Progress at Puncha Nabadisha Model School
When we heard about Kolkata Police constable trying to run a school for 'Sabar' tribal children at Puncha, about 50 km from Purulia town, completely on his own, we did not take much time in deciding to support this school. The ???school??? by Arup Mukherjee is exclusively for Sabar children whom the families cannot support. Total 53 children of age 6-13 are here. Rather than a school this can be termed as a ???home??? for abandoned or nearly abandoned children. So naturally the most emphasis is on feeding them and keeping them rather than on study.
We have been providing various kind of support to the school for last six months, amongst many-many others who are supporting here too. In December, 2016 we again visited this school and thought of documenting the growth of the children here. So we took weight, height, classes they are studying in, names of parents, villages they come from and their proficiencies. We made provisions so that these are recorded every 3 months. The details can be viewed here.
22 girls and 26 boys were enumerated. 4 girls were absent. Total 52 are enrolled between aged 2 and 12. Six of these are tiny kids and don't go to school, 7 in class 1, 4 in class 2, 15 in class 3, 4 in class 4, 8 in class 5, 6 in class 6, 2 in class 7. All of them go to just nearby primary or nearby middle school.