Kondabadi' gains momentum in tribal villages

Kakinada: ‘Kondababi’ - taking education up the hill, introduced by ITDA Chinturu in East Godavari is gaining momentum among tribal students.

According to the concept, the ITDA officials established a residential school in the name of ‘Kondabadi’ from Class I to V as bridge school atop a hill in Mamillabanda village near Yedugurallapalli in Chinturu mandal last year where 35 students joined and it proved successful. With this inspiration, the ITDA officials set up another ‘Kondabadi’ in Karumanukonda village in Kunavaram mandal.

Kondabadi is the brainchild of ITDA project officer Akula Venkata Ramana, when he climbed hills to visit villages last year, he understood that many of the children had not been enrolled in schools.

“When people climb up and down, it takes three to four hours. People in the hills are making bamboo products for their livelihood and they are coming to markets in down areas once in a week. So, they were not able to send their children to schools. Noticing the problem, I wanted to set up a residential school atop the hill, especially for the children of hilly areas where the ‘Kondareddy’ community is living in large numbers’’ said Venkata Ramana to this reporter.

He said students were identified in nearly seven to eight hills and joined them in the ‘Kondabadi’ which is a bridge course to them. Later, these school children would be joined in schools in ‘down areas’, he said.

The volunteer of a reputed organization was appointed to create awareness among the parents of the children on education and convince them to join in schools. The ITDA wants to join 50 more such students in the schools. But they could enrol only 35 students. “Initially, the parents did not agree to send their children to the schools, but later they were convinced,” the volunteer said.

P. Prashanti, organiser of Diksha Centre for Learning and Action, who is working on and studying tribal people, provided methodology of teaching concepts to teach the children easily. “The ITDA PO Venkata Ramana has taken initiative for ‘Kondabadi’ and he has tried to strengthen the system for educating and improving the living conditions of ‘Kondareddy’ community, the most backward community of tribals,” she said.