VILLAGE FIELDWORK SEGMENT (VFS)

PRM 42 & FPRM 20

A REPORT

HOST ORGANISATION

[Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, Uttarakhand]

Prepared by:

Mukul Kumar Singh (p42085), Shrey Agrawal (P42217)

In Partial fulfillment of the requirements of the VFS

of the

PRM/FRPM

INSTITUTE OF RURAL MANAGEMENT ANAND

December 2021

1
 i. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
A journey of 50 odd days that give you some new experiences, some new friends, so for
future managers in making I feel that it’s very essential to understand the deep harsh realities of
rural life and this VFS Segment served for the same, life is not same for everyone and we rightly
understand that onus of understanding the rural life hardships lies on us and VFS helped us to
grow more in that direction.

Emotions cannot be adequately expressed in words, because then emotions will be

transferred into more formalities. Nevertheless, formalities must be completed. Our
Acknowledgements are many more than what we are expressing here.
Firstly, we would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to Institute of Rural
Management, Anand, Forest Research Institute, Dehradun and all the kind-hearted people of
Kathooli Village, Uttarakhand who welcomed and embraced us with their full arms and give us a
place in their village as well as in their hearts. They taught us real lessons of life and understand
us the literal meaning of life. In a way this journey of 50 days gave us a chance to introspect
about ourselves.

We also feel immense pleasure in expressing our deepest sense of gratitude to Prof.
Saswata Biswas, Institute of Rural Management Anand, our faculty Guide who provide constant
encouragement, guidance and support throughout our research process.
We take this opportunity to show our deep thanks to Prof. Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan, Institute of
Rural Management Anand who is Chairperson of Village Field Segment to give us an
opportunity to experience the village life at grassroot level and provide his immense support and
intuiting interest throughout our research. We also like to thanks Miss Harshika Arya, for her
time to time communication and support throughout this beautiful journey.

Dr. Rajiv Pandey, Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education, Dehradun for his
valuable guidance, support and constructive criticism throughout the progress of research. We
consider to be our great fortune and honor to get an opportunity to work under him, also Mr.
Rajat Panwar, PhD scholar at Forest Research Institute who give us shelter to stay at village and
provide help during the course of work.

2
 ii. CONTENTS

Page No.

Section I

 Exploratory Study of the Village 5-25

o Identification of Village and House Hold 6

o Brief History of Settlement Patterns 7-8
o Village Infrastructure 9-15
 Street Lighting 9
 Electricity Connection 9
 Sanitation and Drinking water 9
 Public Distribution System 10
 Communication and Transportation 10
 Market 10
 Financial institutions 11
 Education and Schools 12-14
 Health Facilities 15
o Village Polity 16
o Employment 17-20
o Shocks 21-22
o Coping Mechanism 23-24
o Conclusion 25

Section II

 Theme Paper 26-47

o Abstract 27
o Introduction 28
o Literature Review 29
o Objectives of Research 30
o Research Methodology and Data source 31-32
o Results and Discussions 33-45
o Policy and Suggestions 46

3
 o Limitations of Study 47
o Conclusion 47
o References 48

Section III

 Rural Action Component 51-52

o Theme Paper Executive Summary 51-52

 Objective and Scope of Study 51

 Methodology and Source of Data 51
 Analysis and Findings 51
Recommendations and Limitations 51-52

[For the ESV, Theme paper, and RAC – please put all levels of headings in the content page]

4
 SECTION – I

OF

VILLAGE FIELDWORK SEGMENT (VFS)

PRM 42 & FPRM 20

Exploratory Study of the Village

Village: Kathooli
Gram Panchayat: Kathooli
District:Tehri Garhwal
State: Uttarakhand

HOST ORGANISATION

[FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE, DEHRADUN, UTTARAKHAND]

Prepared by:

Mukul Kumar Singh (p42085), Shrey Agrawal (P42217)

Faculty Guide
[Prof. Saswata Biswas]

In Partial fulfillment of the requirements of the VFS

of the
PRM/FRPM

INSTITUTE OF RURAL MANAGEMENT ANAND

December 2021

5
 1) IDENTIFICATION OF VILLAGE AND HOUSE HOLD
 Tehsil- Pratap Nagar
 District- Tehri Garhwal
 Block- Jakhnidhar Community Development
 Nearest Town- Tehri (65Kms)

Figure 1-Demography of Kathooli

The study area included the villages of Kathooli and May Badel in Uttarakhand's Tehsil
Pratap Nagar and District Tehri Garhwal. The village is located between 800 and 2000 meters
above sea level at latitude 30.3960° N and longitude 78.4965° E. The village has a total
population of nearly 761 people and a land area of 225.55 hectares. There are 170 households,
with 47.4 percent males and 52.5 percent females. Children aged 0 to 6 account for
approximately 11.43 percent of the population. The average literacy rate in both Kathooli and
MayBadel is 74.18 percent, with 60.78 percent of females and 74.18 percent of males being
literate.

The review in both villages discovered high migration to urban communities, particularly
New Tehri, Dehradun, and Maharashtra regions, where migration is primarily done by male
members of the family and women are associated with household activities such as bringing
water, gathering fodder and fuelwood from the forests, and other farming activities.

Our observations in the village revealed that the village has three poly houses, which
were donated to the selected villagers by local non-governmental organizations and are used to

6
grow vegetables such as potatoes and tomatoes. The invasion of wild animals, particularly wild
pigs and monkeys, has had a significant impact on agricultural activities.

They not only destroy the vegetation here, but they are also the reason why people in the
villages have moved to other sources of income. Agriculture activities have also been hampered
by the area's unseasonal heavy rainfall.The secondary occupation includes marginal labor
activities. Due to limited opportunities, high transportation costs, and lack of connectivity to the
nearby village for essential necessities such as education, healthcare, food and water, results in
high migration in the area.

Figure 2- Map of Kathooli Village, via Google Earth

2) BRIEF HISTORY OF SETTLEMENT PATTERNS:

According to senior villagers, the village of Kathooli was founded in the 1800s. The village
of Kathooli shares a panchayat with the village of May Badel. Both villages, Kathooli and May
Badel, have the same Gram Pradhan. As a result, the entire area is known as Kathooli-May
Badel. According to popular belief, during ancient times, a sage named "Madan Negi" stayed in
the village for meditation and worshipping god, and he established temples in the villages; later,
after his death, the villagers established a temple in his honor and worshipped their common god
"Madan Devta."

Agriculture was the most common occupation in the 1850s. The first government school was
established in Madan Negi, which was 2 kilometers from the village, in 1972. The village's
economy was thriving as a result of good agricultural production. However, the Tehri Dam
construction began in the 1980s, disrupting the entire village's agriculture occupation. Due to the

7
submergence of Old tehri under dam water, wild animals such as monkeys and pigs were
relocated to Kathooli village, destroying the entire agricultural production in the area.
The construction of a road connecting the village to the nearby cities begins in 1983. In 1984, a
major protest takes place in the village against the Congress government over the village's non
availability of electricity. The village was electrified in 1986.Many young boys from the village
fought in the Kargil war in 1999, and as a memorial, the government built a "Shaheed Dwaar" in
the village.

The livelihood of almost every household was disrupted in the 2000s as a result of the
construction of the Tehri dam, which caused many youths to migrate from the villages in search
of work. The government began some development projects, such as the construction of
handpumps and anganwadis. A primary school was also established in the village in 2005.
The Mohan Singh Pawar NGO began development and training work in the village in 2010.
They established a Common Service Centre (CSC) in the village, where they train youths in
computer skills and young girls in stitching and tailoring. There were landslides and earthquakes
in the area at times, but the year 2017 saw a major landslide in the village that killed 5 villagers.
Seeing the region's vulnerability and the frequent migration of youths, the government declared
the entire region an OBC region in 2016 to aid the villagers.

