Karnataka Jesuit Rural Education Network

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Mundgod is a small town located in the reserved forest area in the northern part of Karnataka.
The Jesuits have put in sustained effort to work for the integral development of the backward communities like Siddis (people of African origin, brought to Goa as slaves by the Portugese), Gowlis (cowherds), Lambanis (semi-nomadic group), Vaddars (stone-cutters) and Gollars (sheep-rearing) Muslims and other backward communities for the past 33 years.

Loyola Vikas Kendra, a social action center, works for the integral development of the poor, fighting for justice, building up their self-esteem, restoring human dignity, creating awareness, promoting health and hygiene, releasing them from the fetters of money lenders and eradicating poverty in Mundgod and Hangal Talukas of Uttara Kannada and Haveri districts. This center runs 5 village hostels, mainly for the Primary and the High school students.

Statistics

• Total number of villages 79
• No of Self-Help Groups. 389
• No. of children’s clubs. 117
• No. of village hostels. 13
• Child resource centers 4 in the villages
• Tailoring centers: 3 with 75 students
• Computer center: 2 with 185 students
• Evening tuition centers: 40

The Jesuits have worked to uplift the poor and discriminated people of Manvi Taluk villages with the need of empowering Dalit women and children who are victims of social, economic, cultural and political discrimination.Loyola School was started in the year 2004 with 40 students. Today this school has grown to 395 students, mostly Dalits, studying in this school in English medium. The Xavier School began in 2007. The growth of Pannur Mission continued with the Pre-University College in 2010 and the degree college in 2012. The Pannur Mission today has Loyola School, Xavier School, Loyola PU and Degree College, Loyola Kapipaladi School, Loyola Hostels, Arrupe Boarding House, St Peter’s Church and a Social work Centre with 1744 students, 112 collaborators and 10 Jesuits.

Target groups:
Dalits (Madigas), Scheduled Tribes, Backward communities and Minorities. Preference is given for women and children.

Target Area:
90 villages in three talukas of Raichur: Raichur, Sindhanur and Manvi.
Dalit families in each village: 40-120 families.

Working from 2002 onwards

• Built 102 houses in Pannur and another 100 houses in many villages especially during the floods of 2009
• Skill development: Driving for drop out children, tailoring for adolescent drop out girls
• Working among the Devadasi women in four villages
• Establishing water plants in the villages
• Health camps in the villages
• Educating the Dalit children in our schools and colleges with scholarships.

The Jesuits started working in Bijapur which as dominated by slums in 1980. Seeing the plight of the slum dwellers, they made an intervention in the slums of Vijayapura trying to raise the consciousness of the people and organizing educational and conscientization programs for the marginalized. As they went ahead, they discovered a lot of child laborers in the whole of the district and began a Child Laborers School.

In Vijayapura and Sindagi, the Jesuits are involved in the following works: pastoral work through a parish (the only parish in the whole of the district of Vijayapura), securing basic amenities for the slum dwellers in 65 slums, technical education for the rural school dropouts, rehabilitation of Devadasis and commercial sex workers and the education of their girl children, formal education of the children of the slum dwellers, Devadasis, HIV infected and migrants, ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, HIV/AIDS awareness in the slums of Vijayapura and Community Care of the HIV/AIDS infected persons of North Karnataka districts. Our approach is empowerment. We empower people to make changes. We involve the community in every aspect of our work in bringing about a positive change that lasts.

• Houses for the poor
• Community centers in 12 slums
• Conscientization and awareness programs on various issues
• Education for children and school for the slum children
• Child labor school
• Self Help Groups for women
• Youth groups
• Tailoring centers

Loyola Yomiuri School and College

The school and the College welcome children irrespective of their economic background, caste, creed, religion, region etc. It is an abode of learning and all those in search of knowledge and wisdom find shelter here. There is also has a boarding for the boys of the high school in the campus.

Industrial Training Institute

Loyola Abhyudaya Kendra (now known as LITI – Loyola Industrial Training Institute), a technical training Centre for the disadvantaged, is a small effort to provide opportunities to develop suitable rural technologies for enhancing skills of rural and slum children and enable them eventually to be self-sufficient, progressive and more efficient thereby becoming economically self-reliant.

Navachetana Boarding

It also has a boarding house for the students coming from distant villages. Since the students come from distant villages and from poorer sections, we have a boarding house which shelters the children who study in our School and College.

From the year 2000 the Jesuits ventured into the Dalit women’s empowerment. The focus was shifted from charity and developmental works to people’s empowerment and organization. The Society, through the Centre for Integral Rural Welfare (CIRW), is trying to make the poor Dalits true agents of their liberation and integral welfare.

Through various programs and plans CIRW works to improve their standard of life, promote their self-dignity, raise their socio-political awareness about their basic human rights, mobilize and unite them to fight for their rights, and educate them to demand various Governmental benefits. The primary aim is to help the people to become agents of social change. The center also provides services to improve their health and hygiene through regular health camps with the help of St John’s Hospital Bangalore.

Our mission is to be a partner of every Dalit woman, man, youth, girl, and boy to ensure that they enjoy fullness of life, which necessarily involves full respect for their dignity and fundamental human rights. We are committed to walk with the poor in their struggle for their integral development and empowerment. In concrete terms it is to demand for decent housing, basic health and hygiene facilities, good and quality education, proper opportunities to capacity building and nutrition, and active participation in the decision-making processes. Keeping this mission in mind CIRW strives to educate, motivate and inspire a band of Dalit young men and women to be heralds of hope and emancipation to their own people.

At present CIRW is engaged in 31 Dalit villages of Anekal Taluk. It coordinates 33 SHGs, 35 Village Small Saving Groups, 6 children clubs, 5 Study centers, one tailoring centre, and 2 hostels. The mission today has a PU College, Social work center, a parish and hostels for boys and girls.

We primarily concentrate on children, women and youth from Dalit community. Based on our contact at the grassroots level and some surveys conducted CIRW focuses its intervention in three areas: Education, Health and Socio-Economic and Political empowerment. The main objectives are quality education to children, social awareness and empowerment of Dalits, and improvement of health and hygiene of women and children.