Q1. What inspired Omkar Gadi Foundation to establish the Community Learning Centres?
Omkar Gadi Foundation has always worked closely with the communities of Basudevpur, and we could see that many capable children in our government schools were being held back not by ability but by the foundational gaps in reading and arithmetic that no one had the time to address. The national picture makes the point starkly: more than three in four Class 3 children in rural India still cannot read a Class 2-level text. We wanted to change that within our own Gram Panchayats. In partnership with Klorofeel Foundation, we established the Community Learning Centres in April 2025 across the Arandua and Binayakpur Gram Panchayats of Basudevpur Block, offering government school children structured after-school support in foundational literacy, numeracy, problem-solving and critical thinking, while preparing them for competitive residential school entrance examinations.
Q2. What makes the success of students from the Community Learning Centres particularly significant?
Students from our Community Learning Centres have won admission into some of Odisha’s most competitive residential schools, including Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya (OAV), Ekalavya Model Residential School (EMRS), Kalinga Model Residential School (KMRS) and SSD Residential Girls’ High School. These are institutions that draw applicants from across the state. What makes this significant is the backdrop against which it was achieved. These are children from two rural Gram Panchayats, competing against the same foundational learning challenges that leave most Class 3 students across rural India unable to read a Class 2-level text. That they have not merely kept pace but earned these seats is a measure of what becomes possible when children are given consistent, personalised support.
Q3. How does the Community Learning Centre model support children’s learning?
The Centres provide supplementary instruction outside regular school hours, led by trained local facilitators who know each child by name. The model pairs small-group, personalised coaching with activity-based, learner-centric teaching, using quizzes, projects and hands-on exercises in place of rote learning. Students preparing for the OAV, EMRS, KMRS and SSD entrance examinations receive dedicated coaching through mock tests, practice papers and doubt-clearing sessions. All of this is reinforced by continuous facilitator training, regular assessment, remedial support and active parental engagement that carries the learning environment into the home.
Q4. What does this achievement say about the potential of community-led educational interventions?
It shows how much can be achieved when community-based and education-focused organisations work together within the government school system rather than around it. Omkar Gadi Foundation brings community trust, on-the-ground infrastructure and a broader development mandate, while Klorofeel Foundation brings expertise in pedagogy, teacher capacity building and educational research. Together, we see this as a replicable model for addressing rural learning poverty, one Gram Panchayat at a time.
Q5. What are the Foundation’s plans for the future?
With our first cohort of successful admissions now enrolled in residential schools, we plan to expand the Community Learning Centre model to additional Gram Panchayats within Basudevpur Block, while deepening facilitator training and parental engagement in our existing centres. For us, this is a long-term commitment rather than a one-time success story. Our aim is simple: to ensure that a child’s postal address in rural Odisha no longer determines the ceiling on their education.
Q6. As Trustee of Omkar Gadi Foundation, what does this milestone mean to you?
For me, this milestone is deeply personal. When we began, our hope was simple: to give children in our Gram Panchayats a fair chance at the education their ability deserves. To now see our first cohort take their seats in OAV, EMRS, KMRS and SSD residential schools is proof that the hope was well placed. I have sat in these Community Learning Centres and watched a child who once struggled to read her own textbook go on to clear an EMRS entrance exam. We did not set out to build a coaching centre; we set out to build confidence. This milestone tells me that when a child believes she belongs in that classroom, the results follow, and that is what makes every day of this work worthwhile.
