SHIKSHA+ 1st Batch of Male Learners in Sitapur
First male batch with 8 SHIKSHA+ learners has been formed in village Maheshpur of Gram Panchayat Kaima. It was an achievement for the field team to convince male members to attend the classes as it involved numerous challenges. The foremost challenge for them was to overcome the apprehension of being stigmatised.
The other noteworthy challenge for them, was to manage time to be engaged in the programme since they are primarily engaged in agricultural activities.
A counselling session was conducted by the field team before registration in order to enable the aspirants to make an informed choice. Significance of education was communicated with them during number of community mobilization visits and the same was reiterated during the counselling sessions. The aforesaid enabled the team to incentivise eligible learners to enrol themselves in the centres.
After their successful enrolment the time of class was decided. The prospective learners shared that it would be difficult for them to attend a class after performing exhausting agricultural activity throughout the day. In response to the aforesaid, the respective instructors suggested that the classes could be conducted early in the morning. However, the suggestion was deemed infeasible since the learners start their agricultural activities in the morning. After the concerned instructor and field team interacted with the learners a conclusion to attend the class during the lunch hour was arrived at. Currently, the centre is in session during the lunch hours, however this group needs regular motivation and attention. From their past experience, team has learnt that the quality of candidates mobilized has a significant impact on the degree of retention during training.