Figure 3- Historic Timeline of Kathooli

8
 3) VILLAGE INFRASTRUCTURE

1) STREET LIGHTING

There are only ten solar street lights in the entire village, and only eight of them work
properly. The faulty lights have yet to be repaired or replaced. This causes problems for the
villagers at night, and the village roads become riskier at night due to the lack of street lighting.
When Gram Pradhan was asked about this, he stated that he does not have any additional funds
for the repair or maintenance of these solar street lights.

Figure 3-Street Light

2) ELECTRICITY CONNECTION

Except for two mud-huts, almost all of the village households have electricity connections;
they are BPL people living in extreme poverty and cannot afford the electricity bill. The supply
of electricity is not constant. The average village receives 22-22.5 hours of electricity per day,
with no set time for power outages. The department is replacing old electric meters with modern
digital meters. In most households, solar energy is not an option.

3) SANITATION AND DRINKING WATER

Almost 90% of households have built-in sanitation facilities. Aside from that, the panchayats
built two toilets and two bathrooms (snaan-ghar). These are both in good working order. The
remaining 10% of villagers are from mud households and continue to practice open defecation in
the forest. The villagers' lack of access to clean water remains a problem. There are taps, but

9
there is a water shortage, so villagers usually carry water from a common point known as
"Gadhera," which is 10-15 minutes walking distance from their homes.
For drinking water, the villagers rely on either a gadhera or a handpump, whichever is closest.

Figure 4- Gadhera Figure 5-Handpump

4) PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

Within the village, there is one PDS store, which is located near the village's main road and
usually opens in the last week of the month for ration distribution. There are 2 types of cards are-
 Yellow card- Above Poverty Line households
 White Card- Below Poverty Line households

5) COMMUNICATION & TRANSPORTATION

There is no Post Office in the village. The nearest post office is in Madan Negi, which is
about 2 kilometers from the village. Every household has a mobile phone for communication,
despite the fact that network coverage in the village is limited. The major networks available in
the village are JIO and AIRTEL.

6) MARKET

Madan Negi (2km away) has a nearby market with approximately 25-30 shops ranging
from kirana, local dhaba, medical store, ironsmith, mechanic, and cloth shops.
Following that, the nearest large market is in Rajakhet (6 kilometers away), which has
approximately 50-60 shops. Villagers mostly commute to Madan Negi for basic needs and to
Rajakhet village for larger purchases.

10
 Figure 6-Nearby Market, Rajakhet

7) FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

Within its own borders, the village of Kathooli lacks a bank or other financial institution. The
nearest bank (Union Bank) is located in the village of Madan Negi, about 2.5 kilometers away. A
Punjab National Bank branch is also located in the village of Rajakhet, around 6 kilometers from
Kathooli.According to a poll performed in hamlet Kathooli, the percentage of persons who have
ever taken out a loan from a formal institution such as a bank is nearly nil. This can also be
attributed to the village's low agrarian crisis, which is a result of the village's limited agricultural
techniques.
As previously indicated, a Punjab National Bank branch with the name "Rajakhet Distt
Tehri" is located in Rajakhet with the branch name “Rajakhet Distt Tehri Punjab National
Bank”. The branch operates from 10 am to 4 pm from Monday to Saturday. The Union Bank
branch located in Madan Negi operates under the branch name “Madan Negi Distt Union Bank
of India” and in the same operating hours.

Figure 7- Bank

11
Cost and Use of services- Opportunity cost is one of the most significant costs borne by the
villagers, particularly while travelling to the Punjab National Bank branch. The branch is 6
kilometers from Kathooli, and due to the lack of frequent transportation, it takes a long time to
get there. The people are also financially illiterate; thus, transactions take a long time for them to
complete. There are no ATM machines in Kathooli, therefore inhabitants must drive to Madan
Negi to obtain cash. The pensions of the village's retired personnel are also deposited into their
respective bank accounts. The benefits received from various government initiatives are also
deposited in bank accounts.

Remoteness of Financial Institutions- The branch of Union Bank of India, Madan Negi is
situated at around 2.5 KM from Kathooli while that of Punjab National Bank, Rajakhet is at 6
KM.

Rate of Interest- The following table representsthe rate of interest in the two branches: -
Name of Bank Rate of Deposit Rate of Interest
Punjab National Bank, Rajakhet 6.25 7.5
Union Bank of India, Madan Negi 6.00 7.25

8) EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS: -

85% of the children in Kathooli are studying in the two public schools-Rajkiya Inter College,
Madan Negi and Primary Model School, Madan Negi. The remaining 15 % are obtaining online
distance learning from the private schools of nearby districts like Tehri Garhwal.Also, these 15
% also includes the students who have completed their education upto intermediate from these
public schools and then opted for online correspondence courses like B.A and B.Com. The
majority of them were females who can strike a balance between their education and domestic
work by preferring these correspondence courses
.
As of today, there is only one school in Kathooli village which is operating only for classes
6th, 7th and 8th. With the school lacking basic amenities and infrastructure, the current status of
education in this school is not very appealing. The situation has worsened to a level that the
number of admitted students in the school is only 15. The rest of the children of Kathooli go to a
primary model school of Madan Negi or Rajkiya inter college of the village of Madan Negi. The
facilities here are much better as compared to the above two mentioned schools. 80 % of the
children of Kathooli are attending schools in Hybrid Mode whereas 20 % are receiving distance
and correspondence education in exclusively online mode
.
The students of Kathooli village are more inclined towards Arts stream as compared to
Science. Most of the students opt for Hotel Management courses after completing their
intermediate education and hence are less inclined towards science. Also, there is less awareness
in the village regarding the medical and engineering competitive examinations. The majority of

12
the children completed their education up to intermediate level after which the dropout rate
became significantly high owing to lesser affordability to pursue expensive courses like
graduation.The dropout rate has been significantly increasing over the years owing to different
reasons like engagement in domestic activities (majorly including girls), engagement in financial
services (majorly including boys), marriage and others.

Figure 8-School

Primary Model School:-

The school is situated at a distance of 2.3 kms from village Kathooli. The mode of
communication is Hindi. Owing to the COVID 19 situation, the school is currently operating on
hybrid mode with classes and examinations getting conducted on online and offline mode
respectively.

Strength of students and teacher:-

The total strength in the school is of 60 students, out of which 27 are males and 33 are
females. There are a total of 5 teachers, all of them appointed on a permanent basis. The number
of male and female teachers are 3 and 2 respectively. There are separate faculty members for
English, Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Sanskrit respectively while Hindi is
being taught by the principal herself.

Infrastructure:-

There are a total of 5 classrooms, all of them being in good condition. The school is operating for
classes 1st to 5th. There is a separate dedicated playground for sports activities, the gathering in
the same being prohibited owing to Covid-19. The school lacks a library and a computer lab and

13
an absence of infrastructure for the virtual classroom segment. There are a total of 4 washrooms
out of which only 3 are in a usable condition.

Sanitation and Drinking water:-

With no RO purifier installed, the school is facing problems with clean drinking water. There are
a total of 4 washrooms out of which only 3 are in a usable condition.The education is free for all
the students of all administrative categories. Before Covid-19, the school used to provide books
to the students but during Covid-19, the school started transferring the necessary amount equal to
the worth of the books in the bank accounts of parents, entrusting them with the responsibility to
buy.

