Project background

POPE (People Organization for Planning and Education) has been involved in developing a health centre with 20 bed rural hospital. With in the hospital, there is one health education centre with all the required infrastructures for training.

Problem situation

In the rural areas where Dalits and other socially and economically backward people living villages, at least 60% 80% of the diseases they get are easily preventable. Among children, diarrheal diseases, respiratory infection, vitamin A deficiency and malnutrition are the most popular health deficiencies. Among adolescent girls and women, Iron deficiency leads to Anemia. The anemia among adolescent mothers and pregnant mothers are most common where the poor people living. Tuberculosis is associated with poverty. HIV / AIDS is another major life style disease, followed with hyper tension, diabetes. The occupational diseases for child labourers and those who work at hazardous situation is threatening the children and youth. Sexually transmitted diseases, skin diseases, reproductive tract infection, poor sexual hygiene, personal hygiene and environmental hygiene are the major causes for the incidence and prevalence of many communicable diseases. Water borne diseases are more among the place where unsafe drinking water and poor environmental sanitation exists. If health education is given to the community, most of the diseases can be easily prevented and controlled in further transmission.

Project Assumption

It may be difficult to bring all the community members to the POPE health centre for training. On the other hand, the leaders and representatives of self help groups and other groups representatives can be given health education. In turn, the trained leaders can disseminate the health information to other members in the community. Through health education they can develop positive attitude, improve the knowledge on health and develop skill in application of knowledge. The superstitious beliefs and customs related to the dietary practice of pregnant mothers need to be modified. So the health education may be useful for behaviour modification.

Project period - 1 year

Project beneficiaries (direct)

• Self Help Group leaders / representatives
• Youth club / children’s club, farmers group representatives
• Dalit Rights Forum members
• Dalit Makkal Mandram
• DRF (Dalit Rights Federation) representatives
• Dalit NGO partners
• Dalit / Arundadi community

Project beneficiaries (indirect)

• Below poverty line families.
• Community group members
• General community.

Goal

Overall goal of the project is to prevent and control the incidence and prevalence of communicable and non communicable diseases.

Objectives

• To create awareness on the incidence and prevalence of various common diseases prevailing in the project area.
• To increase the health status of children, women, youth, farmers from vulnerable community.
• To increase the utilization of existing health care services for disease management.
• To reduce the occurrence of high risk pregnancy and home delivery.
• To increase the nutritional status of under five age children, adolescent girls and boys and pregnant women.

List of Training

• Training on Anemia control.
• Training on Dietary practices during pregnancy.
• Training on mother and child health.
• Adolescent girls training
• Adolescent boys training
• Personal and environmental hygiene
• HIV / AIDS prevention and control
• T.B. prevention and control
• Care during pregnancy
• First aid training
• Training on community nutrition
• Training on life style diseases.
• Health workers training for the NGOs.

Problem of Dalit Children

Various studies indicate that the drop out rate among Dalit School going children are 50% higher than the non-Dalit children. In Science and Maths education, the Dalit children’s performance was very poor. The educational standard is also poor in comparison with non-Dalit children. The level of reasoning and the articulation capacity is also poor among Dalit children. The reasons for their low performance are as follows:

• Most of the Dalit children are the first generation learners; they are unable to get the required educational support from their own parents.
• Poverty and the low purchasing power are the problems and so they lack concentration on their studies.
• Lack of support measures from the community to the school going children.
• Child labour, the children who are working in the field, going after sheeps / cattle etc., are not getting adequate attention, and becoming school drop outs gradually.
• Children do not have educational models and facilities to verify their scientific knowledge and increase their reasoning.

POPE Children

POPE has remedial school children at Somasipadi and other under privileged, destitute children at Thallakulam. These children have the background of what we said earlier. The educational institutions where the children are studying also do not have the science laboratory and other equipments to increase their educational accuracy, reasoning and articulation capacity.

The Dalit children from the POPE project area, covering Kilpennathur block, Thurinjapuram block and Tiruvannamalai block (40 villages) have children’s club (Dalit Children’s Kingdom). They need to be exposed on such Theme Park.

What is POPE Children’s Theme Park?

The children’s theme park will be situated in Thallakulam campus of POPE. 2000 square feet area is set aside for the formation of theme park with the appropriate fencing. The theme park will consist in the following items.

• Selected indoor games of scientific reasoning.
• Biological models like animal / birds with its features and characteristics.
• Physics related apparatus as how lights and sounds pass through experimentation.
• Verification of certain natural Laws and atmosphere like planets and its properties.
• Some areas covered with sand for children’s knowledge based games.
• Mathematical games.
• Health improvement tips and practices - life science materials
• Mathematics riddles and solutions.

Goal

The overall goal of the Dalit children’s theme park is to enable the children to build up sound knowledge in school subjects such as Science and Maths through games / models documentation etc.

Objectives

• To increase the scientific knowledge and the capacity of reasoning, articulation through exercises, seeing the equipments and practical application.
• To develop the children’s questioning mind and readiness for experimentation.
• To enhance the capacity of children to initiate discussion and take up leadership positions with in the schools where the children are studying.