Kaikala Chetana - An Unconventional Education Project

In 1995, a group of social activists, fed up with the lack of inclusive education for rural India, devised a project that would be both inclusive and unconventional in providing an education-based platform for the rural poor. Avoiding the NGO model and school guidelines to maintain autonomy, a community-based and volunteer run ‘Children’s Activity Centre’ was born.

Since 1996, ‘Kaikala Chetana’, roughly translated to Kaikala Awareness – Kaikala being the village from which the work started – has been growing in the Haripal block of the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal, 50km from the city of Kolkata. Founded by local man Somnath (pictured first), who turned his family home into the first centre for learning, the program now works with over 800 children in 24 open-air locations in and around Kaikala village.

With no formal syllabus, volunteers from the local community – many of whom attended the program as young children - teach dance, tell stories, play music, and organise activities to entertain and inspire the village children. Encouraging confidence and an appreciation for learning, the program helps the children to discover new strengths and skills, while also teaching science, mathematics, language lessons and an overall social awareness beyond the village itself.

Families of the local community recognise the benefits of the program for their children, providing hope for poorer communities in the face of an education system built on exclusivity and privatisation. Without the program, many of the children would go without any schooling as formal education demands expenses impossible to meet for many, delivering necessary change in an ever-developing world.

Having been fortunate enough to visit Kaikala Chetana and meet Somnath during my time in West Bengal thanks to a chance encounter with Cobra and Mongoose Charity Group founder, Michael Symonds, the Oh India project was created to provide support for the integral program for the children’s education and future.

The Oh India Photobook - raising money for Kaikala Chetana - will be launched on November 16, 2022 at Abstract Thoughts Gallery, Darlinghurst, Sydney Australia. Proceeds from the book will be donated to Kaikala Chetana zto ensure the continuation of the education program, as well as to aid the restoration of the Kaikala village following the destruction of cyclone Amphan.

Exhibition info