Coaching centre helps educate Arunachal tribal children

Updated on: Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Tucked away in an obscure village in Arunachal Pradesh, which has the lowest literacy rate in the country, a coaching centre has been striving to fill the vacuum in the state's education system for years by teaching tribal children.

The coaching centre, situated amidst the lush greenery of Misram village in Pasighat, has around 350 students, from nursery to class VII.

Known to students as 'Litchi' school, because of the abundance of stately litchi trees around the building, the coaching institute was started in 2000 by three people from Kerala Lekha Ramachandran, her husband D Ramachandran and brother-in-law C K Babu.

The centre has become so popular in its 11-year existence that children from even far-flung villages in the state like Balek, GTC, Mirbuk and Diking come here to study.

"Even students from Assam take rented accommodation here at Pasighat to join the centre," C K Babu told.

Babu said that the idea of the centre was first mooted by Lekha Ramachandran who is very fond of children.

The notion that tribal students are weak in their studies has been amply proved wrong by this centre, Babu felt.

"I will say all they need is a little push and good guidance. Today, many tribal students are cracking competitive exams," Babu pointed out.

"As soon as the students get their report cards from school, their parents first come to show it to us. This shows that they are satisfied with our work. It feels like the hard work we did has finally paid off," Babu smiled.

Many former students of the coaching centre are now employed as doctors, engineers and government employees, he added.

Coaching centre helps educate Arunachal tribal children

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