Mrida: Nurturing The Love for Learning Among Tribal Children in India

The case documents the challenges of Priya Nadkarni and Digvijay Singh, the cofounders of Mrida Education and Welfare Society (MEWS). Recognizing the need for intervention at a much early stage of learning to alter the mindset and nurture a love for learning, the duo established the Riverside Natural School (RNS) under MEWS in 2016. RNS introduced innovative teaching models drawing on the tribal children's innate cultural capital and core strengths by integrating sports, computers, robotics, and other new-age technologies with the conventional formal education curriculum. The aim was to make the tribal children of the Mandla district in Madhya Pradesh develop a love for learning, gain worldly exposure, develop higher aspirations to become education-oriented, and thus be ready to take up jobs without any inhibitions. In this process, they identified the inherent socioeconomic issues and started addressing them. The program started showing results, beneficiaries grew in number, and outcomes improved.Also, public and private partnerships started building up for MEWS. What started with pre-primary to class four expanded to offer the program up to class seven. As children at the RNS started progressing to higher classes, Nadkarni and Singh felt the need to transition to a fully residential higher secondary school. This warranted extensive investment in infrastructure. With a nearly fully subsidized service model and reliance on donations, predominantly from individuals, Mrida had to mobilize funds for its expansion. In addition to funding, Nadkarni and Singh stared at a formidable human resources (HR) challenge compounded by the project's non-profit nature and geographic location.

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