A Mumbai school that made a difference for these tribals

A city college, by its own initiatives, has made a laudable difference. Around 18kms from Karjat, the 550 tribal occupants of village Kawathewadi have turned their lives around with the help of SIES college of arts, science and commerce in Sion, which adopted it in 2013.

Earlier, life was a harrowing experience with no water supply during summer, no roads or sanitation. Now, the village has a 2000 sq ft community hall, 32 brick houses, borewells, three toilet blocks, restored school infrastructure with a separate toilet block and compost pits to create manure from the garbage generated.

The village belongs to the Dongar Kolis -- schedule tribe of 'Thakurs' -- with classified adivasi land which couldn't be bought. Vice principal K George Abraham convinced Avadibai Jaitu Pardi, an old matriarch who had the most land in the village, to let them use it. "The SIES society wanted to adopt a village, and after deliberations, we chose this one. Our teaching and non teaching staff got involved and we started our five-point project for the village which focuses on environment, health, education, sanitation and women empowerment," he said.

At the cost of Rs1.25 crores to the society, the various departments of the college brought about a change with their subject knowledge. Biochemistry students made fertilisers suited for the village soil, botany students planted 250 trees, chemistry, microbiology and bio-technology students taught villagers to treat the water in their wells. They also analysed the potability of drinking water to check for diseases. NCC cadets helped with the construction work and built motivation among children to attend school. Fifty-five students in the NSS unit are currently holding their first Diwali camp at the village where they are laying drainage pits and also training the village women in candle making. Children from class 1 to 4 are being taught English phonetics, art and basic hygiene. For sewage treatment and disposal, septic tanks with a capacity of storing 40,000 ltrs of water have been provided. Water supply will be through ring wells for rainwater harvesting.

"The villagers were given a connection for Rs15 few years back but their got lines disconnected when they couldn't pay the bills. A doctor visited them once in 15 days and the only hospital for the 100 surrounding villages is in Karjat, which is 18 kms away. The youth are addicted to alcohol, tobacco and cigarettes as they have nothing to aspire towards. After SIES adopted the village, the biggest problem of water will now be solved in four years. Roads have already become concrete and people have started sending their kids to schools and colleges," said Gajanan Upadhyay, professor at Karjat University.

The main occupation of this village is farming and a daily wage labourer earns about Rs4,000 per month, depending on the season. The village women have been taught by college teachers and volunteers how to make papad, pickle, dry chatnis, agarbattis and household items are yet to learn how to make phenyl, detergents and handwash whereas men will be taught dairy, poultry, animal husbandry, etc.

The new and improved village was inaugurated on May 18, 2014. The institute is approaching corporates to help them with solar panel installations to curb the electricity problems and make the villagers self reliant.