Agragamee School

19/03/2026

Nurturing the Soil, Cultivating the Mind
Gardening is a great co-curicular activity for schools. Children get a break to be outdoors and physically active; somethings most schools rarely encourage these days. In addition, they learn about growing their food and vegetables, and most importantly about caring - caring for the plants and crops, caring for the land and caring for their eco-system. This is a crucial value in the current day paradigm of use and throw.

In Agragamee School Children learn gardening, using the same principles of ecological farming practiced in Agragamee Campus. Thus, they learn to value even dry leaves, which you can see them spreading as mulch in some of the photos. They have cultivated the school garden in no till method, and also have written about it in their language classes.

The hands-on activity of gardening, helps children have fun and learn at the same time, and encourages sharing and group work as some carry the buckets of water, others spread mulch, yet others do the weeding and cleaning, transplanting etc. Every time I watch children engaging in these activities, I am filled with wonder, at the sense of fun, sharing and energy they add to the whole process. There is childish laughter, and running up and down, and if any child has a problem, others come in to help, or somebody gives a supportive suggestion, and the work gets done so easily!

In general co-curricular (those that add to the mundane text-book lessons – like looking at maps, or measuring out class rooms to get an idea of area, etc.) and even more importantly extra-curricular activities (which are separate from the prescribed syllabus and texts) add a lot to the quality of education. They not only give a break to children from sitting over books and pouring over notebooks endlessly, but also help them with social skills, learn to work in groups and develop a sense of cooperation and shared learning, developing hands on skills and learning by doing. In all this gardening is extra special, as it also helps children relate to food in a more intrinsic manner, and gives them a sense of achievement, when they see the harvest they collected from their garden add to the menu in their subsequent mid-day meal!!

The sense of joy when children pluck the harvests and the pride with which they carry there produce, and store it on their shelves to form the next day's meal, is quite visible in their happy laughter, and their jaunty walk. Initially the school garden was divided up into classes. but, such divisions were removed, and every class takes turns in tending the little patch on the whole. Thus, every harvest is owned by the whole school!

23/09/2025

Cooking is fun!

Especially when it is done in a group and when it is a very special dish. Last Saturday, Agragamee school students prepared a traditional Mandya (Ragi, finger millet) dish, that is prepared on special festive occasions in the villages.

It’s elegantly simple and lot of fun. And there was special enjoyment, as the results could be immediately sampled, unlike gardening, etc.!! Ragi gives a lovely flavourful powder, which is mixed with jaggery, water, salt and other condiments to taste and spread on a siali leaf, which is then folded back on top of the paste, and roasted on the fire, or on a tava. When the paste is cooked, the leaves come out with little effort, leaving a lovely pattern on the Pitha.

Pana, our inhouse culinary expert on local foods provided all the expert guidance, and well, everybody enjoyed it!! There is lot of effort on teaching local communities to consume more millets, and many training programmes are promoted by the government to develop various dishes out of Mandya including laddus, pakodies, chai(!!), pais/kheer etc. To my mind, it is equally or more important to promote local recipies like the simply lovely mandya pitha, or the ‘mandya anda’ made in traditional tribal style. It is similar to the Karnataka ragi mudde, but embellished with what is called ‘bedana’. This could be a bit of rice, or broken maize or any of the other millets which need not be powdered, but can be consumed like rice. There are many other traditional tribal dishes which bring out the taste and flavour of the local traditional products, with healthier processes of cooking too!!

20/09/2025

Disorderly Classroom:

I was in Class I, and the teacher had stepped out, as she had to address the mess logistics, being manager of the school mess for the month. So we sang a couple of rhymes, and action songs, and the teacher still didn’t come. I looked around, and decided to help children read from the Kau Dake Ka wall chart. It was lovely to see that most kids could identify the letters and matras of all the words on the wall chart. Then I asked them who could write one of the words on the black board. Several hands went up. I selected one of the kids, and called her to write, and then the next for another kid, and so on…………. But, well there were several more getting oh so impatient and accusing……., and then inspiration, I broke the chalk pieces and so also the class room order, and said ok, all of you come and write. There was much joy as the black board got filled with little hands carefully writing out new words they had just learnt. Some looking at the chart, and many just writing from memory. And they wrote all the words on the chart, not just the one I had asked for! And even some of the newer little ones, and hadn’t yet picked up writing were inspired to go and make symmetrical little marks on the blackboard!

