August 2023 Issue
Social Outreach of Pallavan School Under the Aegis of Ritinjali
The Second Chance School, Jhalawar
The Second Chance School is a programme for disadvantaged women and young adults of the villages coming under Kolana Gram Panchayat of Jhalawar districts of Rajasthan catering to around 12 villages. The Second Chance School provides computer training, life skills as well as classes on basic and functional English.
Keeping in view the above, Ritinjali’s Second Chance School started in mid-2016 offering a day and evening programme for young people and women in Jhalawar. The different courses provided are computer courses for boys and girls, stitching work for women, and a handloom center.
Computer Training Center
The Computer Applications Center empowers students from the community with the skill sets necessary to secure a job in the current age of technology. The computer center was started in mid-July 2016 with 13 students. Before starting the center, the team made numerous visits to the surrounding villages like Munderi, Patpadia, Semli, Kolana, Guvadi, Ramdi and many other villages coming under the Kolana Gram Panchayat.
Computer class underway
Within a period of 30 days, the strength increased to 44 out of which 23 are girls and 21 are boys. To date, more than 200 students have been trained and many of them have started their own centers or are working in several organizations like petrol pumps, Patanjali stores, shopping complexes, hospitals, and government offices as consultants. Currently, 20 students are registered under the center that are either school dropouts or learning computer skills after their school hours. The focus is on including more girl students.
Life skills session underway
The centers are equipped with a modern computer lab. It provides hands-on learning to use the computers and basic typing skills including using the internet and MS Office. There is an emphasis on computer learning for girls and housewives who wish to enhance their skills. Life skills classes are also organised twice a week. In addition, there is a training in functional English for the computer students twice a week.
The Handloom Training Center
The Handloom Center is located on the premises of the Pallavan School and is fully functional. Around 4-5 meters of cloth is weaved per machine. The idea is to use the cloth for preparing uniforms for the students of Pallavan School. Besides that, the cloth is also used to stitch bags. The unemployed, mostly housewives, are provided with the cloth to stitch the bags and paid on a per-piece basis which helps in generating income for the women. Most of the women have been trained by previous stitching centers set up in the area.
How it works:
The thread is procured from New Delhi
The thread is set in the Taana Machine and from there is taken to Baana Machine where the final weaving is done. This process takes around 10-12 days to set threads for around 2 meters of cloth. It is done with a very careful observation as disturbance of one thread may damage the whole cloth.
4-5 meters of cloth is woven by one woman per day.
The finished cloth is distributed among unemployed women to stitch bags or/and uniforms for the students of Pallavan.
The aim is to work within the community and provide them with the skills to earn a decent living.