Rajkiya Inter College, Madan Negi: -

The college is situated at a distance of around 2 kms from Kathooli. There are no suitable
transport facilities for the children because of which they have to travel to the college by foot.
The mode of communication is Hindi. The college is operating from classes 6th to 12th and the
available streams for classes 11th and 12th are Science and Arts.

Strength of students and teachers:-

The total strength is 210 students out of which 63 are from general category, 100 from
OBC and 47 from SC/ST. The school has a sex ratio of 1:1 i.e. having exactly 105 males and 105
females. The numbers of students of ARTS stream are 25 and 16 in classes 11th and 12th
respectively while those in SCIENCE stream are 14 and 15.The total numbers of teachers in the
college are 16 out of which 13 are contracted on permanent basis while the rest 3 are on
temporary basis. The number of male and female teachers are 10 and 6 respectively. The most
important role of the principal is fulfilled by one of the teachers.

Infrastructure:-

There are a total of 13 classrooms out of which 4 are in a very poor condition
infrastructure wise while the rest 9 are in a relatively good condition. There is a library currently
having 600 + books. There is a well-built computer lab having a total of 10 computers. Because
of the lack of space, the virtual classroom segment is also installed within the computer lab itself.
The college is also having a separate dedicated playground for sports activities.

Sanitation and Drinking water:-

14
 The college used to face problems of clean drinking water but the same was solved
recently with the installation of a RO purifier. There are separate washrooms for boys and girls.

Mid-day meal:-

Mid-day meals are provided in the college for classes 6th to 8th. A total of 4 people is given
the responsibility to look after the maintenance of the college and mid-day meals.

9) HEALTH FACILITIES

The village's health-care services are in despair. There are no health care facilities in the
hamlet, except for a pharmacy that sells medications for common disorders. There used to be a
sub-centre in the settlement but it closed down decades ago. Villagers have to go to the nearest
block headquarter Madan Negi to receive basic medical care. There is a fully operational
government hospital 3 kilometres from the settlement with a multi-bed facility that cares for
various patients every day. However, due to shortage of lab technicians, it lacks basic diagnostic
facilities such as blood tests and X-ray. For critical illnesses, residents must go to the nearest
town, New Tehri, which is around 65 kilometres away.
The visits of healthcare officials are an unusual occurrence in the community. The visit is limited
to polio immunizations for children and Corona vaccination for just a few months throughout the
year. In addition to this, Anganwadi personnel help with the immunisation programme
The majority of the women go to private clinics for pre-natal and post-natal treatment. If the
family is low-income, they will proceed to the nearest government hospital in the block
headquarters. Most households who choose private clinics over government facilities claim
better treatment, faster service, and referrals from relatives and friends as reasons.

10) IRRIGATION AND TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES

The transportation facilities in the village are a big concern owing to the sloppy nature of
the roads and lack of these facilities worsens the condition. Children have to travel close to 2.5
kilo meters on foot to attend the nearest school in the nearby village. Women have to walk on
this sloppy terrain to collect fuel wood for cooking and fodder for the livestock. Apart from the
educational institution, the banks, agricultural market, block headquarters, ATMs etc. were
located in Rajakhet and May Badel which were located at a distance of 6 kilometers and 2.5 kilo
meters from Kathooli. Infrequent transportation caused a major hurdle in availing these facilities.
It offered a challenge to us as well in arranging transportation to reach these villages and collect
information. A few people in the village are running private taxi service which somehow
improves the situation. However, even those are not affordable for everyone owing to the poor
economic status of the villagers.

15
 There is an absence of a proper water channel in the village owing to which 70 % of the
agricultural land is unirrigated. Only the portion of the land which is close to the water sources
like Gadhera and river streams is irrigated land which is close to 30 %..

4) VILLAGE POLITY

Our village is spread across the mountain. There is only one main road in the village which
divide the village into 2 regions. The households are very close to one another with walls
attached. One can easily go to another house via terrace.The 2 regions of the village are:
1) Upper region
2) Lower region

Upper region
The upper region of the village is occupied by the General Caste. Caste like Brahmins, Rawat,
Negi, Pawar, Nautiyal, Bisht etc. can be found in this region.
No. of total households – 83
No. of Brick houses- 20
No. of semipakka houses- 13
No. of kaccha houses- 4
No. of multi storied houses- 46
Mix of occupation of people from agriculture, kirana shops, service sector can be seen. Most of
the people survive on the remuneration sent by the migrated family member.

Lower region
The lower region of the village is occupied by the lower castes (SCs/STs). Major castes found
are: Dom, Sahariya, Shauka, Karwal, Kapariya, Dhusia, Dhangar etc.
The SCs constitute approx. 45% of the total population of the village.
No. of total households – 46
No. of Brick houses- 4
No. of semipakka houses- 24
No. of kaccha houses- 10
No. of multi storied houses- 8
In this location, most residents rely on the compensation of migrating members, with
some working as daily labourers or in hotel services.There is no religious segregation in the
village because it is entirely composed of Hindus.The village roadways are all pucca roads.
Almost all households have land holdings, with higher region villagers having greater holdings
(2-5 Acre) and lower area villagers having smaller holdings (0.5-1 Acre). However, because of
crop failure caused by wild animals, several people have chosen Oregano growing on their plots
as an alternative.

16
 Figure 9-Lower Region Figure 10- Upper Region

5) EMPLOYMENT

Prior to the building of Tehri Dam, the agriculture of Kathooli Village was the main source
of employment for locals, since residents used to farm important commercial crops such as
wheat, rice, and other vegetables such as okra, eggplant, and so on. It was their words that they
used to buy only salt from outside, the rest they got from their agriculture, but the long-overdue
development of the area caused havoc to the village, the construction dam resulted in the entry of
wild animals like monkeys and pigs whose habitation was destroyed with the dam construction
so they chose the way of Kathooli Local in quest of habitation, and in search of food, they
assaulted the crops planted by the village farmers and destroyed them, causing great economic
losses to the farmers of the village. Following that, in pursuit of their lost livelihood and work,
the locals began moving, apart from agriculture, the community did not provide many options for
making a living. So, the villages relocated to cities and began accepting odd jobs, with the bulk
opting for hotel management and beginning to work in hotels in large cities.

So, for the time being, the major source of employment for the villages, particularly the
youth, is migration, where they may work in the service industry, notably in the hotel
management sector. Aside from hotel management, the Indian Army is another important
employment area where many villagers have been reported to be engaged. A few villagers own a
shop and a very few are still involved in agriculture like farming in poly homes or opting for
mushroom cultivation and poultry.

Apart from that, according to the government's MGNREGA plan, some people in the village
earn a living by working under the MGNREGA scheme, however owing to a lack of extension
work, only a few people are aware of the benefits of government schemes like MGNREGA. The
women of the village are shown to be involved in household chores and tasks to preserve their
living, such as working in agriculture in the absence of their male counterpart. Further Women
care for cattle, children, and travel across muddy terrain to obtain wood, fodder, grass, and water.

17
In summary, prior to the dam's construction, the primary occupation of villagers was agriculture,
but now the primary occupation is migration and odd jobs in big cities, particularly hotels, with
remittances as the main source of income, and other employment sources in villages only include
the army, retail shops, agriculture, and MGNREGA.