This helped us go through this exercise quite a bit faster than it would have normally taken in an ‘orderly’ classroom, and I was also able to make out those reluctant shyer little tots, who didn’t want to go to the blackboard for some reason, or hadn’t yet picked up writing as well. I had learnt my lesson for the day: sometimes, disorder is more efficient and better than order! And the teacher had returned, so I made my way back to routine work!!

04/09/2025

Discover the Fun in Learning:
Innovative methods help to remove the tedium of studies and the fatigue of the day in Agragamee Learning Centres. Here, children learn to read through action songs, which are also written out on wall charts and many fun games, that challenge and engage all present. As they say, the writing is on the wall: Children learn much better through play! 😊

09/08/2025

Dear Friends, a Miscreant has a created a fraudulent page Agragamee School with URL: https://www.facebook.com/groups/188103194556115
Please note this and unfollow or delete this immediately.
Please note that the original Agragamee School URL is https://www.facebook.com/AgragameeSchool/
This is for your information and necessary action.

Non-profit organization providing quality primary-education to the marginalized tribal girl children. Empowering women with education and livelihoods.

09/08/2025

In Agragamee School, we help children learn through play, and play while they learn. the results are great. there is much fun and noise in the classrooms, and hectic activity. learning happens in many ways and for teachers too. Over the years we have taken Agragamee School to the villages as well, and it has helped more children learn in fun and creative ways.

we are indeed happy that we can reach out to children in some of the poorest and most underdeveloped regions, and help them have quality education.

12/06/2025

A lovely visit from two long standing friends, partners and comrades in arms! We have been with Nikita and Heena of TFIX since 2020, when the pandemic started. after many a false start, they did visit us in April, and Heena sent me this delightful report of their visits, which I am thrilled to share. the delay in posting is mine! Apologies Heena and Nikita!!

06/06/2025

Field Report: Learning Center exposure
Learning Centre: KaliaJodi
Report by: Swastik Kumar Pradhan
Introduction: During our visit to the Agragamee Learning Centre, KaliaJodi. We saw a happy and lively place where children learn through fun activities. The Learning Centre is a very interactive place for children. The center had two classrooms full of eager children, with a caring teacher who helped them learn in a friendly way. Our goal was to see how children learn best through the learning centers and engaging and enjoyable activities.
Learning Center Exposure: The Learning Centers are night schools run by Agragamee. They are lively and caring places where children learn new things and develop positive educational values. During our visit, we saw two classrooms full of excited children. Nikhil and I started by talking to the teacher, Bina Jhodia, who is also the eco leader of KaliaJodi. Talking with him helped us understand what the children like and how the center works. The eco leader told us that the children love fun activities that make learning enjoyable and easy to understand. So, we decided to teach them through learning and fun together, making things simple so the children could understand easily. We wanted to create a friendly atmosphere where they felt comfortable to join and try new things. The education at the learning center is focused on teaching children the basics of their local environment. The learning materials designed by Agragamee include topics related to the natural surroundings around them, such as the local flora, fauna, and wildlife. The lessons are also linked to their daily lives and routines, helping children understand how their environment and lifestyle are connected. By learning about their surroundings, children can better appreciate and take care of the natural resources and the world they live in. The teaching is designed to be simple, relevant, and easy for children to understand, so they can grow up with awareness and respect for their environment and community.
Activities: First, we introduced ourselves and asked the children to introduce themselves. This made everyone feel welcome. Then, we asked them to recite the English alphabet to see their familiarity with it. After that, we asked about their knowledge of colors. They replied that they knew colors well, so we helped them identify colors by looking at their dresses and we asked them to point out the colors of their dresses and their friend's dresses. They pointed out the colors they were wearing, which made the activity fun and visualistic. To make the session more interesting, we played a game. The children sat in a circle with their heads down so that no one could look back or each other. One child moved around and gently put a piece of cloth and he had to relate and have to say a name of vegetables or objects of that color they had seen before. We also scored their answers to encourage them and and even had a girls versus boys contest to make it more exciting.
We also played a numbers game, one child had to say the number in Odia and one had to say the same number in English. This helped them learn counting and also correct numbers with language. Later, in another part of the classroom, the children practiced singing rhymes with actions, expressions, and music. It was wonderful to see how confidently they sang and moved along. Their joy and excitement in learning through the rhymes and singing were very encouraging.
Overall, the session was interactive, full of learning and fun. The children were eager to participate, and their energy showed how effective learning through play and participation can be. The children enjoyed participating, and their excitement showed that playing and learning together makes understanding and sharing ideas. Their enthusiasm made the activities enjoyable and helped them learn social skills, language, and thinking skills happily. We are grateful to the teacher, Bina Jhodia (Eco leader) for his effort, and hard work, and seeing the children eager to learn made our experience very meaningful and inspiring. It also showed us how important it is to create lively and fun learning spaces that help children grow in confidence and curiosity.
Learning: We learned that children love activities that make learning fun, such as singing, games, and visual activities. They can recognize colors, and count in different in both Odia and English and enjoy learning together. Using rhymes and playing together through interactive learning and activities related to readings, rhymes, and visual representation plays helps them understand concepts better, build confidence, and work as a team. The teacher’s effort and children's enthusiasm show that lively, interactive learning helps young learners grow curious and happy to learn.
Conclusion: Our visit confirmed that learning should be joyful, lively, and always beneficial for children, from there they gained insightful learning, and when children learn through reading material they understand better, develop social skills, and enjoy the process of learning. Creating fun, interactive spaces is very important for helping children feel confident and curious about their education. This experience inspired us to support and promote engaging learning environments for all young learners.
(This report emphasises the multi-dimensional, complex and creative learning that can happen in a classroom. this kind of learning cannot really be mapped or measured, but enriches each person involved. the question remains - how do we make this happen more often in schools?!)

