Joda: With Children’s Day round the corner, Tata Steel Foundation on Wednesday organised an engaging session with children from tribal communities in Banspani Munda Sahi, which falls under Joda block of Keonjhar District.
On the occasion, members of ‘Spandan Mahila Samiti’, a voluntary organization formed by the spouses of the employees of Tata Steel distributed educational materials comprising school bags, blackboard, notebooks, pencil box, etc. to 47 students of the region. Apart from this, the members of the Mahila Samiti also distributed face masks among the students along with sweets.
Ms Vinita Singh, Vice President of ‘Spandan Mahila Samiti’ graced the occasion as chief guest along with Ms Debolina Sarkar, Secretary, Spandan Mahila Samiti and Ms Pallavi Singh, Treasurer, Spandan Mahila Samiti and Mr Tanmay Kar, Unit Head, Tata Steel Foundation.
Addressing the students, Ms Vinita Singh said, “You are the future of the nation and you should work hard to achieve success in life”. Ms Singh also advised the students to take all precautions to stay safe from COVID.
It may be noted here that the children of this area study in Government schools and after the COVID outbreak in March 2019, all the schools were shut creating a gap in the education of these children who did not had access to online education. As most of the people residing in the area are from low income group, they could not even provide private tuition facility for their children.
To bridge this gap, Tata Steel Foundation facilitated group tuition for 47 children in the community hall that was earlier constructed by Tata Steel. The tuition started from mid of September while ensuring social distancing norms laid by the government. A retired teacher is now engaged in the tuition who apart from teaching the children is also creating awareness among the children on COVID-19. The classes are held twice daily, two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon for students of Class 2 to Class 12 in batches.
While the fees of the teacher are collectively given by the community, two officials of Tata Steel Foundation are voluntarily rendering their services in the form of tuition every alternate day free of cost. The community hall which was created for the community to organize events and meetings has now become the second school for these students.
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