Sources of Employment
200
200
180
156
160
140
120
100
76
80 68
57
60 43 44 43
36
40
14 17
6 11 7 8 7
20 3 4
0
Male Female Total

Agriculture Manufacturing Non-Manufacturing Services Others Total

Figure 11- Graph shows agriculture became the least adopted source for employment as
most of villagers moved outside to earn their livelihood from tertiary sector of economy.

a) Agriculture activities:

People used to cultivate wheat, rice, lentils, and vegetables, but as a result of increased crop
spoiling owing to wild animals and unseasonal rains, they switched to oregano cultivation, which
requires little agricultural practices. When speaking with the inhabitants, it was discovered that
the Tehri Dam's construction resulted in the displacement of wild animals in their community.
The town used to be self-sufficient, but the wild animals' involvement seriously hampered
agricultural activities. Families have been driven to travel in search of better prospects and
amenities as a result.

18
 Figure 12- Barren Land

b) Income and Consumption:

The average income of the villagers in Kathooli lies between the range of Rs. 10,000-
25,000. The primary occupation is agriculture for most of the villagers, which is done by
cultivating oregano in the fields. But due unexpected rainfalls it is also limited to one crop a year
and sometimes the fields are left barren. Women of the households are also engaged in economic
activities through door to door selling of cow milk. The village also represents a section of
retired army men who are receiving pensions from the government on a regular basis. A large
number of government schemes like MGNREGA, Atal yojgar Yojna etc. are also running in the
village but the lack of awareness among the villagers allows only a few to get benefits from
these schemes and policies.

The villagers spend their major part of the earnings in food expenses followed by social
expenses such as marriage. Rituals etc. With the average age of villagers between 37-60 years,
the village has high adult crowd facing high healthcare expenses. Apart from the above
mentioned, high expenditure area also includes travel expenses and agriculture related expenses.

Limited opportunities, high transport cost, low options for regular connectivity to the
nearby village for essential necessities such as education, healthcare, food, water and low
opportunities in the nearby localities has been causing high youth migration in the area. It has
also been noted that families who have at least 2 members who have migrated, such families
have seen increased amount of remittances. The migrants of village send remittances which
enhance income and livelihood of the families. In spite of the economic remittances, the
economic status of the families has not improved significantly as the average income of majority

19
of the families (nearly 50 %) is still less than Rs.10,000, (the real remittance lies somewhere
between Rs. 3000-5000). The family income of 34 % of the households changed after migration
to a range of Rs.10,000-15000 whereas about 16% households saw their income difference to be
more than Rs.15,000.Of this 16 %,the majority of the households were those where more than 2
members have migrated.

Figure 13-Average Income Per Household

Figure 14- Expenditure area

20
 Figure 15-Ration Shop

6) SHOCKS:

The village Kathooli due to its hilly terrain does not offer much livelihood opportunities
to the villagers and it is not optimal for any industrial development due to which Agriculture
remains a major source of livelihood for the villagers. The villagers lack sufficient assets and due
to poor quality of education in the village schools’ people also lack capacity building skills due
to which they remain highly vulnerable to shocks and are at high risk because their livelihood is
not resilient.

Development Shock: The major shock that the villagers faced was with the development
of Tehri Dam that made the wild animals to enter the Village who destroyed their agricultural
crops causing major economic loss to the villagers. Due to their vulnerability the villagers never
able to restore their Pre-Dam lifestyle as now they were not able to fulfil their basic needs as they
left their land uncultivated or are cultivating only Oregano that is not offering them huge returns.
According to villagers before Dam construction they were eating what they were growing and
used to buy just Salt from outside but due to their Vulnerability the Development hit them the
hardest taking away their livelihood and food from them, thereafter many children also got hit by
malnourishment as villagers no longer are cultivating the major crops like Rice and Wheat
forcing villagers to move out to cities for Employment.

Climate Change: Change in Climatic Condition is also another Shock that the village has faced
or has been facing. It brought a huge Natural Disaster in the Village in form of floods that
destroyed all the houses and buildings of the village. Disruptive weather and other climate
change related disasters hit the poor villagers the hardest as they are least able to adapt to a

21
changing world. Further Climate Change over the years gave hardships to the villagers like
during our stay only the villagers reported the drought the village is facing.

Systematic Risk: The Risk that affects the whole community or village is called as Systematic
Risk. As a result of the shock Risk is the effect of the shocks. The Dam construction led to
destruction of Agriculture of the village as a whole and the shock put the livelihood of the
villagers in risk as the village due to its hilly terrain did not offer much to sustain the livelihood.
In financial terms this shock can be termed as most heavy for the villagers.
Besides the shock of Climate Change and Disaster can also be termed as Systematic Risk as it
caused havoc in the whole village, destroying the houses, shops, agricultural crops of the
villagers. It also caused huge financial loss in the village but it was one-time shock unlike the
shock that Dam gave to the villagers. The Climate Change is also acting as a risk to villagers as it
is causing failure of certain Agricultural Crops thereby deteriorating the health of children and
old people and increasing the frequency of Natural Disasters.

2%

18%

35%

5%

28%
12%

Education Facilities Unemployment Natural Disaters Low Agri. Production Others

Figure 16-The above graph shows how different push factors that act as shocks to the
livelihood mechanism of the villagers forced them to move outside the village.

22
 7) COPING MECHANISM:

a) MIGRATION:

The villagers in response to the shock that they received where in the development took
away their livelihood from them consequently left the village. They migrated in masses because
the village, apart from agriculture, did not offer much employment opportunities and the
villagers (specially the youth) after getting education (till inter or high school) started migrating
to nearby cities or other regions in search of jobs.

Education
80

60
Other Facilities 40 Employment

20

Climate Change Health Facilities

low Ag production

Figure 17-The graph shows that the major driver of migration is employment followed by
education and low agricultural production which testify the fact that the villagers after
losing their livelihood from agriculture they migrated to other regions in search of
employment.

Figure 18-The Migrated Homes

23
 The migration of men resulted in Feminization of agriculture and women decided to
cultivate Oregano on their piece of land that otherwise was left barren. Apart from remittance,
the women in response of shocks increased their hard work by not only working in the
agricultural fields but also taking care of livestock. They also walk long distances to collect
wood, fodder and water doing which they are saving some money and also generating some
revenue from selling their Oregano.

b) Agriculture Intensification:

In Response to the shocks, some villagers also responded by way of Agriculture

Intensification with help of some external inputs and their own labor and social resources, some
villagers established Poly houses, Mushroom Cultivation and Poultry Farming that give them
some financial support in response to the shocks they faced.

c) Reduction:

In response of the shock, some villagers reported to be reduced their food consumption or
sell their assets like Cow, TV, Jewelry etc.

d) Adaptation:

As a coping strategy, some individuals of the village started working as laborer under the
MGNREGA scheme to earn the employment while some others shifted their livelihood portfolio
and open retail shops in the village to generate employment.

Some other coping strategies adopted by the villagers were selling of assets like
livestock, agri. Equipment, TV etc. To enhance the livelihood assets, women of the village
decided to make Self Help groups, there are many SHGs that women of village are engaged with
but not saving much from them because of the absence of backing from any government entity.
It is running solely on efforts and contribution of women of the village.

24
 8) CONCLUSION-

To sum Up it can be said that the village Kathooli has been the victim of perils of hill
development that has destroyed its Agriculture that used to be major livelihood source for
villagers due to which the village witnessed mass migration to city areas and now the main
source of income for households of Kathooli is Remittance that they received from migrated
members. There is a caste system that is prevalent in the village with SC people staying in lower
region and Upper caste in upper region of village. It can be concluded that the village is
witnessing a Man VS Animal Conflict which destroyed their livelihood and forced the youth to
drop out from schools and migrate in search of employment and better life opportunities. The
village is lacking basic amenities like Education, Quality Food, Transportation, Retail Shops that
is bringing hardships in the lives of villagers. Our Experience there exposed us to all these
hardships and as a manager in making it set a strong base for us to grow in right direction of
Rural Development.