07/09/2024

Teachers' Day
As the rain pelted down, children queued up and presented a token of love and appreciation to their Dear 'Bada Aagyan', Achyut Das. Each child presented a pen of her colour and choice, never for a moment did they pause to think what on earth would he do with all these pens. At the end of Teachers' Day, each of us adults had a large pile of pens!

No children are not practical, efficient, output oriented, etc. they just love life, and love you, and express it in so many ways - spontaneous, creative, beautiful, and heart warming! Perhaps there is lots we can learn from them, instead of putting them through rigid systems of schooling and various forms of strict discipline that makes them forget and give up their basic nature and turn into 'proper' adults.

In this country, unfortunately, just the barriers of caste and class which imprint on the children's tender minds as they grow up, create divides, fears and complexes denying children many of the basics in life, and the cycles of denial and divisions get perpetuated.

This writing about teachers' day is turning out to be more about children! This is inevitable, as it is a challenge for every teacher today how do they shrug the bindings of an insensitive system, and a divisive society to give each child the best they can.............

26/06/2024

March and April are happy months in Agragamee School. It is not just the thought of the summer holidays, but the freedom from academics, as the exams are over, and teachers and students alike can relax and have some quality time together.

This year, we decided to get muddy and clayey with a potters’ workshop. The children loved it. They went to fetch the clay, and kneaded it, and shaped it to their heart ‘s and imagination’s content!! The potters Tilo Kumhar and Talanokia enjoyed it too. Rarely do they get to teach their skills, and transfer their mastery to a bunch of eager and excited little girls. The children’s enjoyment is seen in their expressions as they report on the event:

Anjali Gouda: “On March 23rd, the small bus went to get the uncles from Kumbharsila. Then, they kept their wheels under the mango tree, and we got floor mats from the training hall, and sat down. Tilo Kumbhar lit an incense stick, and stuck it into the mud. Both of them offered prayer to their wheels, and started work. They put the kneaded clay on the wheel, and pulled it up, and began to make lamps, piggy banks, and larger pots and lamps as well.”

Reena Gouda: “My school friends also began to learn to make lamps. Thus we learnt to make many things on the wheel, and also that everything made on the wheel has to be cut off with a thread. Our Head mistress, Kanaka Guruma also learnt to make lamps. On the third day, she said since the clay is finished, we shall all go to Balighat river to get the clay. We all agreed, and went. Then the uncles dug out the mud, and we brought it. We all put it in a certain spot, and they wetted the mud, and we made beeds and small balls. Then the uncles taught us to make elephant, goat, cow, mango. We learnt to make all these things.

Shibani Jhodia: “On 28th, Guruma asked the girls from class V to get dried cow dung, and the rest of the children to get dried wood from within the campus compounds. The next day, we gave all this to the uncles. They laid the dried twigs on the ground, and arranged all the things that had been made on the twigs. On top of this they put straw. On top of this, they put mud from white ant mounds, and made holes all around.

