Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    • Home
    • About Us
    • Digital Subscription
    • Advertisement
    • Contact Us
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    The Tennessee TribuneThe Tennessee Tribune
    Advertise With Us
    • Home
      • COVID-19 Resource Center
        • Dr. Henry Louis Gates’ PSA Radio
      • Featured
    • News
      • State
      • Local
      • National/International News
      • Global
      • Business
        • Commentary
        • Finance
        • Local Business
      • Investigative Stories
        • Affordable Housing
        • DCS Investigation
        • Gentrification
    • Editorial
      • National Politics
      • Local News
      • Local Editorial
      • Political Editorial
      • Editorial Cartoons
      • Cycle of Shame
    • Community
      • History
      • Tennessee
        • Chattanooga
        • Clarksville
        • Knoxville
        • Memphis
      • Public Notices
      • Women
        • Let’s Talk with Ms. June
    • Education
      • College
        • American Baptist College
        • Belmont University
        • Fisk
        • HBCU
        • Meharry
        • MTSU
        • University of Tennessee
        • TSU
        • Vanderbilt
      • Elementary
      • High School
    • Lifestyle
      • Art
      • Auto
      • Tribune Travel
      • Entertainment
        • 5 Questions With
        • Books
        • Events
        • Film Review
        • Local Entertainment
      • Family
      • Food
        • Drinks
      • Health & Wellness
      • Home & Garden
      • Featured Books
    • Religion
      • National Religion
      • Local Religion
      • Obituaries
        • National Obituaries
        • Local Obituaries
      • Faith Commentary
    • Sports
      • MLB
        • Sounds
      • NBA
      • NCAA
      • NFL
        • Predators
        • Titans
      • NHL
      • Other Sports
      • Golf
      • Professional Sports
      • Sports Commentary
      • Metro Sports
    • Media
      • Video
      • Photo Galleries
      • Take 10
      • Trending With The Tribune
    • Classified
    • Obituaries
      • Local Obituaries
      • National Obituaries
    The Tennessee TribuneThe Tennessee Tribune
    National/International News

    Young Indian Officials Use Their Own Money to Help Students in Remote Area

    zenger.newsBy zenger.newsNovember 3, 2020No Comments5 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Telegram Pinterest Tumblr Reddit Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    In the remote Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh, a dilapidated ticket counter of the local transport department has been transformed with the help of donations, into a bright library.

    Another 100 volunteers spread across the country are now teaching students of 15 schools as local officials devise ways to bridge the education gap in the face of limited government resources.

    Todak Riba was disappointed at the status of the education in Changlang when he arrived in 2019. An Arunachal Pradesh Civil Services officer from 2016, Riba found Prajwal Montri, a doctor who was also recently posted in the area, considering the same problem.

    “Both of us decided to start free tuition classes after we came here and saw the poor quality of education,” Riba, an extra assistant commissioner in Khimyang, said.

    Khimiyang block of Changlang has 13 villages. This easternmost corner of India on the Indo-Myanmar border is plagued with all kinds of problems, including bad connectivity and a literacy rate far below the average. There is an armed insurgency with the presence of Naga militants or members of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (Independent) who clash with Indian security forces.

    Initially, as many as 20 students joined Riba’s classes. But a month on, most of them stopped coming. Riba and Montri then decided to show documentaries and other films to the students to lure them back. But even that didn’t draw them to tuition classes.

    It was then they moved the classes to an old ticket counter that had been in disrepair for many years. But first they faced the challenge of renovating it.

    “Then the pandemic happened,” Riba said. “But pandemic also meant that the need for tuition classes was even much more now since the education system had collapsed,” he said.

    Riba took the idea of renovation to his 37 colleagues from the 2016 group. Rome Mele, a colleague, jumped on the idea and proposed that it be turned into a formal arrangement and extended to the whole state.

    As per the plan, each of the 37 officers would contribute INR 1,500 ($20) every month which would be used to improve the public infrastructure in the different parts of the state where they are currently posted.

    The dilapidated ticket counter in Khimiyang is the first renovation project under this program, which has been christened Project 37. It has been transformed into a brand new library with books and toys.

    “We thought kids would not come to a normal classroom. We had to do something more,” Riba said.

