Tuition centres for Koraga kids in sorry state

MANGALORE: The special tuition facility for children of Koraga community in the district lost steam, even before it got noticed.Twelve such special tuition centres eventually folded up this year abandoning Koraga children to the conventional learning environment. The conventional education system remains unfriendly to the Koraga children, since most of them being first generation literates, suffer from inferiority complex, informs Gunappa, member of district primitive tribes development committee.Following demands from district Koraga Okkoota and Samagra Grameena Ashram, a social pressure group working for the welfare of Koragas, Deputy Commissioner Ponnuraj promised to introduce tuition facility for Koraga children. It was also decided to set up a special residential school to provide academic coaching to high school students.Only the free tuition facility seemed a reality this year, when cashrich Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP) endorsed the introduction of tuition facility for Koraga children from fifth to tenth standard in the district.Twelve tuition centres and teachers for conducting the classes after school hours, were identified by respective Block Education Officers (BEO).More than three tuition centres were set up in Mangalore, which has the highest concentration of Koraga families (1,800 members). The facilities were set up in Ashoknagar, Gandhinagar Higher Primary school in Mannagudda and at a house in Kudkorigudde. Each tuition centre with less than 10 Koraga children began functioning from February.Fresh BEd graduates recruited on a monthly salary of Rs 3,000 took active interest in motivating children to learn all subjects.The centres which closed down in April for holidays, have remained shut during this academic year. Teachers have refused to teach as their salaries have been pending since February."Despite arranging parentteacher meetings, incidents of dropouts were also high in all the tuition centres," sources informed.As a silver lining, Mangalore BEO Dayavarthy received a cheque on Saturday to clear all pending salaries of teachers from ITDP.