OREANDA-NEWS. March 22, 2011. The inauguration of the fifth batch of the camp school at Pipla was held on March 17, 2011. This year, Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS) has enrolled a fresh batch of 100 dropout girls from Jamshedpur and Potka block for this school. Notably, all 100 girls of the previous batch have been successfully mainstreamed to formal education and this year, the effort will be on similar lines as well. Majority of the girls are tribals. Along with providing education, the camp school will also focus on the overall development of children by providing additional vocational training and other co-curricular activities in their routine.

TSRDS has been conducting camp schools in collaboration with Jharkhand Education Project for the last five years now. It is a residential bridge programme, where 100 girls who have discontinued school due to any reason are kept in the camp for nine months and then mainstreamed to formal education.

Tripti Roy, ethics counsellor, Tata Steel, and chief guest on the occasion, spoke about the essence of girl-child education and how more of these initiatives should be promoted. Biren Bhuta, chief, corporate sustainability services, Tata Steel, and guest of honour,  expressed his utmost happiness to see the confidence among the young girls and appreciated the hard work put in by the teachers, who dedicatedly render service to make a difference in the lives of these girls.

A variety of cultural programmes was carried out by the girls of the camp school at Pipla. They performed to a traditional song and welcomed the guests in a traditional way. The children performed a skit on girls' education; they gave a message about the importance of education in a girl’s life. After the programme, Ms Roy addressed the audience; she interacted with the children and asked them about their daily routine.

The programme was attended by the guardians, self-help group members and community leaders. About 150 people attended the programme. The empowerment team, teachers, guardians and students of the camp school extended their full support to make the programme a success.