Tribal teacher ushers in change, revives dilapidated school in ASR district

The primary school at Vannada village in Alluri Sitharama Raju district was once in a severely neglected state. Infested by mold and moss, the stained wall of the school reeked of prolonged poor maintenance.

However, the remarkable initiative of a 27-year-old tribal youth transformed the school into a thriving centre of learning and hope, an inspiring example of grassroots educational reform.

Palasa Naveen Kumar, a DSC-qualified teacher from Tadiveedu village in Pedabayalu mandal of ASR district, single-handedly undertook infrastructural renovation and academic upliftment of the Vannada Primary School under Gomangi Panchayat.

He applied for government funding under the Nadu-Nedu initiative in 2022 to renovate the run-down school and got the funds sanctioned. However, the works stopped mid-way.

Seeing how difficult it was for the children to learn in such subpar circumstances, Mr. Naveen decided to seek community involvement to make things better.

He gained the trust of the people by reaching out to sarpanches, ZPTCs and MPTCs, MPDOs, mandal and district education officers, teachers, local business owners, and service providers in an effort to bring about a change.

“Every family offered help, making contributions to a community fund totalling about ₹1 lakh,” Mr Naveen Kumar told The Hindu.

Mr. Naveen resumed the development work with the help of these funds. Along with infrastructure development, he also focused on academic improvement.

He taught all subjects himself and prepared the children for competitive school entrance tests. “This year, 18 students appeared for the Navodaya and Ekalavya entrance examinations, and 17 of them qualified, an extraordinary milestone for a tribal region,” he said.

To document the inspiring journey of progress, Mr. Naveen Kumar authored a book titled ‘Mattilo Manikyalu’ (Gems in the Soil), highlighting students’ success stories and the transformation of the school.

He presented the book to District Collector A.S. Dinesh Kumar, while seeking assistance to complete the remaining works. Impressed by his commitment, the Collector donated ₹30,000 to support the project.

Upon finishing the renovation, Mr. Naveen Kumar invited the Collector for the school’s reopening ceremony held recently, symbolising a new chapter of hope in Vannada’s educational landscape.

(The writer Gouthami Paltati is an intern at The Hindu, Visakhapatnam)