25
 SECTION – II

OF

VILLAGE FIELDWORK SEGMENT (VFS)

PRM 42 & FPRM 20

Theme Paper

TITLE
[Attainment and assessment of education in kathooli village]

HOST ORGANISATION

[FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE, DEHRADUN, UTTRAKHAND]

Prepared by:
Mukul Kumar Singh (p42085), Shrey Agrawal (P42217)

Faculty Guide
[Prof. Saswata Biswas]

In Partial fulfillment of the requirements of the VFS

of the
PRM/FRPM

INSTITUTE OF RURAL MANAGEMENT ANAND

December 2021

26
 1. ABSTRACT:-

Education is one of the most important tools that can contribute effectively in the socio-
economic development of any society, be it rural or urban. This study was conducted to obtain
information regarding the attainment and assessment of education in the village Kathooli situated
in the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. The analysis was carried out through the
information received at both school and household levels regarding the status of education in the
village. The information was collected through a well-prepared questionnaire laying emphasis on
the factors like preference towards public/ private schools, impact of Covid-19 on the mode of
learning, non-enrolment and dropout status in schools and reasons behind the same, time
conserved by the children for self-study post school hours and their engagement in
extracurricular activities for their overall development. Emphasis was given to observe the
infrastructure of these schools and also on the different facilities available there.

A total of 150 households and 2 schools were surveyed to obtain the relevant data. The
households contributed in providing us with the primary data and the schools provided us with
both primary as well as secondary data. The information obtained through the surveys
emphasized the fact that the households are aware of the importance of education but finance
acts as a big constraint in the path of obtaining quality education. The majority of the children
completes their education up to intermediate level after which the dropout rate becomes
significantly high because of lesser affordability to pursue expensive courses after graduation.
The primary school of Kathooli village is not operating currently owing to Covid-19 because of
which the children of Kathooli are currently enrolled in the two schools of Madan Negi, one of
which is operating for classes 1st to 5th (Primary Model School) while the second operating for
classes 6th to 12th (Rajkiya Inter College). As observed, the former is not well built and has
extremely poor infrastructure with very few facilities while the latter is having a well-built
infrastructure with adequate facilities for quality education. An important thing to notice was the
inclination of the children towards extracurricular activities like sports, quizzes etc and the
schools inspiring them for the same. The interaction with the households, children and the
faculty of the schools helped us in framing the necessary suggestions to improve the status of
education in the village.

On interacting with the teachers, we also found out that COVID-19 has severely impacted
the quality of learning in the Primary Model School where children were not able to adapt with
the online mode of learning.

27
 2. INTRODUCTION

The Article 21 A of the Indian constitution gives every citizen the fundamental " Right to
Education '' irrespective of whether the child belongs to a rural area or an urban area. The status
of rural education in India is improving but the condition of these rural institutions is still very
poor. There is a shortage of schools in rural areas and these schools lack basic facilities and
infrastructure. Also, children in rural areas have to travel through large distances to attend these
schools. The teachers of rural schools are not very highly motivated because of low income. As a
result, they are either absent from schools most of the time or show least interest in teaching
properly. The availability of clean drinking water and hygienic food is another concern in these
rural schools. This research paper highlights the status of education in the village of Kathooli
located in the Tehri Garhwal District of Uttarakhand.

Kathooli is a small village in the Tehri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. The village has a
population of mere 1500 people. The situation of education in this village is not much different
as compared to the other villages of India. As of today, there is only one school in Kathooli
village which is operating only for classes 6th, 7th and 8th. With the school lacking basic
amenities and infrastructure, the current status of education in this school is not very appealing.
The situation has worsened to a level that the number of admitted students in the school is only
15. The rest of the children of Kathooli go to a primary model school of Madan Negi, a village
situated 2 kms away from Kathooli. This school is operating for classes 1st to 5th and has a
current population of 60 students. The children of classes 6th to 12th of Kathooli attend a
Rajkiya inter college of the village of Madan Negi. This college has a population of 210 students
and the facilities here are much better as compared to the above two mentioned schools. The
college has a well-built infrastructure having a separate computer lab and a separate library for
students. The students are promoted to participate in extra co-curricular activities with most of
them achieving meritorious positions at district and state level. The college is also running
various community awareness programmes like Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan and Samajik Shiksha
Abhiyaan. There is a special focus for girl child education and the college is also promoting self-
defence training programmes for its girls' students.

Figure 1- School

28
 3. LITERATURE REVIEW

As highlighted by the World Bank, education plays a very crucial role in the development of
the rural sector. From previous research articles, we found out that researchers have in the past
correlated rural development with agricultural development and thereby focussed only on
increasing agricultural output. However, in the 21st century, the researchers have improvised on
this correlation and have highlighted education as the backbone of rural development.

Researchers have rightly stated that the present system of education in India owes its origin
to the Britishers where emphasis was laid only on the western style and content and the
traditional structures were side-lined.

After independence, the Central Government has tried to improve the status of rural
education through various schemes and policies but the various hurdles like poverty, lack of
infrastructure and related facilities, difficulties in understanding the textbooks etc. have been
minimizing the progress. Researchers have found out that the quality related issues pertaining
to rural education are far more prominent than poverty which is clearly highlighted by the status
of government schools across the country. As per the latest guidelines by the Central Board of
Secondary Education, every student is supposed to be promoted to the next class (till class 5th)
irrespective of the marks obtained and hence majority of the rural students least bother to study.
In Spite of free education, the dropout rate from schools has been significantly increasing which
offers a major hurdle to the progress of rural education in India. Through this research, we are
also emphasizing in finding the reasons behind the non-enrolment and dropout and make
relevant suggestions oriented towards nullifying the same.

From the previous research articles, it was evident that the quality of teachers in the rural
schools are not up to the mark and their findings prompted the Central Government to frame a
separate body known as NCT (National Council of Teachers Education). The main responsibility
of this body was to select and train the teachers and provide them with degree certificates.
The condition of rural education in India has been improving steadily. The government
incentives like free education and mid-day meals are attracting rural children towards schools
which is the primary step towards upliftment of education status in rural areas.

However, researchers have found out that there is an absence of schools in many villages
forcing the children to enrol themselves in the schools of nearby villages and travelling large
distances to reach those schools without any suitable means of transportation. This situation gets
more aggravated in schools located in the villages of hilly states like Uttarakhand where children
have to walk miles on sloped terrain without any help. This may not seem a serious problem to
many but previous researches have indicated it as a major reason behind children showing
disinterest in attending schools.

29
4. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

The research was carried out to understand the status of education in the village of
Kathooli, Uttarakhand. Following were identified as some of the objectives of the study: -

1. To understand the preference of the people towards private and government schools and
reason for their inclination towards either of them.
2. To understand the impact of Covid-19 on the mode and quality of learning in schools.
3. To understand the preferences of the students while choosing different higher education
streams such as commerce, arts, science(medical) and science (non-medical).
4. To understand the state of migration in the village for obtaining better education.
5. To understand the situation of enrolment and dropout in schools.
6. To understand the inclination of students towards extra co- curricular activities in
schools.
7. To understand the impact of various government policies and schemes in uplifting the
status of education in the village.

30
 5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DATA SOURCE

A. METHODOLOGY

The research study is exploratory in nature. As the topic “Status of education in rural areas”
is the need of the hour, the initiatives taken up to improve the status of education in the village of
Kathooli, Uttarakhand were observed and revealed through this research. The necessary data
were collected from the available sources such as households and schools. The tabular analysis
was used to prepare necessary charts and graphs presented in this paper. The objective of the
study is to understand the assessment and attainment of education in the village Kathooli as well
as the role of government and external agencies in promoting the same.

