School bag distribution in Bihar 

Friday, March 15,  2019
Ichari and Hadiyabad, Bihar

Children got new school bags to carry and protect their study books in Bihar villages. Amrita Center for Research in Analytics and Technologies for Education (AmritaCREATE), Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, runs the Amrita Education Centers in Ratanpur, Hadiyabad and Icheri through the Amrita Rural India Tablet Education (AmritaRITE) project. Children come here daily for afterschool tutoring and Sunday value-education programs. 300 students got their new bags at the beginning of this week in a joyful event where all the teachers, Amrita SeRVe village coordinators and health workers were present. Bags will also be distributed to students in the two remaining villages in Bihar, Tenduni and Morasia, soon.

All at once, the children expressed their happiness. Priyabrat Pandey, ten-year-old pupil of 4^th standard said: “Before I was carrying the books in my arms and felt ashamed about it. Now I am happy and enthusiastic to come to the center.” He describes the general feeling of motivation in the village seeing their education supported in this manner.

Since 2015, AmritaRITE has distributed schoolbags and school supplies to students in 17 states of India. In 2019 alone, by March, 758 bags were distributed to 11 villages in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, besides Bihar.

The children took the bags to their homes to show the parents. Already village coordinator Nandi Kishor can see the difference: parents who hadn’t been sending their children for tutoring daily, are starting to think about contributing to their study manners, seeing the support given by Amrita staff.

The bag distribution has improved the daily attendance  of children coming to the center, says Nand Kishore: “Now about 20 more children are coming daily, inspired by the support and facilities given. Children are happy to receive it. I like to see them happy… it gives me happiness also.”