How Bodh Shiksha Samiti made remote Rajasthan villagers aware of Covid-19

A Jaipur-based educational organisation lends a hand to the struggling administration in its fight against Covid-19 in the remote villages of Alwar, writes Anjuli Bhargava

“Yudh chid gaya hai” (India is in the midst of a war)

“Pakistan ne hamla kar diya” (We’ve been attacked by Pakistan)

"Mahamari ya haiza phel gaya hai" (A massive plague or cholera has broken out)

In the month of March, these were some of the rumors floating in Rajasthan’s Umren and Thanagazi, far flung villages of Alwar district as policeman used every trick in the book to force villagers off the roads and ordered them to remain indoors. Schools in the area had shut by early March.

Within days of the outbreak, it became quite apparent to the district administration of how unprepared the locals in their area were for the calamity that had befallen the world. The villagers – many illiterate - were blissfully unaware of the Covid-19 virus, its dangers and possible spread. Washing hands, face masks and social distancing were far from their minds as they stayed indoors convinced something was on but couldn’t quite articulate what. The authorities worried that if a case indeed broke out, the village would be decimated just on account of poor understanding and appreciation of the problem. Literacy rates in the district are well below the national average and female literacy trails even further.
 

That’s when the Bodh Shiksha Samiti (BSS) – funded by the GoodEarth Education foundation for the last 20 years - headquartered in Jaipur and runs 31 schools (with close to 9000-10,000 students) in these educationally backwards districts decided to tie up with the local administration. To start with, around 25-30 teachers of the project started working on a voluntary basis to spread awareness with house and village visits, dissemination information and masks and explaining what the virus was and how it was playing havoc with lives globally. Regular announcements regarding safety and precautions started to be made through loud speakers from vehicles at the main points of colonies, villages and dhanis. Pamphlets started being distributed. Local grocery shop owners were sensitized as these are hubs for local information.

The mammoth effort paid off. Thankfully, by the time the first infected case surfaced in the community in early April – a vegetable farmer who had transported his produce to Gurugram - most were aware of what they were confronting. This ensured that the virus did not spread like wildfire – something the authorities had been dreading at the beginning of the outbreak when the villagers were totally unaware.

But as the weeks flew by, other gaps were found. Based on reports from volunteers, the Samiti management realized that the most urgent need – even before information – was food. “Family incomes in many cases had totally dried up and we found many who were struggling to eat even two meals a day”, explains Yogendra Upadhyay, executive director of the BSS. Food packets began to be distributed to over 500 families twice a day on average in the areas of Jamwa, Ramgarh and Amer. In the last 60 days or so, 27,000 packets have been handed out and the effort remains ongoing.

Another volunteer teaches children at home

But soon volunteers who were involved in the food relief effort noticed further gaps. MGNERGA work was carrying on in some parts but workers were not maintaining social distance. Villagers who were unwell on any account were suffering at home as they were scared of leaving their homes and of being beaten by the police. That’s when the BSS team decided that a local helpline number was needed. The helpline now helps diagnose problems over the phone and in some cases medication to provide relief is prescribed wherever possible.

Soon the teachers woke up to yet another very serious fall-out. Children were falling massively behind in their studies and were growing increasingly restless at home with nothing to do. That’s when they started thinking more concretely about how to engage with children. Very few families have phones and almost none had any other device accessible for children. The BSS teachers started conducting daily home visits, taking study material across and putting in place a few protocols. Where ever possible older siblings were asked to pitch in and take classes for all the neighborhood younger children and each teacher started going to one cluster of villages and taking classes for a bunch of older kids.

What has been heartening for the BSS management team is that as time has rolled on, instead of their teachers tiring and the early enthusiasm waning, they appear more energized. For the last several weeks, almost 50-60 teachers have started residing (leaving their families at home) in temporary camps set up in the schools for better coordination.

What has taken even the BSS team by total surprise is that the female teachers are now beginning to move to reside in the schools (of the 160 full strength, 20 per cent is female) to work more actively on the relief effort. These women are opting to stay on the school premises despite having to leave their own husbands, in-laws and children at home, something usually unheard of in these parts, convincing all that adversity is the foundation of virtue.