Breaking Educational Barriers: The ANWESHA Model in Odisha

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Project Details

Category: Education
Project Title: ANWESHA
Department or District: ST and SC Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Department, Khordha District
State: Odisha
Start Date of the Project: 21st February 2015
Website: https://stsc.odisha.gov.in/

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Tribe(s) that the Project Covers: The ANWESHA project covers multiple Scheduled Tribes across Odisha, including but not limited to the Kondh tribe, one of the state’s most populous and socio-economically vulnerable tribal communities. The programme operates in Tribal Sub Plan areas where the tribal population exceeds 50%, ensuring inclusivity and focused outreach in regions deeply impacted by generational, educational deprivation.

Keywords: Scheduled Tribes Empowerment, Scheduled Castes Empowerment, Education Equity, Tribal Sub Plan, Residential Education, English Medium Education, Holistic Development, Educational Empowerment, ST/SC Welfare, Inclusive Education

ANWESHA, meaning “quest” or “search,” is a pioneering initiative of the Government of Odisha designed to bridge the deep-rooted educational disparities faced by children from Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC). Intending to mainstream these students into quality education systems, the project enables their enrolment in reputed English-medium schools while offering comprehensive residential, academic, and social support. Over the past eight years, ANWESHA has become synonymous with educational empowerment, enabling over 21,000 students across 17 districts to access aspirational learning environments previously out of reach.

The Project

At its core, ANWESHA is a fully funded residential education scheme that ensures ST and SC students from economically and socially marginalised backgrounds are placed in recognised English-medium schools in urban and semi-urban Odisha. The initiative pays for tuition and provides uniforms, books, transportation, accommodation, and nutritional care, ensuring that the student is supported holistically. By establishing a network of 80 hostels and partnering with 177 schools, the scheme provides these children with the tools to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

Problems that it Intends to Solve

The project aims to address three critical issues: limited access to quality education for tribal children, the financial burden of schooling on poor households, and systemic educational inequities that exclude tribal and Dalit communities from mainstream growth opportunities. Most beneficiaries come from families that subsist on marginal farming or wage labour, where education is seen as either a luxury or an impossible expense. The linguistic, cultural, and infrastructural barriers compound these problems, resulting in poor retention and low academic performance.

What was the Need

Odisha’s demographic profile includes a combined ST and SC population of approximately 40%, which is among the country’s highest. This community historically lacks access to quality education and faces entrenched socio-economic exclusion. The state recognised that to achieve inclusive growth and break the intergenerational cycle of poverty, it was essential to intervene early and intensively in these communities’ educational journeys. ANWESHA was thus conceptualised as a way to provide equitable, competitive, and holistic education that levels the playing field for these children.

What Hindered its Introduction

Initially, the idea of placing tribal children into elite urban English-medium schools posed both logistical and social challenges. Concerns were raised regarding the student’s ability to adjust to different linguistic and cultural environments. Resistance also stemmed from the difficulty in convincing families to send their children—particularly girls—far from home into residential settings. Moreover, operational issues like hostel setup, tutor recruitment, and curriculum alignment with tribal students’ needs delayed early implementation efforts.

Process Followed for Implementation

The implementation began with identifying deserving ST/SC students based on population data and socio-economic profiles from 17 targeted districts. Students were admitted at the Grade 1 level through a structured process of awareness drives, applications, and lottery-based selections. Admission caps were set to maintain a balanced demographic profile across schools. Each selected child was assigned to an English-medium school with access to a dedicated ANWESHA hostel. The project maintained a 1:50 tutor-student ratio, provided bridge courses to support language acquisition, and ensured regular health checkups. The process is tightly monitored through digital systems and in-person inspections by the ANWESHA Monitoring Cell.

• Government
  • The Odisha state government funds the ANWESHA project entirely and oversees its implementation through the ST and SC Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Department. It is responsible for policy framing, budget allocation, partnership with schools, hostel infrastructure creation, and appointment of tutors, wardens, and medical staff. The government also established a 24×7 toll-free helpline and monitoring portal to ensure accountability and quick grievance redressal.
• Involvement of Community
  • Community participation is primarily reflected in parents’ consent and cooperation to enroll their children in urban hostels far from home. This social contract is crucial, particularly when it involves the education of girl children. Periodic parent-teacher meetings and feedback mechanisms further engage the families and communities in the learning journey of their children.

Solutions Implemented

The government facilitated full financial support and quality education through partnerships with reputed schools, the construction of hostels, and the recruitment of academic support staff. Providing bridge courses and post-school tutoring was key in helping students transition from local dialects to English-medium instruction. The project also addressed cultural and emotional needs through full-time wardens, matrons, and health workers, creating a secure and nurturing learning environment.

Details of the Coverage

Currently, ANWESHA covers 17 districts and supports 21,000 students. There are 177 partnered English-medium schools and 80 fully functional urban hostels. Facilities include science and tinker labs, computer labs, sports areas, nutritious meals, and extracurricular activities, making this one of the most expansive education programmes for tribal students in India.

