VILLAGE NEWS
Women in Bindhyagiri, Odisha have decided they want to learn to read and write. On the first day, twenty students registered, but word spread and seven more decided to join.
Two women from the community are teaching. Namita Nayak is the new Amrita SeRVe Health Worker there. The other teacher is Rinky Mohanty from nearby Janla.
The women themselves are very happy, even anxious, to learn the alphabet of their native language, Odia. Writing their own names will be one of the first achievements. The main curriculum of classes for the three month period is reading, writing and numbers.
Bindhyagiri is near our first village in Odisha—Guptapada. That was where our first big initiative in adult literacy took place. About 30 women there took up studies. It’s not an easy commitment to make, as most of them are labourers or work on the family farms. The rest of the day includes cooking, laundry, caring for children and other such household chores.
Classes in Bindhyagiri are done in collaboration with the local Lions’ Club and AmritaCREATE.
