GUWAHATI, July 30 � Located on the outskirts of the capital city, a school with a difference has been rendering yeoman�s service to the community since its establishment and now it has taken another step towards making the poor tribal women self sufficient.
Parijat Academy, the school extending free education to the children of poverty struck families in Pamohi has decided to extend and upgrade its existing weaving centre to generate income for the tribal women in the locality. It needs to be mentioned here that Pamohi dominated by a sizeable section of tribal people lacks adequate income generating avenues. Most of the tribal people earn their livelihood by working in the fields, as daily wage labour or as wood cutter.
Founder of the school, Uttam Teron informed that the Najmun Nisa Trust has come forward to support the school�s projects of sustainability.
Six more looms have been added to the weaving centre. Tribal women weave mekhela and chador in the centre and they are moving towards self sufficiency.
�In the income generation programme the village women are being able to earn Rs. 1000 to 1200 per month,� said Teron.
The weaving centre is also serving as a vocational training place for the students.
�Interest in the activities of the Parijat Weaving Centre is growing. Every day two or three villagers visit the Parijat Academy to see the work of the weavers and place order for mekhela chador. With increase in production, we will sell the extra output at the NEDFi Haat. Guwahati has a good demand of handloom products,� said Teron.
To improve the quality and efficiency of the products, a second-hand semi-automatic loom (Jacquard loom) has been added to the centre. The Jacquard loom will be operational after a few weeks as the patterns have to be programmed so that the repetitive design work will be taken over by the semi-automatic loom.
The income from the centre is used to buy books, writing materials etc for the school children.
On the other hand, the school is also giving extra attention to vocational training particularly targeting the girls. In order to prepare its girl students for shouldering family responsibility in the future, they are being given practical training on sewing and embroidery.