Innovation and Unique Features

One of ANWESHA’s most notable innovations is integrating residential and academic services within a state-run education scheme, including health and wellness monitoring. The bridge course mechanism, 1:50 tutor ratio, and tech-enabled monitoring systems provide a comprehensive safety net for every child. The programme’s scope is not limited to academics; it fosters 21st-century skills such as communication, digital literacy, and leadership, enabling holistic development.

• New Approaches: Tech integration, capacity building, culturally sensitive methods
  • ANWESHA incorporates a web-based monitoring system for real-time oversight of student welfare, academic progress, and hostel operations. Tutors receive training through regional institutions like ETEI Baliguda, ensuring culturally contextual and pedagogically appropriate instruction. This approach helps bridge the linguistic and social gaps experienced by tribal children when entering urban education systems.
• Co-creation: How tribal knowledge or leadership shaped the solution
  • Although tribal leadership is not directly mentioned as co-designing the scheme, the operational emphasis on community consent and regionalised tutor training ensures that tribal communities’ lived experiences inform the pedagogical and residential models used in ANWESHA.The initial admission process has evolved to include lottery-based selections to ensure fairness and transparency. Bridge courses have been introduced to help children transition more smoothly into English-medium settings. Monitoring systems have been scaled up, creating district-wise evaluation cells to ensure implementation uniformity and responsiveness.

Challenges Faced Before Implementation

• Internal Challenges
  • Setting up urban hostels, recruiting trained tutors, and coordinating across departments were significant logistical challenges. Financial planning and budget disbursement also needed streamlining during early phases.
• External Challenges
  • Convincing parents from marginalised communities to send their children, especially daughters, to distant hostels was difficult. Language barriers and lack of early childhood education made transitioning into Grade 1 in an English-medium environment especially hard.
• Mitigation Efforts
  • Awareness campaigns, bridge courses, provision of girl matrons, medical staff, and hostels with high safety standards helped address these concerns. Parental feedback mechanisms were established to build trust.

Challenges Faced During Implementation

• Maintaining academic consistency across diverse partner schools and ensuring tutor quality were ongoing issues. Infrastructure maintenance and staff retention in hostels also required continuous oversight.
• Students faced difficulties adjusting socially and linguistically. The emotional toll of being away from family led to cases of homesickness and adjustment issues in the hostels.
• The government responded with regular health checkups, personal mentorship, counselling through ANMs and tutors, and improved hostel amenities. A toll-free number and inspection teams provided further grievance redressal mechanisms.

Outcomes

• Quantitative
  • The programme has scaled remarkably, from zero students in 2015 to 21,000 by 2023. It now supports 80 hostels, employs 1060 staff, and ensures balanced gender representation.
• Qualitative
  • The scheme has boosted student confidence, reduced dropout rates, and improved English and digital literacy. It has transformed how ST/SC families perceive education — from a burden to a gateway for aspiration.
  • Monitoring is carried out through both physical inspections and a web-based dashboard. The ANWESHA Concurrent Monitoring and Evaluation Cell tracks outcomes and implements course corrections as required.

Beneficiaries

The direct beneficiaries are 21,000 ST/SC students aged 6-14 from 17 tribal-dominated districts. Indirect beneficiaries include families and communities who experience social uplift through the programme’s impact.

Replicability / Scalability / Sustainability

With a planned budget of Rs. 20,000 lakhs, ANWESHA is poised for state-wide expansion. Its modular design and embedded monitoring make it highly replicable across Indian states with tribal populations. Currently, 100% state-funded, the scheme’s sustainability lies in its proven track record, which secures consistent budgetary support from the Odisha government. ANWESHA’s success provides a model for other states to emulate, particularly in tribal belts. The model is adaptable, affordable, and comprehensive in its coverage.

The ANWESHA initiative launched by the Government of Odisha represents a paradigm shift in tribal education policy, responding to structural inequities with targeted, innovative solutions. By facilitating access to quality English-medium education and integrating it with residential care, ANWESHA has addressed core barriers faced by ST and SC communities including poverty, linguistic exclusion, and social marginalization. Over 21,000 tribal and Dalit children have benefited from this initiative since 2015, receiving academic, emotional, and nutritional support within urban settings, thus radically altering their life trajectories.

What sets ANWESHA apart is its holistic model, combining state funding with accountable implementation, culturally aware pedagogy, and a robust digital monitoring system. These features align closely with the goals of the National Education Policy (2020), which emphasizes equitable access and foundational literacy. Additionally, the model echoes international frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, which seeks inclusive and equitable quality education for all by 2030 .

Despite early challenges including parental reluctance, infrastructural bottlenecks, and social adjustment issues the programme’s adaptive strategies like bridge courses, female matrons, and community engagement mechanisms have ensured its resilience and success.

Presentation

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