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Completing formal school education from a school-based in rural areas can feel like a 12-15-year-long hurdle race! These hurdles spare no student.&nbsp;

The cultural, social, and economic factors make special provisions for female students. They have to move past additional hurdles in the presence of more restrictions and safety concerns. Most of the times, these additional hurdles disqualify them from the race to complete their education.&nbsp;

Lack of Motivation and Awareness: There is a lack of motivation amongst many students and their families in ensuring any form of education. The importance of education is not perceived as a priority by many families. They believe that the children have to ultimately join the farmlands and will not get a job after completing school education, so there is little value in it. Providing education, thus, seems like an unnecessary and expensive step to take – or even a risk. They rather prefer getting some help from their children at their farmlands or at homes. Veerni, my host organisation, provides free and safe educational and boarding facility to the underprivileged girls of Rajasthan. Despite Veerni’s support and facilities, almost every year 1-2 students drop out due to family and economic pressures.&nbsp;

Inaccessibility: Even if the students and their families value the importance of education, inaccessibility of resources becomes a hurdle. These hurdles include the absence of schools in villages, the absence of secondary schools in villages, bad economic conditions, remote locations of schools, the absence of basic facilities (such as clean drinking water, toilets, and benches) and motor vehicles for schools located in remote areas. There are multiple schemes and programmes run by the central and the state governments. However, many of these remain unknown by the majority of people. Before Veerni’s intervention through secondary education, there were several villages in which completion of education was a far-fetched dream.&nbsp;

Compromised State of Teaching Staff: Factors like teacher absenteeism, lack of adequate teaching staff, poor quality of the teaching, lack of regular training sessions, and lack of accountability compromise the quality of education. While teaching spoken and written English at Veerni to the students of class 6 to class 9, I witnessed first-hand the unfortunate state of education at public schools in villages. Students who were learning English grammar struggled to understand the difference between small letters, cursive writing, numerical values in words, basic spellings, and elementary conversational words.&nbsp;

Social Factors: Earlier, girls were not allowed to complete education as the society would then deem them as unfit and unsuitable wives and daughters-in-law. This thought has been changing due to the increasing demand of educated females by the semi-educated or educated males. Caste and communal issues also lead to dropouts. A few years ago, several students belonging to the lower castes were forced by the upper castes of the same village to leave Veerni. To shed light on this: ‘Under the Adarsh Scheme , the merging of the schools has forced the children to drop out. It becomes difficult for Dalit children to attend school when educational institutions in their neighbourhood are merged with those in upper-caste localities. Many female students from conservative families also drop out when girls schools are merged with co-ed ones.

To a large extent, these issues can be resolved with the help of non-governmental organisations, governmental organisations, and civic bodies. These problems can be controlled in the following three foundational ways:&nbsp;

Infrastructure and Capacity Building: These organisations can focus on capacity building of the existing infrastructure and construct additional schools in the areas where there is an absence of schools or secondary schools. The 2019-20 budgetary provision of Rs 1,581 crores for education in Rajasthan under the Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan School Infrastructure Scheme would be utilised for construction of over 14,000 classrooms, laboratories and libraries and 23 new school buildings as well as the renovation of 83 buildings.

The Rajasthan state government with the help of the Boston Consulting Group, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Central Square Foundation, implemented the Rajasthan Adarsh Yojana in 2014. 
 
Under this scheme, more than 12,000 elementary and secondary schools have been merged to create 'Adarsh' schools which will be properly staffed and equipped with sufficient resources to provide quality education.[5] However, these schemes shouldn’t be considered as a straight-jacket solution. These issues require transformation from below and steps should be taken considering the social and cultural standing of the community.&nbsp;

Safe Boarding and Educational Facility:  Another change can be brought by establishing safe boarding and educational facilities for students. Motivation can be drawn from the Veerni Institute, SMART Academy of Tech Mahindra Foundation and others. In this way, they can provide quality education, reduce student-teacher absenteeism, ensure a proper student-teacher ratio, support physical and mental health and development, and prepare them for higher education.&nbsp;

Outsourcing: In the due process of making arrangements for the above two solutions or in case of unavailability of the resources, external resources can be utilised temporarily. The government, the non-governmental organisations, schools and civic bodies can collaborate with individuals or organisations that can provide their services on a temporary basis to provide interim healing.&nbsp;

These services can be of spoken and written English, physical education, arts, vocational training, self-defence and career counselling. They can be delivered either through an offline medium or an online medium. These structural issues shouldn’t become a reason for hampering the education, growth and development of millions of students studying in the rural areas of the country.

