Mangaluru-based Sahyadri Sanchaya organised camps for tribal children in remote areas of Yellapura, Ankola and Joida in Uttara Kannada district in December 2020 and January 2021 to expose them to the fine arts.| Photo Credit:Special Arrangement Students of Government Lower Primary School at Nevalase, in Ankola taluk of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka, still sit on the floor. Moisture makes it difficult for the students to sit on the floor during the rainy season.
They do not even have a mat to spread on the floor. The school is about 40 k.m.
from Ankola town. The government and the civil society members have not been able to arrange desks and benches for this small school catering to students from classes 1 to 5. Dinesh Holla| Photo Credit:H S MANJUNATH “Should this not be a matter of concern for all of us,” asks Dinesh Holla, an artist and convener of Sahyadri Sanchaya, a registered organisation of green activists, in Mangaluru.
“Uttara Kannada has many such government schools. We, at Sahyadri Sanchaya, know at least 15 of them,” Holla told The Hindu . Government school children engaged in outdoor activities at Mudiye in Joida in Uttara Kannada under Vana Chethana activities of Sahyadri Sanchaya of Mangaluru.
| Photo Credit:SPECIAL ARRAGEMENT Many government schools — mainly in Joida, Yellapura, Ankola, Haliyal, Dandeli and Mundugodu — lack basic facilities. A majority of students enrolled in these schools are from tribal communities — Siddi, Kudubi, Halakk.
