Child Reporters Offer Recomendations to the District Administration

School is not just a building with some walls and class room s . It has to have a perfect communication between the teachers and their pupil . It should have space to play , a garden to feel happy , said, Rasmita Majhi , a student from a vernacular school in Koraput . She was one of the 60 selected children , regarded as child reporters from six schools from Koraput urban area were exposed to an altogether different learning experience by attending the school that was not theirs by DPEP/SSA in association of People’s Group fro Children’s Development (PGCD) , UNICEF & KFA, Koraput .

The prayer class in Forest Colony UP School was near to perfection while its garden filled with good number of flowers was a joyful experience l , Abhipsa Behera , a child reporter added . For Sibani Khora , meeting with new children in JELC UP School and making friendship with them was enough for the day to remember for long . Loving gesture of the teachers towards the children in E.Co.Rly UP School was impressive and seeing that the children were learning by using the Teaching Learning Materials(TLM) supplied by the government gave more food for thought for Elina, Kamalini , Kamini , Kalpana and other children who had spent more than six hours in the school .

While the well managed school premises of Mali Street UP School had sufficient reasons to cheer for the children like Sushanti, Bikash, Madhusmita , Padmabati and others, absence of toilets for the children made them worried . Apart from the construction of a toilet in the school there was an urgent need to do something about the foul smell rising out of the huge drain carrying dirty water , flowing near the school , Amrita Kuldip said .

The UP School of Rangabali Kumbha needed additional classroom as the students of Std.V were sitting in the veranda for the lack of sufficient number of classrooms , Debanjana Bastia a child reporter who had visited the school along with another nine children added. While the teachers were nice to the children there was also the need of a fair weather road up to the school , they felt .

Proper presentation of information like the time schedule of immunization for the children , details of funding received for the development of the school, on the walls of the school building along with many other vital statistics had reinforced the confidence among the children that adults were there with the children at all level , another child , Debasmita Sahu said . While the school had the provision of toilets , boundary and garden , the students of StdVI were unfortunate for the positioning of their classroom which was adjacent to the dry fish market . They need to be shifted to other place , felt Najarana Begum , a child reporter .

While the use of TLM , made classrooms vibrant and interactive, children , after making interaction with other children and teachers had come out with a suggestion for the district administration asking it to construct toilets in all the schools in the urban areas like the schools in the rural areas , to take steps to protect the children by building boundaries around the school buildings , construct additional classrooms , provide drinking water facilities and equip the schools with adequate number of teachers for ensuring quality education .

This exercise of enabling children to visit other schools in the neighbourhood would go a long way in enhancing their horizon of learning through interaction and also would build a sense of brotherhood among the children of different schools by understanding each other’s problems , challenges and possibilities , said, Prasant Kumar Das , DPC , DPEP at Koraput.