    Apart from Riba and Montri, the group has roped in one Gopi Mandal, who operates the local mobile phone network tower, as a teacher.

    Mandal said he teaches Hindi, English and mathematics to about 30 students who turn up for the classes. On Saturdays and Sundays, the kids who belong to different grades, from nursery to class five, play different sports.

    “Online education is not possible here in this village,” Mandal said. “Even my own company promises 4G, but even a 2G connection barely works,” he said.

    Network outages are a common issue for Sunita Dwivedi, a 36-year-old teacher from Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka in south India. She has been volunteering as a teacher for students of a school in Gautompur in Changlang, a village with a literacy rate of just 31 per cent.

    She is part of a group of 102 intern volunteers who have been teaching students of 12 schools in Changlang since August.

    The program was initiated by Devansh Yadav, the district’s deputy commissioner, after government teachers failed to adequately progress to using technology as Covid-19 pandemic spread.

    “Teachers were citing various internet issues. Many of them were not friendly with the technology they had recently learned,” Yadav said.

    Yadav then got in touch with the India Foundation for Education Transformation, a nongovernment organization that was already working in a part of the district.

    They reached out to their circle of friends to scout for volunteers. Many others responded after advertisements inviting interns were put up on different social media platforms.

    “We have doctors, management graduates and even two interns from the U.S. now,” said Sanjoy Chakma, co-founder of the India Foundation for Education Transformation.

    Meanwhile, there was another big challenge. Most students did not have smartphones.

    Chakma said they slowly convinced many parents to buy phones, which would help their children study.

    Those who don’t have phones share the ones of their friends. Some days teachers find three children sharing the same smartphone for their class.

    The government teachers have been brought in as collaborators. “They help, for example, if we have to take the test,” Chakma said.

    Interns like Sunita say they have a tough task at hand as they discover the students are lagging in studies owing to years of neglect.

    “After I started teaching, I found that their basics were not clear,” said Sunita, who teaches kids from grade nine to 12.

    There are attendance issues, too. Sunita said on Saturday only three students turned up for her class.

    “We have to remain motivated. We don’t have the option of giving up,” she said.

    (Edited by Siddharthya Roy and Judy Isacoff.)



    The post Young Indian Officials Use Their Own Money to Help Students in Remote Area appeared first on Zenger News.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    zenger.news
    • Website

    Related Posts

    Assata Shakur, Black liberation activist who escaped U.S. prison, dies in Havana at 78

    September 27, 2025

    Delta State University Student Found Hanging on Campus

    September 16, 2025

    MAGA Billboard in Montgomery, Alabama Sparks Outrage with Racist Imagery

    September 9, 2025

    The Game: What Black City Gets the National Guard

    September 9, 2025

    Community Invited to Join Tours of the Obama Presidential Center

    August 24, 2025

    Black Church and Black Press Unite to Empower Black America

    July 26, 2025

    Comments are closed.

    Advertisement
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZODr-6rxyI
    Business

    Nashville airport ends minority business program to comply with federal order

    October 2, 2025

    Zeta Phi Beta sorority announces $750,000 pledge to St. Jude Children’s Hospital

    September 26, 2025

    FUNdraising Good Times Is management a bad word?

    September 26, 2025
    1 2 3 … 389 Next
    Education
    Education

    Digital Pioneers Academy Partners with The $50 Study to Launch Groundbreaking Student Cash Transfer Program in Washington, DC

    By PR NewswireOctober 2, 2025

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 29, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — This fall, Digital Pioneers Academy (DPA), a high-performing public charter school serving…

    MTSU Physician Assistant students get crash course in crisis through mock mass casualty simulation

    October 2, 2025

    Applications Open for Future of STEM Scholarship Initiative at HBCU Week College Fair

    October 2, 2025

    Dr. Temple Grandin to visit Austin Peay State University for book signing, lecture on Oct. 30

    October 2, 2025
    The Tennessee Tribune
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    • About Us
    • Digital Subscription
    • Store
    • Advertise With Us
    • Contact
    © 2025 The Tennessee Tribune - Site Designed by No Regret Media.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Our Spring Sale Has Started

    You can see how this popup was set up in our step-by-step guide: https://wppopupmaker.com/guides/auto-opening-announcement-popups/