The analytical, descriptive and comparative methodology has been adopted for this paper and
data has been collected from different sources. The confidence interval of these results is plus or
minus 5 percent. We have a sample population of around 150 households so that we can
conclude something about the population. We have collected the data from two sources: -

1. On village level

The host organization Forest Research Institute, Dehradun allotted us the village
Kathooli, Uttarakhand. After getting an overview through a S shaped Transect walk and finding
that the majority of the houses were locked (owing to migration), we decided to opt for a non-
random convenience-based sampling model.

2. On school level

The model of sampling adopted at this level was a non-random purposive based sampling
method. Through this method, we had a direct interaction with the important sources of
information like the principal, the teachers and the students.

Our questions are a mix of open ended and closed ended questions. Questions are semi
structured one. Some of the questions are the structured ones and some of the questions are
unstructured ones. Types of responses are: -

Dichotomous response-based questions were:-

a. Did your children migrate to cities/towns for higher education?
b. Do your children participate in extra co-curricular activities?
c. Does your teacher encourage you to perform?

Nominal response-based questions were: -

31
 a. How did you fund your child’s education? -Loan, Selling of Land or Assets or savings
b. What were the identified reasons for non-enrolment and dropout of children from
schools? - Engaged in economic activities, engaged in domestic activities, financial
constraints or no tradition in the community.

Ordinal response-based questions were: -

a. How much do you agree with the statement “The teacher has fair rules for the class and is
extremely impartial? - Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree or Strongly Disagree

Interval response-based question were: -

a. How much time do children spend on study on a daily basis? - Less than 2 hrs, 2-4 hrs, 4-
6hrs or more than 6 hrs.

Through a prepared questionnaire, we tried to access various information pertaining to the

status of education in the concerned village. We visited the concerned schools and interacted
with the faculty and students to get an overview of the infrastructure and how the daily activities
in the school are carried out.

B. DATA SOURCE

The Tehri Garhwal Region is a significant part of Uttarakhand's state, with the country's
tallest dam and extensive natural resources. The community of Kathooli, May Badel, with a
geographical area of 2.25 KM2 with a population density of 667 persons per square kilometre
and a sex ratio of 90.25, is located between 30° 23'46" N and 78° 29'48" E. The village has a SC
population of 45 percent; the balance is mixed; however, the entire community is classified as
OBC. The hamlet from which the data was taken is rich in natural and human resources, but it is
socially backward and lacks basic infrastructure, and it is economically poor due to its hilly
topography.

For primary data collection, we took a survey of around 150 households and the two
concerned schools. The secondary data was provided to us in the form of maintained records like
those of attendance and absenteeism, enrolment and dropout, pass percentage and performance
of the students in extra co-curricular activities.

32
 6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS: -

The children of Kathooli are enrolled in two schools- one is the Rajkiya Inter College that
operates for classes 6th to 12th and the other is the Primary Model School operating for classes
1st to 5th. The detailed information of the two are as follows: -

A. RAJKIYA INTER COLLEGE, MADAN NEGI

The college is situated at a distance of around 2 kms from Kathooli. There are no suitable
transport facilities for the children because of which they have to travel to the college by foot.
The mode of communication is Hindi.

Figure 2- Rajkiya Inter College

The total strength is 210 students out of which 63 are from general category, 100 from
OBC and 47 from SC/ST. The school has a sex ratio of 1:1 i.e. having exactly 105 males and 105
females. Owing to the pandemic situation of Covid-19, the college is currently operating on
hybrid mode where the classes and the examinations are getting conducted online and offline
respectively.

33
 Figure 3- Student Distribution

There is a total of 13 classrooms out of which 4 are in a very poor condition

infrastructure wise while the rest 9 are in a relatively good condition. The college is operating
from classes 6th to 12th and the available streams for classes 11th and 12th are Science and Arts.
The number of students of ARTS stream are 25 and 16 in classes 11th and 12th respectively
while those in SCIENCE stream are 14 and 15. From the mentioned data, it is clear that the
students are more inclined towards arts as compared to Science. There is a library currently
having 600 + books and the yearly allocated budget for the same is 16000 INR. The library is
well maintained having proper records of issuance and return of books. A club named ECO
CLUB is also operating within the college and its prime responsibility is to organize environment
related events. The club is also receiving a yearly budget of 25000 INR from the government.
There is a well-built computer lab having a total of 10 computers. Because of the lack of space,
the virtual classroom segment is also installed within the computer lab itself. The college is also
having a separate dedicated playground for sports activities but entry and gathering in the same
is currently prohibited owing to the ongoing pandemic. Separate washrooms are provided for
boys and girls.

The total number of teachers in the college are 16 out of which 13 are contracted on
permanent basis while the rest 3 are on temporary basis. The number of male and female
teachers are 10 and 6 respectively. The position of the principal of the college has been vacant
for a long time and no arrangements have been made to fill the same. Owing to this, one of the
senior male faculty of the college is currently handling the responsibilities of the principal.

34
Figure 4- Smart Class Figure 5- Computer Lab

Figure 6- Classroom Figure 8- RO Purifier

Figure 9- Library Record Figure 10- Library Register

35
 Figure 11- Newly Built Classrooms Figure 12- Construction Work

The college used to face problems of clean drinking water but the same was solved
recently with the installation of a RO purifier. To curb the problem of frequent power cuts in the
village, a generator is also installed along with 2 solar lights. The college is also charging 240
INR per student per year as maintenance charges for the same.

The government provides money for books for the students of all administrative
categories of classes 6th to 8th. However, for classes 9th to 12th, only the SC/ST administrative
category students are provided books.

The attendance of the students is recorded through a manual register system. The overall
attendance of the General and OBC administrative categories is close to 80 percent while that of
the SC/ST were close to 50 percent. The poor financial conditions of the families of the SC/ST
categories forces the children to get engaged in financial.

Figure 13- Social Science quiz Figure 15- Record register

The college is having a remarkable inclination towards extra co-curricular activities

with the students achieving meritorious positions at the district as well as state level. The

36
students of classes 11th and 12th won a State Level Volleyball competition in the year 2018
defeating the top urban locality schools of Uttarakhand. Quiz is one of the major intra college
extra co-curricular activities with at least one quiz getting organized every week. An award by
the name of INSPIRE is given to the students who come forward to represent the college in inter
college extra co-curricular activities. The idea behind the same is inspiring students to push
themselves into participation and thereby helping them develop several traits of their overall
personality. However, COVID 19 has forced the college to prohibit inter college extra co-
curricular events currently.

There is a separate WhatsApp group for every class where information related to class
routine and homework gets transmitted. A PDF file related to the topic is also provided to the
students at the end of each lecture so that they can understand the taught concepts more clearly.

The college is providing free education to all the girl students till class 12th which is a
massive move towards promoting girl child education. They are provided with free uniform and
books. The college is also allocated a fund of 9000 INR to organize self-defence training
programs for girls. All this has helped the college to achieve a gender ratio of 1:1 (as of
December, 2021)

Mid-day meals are provided in the college for classes 6th to 8th. A total of 4 people is
given the responsibility to look after the maintenance of the college and mid-day meals.

B. PRIMARY MODEL SCHOOL

The school is situated at a distance of 2.3 kms from village Kathooli. The mode of
communication is Hindi. The total strength is 60 students. Out of which 27 are males and 33 are
females. Owing to the COVID 19 situation, the school is currently operating on hybrid mode
with classes and examinations getting conducted on online and offline mode respectively.