Lastly, there are certain issues especially socio-cultural issues which will keep increasing the hurdles in the race to a complete education. This will require the stakeholders to contribute years of effort to revolutionise the ground reality.&nbsp;

Consistent efforts, cultural understanding, awareness campaigns amongst others will play a significant role in transforming the current reality. Veerni Institute is an inspirational example.&nbsp; 
 
*A previous version of this article was <a href="https://aif.org/a-hurdle-race-education-in-rural-areas/ ">originally published</a> by the American India Foundation 
 
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)&nbsp;

Completing formal school education from a school-based in rural areas can feel like a 12-15-year-long hurdle race! These hurdles spare no student. The cultural, social, and economic factors make special provisions for female students.

Completing formal school education from a school-based in rural areas can feel like a 12-15-year-long hurdle race! These hurdles spare no student. The cultural, social, and economic factors make special provisions for female students. They have to move past additional hurdles in the presence of more restrictions and safety concerns. Most of the times, these additional hurdles disqualify them from the race to complete their education. Lack of Motivation and Awareness: There is a lack of motivation amongst many students and their families in ensuring any form of education. The importance of education is not perceived as a priority by many families. They believe that the children have to ultimately join the farmlands and will not get a job after completing school education, so there is little value in it. Providing education, thus, seems like an unnecessary and expensive step to take – or even a risk. They rather prefer getting some help from their children at their farmlands or at homes. Veerni, my host organisation, provides free and safe educational and boarding facility to the underprivileged girls of Rajasthan. Despite Veerni’s support and facilities, almost every year 1-2 students drop out due to family and economic pressures. Inaccessibility: Even if the students and their families value the importance of education, inaccessibility of resources becomes a hurdle. These hurdles include the absence of schools in villages, the absence of secondary schools in villages, bad economic conditions, remote locations of schools, the absence of basic facilities (such as clean drinking water, toilets, and benches) and motor vehicles for schools located in remote areas. There are multiple schemes and programmes run by the central and the state governments. However, many of these remain unknown by the majority of people. Before Veerni’s intervention through secondary education, there were several villages in which completion of education was a far-fetched dream. Compromised State of Teaching Staff: Factors like teacher absenteeism, lack of adequate teaching staff, poor quality of the teaching, lack of regular training sessions, and lack of accountability compromise the quality of education. While teaching spoken and written English at Veerni to the students of class 6 to class 9, I witnessed first-hand the unfortunate state of education at public schools in villages. Students who were learning English grammar struggled to understand the difference between small letters, cursive writing, numerical values in words, basic spellings, and elementary conversational words. Social Factors: Earlier, girls were not allowed to complete education as the society would then deem them as unfit and unsuitable wives and daughters-in-law. This thought has been changing due to the increasing demand of educated females by the semi-educated or educated males. Caste and communal issues also lead to dropouts. A few years ago, several students belonging to the lower castes were forced by the upper castes of the same village to leave Veerni. To shed light on this: ‘Under the Adarsh Scheme , the merging of the schools has forced the children to drop out. It becomes difficult for Dalit children to attend school when educational institutions in their neighbourhood are merged with those in upper-caste localities. Many female students from conservative families also drop out when girls schools are merged with co-ed ones. To a large extent, these issues can be resolved with the help of non-governmental organisations, governmental organisations, and civic bodies. These problems can be controlled in the following three foundational ways: Infrastructure and Capacity Building: These organisations can focus on capacity building of the existing infrastructure and construct additional schools in the areas where there is an absence of schools or secondary schools. The 2019-20 budgetary provision of Rs 1,581 crores for education in Rajasthan under the Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan School Infrastructure Scheme would be utilised for construction of over 14,000 classrooms, laboratories and libraries and 23 new school buildings as well as the renovation of 83 buildings. The Rajasthan state government with the help of the Boston Consulting Group, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Central Square Foundation, implemented the Rajasthan Adarsh Yojana in 2014. Under this scheme, more than 12,000 elementary and secondary schools have been merged to create 'Adarsh' schools which will be properly staffed and equipped with sufficient resources to provide quality education.[5] However, these schemes shouldn’t be considered as a straight-jacket solution. These issues require transformation from below and steps should be taken considering the social and cultural standing of the community. Safe Boarding and Educational Facility:  Another change can be brought by establishing safe boarding and educational facilities for students. Motivation can be drawn from the Veerni Institute, SMART Academy of Tech Mahindra Foundation and others. In this way, they can provide quality education, reduce student-teacher absenteeism, ensure a proper student-teacher ratio, support physical and mental health and development, and prepare them for higher education. Outsourcing: In the due process of making arrangements for the above two solutions or in case of unavailability of the resources, external resources can be utilised temporarily. The government, the non-governmental organisations, schools and civic bodies can collaborate with individuals or organisations that can provide their services on a temporary basis to provide interim healing. These services can be of spoken and written English, physical education, arts, vocational training, self-defence and career counselling. They can be delivered either through an offline medium or an online medium. These structural issues shouldn’t become a reason for hampering the education, growth and development of millions of students studying in the rural areas of the country. Lastly, there are certain issues especially socio-cultural issues which will keep increasing the hurdles in the race to a complete education. This will require the stakeholders to contribute years of effort to revolutionise the ground reality. Consistent efforts, cultural understanding, awareness campaigns amongst others will play a significant role in transforming the current reality. Veerni Institute is an inspirational example. *A previous version of this article was originally published by the American India Foundation (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

