. 9437963176 remained switched off all the time.

INDUSTRIALISATION TAKES TOLL ON EDUCATION
Khinda (SAMBALPUR): It has all the signs of being a school. Children sitting on a pencil and written bodly is Sarva Sikhya Abhijan (SSA). The classrooms are also aptly named Mahatma Gandhi Kakhya, Gopabandhu Kakhya and Veer Surendra Sai while the fourth room is meant for the Principal of the school.
But as you enter the Matlu Camp Upper Primary School at Matlu Camp housing displaced families of Talabira Coal Mines – 1 of Hindalco in one room tenements in village Khinda you are welcomed by lines of under garments and socks kept for drying in the sun while lines of shoes adorn the verandah. And as you enter the classrooms you are greeted not by students but by security guards of Hindalco, 45 of whom have made the school their barrack and mess since January 18, 2006. All the 51 students of the school have been shifted to Munda Pada EGS School nearby where 31 more students, from about 30 dalit families, of the EGS Centre jostle for space. But that is not the end of the whole universalisation of education programme of the state. The EGS centre neither has drinking water nor sanitation facility and students from class 1 to 5 of both the schools sit in the same hall where the teacher of EGS Centre Daitari Rout and Headmaster in-charge of the UP School Rudrani Padhi find it a tough job to reach out to the students. The two teachers are assisted by two girls who have been rendering their services free of cost at the instance of the Village Education Committee to pacify the students while the teachers teach a particular class.
While both Rout and Padhi admitted that they face a tough time teaching students of a class with other students creating disturbance having to sit idle, Rout said that when they were displaced from the school they were assured that it was a temporary arrangement and that they would be provided with a bigger school building. Refusing to disclose the name of the officials who had assured them, he said that there was little he could do to improve the situation.
But with the land on which the school existed having been acquired by major aluminium maker HINDALCO there is little the children can do. And with the villagers claiming that no site selection has yet been done for the proposed new school building before the lengthy process begins, the school has become permanent barrack for the security guards while the students will continue to be herded like cattle in their bid to become literate.

CHILDREN ATTEND SCHOOL AT THE COST OF THEIR LIVES !

SAMBALPUR: Ever day after her child leaves for school Pushpalata Mishra of Sambalpur town spends the entire anxiously till her child is back home safely. And she is not worried about her child getting kidnapped or her inability to complete her homework, but thevan in which she travels. The van in which Pushapalata sends her child to school is run on LPG and she is apprehensive about the impending danger. But with no other alternative, she had little options about the transportation of her only child to school.And the tense moments Pushpalata spends at home till her child is back home is not a solitary case. There are numerous parents who seem to have been caught between the deep sea and the devil. With the schools not having transportation arrangement of their own, the parents are forced to fall back on private transportation arrangement who have been using LPG cylinders to run vehicles, mostly van, crammed with children. To add to the woes, the roads are uneven with potholes dominating the arterial roads and there is every possibility of the van and the auto rickshaws which on these arterial roads meeting with some kind of accidents or the other.Carrying school children in vans fitted with domestic LPG cylinders has become a lucrative business for the vehicle owners of the town. As use of LPG cylinder is heavily subsidized it is cost effective for the vehicle owners who prefer it against normal fuel to earn easy bucks. These used vehicles mostly unfit which are procured from New Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Raipur are put in such business offering fast money at the cost of children who travel in these vans. Even they cut down their expenditure on driver and keep inexperienced drivers, who are not only harsh to the children but drive speedily. And coupled with open use of domestic LPG Cylinders by hotels and restaurants, it is the common men who have to shell out Rs. 500 for each LPG cylinder with the dealers also running out of stock of LPG giving them an equal opportunity to make quick money.Contacted Regional Transport Officer, Ramesh Chandra Sai said that he had undertaken a drive and had fined four vehicles for using LPG cylinder. Informing that even vehicles with private registration are being used to ferry students, he lamented that it was the parents who opposed the action on the plea that their children were late in reaching school. He however, assured that once the ongoing school examination is over, he would heavily penalize those running school vans and deploy squads in school to nab vehicles once the children are dropped at school.

SCHOOLS REOPEN, BUT NO SIGHT OF TEXT BOOKS
SAMBALPUR: Although the schools have reopened after prolonged summer vacation, it has failed to enthuse the students back to their schools with no sight of text books which would evoked interest in them. This has led to widespread resentment among the students, their parents and school teachers even though 53 per cent of the required books from Class I to Class VII has been received while no text books for Class VIII has reached. While text books from Class I to Class VII is distributed free of cost to all students by the State Government, in Class VIII, students belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes besides all girl students are provided with free books while general caste have to make payment for the text books. Ironically, the books are available in open market and on sale by book sellers selling Oriya books along the road side in the town.
Sources said that at least 6,41,863 text books is required from Class I to Class VII in the district. However, till now 3,40,121 including stock of 19,071 books has been distributed among the students. In Dhankauda Block, which also includes Sambalpur Municipal limits, of the required 1,68,520 text books, 81,300 books has been distributed, in Rengali Block against a requirement of 58,078 text books, 37,260 books has been disbursed, in Maneswar Block against 56,206 text books only 34,426 despatched to various schools. Similarly in naxal infested block of Jujumura, Rairakhol, Naktideul, Jamankira and Kuchinda Blocks of the district, against requirement of 2,83,014 text books, only 1,47,501 text books has been distributed. Likewise in Bamra Block of the required 76,228 text books, only 34,906 has been despatched to various schools in the Block.
Contacted District Project Director, SSA, Premanidhi Seth said that the Director of Text Book Production and Marketing, Cuttack has communicated that steps were being taken to deliver the balance required books at Block Resource Centres (BRCs) of the district. No sooner we receive it we will distribute it, he added. However, he was unsure about when the books would reach the BRCs.

NEONATAL DEATHS IN ORISSA HIGHER THAN NATIONAL AVERAGE
SAMBALPUR: Even as poor healthcare, lack of infrastructure and superstitious beliefs put the lives of 1.2 million infants at risk, every year, the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is being observed from August 1 to 7. The theme of this year WBW is "Breastfeeding in the 1st hour, early initiation and exclusive breast-feeding can save more than one million babies”. The WBW is celebrated to provide opportunity to inform people of the benefits that early and exclusive breastfeeding provides to both families and nations.
Recently there has been some good news on rates of breastfeeding. A recent study has shown that if all women began breastfeeding within the 1st hour it would save one million of the 4 million newborn deaths.
In India, 2,50,000 neonates can be saved from death annually by just this one act. Initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of birth is thus, the first and most vital step towards reducing infant and under-five mortality. India has a present rate of 43 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births, a slight improvement since 1996 when the rate was 47 deaths per 1,000 children.
Among all the Indian states, Kerala comes closest to the world standard with neonatal deaths standing at 10 per 1,000 live births. States such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra are showing a declining trend. However, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, continue to show a high trend by maintaining a rate above the national average.
Every newborn, when placed on the mother’s abdomen, soon after birth, has the ability to find its mother’s breast all on its own and to decide when to take the first breastfeed. This is called the ‘Breast Crawl’. It is nature’s miraculous way of initiating breastfeeding.
But changing role of women as contributor to the family income both in urban and rural areas are forcing women to deprieve the child of its right of being breast feed. This apart superstitions in rural areas that the initial milk contains germs and hence the new born should not be breastfed, and ignorance of the mother who feel that breast would lactate on its own and the child need not suckle continues to act as impediments. The challenge we face is to find creative and convincing ways at the community level to encourage breastfeeding and to provide them with solid evidence of the advantages of breastfeeding.