Part II.pdf - MTB-MLE Network

Major Project Activities
Staff Recruitment
An experienced and qualified Researcher who is also a Linguist (full time), three Material Developers
(part time), and a Project Support Officer (full time) were appointed to manage the project. A female
member of the tribal community who has sat for the BA exam was also hired as Teacher.
Location of the Pilot School
To select a suitable Oraon village, the Chief Researcher and Programme Coordinator of AHSRAI
travelled to many villages in different areas. After initial selection of several potential villages,
a survey was conducted for final selection. Following the village selection survey, the Pilot School
was set up in an Oraon village named Agolpur, under Godagary thana of Rajshahi district. The
school was opened on 18 February 2003.
Child Situation
Thirty children were selected out of 72 surveyed – 51% girls/49% boys. Those who were selected
had never enrolled in any school before. The age range of the children was between 6 and
10 years. All of them belonged to the ethnic Oraon minority community.
Organizing Workshop on Finalizing the Curriculum of Class I
A one day workshop was organized on December 21, 2002 in ASHRAI Training Centre, Rajshahi
to review the draft materials and solicit opinions from tribal leaders and educationalists. Twenty
one participants actively participated in the discussions and provided their thoughtful and creative
input. This helped immensely in finalising the materials and curriculum. All of them were Sadri
users/specialists drawn from different educational institutions and Government Organizations. The
books were published and put into use following the workshop.
Orientation Course for Teacher
Just before opening the school, an orientation was held to train the teacher in use of the newly
developed materials, some common teaching methods and implementation of the programme. The
Chief Researcher organized the orientation at the ASHRAI Training Centre.
Parents Committee
To ensure both the smooth operation of the school and community participation in the Action Research,
a Parents Committee was formed in the pilot school village. The Parents Committee consists of
the school children’s parents, and is responsible for the general supervision of the school. The
parents committee is composed of seven members.
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