Educo Konapathar school
Leader: Fr. Xavier Lakra
Location: St. Stanislaus School, Konapathar, North East Assam
Partner: Jesuit Order
Started: January
2007
Teachers: 9
Pupils: 150
[Standards 1-7]
Educo partners with the Jesuit order to run this English-medium school for the children of the impoverished local tea pickers. St. Stanislaus is a primary school which acts as the feeder school for the secondary St. Xavier’s school in neighbouring Pengaree (18km away). It is in a very remote village in North East Assam – there is no town nearby and children come from up to 5km away to attend the school.
Educo and the Jesuit priests saw the great need to found a school in this area to educate the children living in the local community. Most of the parents of these children are illiterate tea-pickers, whose priority is to satisfy their basic everyday needs of having food, shelter etc. There are no government-run schools available to these children in this remote area of Assam, leaving these children with no other means to lift themselves out of this poverty.
Educo Konapathar goals
Our goal is to work closely with the Jesuits and teachers to ensure the parents of the students are committed to the education of their children and that attendance figures continue to improve. Once we are satisfied that progress is being made, we will consider expanding the school to include Kindergarten classes and to accommodate a further 500 children from the local area up to Standard 7.