L2R scheme helps girl return to school

Odisha Channel Bureau Rourkela, July 31: Lachchami Indwar, a seven year old girl child, is no different from the other girls of her age- carefree and bubbly with an innocent smile that can win hearts effortlessly.Born in a poor family, Lachchami resides with her parents, two siblings and relatives in a two-room kachha house in the outskirts of the Industrial township of Rourkela.Life is not very smooth for children particularly girls belonging to this class of the society.Lachchami’s parents who are daily wage labourer did initially send her to school but her studies started suffering because of the burden of household chores.Being the eldest amongst the 3 siblings, Lachchami had to take care of the younger ones.The long absences from school and the backlog in studies resulted in Lachchami unceremoniously dropping out of school in class-1.For her parents it was far more important for Lachchami to help out in the house rather than study in a school. Lachchami’s plight caught the attention of Pramila Ekka, a teacher of her school.The dedicated teacher met the parents of Lachchami a number of times and persuaded them to allow the little girl to rejoin school.Her efforts paid off and finally Lachchami returned to school.The initial days were a bit awkward for the child as her previous classmates had now become her seniors and she had to sit with new children.However, in course of time her inhibitions vanished and Lachchami got completely involved in her studies.Lachchami successful return to academic pursuits was possible because of the Learn to Read (L2R) project being implemented in her school by the Government of Odisha in association with Rourkela Steel Plant.The project intends at teaching the children the fun filled way through dancing, singing, playing and storytelling sessions.For Lachchami the colourful books soon became one of the major sources of attraction.Not only did she blend seamlessly in her new environment she also started assuming the role of a leader in her class.Moreover, the mid day meals provided by Rourkela Steel Plant through Akshay Patra project took care that Lachchami got a nutritious meal at least once a day. All these factors made her attendance regular, which in turn helped Lachchami improve her performance in the class room tremendously.Today Lachchami is a student of Class-3 in the Koila Gate Primary School, Bandamunda.The basic premise of L2R project is “Every Child in School Should Be Learning Every Day”.It addresses the need of different types of learners like tactile, visual and auditory through different teaching methodologies.Children can know alphabets, numbers, read simple words and texts and solve arithmetic problems, by using various interesting and easily available aids.Rourkela Steel Plant is supporting implementation of this project for students reading in Class-1 to 3 in 100 schools of Rourkela Municipality in collaboration with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan of the Government of India and Mahavir Yuvak Sangh.It is worth mentioning here that, RSP extends an annual financial support of about Rs.23 lakhs for this project.The intervention has helped many a child like Lachchami to not only pursue education but also dream of a vibrant future.