- Formal education
- Vocational education
- Professional higher education
- Functional literacy
The Child Based Community Development programme (CBCD) aims to create early childhood educational opportunities among the deprived communities. The programme has been implemented by PREM in 331 villages in eight districts of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in association with its network NGO partners. Pre-school centres are established in each of the programme villages to prepare the children aged up to six years old for schooling, along with providing health and nutritional care. The goal is to achieve 100% enrolment of children in schools. Parents and communities are educated for better parental care and advocacy strategies are engineered at community level for promotion of child rights. The programme will run for three years between January 2007 to December 2009.
Children in the project area between the ages of six and 14 years who are not able to attend school join the Bridge Course which serves as a link to formal education. It prepares older children who have not previously attended school to enter formal education and it also helps students who have had to drop out to rejoin schools. The Bridge Course project enables each child to exercise his or her basic right to education.
PREM also arranges hostel accommodation for those children who live in remote communities where schooling facilities are not available. It encourages and supports community participation in the management of the schools through Gram Sabhas. The students admitted to the hostels run by PREM are provided with schools fees, educational materials, food, clothing and healthcare. Separate residential schools are also run exclusively for girls which enables them to enjoy their childhood and protects them from the potential of child marriage.
Introducing English Medium education for tribal children
PREM provides quality education through English Medium schooling to students who show academic potential. The English language is the medium of instruction and linguistic skill in English enables students from underprivileged communities to compete in the globalized market. PREM’s pilot project in 1999 involved 300 students who were admitted to elite schools in urban locations. These students are now continuing their education at college.
PREM also equips young people to sustain their future livelihood through vocational education. It encourages an agro-based curriculum which can help the students to adopt and practise improved cultivation methods in their home villages. Vocational training in food processing, tailoring and nursing also enables girls to pursue alternative career paths and move away from the dependence on agriculture for livelihood.
In 2007 PREM established the Dr Ambedkar Industrial Training Centre, at Chandragiri, to deliver training in a variety of trades. The centre is approved by the Government of India and the Government of Orissa.
Bharat Mata Tribal Resource and Training Centre at Paralakhemundi, run by PREM, conducts various training programmes for capacity building of elected members of Panchayatiraj Institutions in the Scheduled Areas of Orissa. Members of Orissa Adivasi Manch and National Advocacy Council for Development of Indigenous People (NAC-DIP) make full use of the resources offered at the centre.
PREM continues to promote functional literacy among its project population, utilising print, audio, video and folk media for the dissemination of development information.
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Tribal children studying at an English Medium School
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The youths of tribal communities participating in a workshop on a vocational plumbing course
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