Chhattisgarh: With Schools Shut, Students Of Bastar Village Learn Lessons Via Loudspeakers

In the village, the teachers are using loudspeakers to teach English through Halbi, the tribal language.

"We have put up six loudspeakers for the village of around 300 families. The loudspeakers are used to teach English, and disseminate information on malnutrition and other community issues," Nikhilesh Hari, a development assistant of the district mineral fund, told the media. Hari is also the one who spearheaded the idea.

Since June 14, the sessions are being held twice every day in Bhatpal, which lies 20 km from the district headquarters of Jagdalpur and 266 km from the state capital. Each session that runs for nearly 90 minutes includes storytelling and conversation.

While the loudspeaker is operated from the panchayat bhawan, the recordings are made at the district headquarters. These are then transferred on pen drives by teachers to the village.

"Instead of taking classes in a school, we have earmarked houses with literate members, where children can gather in groups of 8-10. The teachers teach in the houses, and children do their homework under the supervision of adults," said Shailendra Tiwari, one of the teachers.

Children can also study from their houses. The loudspeakers are placed in such a way that it can be heard from every part of the village, the teacher added.

Rajat Bansal, the District Collector, said that the idea came while looking for alternatives to enable access to education to children.

"We can't expect all parents to have access to connectivity, devices or the knowhow. Loudspeakers have been used for information dissemination for a long time… Currently, the programme is being run in seven blocks in the district," he said.