Mithlesh was worried about the children study and their future. He was anxious as to how these children will continue their learning. COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on school education. It has affected many children across states, class, caste, gender and region.

Mithlesh Manjhi used to take classes for 30 Musahar children from 1 – 5 class in the education centre. He works as a community educator under Caritas India’s Roshni Suposhan programme, since 2013. He always encourages children and their parents on the importance of education to live a dignified life.

The shutting down of schools and the decision of shifting traditional classrooms to digital platforms has not only increased learning inequality among children but also pushed a large number of children out of school due to the digital divide. Other than learning, the absence of schooling would also have a long-lasting effect on the health and nutrition of children.

Shampur is one of the villages in Munger district of Bihar under the Roshni Suposhan programme which was selected to enhance the Food and Nutrition Security of Musahar Communities by strengthening household-level food and nutrition sufficiency and functionalizing Public Health and Nutrition Systems. Musahar community is one of the poorest communities which is deprived of all basic necessities such as education, health, water, sanitation, Job and other skills.

After taking part in various trainings organized by Caritas India and his partner organization Mithleash enriched himself in terms of knowledge and skills. He always advocates and helps the community in accessing government schemes and entitlements.

Due to COVID 19 pandemic, many children could be adversely affected by this and it was anticipated that the greatest impact could be on those in poor socio-economic groups who are already vulnerable and disadvantage. Due to the closure of the schools to ensure the health safety of children, teaching has moved to a digital platform. However remote learning is a challenge for Musahar students in Bihar given the vast difference in access to digital infrastructure. Even though remote learning strategies aim to ensure continued learning for all the children. It is well known that the most marginalized (Mahadalits) children may not able to access these opportunities.

After the announcement of the lockdown all the Complementary Education Centre were closed, children used to room free from education but on the other hand, boys were engaged in child labour and girls were engaged in household works. After getting some ease in the lockdown rules, Mithlesh started his centre with a limited number of children adhering to all the COVID guidelines. He conducts 2 hours of class on a daily basis because these children are very far away from digital learning.

In the month of December 2020, the Roshni Suposhan programme has come to its closure and as a result, all the CEIC centres will be off. Mithlesh and his village children got disappointed after hearing this news, but his passion for teaching children didn’t get disappointed. Because this CEC was the only place for Mahadalit children study where they feel affectionate. He started teaching children as an education volunteer. Looking at the dedication and spirit of Mithlesh parents’ community members decided to pay an honorarium for their children study and welfare. Mithlesh thought that Agar humara samaj sikshit hoga tabhi unka vikas sambhav hai (if our society is educated then only its development is possible).

Looking to his helping nature and caring about children study community members elected Mithlesh as Ward Member in the year 2018 and he also always ready to help the community for their rights and entitlements. Apart from taking care of panchayat work, he conducts two hours classes for Mahadalit children. During the pandemic time, he helped many children in getting their RTE entitlements, helped mother in taking ICDS services and fought from BDO for making Ration Card for accessing the subsidized ration for the Mahadalit community.