A hurdle race: Education in rural areas

Migration from development-starved villages of Uttarakhand, especially those in the hills, continues to present a grim picture with over 700 of them totally depopulated in seven years.

Of nearly 16,500 villages in Uttarakhand, as many as 734, mostly in the hilly areas, are totally depopulated. Not a soul lives in them, Vice President of Uttarakhand Rural Development and Migration Commission S S Negi told PTI.

Such ghost villages with their houses lying in ruins and fields overgrown with vegetation abound in Pauri district where 186 out of 298 villages are totally depopulated, he said citing a report submitted to the state government recently by the commission.

Pauri is the worst hit by migration followed by Almora district where a study by a commission team is already underway.

The data covers a period of seven years after the 2011 census, he said.

Describing the situation as "grim", the commission's vice president said while migration from development-starved hill areas is a common problem total depopulation of villages is unique to Uttarakhand.

"Wherever there is lack of development in the country or anywhere in the world, migration is a reality but total depopulation of villages is a rare phenomenon which seems Uttarakhand specific," he observed.

One of the reasons behind total depopulation is that while migration from states like Bihar is of a temporary and seasonal nature, outflux from the hill villages of Uttarakhand is of a permanent nature, he said.

"While people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, for instance, migrate often to work as labourers in urban areas temporarily and come back, those who migrate from Uttarakhand hills are often educated people who do so in search of better employment opportunities and prospects for settling down," the commission's vice president said.

There are also a number of villages in the state where the population size is 8-10 or 2-3 people.

&nbsp;Citing an instance, Negi said while touring Nainidanda block of Pauri district they came upon a village where no one lives except a retired postmaster and his wife who said they bolt the doors of their house at 4 pm and keep indoors in the fear of leopards.

&nbsp;"There are also villages in Nainidanda block where there is no male population with all of them working outside and in case of one of the women dying men have to be sent from neighbouring villages to carry the bier on their shoulders and participate in the funeral," he said.

Pegging the rate of migration at 50 per cent, Negi underlined the need for immediate steps to boost the rural economy to stop further migration from Uttarakhand's villages. "The basic factors behind the high rate of migration from Uttarakhand's villages is lack of income avenues, non-accessibility of quality education and quality health care.

The situation can be improved only through creation of better income avenues with fresh impetus to ecotourism," Negi said.&nbsp;

"Five-star tourism is obviously not going to work in villages. A renewed thrust on ecotourism like home stays and adventure tourism activities like trekking, rafting etc may create better income avenues for locals and stop further migration from our villages," he said.

&nbsp;Temple tourism is another area which needs to be paid more attention as villages of Uttarakhand abound with centuries-old temples that can attract people and generate income avenues for locals, he suggested.

&nbsp;Better facilities can be created for devotees around these temples which will create employment opportunities for locals and increase their income, he said.

Migration from development-starved villages of Uttarakhand, especially those in the hills, continues to present a grim picture with over 700 of them totally depopulated in seven years.

