By Aruna Jyothi and Ira Joshi | Mar 29, 2024

Muktangan​’s work is grounded in the principles of community participation in education. It strongly believes that members of the community must be mobilised to facilitate and sustain change.

Lok Biradari Prakalp, Hemalkasa, Maharashtra

By Santhakumar V, Rema Devi and Anant Gangola | Dec 13, 2023

It has been noted that Scheduled Tribe families with a literate head of the household have a significantly lesser chance of being below the poverty line. Similarly, even a few years of school education may enhance the chances of getting rural non-farm employment which has notably a higher wage than agricultural work.

By Santhakumar V and Rema Devi | May 11, 2023

In Gujarat, the line departments remain the nodal agencies for the implementation of almost all development and welfare schemes. This limits the local decision-making process and reiterates the dependence of local bodies on state and central governments for resources and programmes. 

By Kaustubh Rau and Monica Kaushik | Feb 7, 2023

The model of conservation of village commons shown by the Kunjer Gram Panchayat is easily replicable and can be replicated across the state. It is recommended that regular training programmes be offered by the District Administration where village officials from all districts in Rajasthan can be called to see the benefits associated with such conservation measures.

Grassroots Leadership Development Programme, CORO, Mumbai 

By Santhakumar V and S Das Antoni Arokianathan | Dec 13, 2022

Women need to understand the deep-rooted social beliefs that make them dependent on their husbands. They need to view education and employment as the main basis for their personal, financial and social security and then see marriage as a possible relationship between two equal human beings.

Grassroots Leadership Development Programme, CORO, Mumbai 

By Santhakumar V and S Das Antoni Arokianathan | Dec 1, 2022

Almost all the Fellows came not only from poor families and marginalised groups but also from difficult and/​or disabling circumstances. Most of them encountered different forms of discrimination. Girls and women have faced sexual harassment and violence in their social context. 

By Santhakumar V and Subrat Kumar Mishra | Nov 16, 2022

In this essay, we look at the work of Utthan sahayaks in supporting those children who are identified as lagging behind in learning. This is based on a short-period fieldwork in three schools in the Mundra region of Kutch district in Gujarat.

By Santhakumar V and Subrat Kumar Mishra | Sep 28, 2022

We take a look at the Gyanodaya project of the Adani Foundation in the Godda district of Jharkhand. As part of this, the Foundation has provided basic infrastructure (including TV sets) for smart classrooms and digital learning materials to 293 government schools in the district. These learning materials, prepared by ​‘Eckovation’ – an edu-tech company, are based on the Jharkhand State Board syllabus.

द्वारा : वी शांताकुमार एवं सुब्रत मिश्रा | Jan 25, 2022

सामुदायिक वन अधिकारों के प्रभावी और सतत उपयोग की दिशा में आम्ही आमच्या आरोग्यसाठी (AAA) के प्रयास उल्लेखनीय हैं। उनके द्वारा लगभग 560 परिवारों को शामिल करते हुए ज़िले के कोरची ब्लॉक के छह गाँवों में सामुदायिक वन अधिकारों के प्रभावी प्रवर्तन के लिए आदिवासी सामुदायिक संगठनों, ग्राम सभाओं को मज़बूत बनाने के लिए कार्य किया जाता है। इन क्षेत्रों में गोण्ड और कंवर जनजातियाँ निवास करती हैं। प्रयासों का उद्देश्य स्थाई कटाई, और स्थानीय वन, कृषि वनस्पतियाँ और पेड़ उगाने के माध्यम से आजीविका के अवसरों को मज़बूत बनाना था।

द्वारा : वी शांताकुमार एवं रमा देवी | Jan 10, 2022

आनन्दशाला कार्यक्रम के प्रभाव को देखने के बजाय, यह रिपोर्ट भारत के इस हिस्से में स्कूली शिक्षा में सामने आने वाली बड़ी चुनौतियों पर ध्यान केन्द्रित करती है और इन्हें दूर करने के लिए सम्भावित रणनीतियों का भी सुझाव देती है। हम उस भूमिका पर ध्यान केन्द्रित करते हैं जो आनन्दशाला जैसे हस्तक्षेपों द्वारा निभाई जा सकती है और इस कार्यक्रम द्वारा अपनाई गई कुछ निश्चित मुख्य प्रक्रियाओं की पहचान करते हैं।

By Gowthama Rajavelu | July 20, 2021

In terms of the larger insights and learning, this course gave a big picture of EVS to teachers. They could see the importance of taking children out and using the outdoor environment as an effective approach for developing appropriate EVS skills and sensitivities.

By Shankar K | Apr 8, 2021

The challenge of an online course lies in making it interactive and lively to sustain the interest and attention of the participants. In Puducherry, compared to English and Mathematics, there are very few in-service capacity development programmes conducted in Tamil teaching.

By V Santhakumar, Pallavi Deshpande, Akansha Singh, Subrat Kumar Mishra | Feb 5, 2021

The foundation has partnered with a local NGO to implement HBMNC in this area. Young women from the region who have received education up to an undergraduate level or diploma in midwifery or nursing are enlisted for this program. Each of these young women works with about 15 – 16 ASHA workers to enhance their awareness and capacity and ensure that essential care is given to pregnant mothers.

By Gowthama Rajavelu and Naveen Kumar | Dec 24, 2020

In a face-to-face session, the facilitator can always know the participants’ state of mind and can crack a joke or play a game to break the monotony and capture their attention. Also during a face-to-face interactions, power point presentations are only secondary; the facilitator is the primary point of interaction. In online sessions, PowerPoint presentations, play a central role in keeping the participants engaged as a facilitator cannot see the reaction of the participants and the participants cannot see the facilitator.