There is a total of 5 classrooms, all of them being in good condition. The school is
operating from classes 1st to 5th. There is a separate dedicated playground for sports activities,
the gathering in the same being prohibited owing to Covid-19. The school lacks a library and a
computer lab and an absence of infrastructure for the virtual classroom segment. There is a total
of 4 washrooms out of which only 3 are in a usable condition.

There is a total of 5 teachers, all of them appointed on a permanent basis. The number of
male and female teachers are 3 and 2 respectively. There are separate faculty members for
English, Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Sanskrit respectively while Hindi is
taught by the principal herself.

37
 With no RO purifier installed, the school is facing problems with clean drinking water.
The education is free for all the students of all administrative categories. Before Covid-19, the
school used to provide books to the students but during Covid-19, the school transferred the
necessary amount of books in the bank accounts of the parents entrusting them with the
responsibility to buy. Also, the mid-day meals were prohibited in the school during Covid-19 and
the amount pertaining to 100 gms of rice (i.e. 4.97 INR) was transferred in the bank account of
the parents (i.e. if the school is supposed to be operating for 20 days in a month, the amount
equivalent to 20 *4.97= 99.40 INR) was transferred)

Figure 16- Primary Model School

Figure 17- Kitchen Figure 18- Birthday Celebration

38
 Figure 19- Attendance Board

The attendance of the students is recorded through a manual register system. However,
after visiting the school for 10 consecutive days, we observed that the rate of absenteeism in the
school is quite high (close to ⅓rd.). Out of the 67 total students, 21 are of general category, 34
are of OBC category and the remaining 5 are of SC category.

As seen from the above image, the dropout rate in the school has been successively
increasing over the years owing to excessive migration from the village for better employment
and education opportunities.

The school is organizing intra school extra co-curricular events for its students and
encourages them to participate in inter school events organized exclusively by Navodya
Vidyalaya Samiti.

Mid-day meals are given to all the students and a total of 2 people are entrusted with this
responsibility. However, there is an absence of a shed/ room for this activity forcing the children
to sit in the open for having their meals. Also, the school is lacking a proper staff to look after the
maintenance activities.

39
Table 1- Summary of the infrastructure of the two schools
School/ Total Washrooms Playgrounds Computer Computers Number Number Medium
College number of Labs of of of
Name classrooms teachers Students Education

Primary 5 4 1 0 1 5 60 Hindi
Model
School

Rajkiya 11 2 1 1 10 16 210 Hindi

Inter
College

C. AT HOUSEHOLD LEVEL

We conducted a survey of a total of 150 households to gather information regarding various

aspects of education in the village Kathooli. The results of the survey conducted at household
level are as follows:

a. Public/Private Distribution

Figure 20 – Public/Private Distribution

85% of the children in Kathooli are studying in the two public schools-Rajkiya Inter
College, Madan Negi and Primary Model School, Madan Negi. The remaining 15 % are
obtaining online distance learning from the private schools of nearby districts like Tehri
Garhwal. On interacting with these 15 % of the households, we found that they find distance
learning more helpful as compared to the public schools of Kathooli and it is for the same reason
they decided to drop out from these public schools after the initial years of their basic education.
Also, these 15 % also includes the students who have completed their education upto

40
intermediate from these public schools and then opted for online correspondence courses like
B.A and B.Com. The majority of them were females who can strike a balance between their
education and domestic work by preferring these correspondence courses.

b. Mode of Learning

Figure 21- Mode of learning

80 % of the children of Kathooli are attending schools in Hybrid Mode whereas 20 % are
receiving distance and correspondence education in exclusively online mode.

Before Covid-19, both the schools were operating in offline mode which changed into
online mode during Covid-19 and hybrid mode post the second wave. The examinations in the
schools are getting conducted offline while the classes are getting conducted online. After
interacting with the teachers of both the schools, it was found that the transition from the offline
mode of education did not affect the quality of learning in Rajkiya Inter College, Madan Negi,
where most of the students were quickly able to adapt to the new technology. But the quality of
learning severely declined in the Primary Model School, Madan Negi during Covid-19, where
the children were not able to adapt to the online mode.

c. Funding of Education

Figure 22- Funding Of Education

41
 As tuition fees in public schools are not very high, the majority of the households (close
to 78 %) are able to afford the education of their children through their savings itself.

A few children in the village are attending online coaching for the engineering and medical
entrance examinations and the households (close to 22 %) opted to take loans (both formal and
informal) or sell their assets to fund for the expenses. These assets included livestock, two-
wheeler and four wheelers and some even decided to sell their land.

d. Pass Percentages: -

Figure 23- Pass Percentages

The pass percentage of Rajkiya Inter College has been declining over the years. This is a
matter of serious concern as it raises questions over the quality of teaching in the college. On
interacting with the principle about the same, he told that the toughness level of examinations has
been increasing over the years causing a decline in the pass percentage of students.

e. Stream Chosen: -

Figure 24- Stream Chosen

42
 The data clearly reflects that the students of Kathooli village are more inclined towards
Arts stream as compared to Science. Most of the students opt for Hotel Management courses
after completing their intermediate education and hence are less inclined towards science. Also,
there is less awareness in the village regarding the medical and engineering competitive
examinations.

f. Participation in extracurricular activities

Figure25- Participation in extracurricular activities

Around 60 % of the students studying in the two schools are participating in extra
curricular activities like sports, quiz and others. The teachers in both the schools have played an
influential role in inspiring students for participating in the same. The Rajkiya Inter college even
gives an award named “Inspire” to the students who comes forward to represent the college in
inter college events at district and State Level. The college even won a State Level Volleyball
competition in the year 2018 defeating the top tier schools of Uttarakhand. Oratory competitions
like Debates, elocution and extempore are also organized in the college at regular intervals to
improve the public speaking skills of the students and make them more confident in expressing
themselves on stage.

43
 a. Non-enrolment and dropout: -

Figure 1- Non Enrollment and Dropout

The dropout rate has been significantly increasing over the years owing to different
reasons like engagement in domestic activities (majorly including girls), engagement in financial
services (majorly including boys), marriage and others. The inability to afford higher education
because of financial constraints was a significant reason for many students dropping out after
completing their education up to intermediate level.

b. Changes they would like to see

Figure 27-Changes they would like to see

On interacting with the children and their parents, most of them expressed the desire to shift
from the traditional way of learning to a more innovate virtual classroom learning as it provides

44
them with a better insight of the various topics taught in the classroom. Also, they were of the
opinion that the syllabus in the schools should be finished on time so that they get sufficient time
to prepare for the examinations.

c. Time spend every day on study

Figure 2- Time spend everyday on study

Majority of the students get less than 2 hrs to study after the school gets over. This is
owing to the engagement in domestic activities like washing clothes, cooking and collection of
wood and fodder. Only a very less portion of children managed to study more than 5 hours on a
daily basis and they were basically the ones preparing for engineering and medical entrance
examinations.

7. POLICY AND SUGGESTIONS:

1. The course curriculum of rural education should be modernised focussing on the practical
aspects of education as well. As agriculture is the major occupation in rural areas, there
should be separate courses related to farming, gardening and other relevant fields so that
the situation of agricultural crisis can be tackled well in future.

2. The situation of Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of E-learning and exposed the
various flaws in the rural education system which is lacking the basic infrastructure for an

45
 online mode of learning. It is high time that the rural schools start arranging for the
infrastructure required for an innovative way of education. Visual aids such as projectors,
televisions and other similar devices can be used to broadcast educational movies in order
to attract a larger number of students and enhance their interest in learning.