Migration from development-starved villages of Uttarakhand, especially those in the hills, continues to present a grim picture with over 700 of them totally depopulated in seven years. Of nearly 16,500 villages in Uttarakhand, as many as 734, mostly in the hilly areas, are totally depopulated. Not a soul lives in them, Vice President of Uttarakhand Rural Development and Migration Commission S S Negi told PTI. Such ghost villages with their houses lying in ruins and fields overgrown with vegetation abound in Pauri district where 186 out of 298 villages are totally depopulated, he said citing a report submitted to the state government recently by the commission. Pauri is the worst hit by migration followed by Almora district where a study by a commission team is already underway. The data covers a period of seven years after the 2011 census, he said. Describing the situation as "grim", the commission's vice president said while migration from development-starved hill areas is a common problem total depopulation of villages is unique to Uttarakhand. "Wherever there is lack of development in the country or anywhere in the world, migration is a reality but total depopulation of villages is a rare phenomenon which seems Uttarakhand specific," he observed. One of the reasons behind total depopulation is that while migration from states like Bihar is of a temporary and seasonal nature, outflux from the hill villages of Uttarakhand is of a permanent nature, he said. "While people from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, for instance, migrate often to work as labourers in urban areas temporarily and come back, those who migrate from Uttarakhand hills are often educated people who do so in search of better employment opportunities and prospects for settling down," the commission's vice president said. There are also a number of villages in the state where the population size is 8-10 or 2-3 people. Citing an instance, Negi said while touring Nainidanda block of Pauri district they came upon a village where no one lives except a retired postmaster and his wife who said they bolt the doors of their house at 4 pm and keep indoors in the fear of leopards. "There are also villages in Nainidanda block where there is no male population with all of them working outside and in case of one of the women dying men have to be sent from neighbouring villages to carry the bier on their shoulders and participate in the funeral," he said. Pegging the rate of migration at 50 per cent, Negi underlined the need for immediate steps to boost the rural economy to stop further migration from Uttarakhand's villages. "The basic factors behind the high rate of migration from Uttarakhand's villages is lack of income avenues, non-accessibility of quality education and quality health care. The situation can be improved only through creation of better income avenues with fresh impetus to ecotourism," Negi said. "Five-star tourism is obviously not going to work in villages. A renewed thrust on ecotourism like home stays and adventure tourism activities like trekking, rafting etc may create better income avenues for locals and stop further migration from our villages," he said. Temple tourism is another area which needs to be paid more attention as villages of Uttarakhand abound with centuries-old temples that can attract people and generate income avenues for locals, he suggested. Better facilities can be created for devotees around these temples which will create employment opportunities for locals and increase their income, he said.

Depopulation empties 734 Uttarakhand villages

Before my AIF Clinton Fellowship position at Bempu Health, a public health start-up based in Bangalore that uses technological solutions to save newborn lives, my public health experiences had occurred in more “typical” settings. I’d held internships at the state health department in Wisconsin and at the Public Health Foundation of India in Gurgaon, where I worked mostly with individuals with public health or clinical degrees.&nbsp;

After college, in my role with AmeriCorps, which is a US government-funded civil service programme, I was surrounded by doctors, nurses and other clinical staff as I worked with patients on health education regarding specific risk factors. Most of my classmates and former colleagues working in public health have undergraduate or Master’s degrees in public health, so I saw the path to working in public health as largely defined by this specific type of background or degree programme.&nbsp;

However, my last year as an AIF Clinton Fellow in the field changed this perception. From my first few weeks at Bempu Health, my notion of what a career in public health looked like was radically shaken up. The Bempu team includes engineers, designers, and finance and production specialists in addition to people with public health-specific backgrounds. On the various projects, I’ve worked on, including launching clinical studies through the Bempu research award, working on clinical study publication, writing grant applications, managing social media, and more, I’ve engaged with colleagues who work on all sides of the company.&nbsp;

This has offered me perspective on just how diverse and interdisciplinary the public work we’re doing, all centred around improving maternal and child health really is. I’ve also come to understand why this so important.&nbsp;

I’ve observed that it has been absolutely necessary, for my projects to be effective, to work with individuals from every team. To design a clinical protocol for a study on a new Bempu product that works to detect and resolve neonatal apneas, I met with the engineering team to better understand how the device works and what modifications can be made for the purposes of a study. I worked extensively with our clinical advisor, a neonatologist, to ensure the study was designed appropriately to be able to obtain clinically relevant information. I spoke with our on-the-ground research coordinator, who best understands the day-to-day workings of the study hospital and what is feasible in that particular setting with the available resources.&nbsp;

