Aaranyak: A Rural Alternative Learning Space

This summer vacation we did Balmela with children in 11 villages. Together, these camps reached 729 children through hands-on activities such as games, drawing, paper craft, and drama, while a parallely we did household survey covering 10 villages gathered information on each child's name, parents' names, single-child households, child labour, out-of-school children, and disability.

Key Numbers at a Glance

11 villages where vacation camps  were organized

729 children reached through camp activities (377 younger children, 352 older children)

66 elders/family members who also took part

10 villages covered by the household child survey

During the vacations as the schools close for the summer break, the project team used this period to take the work directly into the villages, organizing vacation camps and conducting a door-to-door child survey across the taluka.

This vacation camp brought fun, meaningful bal mela to children across the 11 villages, with content tailored to two age groups:

• Younger children took part in games, drawing, paper craft, and acting/role-play, organized in small groups. In most villages, younger children participated with visible enthusiasm.
• Older children took part in games, drawing, paper craft, scientific/educational toys, and in MMRC they all watched a movie together.

Alongside the camps, the team carried out a household-level survey in 10 villages, visiting homes to record each child's name, parents' names, whether the child was an only child, involvement in child labour, school dropout status, and any disability building a clearer picture of each community's children for future planning

In village after village, parents, teachers, anganwadi workers, and village leaders actively supported the camps. In some villages, a school teacher helped organize; or a village sarpanch supported the programme; and someplace the anganwadi worker gave her own time to help even though it was her day off.

During activities such as circle ball, paper craft, and group games, children themselves began taking on small leadership roles, helping seat other children, distributing materials, and teaching each other how to play.Some children were noticeably shy on the first day, but as sessions continued, that shyness faded, and by the following day many of the same children were participating enthusiastically.

Children took part eagerly across all activities, children asked the team to “come back again,” and in some villages , children stayed engaged all day, choosing activities like Lego and drawing on their own initiative.

In a village, a child with one hand took part fully in drawing and paper craft. Although the activity was harder for him, he did not give up, he joined every activity with enthusiasm, and enjoyed this process with his peers.

The survey surfaced useful insight into each village's geography and social context — for instance, that schools, primary health centres, and anganwadis ideally need to be located within the village itself; when they are too far away, it affects both children's ability to attend and their safety.

Many parents and even some children were unaware of the full definition of “child” under the law; most assumed it referred only to children up to roughly Class 8 or anganwadi age. The survey process became an opportunity to clarify that anyone aged 0 to 18 is legally a child, an important piece of awareness-building in itself.

Looking Ahead

This year's camp reaffirmed both the strength of Shaishav's grassroots relationships in Dediapada taluka. 

The team's groundwork in establishing rapport with sarpanches, teachers, and anganwadi workers paid off directly in attendance, trust, and the quality of survey data collected.

Going into future camps, the team intends to build on this vacation camp's learning by integrating them in this academic year's planning.