New school review – Barafpada

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Suhrid Foundation manages 651 students from ten Zila Parishad school, 31 Anganwadi kids from two anganwadis and 350 residents girls from Arvind Ashram Shala. Since we had an uphill task to launch multiple projects in these schools, we decided to only include Anaganwadis in the current academic year. Having set the processes at Anganwadi and launched multiple projects, we decided to carry out the assessment for the new school inclusion. After having reviewed a few schools, we decided to zero down on Barafpada, which is very close to Nandelpada (North of Vikramgadh)

Team Suhrid spent almost two and half hours at Barafpada. This school has two teachers and 56 students. The students belong to two padas viz Barafpada (80 families) and Divapada (60 families). They are mostly into farming. Once the harvesting is over, the males move to boats, brick kilns etc for earning. The location of the school is very odd. The schools, which are hardly 3 kms away easily get ground water throughout the year, wherein Barafpada does not get water after Dec despite of digging 200 odd feet. The teachers have to get the water once in a week from nearby well. Kids need to get drinking water from their home. They don’t have mechanism to irrigate the plants, which they have grown in the compound. Kids empty their bottles on their way back. Both the teachers have recently (a couple of years back) have moved here. They have been able to connect with the parents and get their help in constructing a fencing around the school. They also have created a good garden. Slowly and steadily, the face of the school is changing. However, they need the support from outside to take it further. It was quite evident that kids don’t drink much water (dry skin) and don’t get nutritious food regularly.

Team Suhrid would start its projects at Barafpada from June this year. We would be working on three phase plan to address the water issue. In the first phase, we would try to convince the villagers to help get water in school almost on daily basis, which can be stored water drums (to be supplied by us). Similarly, we would also try have the borewell up and running, which would ensure that they would get water at least till January. To address the issue on permanent basis, we would be taking the experts to explore the possibility of check-dams, which can help preserving the water and charging the area. We would also try to have rain-water harvesting done around the school to increase the availability of the ground water for longer duration. This would not only help school, it can help village at large depending upon the project implemented.

Though the school has lots of challenges, we were happy to see the passion and commitment of the teachers and support from the villagers. Suhrid foundation is committed to bring the desired change in this underprivileged school.

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