I reviewed the draft with my colleagues on the public health team, who were able to provide suggestions and input based on their own experiences with clinical research. To make sure there was a prototype ready to bring to the hospital when meeting with the study investigator about the proposal, I coordinated with members of Bempu’s production team. Through this project and others, I’ve worked here, I’ve witnessed how essential inputs from team members with different backgrounds and expertise are in making public health interventions as effective as possible.&nbsp;

For a public health start-up, where creative minds are working every day to come up with ways to address the maternal and child health challenges that exist in India and other low- and middle-income countries, having a well-rounded, interdisciplinary team is crucial for understanding all aspects of the problem and how to develop a solution that works.&nbsp;

My conversations with members of Bempu’s engineering, design, and production teams - fields I previously wouldn’t have typically seen as particularly related or relevant to public health - have offered some of the most meaningful insight I’ve gained this past year on India’s public health challenges and how a wide range of work can contribute to solving them. Understanding more about these fields has been tremendously helpful, as I hadn’t previously been exposed much to engineering, design, and production.&nbsp;

Seeing the value of interdisciplinary work in public health has been one of my most important takeaways from my time in India, and I will strive to continue to approach public health through an interdisciplinary lens moving forward.&nbsp;

(A previous version of <a href="https://aif.org/how-interdisciplinary-teams-can-tackle-public-health-challenges/">this article </a>was originally published by the American India Foundation)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Before my AIF Clinton Fellowship position at Bempu Health, a public health start-up based in Bangalore that uses technological solutions to save newborn lives, my public health experiences had occurred in more “typical” settings.

Before my AIF Clinton Fellowship position at Bempu Health, a public health start-up based in Bangalore that uses technological solutions to save newborn lives, my public health experiences had occurred in more “typical” settings. I’d held internships at the state health department in Wisconsin and at the Public Health Foundation of India in Gurgaon, where I worked mostly with individuals with public health or clinical degrees. After college, in my role with AmeriCorps, which is a US government-funded civil service programme, I was surrounded by doctors, nurses and other clinical staff as I worked with patients on health education regarding specific risk factors. Most of my classmates and former colleagues working in public health have undergraduate or Master’s degrees in public health, so I saw the path to working in public health as largely defined by this specific type of background or degree programme. However, my last year as an AIF Clinton Fellow in the field changed this perception. From my first few weeks at Bempu Health, my notion of what a career in public health looked like was radically shaken up. The Bempu team includes engineers, designers, and finance and production specialists in addition to people with public health-specific backgrounds. On the various projects, I’ve worked on, including launching clinical studies through the Bempu research award, working on clinical study publication, writing grant applications, managing social media, and more, I’ve engaged with colleagues who work on all sides of the company. This has offered me perspective on just how diverse and interdisciplinary the public work we’re doing, all centred around improving maternal and child health really is. I’ve also come to understand why this so important. I’ve observed that it has been absolutely necessary, for my projects to be effective, to work with individuals from every team. To design a clinical protocol for a study on a new Bempu product that works to detect and resolve neonatal apneas, I met with the engineering team to better understand how the device works and what modifications can be made for the purposes of a study. I worked extensively with our clinical advisor, a neonatologist, to ensure the study was designed appropriately to be able to obtain clinically relevant information. I spoke with our on-the-ground research coordinator, who best understands the day-to-day workings of the study hospital and what is feasible in that particular setting with the available resources. I reviewed the draft with my colleagues on the public health team, who were able to provide suggestions and input based on their own experiences with clinical research. To make sure there was a prototype ready to bring to the hospital when meeting with the study investigator about the proposal, I coordinated with members of Bempu’s production team. Through this project and others, I’ve worked here, I’ve witnessed how essential inputs from team members with different backgrounds and expertise are in making public health interventions as effective as possible. For a public health start-up, where creative minds are working every day to come up with ways to address the maternal and child health challenges that exist in India and other low- and middle-income countries, having a well-rounded, interdisciplinary team is crucial for understanding all aspects of the problem and how to develop a solution that works. My conversations with members of Bempu’s engineering, design, and production teams - fields I previously wouldn’t have typically seen as particularly related or relevant to public health - have offered some of the most meaningful insight I’ve gained this past year on India’s public health challenges and how a wide range of work can contribute to solving them. Understanding more about these fields has been tremendously helpful, as I hadn’t previously been exposed much to engineering, design, and production. Seeing the value of interdisciplinary work in public health has been one of my most important takeaways from my time in India, and I will strive to continue to approach public health through an interdisciplinary lens moving forward. (A previous version of this article was originally published by the American India Foundation) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

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