3. As teachers are quite less motivated to teach in rural schools because of low income
resulting in their high abesentism from the classes, they should be made to feel proud of
the fact that by teaching in rural or remote areas they are contributing to the growth of the
economy. A biometric system of attendance should be made compulsory so that there
is no discrepancy as far as regularity of teachers in schools is concerned. Also, the district
and state level administration should pay regular visits to these schools so as to keep a
check on the various activities going on there.

4. Drop out from schools is a major concern in rural areas owing to the rural people not
realising the importance of education to this date. They prioritize engaging their children
in the domestic and economic activities rather than sending them to schools. The
administration must look forward in the direction of organising special sessions and
seminars to help both the parents and children realise the importance of education and
how this tool can change the future of the next seven generations of a family. These
should be organised in coordination with the political bodies like Gram Panchayat and
communities like NGO's so as to ensure maximum attendance and best results out of
them.

5. One of the major flaws in rural schools is the lesser inclination towards extra co-
curricular activities that plays a huge role in the overall development of a child. The
students in these schools should be motivated to participate in activities like quizzes,
Olympiads, sports and oratory competitions like debates, elocution and extempore so that
they can compete with the students of the urban schools at all levels. This will also give
wings to the talent of rural India which remains unrecognised most of the time owing to
the absence of necessary facilities and opportunities.

6. Scholarships in the form of gifts or books who perform well in class to recognise their
efforts. This will motivate them to sustain their academic performance in future as well.

46
 7. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

A. NON-RESPONSIVE BIAS

Some of the respondents at household level were hesitant to share various information like
reasons for non-enrolment and dropout, source of funding for education etc. leading to Non-
responsive biasness.

B. SOCIAL DESIRABILITY BIAS

At school level, a variety of sensitive questions were asked like attendance and punctuality of
teachers, quality of mid- day meals etc. and hence there is a possibility that they did not portray
the actual situation in order to show themselves in a socially desirable orientation.

C. SAMPLING BIAS

As majority of the houses were locked because of excessive state of migration in the
village, it was not possible to cover all the households thereby leaving a possibility of Sampling
Biases in the report.

8. CONCLUSION:-

The right to education is a fundamental right of every Indian citizen, whether the child lives
in a high-profile society or in a remote, underdeveloped village. To improve the level of
education and literacy in rural India, schools in rural areas should be encouraged. This analysis
backed up the notion that non-enrolment and dropout rates have risen dramatically over the
years, and that the situation is only becoming worse with the Covid-19. The two main causes for
this are involvement in household activities (which primarily affects girls) and involvement in
financial activities (which primarily affects boys). Many students dropped out after finishing
their education up to intermediate level due to their inability to afford higher education due to
financial restrictions. Many villagers are migrating to cities/towns for higher education, while
those who remain in the village prefer to attend the government school (Primary Model
School/Rajkiya Inter College) or complete their education through correspondence. In
comparison to science, students are more interested in the arts. One of the main reasons is that
students and parents are unaware of the science and commerce streams. Parents are able to pay
their children's education through savings because education costs are lower at government
schools. The majority of those who migrated to cities/towns for higher education sold some form
of asset, such as livestock, to support their child's education. Because parents and children are
unaware of the importance of education, the majority of youngsters prioritise domestic/economic
work over academic pursuits. As a result, they are unable to devote even two hours per day to

47
study. Other backward and SC/ST castes have a high percentage of absenteeism. In comparison
to the Primary Model School, Rajkiya Inter College performs better in terms of discipline,
educational quality, student and teacher regularity, and infrastructure. Both schools are focused
on students' overall development by organising numerous extracurricular activities such as
quizzes, painting, and art competitions, but there is still much to be done. There is a need to put a
check on several loopholes present in the rural education system. The first step is to alter the
method of teaching. Learning should be the focus of rural education rather than cramming.
Discipline in rural schools is a major problem, and its past time to deploy technology, such as
biometric attendance systems, to ensure the regularity among the teachers.

The administration must look forward to organising special sessions and seminars to help
both parents and children realise the importance of education and how this tool can change the
future of the upcoming generations. Teachers should be made to feel proud of the fact that by
teaching in rural or remote areas they are contributing to the growth of the economy.

48
8. REFERENCES:-

1. http://researchjournal.co.in/upload/assignments/4_115-119.pdf
2. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/327105052.pdf
3. https://www.worldwidejournals.com/indian-journal-of-applied-research-
(IJAR)/recent_issues_pdf/2013/March/March_2013_1362146819_53166_126.pdf__126.
pdf

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 SECTION – III

OF

VILLAGE FIELDWORK SEGMENT (VFS)

PRM 42 & FPRM 20

Rural Action Component

TITLE
[Attainment and assessment of education in kathooli village]

HOST ORGANISATION

[FOREST RESEARCH INSTITUTE, DEHRADUN, UTTRAKHAND]

Prepared by:
Mukul Kumar Singh (p42085), Shrey Agrawal (P42217)

Reporting Officer(s)
[Dr. Rajiv Pandey, Indian Council of Forestry Research & Education, Dehradun]

In Partial fulfillment of the requirements of the VFS

of the
PRM/FRPM

INSTITUTE OF RURAL MANAGEMENT ANAND

December 2021

50
THEME PAPER EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Objectives and Scope of Study

The Research was carried through a survey conducted in the village Kathooli of Tehri
Garhwal, Uttarakhand. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the attainment and
assessment of education in Kathooli.

Methodology and Sources of Data

A questionnaire was prepared for both household as well as school level and a sample
size of 150 + households and 2 government schools was chosen for the survey. The questions in
the survey were both open ended and close ended having dichotomous, ordinal, nominal and
interval based responses. The necessary information regarding the education of the family
members was collected from the head of the household while at school; it was collected through
interactions with the principal, faculty members and students.

Analyses and Findings

The survey revealed that the parents in the village are highly inclined towards getting
good education for their children but the lack of facilities in the government schools of the
village deprives them of their motive. The financial constraints restrict them from getting their
children migrated to urban schools.

The village is currently having no school of its own because of which the children of
Kathooli have to travel close to 2.5 kilometers to the nearest village May Badel to attend their
respective schools. The children of classes 1st to 5th are enrolled at the Primary Model School
while those of 6th to 12th are enrolled at the Rajkiya Inter College. Both the schools are currently
operating in Hybrid Mode owing to the prevailing situation of Covid-19. The Primary Model
School is having a population of 60 children while that in the Rajkiya Inter College is of 210
students. The gender ratio in both the schools is nearly 1:1 which shows that there is a special
inclination towards girl child education in the village. Children are well promoted to participate
in extra co-curricular activities which is evident from the various laurels they have received at
the state and district level while participating in these activities.

Recommendations and Limitations:

It is recommended to modernize the course curriculum of rural education and making it more
relevant through the inclusion of components like Agriculture, which also happens to be the
primary occupation of the people in rural areas. Also the problem of drop-out and non-
enrollment should be addressed through the conduction of various seminars directed towards
making people realize the importance of education and how this tool can do wonders towards
transforming the next seven generations’ of a family.

Among the limitations, some of the respondents at household level were hesitant to share
sensitive information like reasons for non-enrollment and dropout, source of funding for

51
education leading to Non responsive biasness.At school level, a variety of sensitive questions
were asked to the concerned authorities regarding the attendance and punctuality of teachers,
quality of mid-day meals etc. and hence there is a probability that they did not reveal the actual
situation in order to show themselves in a socially desirable orientation.

52