Free Play School & Library for Indian Tribal Children
Our initiative to open up a free play school and a children’s library to further education & learning among the ethnic communities of India is shaping up quite well. The first such library & play school, aptly named Sphoorthy, is nearing completion in Balrampur, Chhattisgarh.
Our teams, our sponsors & the local residents of Balrampur are excited to see this model play school & kids’ library coming to fruition. We received an overwhelming response from the local legislators & the government authorities on our intent & persuasion to take the step to open up this educational facility in this tribal community. We are currently waiting for the final paperwork to come through before we open up this facility to the local children.
The district of Balrampur – Ramanujganj is located in the northern part of Chhattisgarh, bordering the states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand & Madhya Pradesh and is spread out over a total land area of about 60.16 lakh hectares.
Chhattisgarh, and Balrampur in particular, makes a great choice for building educational facilities focused on furthering literacy within the ethnic Indian communities. It is a tribal dominated district with, as of 2022 reported by the district administration, almost 63% of the population comprising of Scheduled Tribes while Scheduled Castes comprise of just 4.5% of the total population. Pahadi Korwas, Gonds, Khairwars, Kanwars and Pandos are the major tribal groups residing in the district.
Education & literacy is still a taboo in this state, dominated predominantly by the culture and traditions influenced by tribal beliefs and practices, with age old Indian traditions like the Ghotul (aka Gurukul)
Our library & play school is built with a floor area of about 430 sq. ft, with well decorated traditional tribal designs & is going to be the home for close to 50 tribal children upto the age of 12. 15 kids are pre-enrolled and over a dozen more families are waiting to register in our play school.
JSW Foundation is a registered educational institution & working in the Balrampur area with tribal families since February 2018. The children’s library & play school initiative is one of the key programs undertaken by the team with the sole intent of bringing educational facilities to the tribal families & creating a small community based environment of education & learning based on the traditional Indian heritages.
We will continue with our book drive. If you are one of those who believe in the power of good education and would like to join our extended family of book donors, please read the details here.
