In a remote corner of Odisha’s Ganjam district, three Adivasi villages took collective action to solve a basic but long-standing problem: their children were dropping out of school because the nearest one was too far, and the walk too difficult.

A daily journey through the forest

The villages of Bilugaon, Sachar, and Sanagaon are located in the hilly terrain of Patrapur block, near the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border. Children from these villages had to walk nearly two kilometres each way through dense forest and uneven terrain to attend the government-run primary school in Gudipadar. The long, often unsafe journey discouraged many children from attending school regularly. As a result, enrolment and attendance remained low.

In August 2023, the newly elected Village Development Committee (VDC) members from the three villages met to discuss pressing issues facing their communities. Education emerged as a top concern, alongside the lack of roads, schools, and access to healthcare. Residents reported having to travel 30 to 40 kilometres to reach the Panchayat headquarters in Buratal and Tumba for essential services like ration collection and medical care.

A community-led solution

The VDCs had been formed a month earlier as part of Gram Vikas’ Water Secure Gram Panchayat (WSGP) programme, which had been active in these villages for the past year and a half. In July 2023, Gram Vikas had mapped local water sources, and by August, the VDCs were addressing wider development issues.

To address the education challenge, Gram Vikas facilitated a joint meeting with the VDC members, village residents, and representatives from Goonj, a Delhi-based NGO with a long-standing presence in the area. The idea of a local tuition centre quickly gained support.

Goonj agreed to provide cloth kits to each household as a token for contributing labour towards the centre’s construction. Residents supplied wood, bamboo, and other materials, and built the structure themselves. Goonj also offered school kits for all children who would attend the centre.

Raghunath Dalei, Goonj’s point of contact for Ganjam and Gajapati, attended the meeting in Bilugaon. “I was surprised that VDC members used thumb impressions on the meeting resolution,” said Raghunath Dalei of Goonj. “They said there weren’t any educational institutions nearby, so they never got a chance to receive formal education. That is exactly why they wanted Gram Vikas to help them set up the tuition centre, so their children would be able to read and write.”

Teaching close to home

Pooling their earnings, the villagers hired a teacher from within their own community. Markondo Sabar, a 25-year-old from Bilugaon who had completed Class 10, agreed to take on the role. The families committed to paying him a monthly salary of ₹3000.

The centre began holding classes for 45 children aged between four and ten. For the first time, young learners had access to regular education within walking distance of home. “The initiative taken by the newly elected VDC members of the three villages is commendable. They were instrumental in uniting the residents and addressing the crucial education issue our children faced. We finally have a tuition centre nearby, and children no longer have to walk long distances to attend school every day,” said Kailash Sabar, a resident of Sachar.

Markondo taught classes consistently for nearly a year. “It was an inspiring initiative by the households. When the families requested me to teach the children, I promptly agreed,” he said.

When the centre became an Anganwadi

In early 2024, government officials discussed converting the tuition centre into an Anganwadi centre. Parents, seeing an opportunity to formalise early education provision for younger children, agreed. However, they stopped paying Markondo’s salary in March 2024. He continued teaching without pay for four more months.

“The families had agreed to pay me a salary of ₹3000 every month. But in March 2024, they stopped paying me. I continued teaching for another four months. Upon not receiving any assurances to pay me and clear my dues for those four months that they had not paid, I was forced to leave,” said Markondo.

Before leaving for Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to work in a prawn factory, where he now earns a higher wage, he helped 17 of the center’s students enrol in residential schools across Patrapur block in Odisha’s Ganjam district and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. Twelve students from the center now study in residential schools in Patrapur block’s Talabadar village, two in Paatakota, and three in Mala Govinda Puram both located in the state of Andhra Pradesh. “The rest of the students attend the Anganwadi centre as they are very young,” he said.

Building leadership, beyond the classroom

The tuition centre was not just an education project. It became a platform for building leadership within the community. Rabi Sabar, a Bilugaon VDC member, credited leadership training sessions organised by Gram Vikas for giving him and others the confidence to take initiative.

“One or two leaders can’t solve all the complex problems that our communities face. With more community leaders, our communities will do better. Participating in these leadership training sessions makes me feel more confident about myself. Like me, other leaders feel energetic and ready to take up community issues,” he said.

For eleven months, 45 children from three remote villages accessed regular, structured education close to home. The tuition centre, built by the community and sustained through shared effort, was never just about classes. It was about proving to themselves that they could shape their children’s futures on their own terms.