Impact Video Helps Dalit Community in Quest for Better Education [Long]
Channel: VideoVolunteers
Date: 2012-12-19

I'm passionate about the issue of education. The fact that I have managed to make change possible brings people to me with their problems. I do not want to be slotted as an educational activist but when a community comes to you with their problems, you cannot show them the door. Once you hear it and once you are witness to it, the issue becomes your responsibility."
He has stopped rampant bribery in the name of education. Dilapidated school buildings were brought to the attention of the authorities and have been renovated and upgraded. Dysfunctional schools have been put back in order. In the state of Jharkhand where the quality of education is abysmal, 20 year old Mukesh Rajak, IndiaUnheard Community Correspondent from Deogarh district and his trusty camera have become an unrelenting movement, a quiet revolution that documents, challenges and changes the malpractices and misdemeanours that plague the Indian Education system is some of the most remote and rural areas in his state.
Children from some of the most underprivileged communities are now receiving higher quality of education. Between a boy and his camera, previously closed avenues of a promising future have now been opened for hundreds of young minds.
How did he find the story for his latest campaign for change?
"I was producing a story on contemporary practises of caste-discrimination when I visited the Harijan colony to scout for stories. I was resting in the shade of the Government Primary School compound when a teacher passed my way. I remarked to the teacher that I was impressed with the infrastructure of the school. That was when the teacher, Mr. Suresh Chandra Mehra, told me that the all staff in the school, from administration to teaching 125 students across 4 grades, was limited solely to one person - him," says Mukesh.
"For over two years, he along with the parents of the students had reached the end of the line trying to bring the situation to the attention of the authorities. The teacher seemed helpless against the bureaucracy. I offered my support and guaranteed him change."
Mukesh immediately set about compiling the evidence. He interviewed the students, the parents and the teacher. He documented the barely functioning system in the school that rested unsteadily on the shoulders of one weary teacher. Picking out the most illustrative of the clips he went and met the Block Education Officer. The footage was screened. Mukesh made demands for three more teachers which would be the prescribed number for a school with 125 students.
When it comes to education, the state of Jharkhand has some of the poorest statistics. It languishes at the bottom of the list. Only 59% of students enrolled under the Right To Education Act, which was enabled to provide free and compulsory education to all children within the age group of six and fourteen years, are currently attending classes. Only 41% of the students who reach the 5th grade are able to read material for the 2nd grade. 60% of students in Jharkhand finish their primary education without gaining minimum required education standards. Among unfavourable conditions to work, the acute shortage of teachers continues to worsen. Teacher - student ratios are far below the prescribed standards of one teacher per 30 students.
"I was informed that his demand of additional teachers could not be met immediately. However, it was possible that one teacher be instated and the request for an additional two could be considered in the near future."
While it still fell short the required numbers, for Government Primary High School in Harijan Colony, Madhupur, the odds of quality education improved from 125 to 1 to a more reasonable 63 to 1. The teacher, the students and their parents are a much relieved lot.
But for Mukesh and his camera, however, the fight doesn't end here. Not until the odds come down to 30 to 1. Not until Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, begins to sing.

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http://amara.org/v/C3ap/