Rathshala

A learning center on wheels drawn by camels to promote literacy among children of the Rebari Tribe.

Overview

The Rebaris – pastoral nomads from Sirohi district of Rajasthan migrate with their families and cattle for over 8 months in a year. The migration is done in search of new pasture lands for their cattle, along with the trade & livelihood offered by the cattle and sheep. Enrolment in formal literacy structure is rarely seen among the tribe as they seldom stay at a location for more than a few weeks. Education of the children is primarily traditional and cultural in nature, and is focused on life skills as trade and cattle rearing practices.

Digitalization of trade, growth in supply chain, competitive markets and change in demands have adversely affected the traditional migration and trading practices of the Rebari tribe. Now the tribe is in a twilight zone where its wants to maintain its traditional roots such as the migration & cattle rearing; but also wishes for its future generations to be educated and literate, being at par with the society.

IIFL Foundation’s unique initiative Rathshaala helps to educate the upcoming generation of Rebari Tribes, with the thought of taking a school to those who cannot reach one.

Our impact

2

Raathshaala

2

States

300+

Beneficiary Families

Above information is as on March 31, 2021

Process

The need for the children to be 'literate' and 'educated' has rose from within the Rebari community. Hence when the idea surfaced for a mobile school that shall travel along the tribe and transform into a learning center, it was met with great jubilation.

It was a significant challenge to find an individual who would teach the children and facilitate the learning process. This was overcome by appointing a person from within the tribe for this task. The learning facilitator is trained every quarter by experienced tutors and gets requisite learning material for the children.

The learning sessions are conducted in two parts every day. First session commences in the morning hours following which the children accompany their parents with chores and daily tasks, while the second session initiates mostly after dinner, before the children retire to sleep.

The children learn from the curriculum based on the syllabus followed by primary sections of government schools in Rajasthan and cover basic and intermediate levels of reading, writing and speaking skills along with maths.

Rathshaala is a unique step to meet the educational need of the Rebari community. The program shall evolve as we learn along the way!