Hindustan Zinc's Shiksha Sambal ensuring quality education of 8,000 rural and tribal Students

Rekha Mali, a local of Gudli village, Debari pursuing science stream on learning about the opportunity grabbed it with both her hands as she knew the additional skill meant lighting up her own future. No wonder, she jumped with joy when the first lightbulb she wired to a switch lit up every nook and corner of the room. Under Shiksha Sambal program, two batches of Pre-Vocational Training in Agriculture and Electrical were conducted for higher secondary students from Zawar, Dariba, and Debari. The mindset to do something out-of-the-box & learn something unconventional is a common trait amongst each of the 1st All Girls batch of electrical course conducted under Shiksha Sambal's pre-vocational program.

Shiksha Sambal, a flagship project of Hindustan Zinc was established to meet a variety of objectives as per the findings derived from early interactions with the students. Learning gap, lack of self-confidence due to limited exposure and lack of student-teacher bonding were the key setbacks observed. Shiksha Sambal program was created largely to alleviate such critical challenges by providing additional materials, remedial classes to build conceptual clarity, facilitate peer-group learning and identify potential learning opportunities outside the school. Furthermore, the teacher-fellow collaboration model was established which included organising a Reading Mela - an activity to encourage learning and personality development.

Currently, Shiksha Sambal program is reaching out to 8,000 rural & tribal students from across 57 villages in the five districts of Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Bhilwara, and Ajmer. It offers school-level education in languages, science and mathematics through classroom, digital and hybrid mode. Additionally, to ensure individual attention to the academic need of each kid, a team of Field Personnel (FP) were found who eventually turned to be the fulcrum of the program. They play a significant role in increasing the teaching-learning time by providing model papers, ensuring learning material compliance, and focusing on library and lab practical sessions for the students. Shiksha Sambal program now functions with at least 1 FP per school who not only supports the students in case of absence of government teachers but also plays an active role in organising learning camps during summer & winter vacations and taking extra classes during holiday breaks.

The students of senior secondary level lacked the understanding about the opportunities available for the stream they had chosen. To bridge this gap, several career counselling sessions are conducted wherein industry experts interact with the students about various career & job opportunities, academic courses which can be pursued after schooling.

Since the inception of the program, the summer camps have evolved as an activity that focuses on bridging the learning gaps whereas the winter vacation camps focus on board examination preparation. Every year, more than 150 volunteers from reputed college institutions participate and share their learnings and contribute to the overall development of students from rural & tribal areas. All efforts are made to build a holistic learning environment that can ensure each of the students a brighter tomorrow.

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