By Santhakumar V and Rema Devi (with response from KVM) | Dec 18, 2020

The organisation receives funding from individual donors from India and abroad (non-resident Indians). Though ​‘giving’ for charity, altruistic or social purposes is catching up among Indians, this is not enough for an adequate amount of resources flowing towards social purposes. Though many middle-class Indians afford to provide some money towards this, they are yet to see the importance of doing so. There is a lot more money flowing towards religious purposes and festivals than for social purposes.

By V Santhakumar, Kerry Shephard and Ritika Gupta | Aug 20, 2020

In general, people are probably reluctant to adopt those eco-friendly behaviour that have a significant personal cost, even though they are aware of the importance of doing so. This is evident from the correlations seen in empirical studies between environmental attitude and low-cost pro-environmental behaviour, such as recycling.

By Shipra Suneja and Rema Devi | Dec 6, 2019

Lakshmi Murmu Smriti Vidyalaya in Chaachanpur, West Bengal run by the Chaachanpur Mahila Kalyan Samiti is an initiative by two women who believed that only education could bring empowerment among the Santhali community.

By V Santhakumar and M S Sriram | Nov 27, 2019 

This essay is part of a series on the challenges and dynamics of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA). Its transition is compared with the experience of Azim Premji University, which also strives to create reflective practitioners in the domains of education and human development.

By Team, Initiative for Effective Implementation of FRA, Azim Premji University | Nov 12, 2019

Effective implementation of the Forest Rights Act (leading to the improvement in the welfare of tribal communities and the management of forests on a sustainable basis) requires an informed collective action of different stakeholders both at the state (and national) level and also at the micro (village) level. 

By V Santhakumar and Gunther Dietz | Nov 6, 2019

Intercultural universities have emerged in the 21st century in the Latin American countries to address the limitations of conventional universities in addressing the needs of the indigenous people.

By Santhakumar V, Anant Gangola, Subrat Mishra | Sept 5, 2019

CHIRAG, in the Kumaon region, is an NGO working on a number of issues, including water, conservation, education, livelihoods, and empowerment of women.

By Santhakumar V, Subrat Mishra, Anant Gangola | Aug 22, 2019

The primary focus of work of the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) is the ​‘ecological restoration and conservation of land and water resources, in the uplands and other eco-fragile, degraded and marginalised zones of the country’. 

By Ankur Madan | July 2, 2019

According to the 2011 Census data, 7.01 percent of children in the age group of 0 – 6 years in India have a disability, inborn or acquired. In this regard, early identification and intervention services can play a crucial role in prevention as well as remediation of the developmental delays that occur in young children.

By Shipra Suneja, Ritika Gupta, Rema Devi | May 14, 2019

The language of the marginalised, particularly, stands the risk of extinction (Devy, 2010). Losing a language would also mean losing the arts, rituals, beliefs and lifestyles of the community and its people. This report is based on our short visit to the Adivasi Academy. 

By Santhakumar V | Nov 27, 2019

There have been various experiments in higher education in different parts of the world to address social challenges beyond the practice of affirmative action. An assessment of these may help us contextualise the experience of Azim Premji University during the eight years of its existence. This paper identifies the challenges a university that aims to address social issues may face.

By Santhakumar V and John Kurien | Feb 12, 2019

Residential schools for children of fisher families would prevent their exposure to the vocation of their parents. What are the options for their schooling?

By Santhakumar V, Rema Devi | Jan 29, 2019

It may not be desirable to advocate for a separate curriculum for tribal children. Instead, teaching should be localised to achieve the objectives of the present curriculum.

By Santhakumar V, Anant Gangola, K K Krishna Kumar | Oct 25, 2018

The social actions that have followed the Total Literacy Campaign not only enabled the schooling of children in different ways but also galvanised social actions to address various other development issues.

By Santhakumar V and Nazrul Haque | Oct 8, 2018

Tribal groups in India speak their own languages and not the mainstream language of the state they live in, which is a major hurdle in the education of their children. MLE and other innovative practices are being attempted in Odisha by NGOs, like Sikshasandhan.

By Santhakumar V and Amarendra Das | Sep 24, 2018

There are different approaches towards the human development of the tribal or the indigenous people. Broadly, one can see two extreme positions in this regard. The first is one of modernising these communities to integrate them with the mainstream population.

By Amman Madan, Rama Sastry and B. Ramdas | Sep 4, 2018

ACCORD’s work took off in 1985. Initiated by Stan and Mari Thekaekara and an Adivasi youth leader, KT Subramani, it aimed at building a cadre of youth who could get back the land that the people had lost.

By Indira Vijaysimha | Aug 1, 2018

Agragamee, an NGO working with the marginalised and underprivileged communities in the tribal districts of Odisha has sought to address the problems confronting the universalisation of primary education in tribal areas in several ways.

By Santhakumar V, John Kurien, Rema Devi | Jul 13, 2018

The world over, marine fishing communities which inhabit the coastal fringes of their countries, have adopted occupational and work practices which establish a special socio-cultural ethos for them and which tends to be different from that of the mainstream society.

By Santhakumar V and Amarendra Das | Jul 3, 2018

The Scheduled Tribe (ST) is one social group in India that faces the most difficult challenges in schooling. Though efforts are being made to address some of these, like providing education in their native languages in the primary grades (I‑III), many other challenges keep emerging. 

By V Santhakumar, Anant Gangola, Subrat Mishra | Jun 5, 2018

The Integrated Village Development Project (IVDP) is a notable non-governmental organisation working in the Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, and Vellore districts of Tamil Nadu. This is founded by Mr. Kulandai Francis, recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2012.