“The next day, we took the things out. Everything was still very hot. And many things had broken. But, many of the things we made were in good shape, and each one of us took what we had made to keep in our classrooms. We really enjoyed working with the two uncles, and learning to make so many things.”

Current research highlights the fascinating things that happen with your brain when you work with your hands. It gives your active mind a rest by engaging it in a totally different way, which helps your mind relax and recharge. The shift away from “active” thinking often allows you to digest information and process and solve problems in the background while your attention is engaged in your task. Repetitive tasks with the hands, might seem boring, and menial, but now science is discovering that this kind of work gives the mind a chance to have breakthrough ideas on any problems that might have been vexing them for sometime. The mind works ‘behind the scenes’ so to say to find the answers to problematic issues.

It is now known that the hand and brain evolved together in a mutually reinforcing manner. The dexterity and versatility of the hand drove the expansion of neural pathways and brain regions dedicated to fine motor skills and coordination. The parallel evolution of the hand and brain is underscored by Jacob Bronowski in his 'Ascent of Man' series: “The hand is the cutting edge of the mind. No other animal has anything remotely resembling our precise, articulated, and sensitive grasp."

Though the importance of using the hands and hands on learning in school has been recognised, and many schools provide the opportunity for children to learn various crafts, present day education also distances children from working with their hands with its over emphasis on content, memorisation, exams and competetives! More than ever before, education seems to be turning humans into button pushing mammals. Perhaps it is time we jammed the pause button, and began a serious re-think!

18/06/2024

Learning from the Past – Protecting Our Future!

“Mangai Ma explained to us that Agragamee does not just give fruit tress, it also trains farmers on organic cultivation, and care and management of plantations. It is for us to learn, and make the most out of it. I think that is very correct. The farmer who wants to learn will be able to improve his production!” “Dhanu Patra is really enterprising. He has been able to make a small well beside the stream, and lifts the water for winter vegetables. I also want to make a well, so that I can grow some vegetables after the monsoons!” These were just some of the reactions from young tribal farmers, who had gone for an exposure visit to Nabarangapur, under the project Climate Friendly and Sustainable Livelihoods in Remote Tribal Areas Project supported by SEPL (Signet Excipients Private Ltd.)

Land is degrading at a very fast pace in the tribal regions, and tribal youth are increasingly turning to short term options of commercial crops or taking to distress migration to make ends meet. This causes even more hardship and suffering in the tribal communities, and so the vicious cycle continues. One way to break it is to help youth realise their lost treasure of indigenous knowledge systems, and the agricultural gene pool preserved by their forefathers, and I should say foremothers! This is what Agragamee has set out to do through various collaborations, be it with the government, or CSR or like-minded individuals.

And what can be a better than learning from others experiences and efforts. In fact, it is essential if one is to avoid re-inventing the wheel! The current exposure visit helped tribal youth learn from Agragamee’s past experiences of establishing successful family farms and eco-villages as well as from like minded organisations working with local farmers in the region, like MSSRF (MS Swaminathan Research Foundation) and progressive farmers like Shri Nethrananda Lenka. From the MSSRF project visit, farmers learnt how technology can help improve yields and production, while from Shri Lenka they learnt the art and science of integrating cattle with production of indigenous varieties of crops, especially local rice varieties. Nobody perhaps realizes it but this kind of integration is the core of the most current models in climate friendly agriculture, called Regenerative Agriculture developed by the world famous Allen Savory. Their visits to the Nabagami Project Model farms in Dedeshpali and Deula villages, Nabarangapur Block, developed through a collaboration between Agragamee and HDFC, and to Kandraguda and Upargodi villages in Tentuliguda GP to visit family farms developed in collaboration with KKS (Karl Kubel Foundation) to help farmers have sustainable and holistic livelihoods were a revelation to the group on what is feasible if farmers takes interest to develop their lands and are willing to learn like Mangai Ma emphasized. Each one of the family farms, in helping impoverished tribal farmers move out of the loan - commercial farming – land loss – migration – loan ……. Trap is a step towards addressing climate change. In fact these family farms encourage farmers to integrate more trees and go organic, and thus help to pull down carbon from the atmosphere, and sequester it the soil. And so we go on - towards a greener more climate friendly tribal eco-system – one family farm at a time!