The socio-economic backwardness of the tribal villages of Maharashtra is leaving a lasting impact on the development of the children. Devoid of early years developmental skill, the children often lack readiness at preschool and primary schools level, the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased the gap. Most children in the remote villages have been devoid of education for more than 2 years affecting the age-appropriate learning curve.  Learning Space Foundation's early year's education programme aims to address the problem by providing a holistic learning experience to the children of more than 40 villages across Bhiwandi, Wada and Palghar districts of Maharashtra while working closely with the Sarpanch (village head) and native tribal families. 

The centre in Chimbipada village is housed in a dilapidated structure within the Zilla Parishad (District Council) school complex. The space is designed using a refurbished material palette reducing the embodied energy of the materials used with the support of the local community. The centre aims to enhance early years education through different components of learning such as motor skills, creative learning, cognitive skills, language and mathematics skills, technology and performance-based learning while working on the social and health development of the child. The foreseen impact of the centre is estimated at 150 children in a circulating manner.

Project facilitators (NGO): Learning Space Foundation (Nitin Orayan)
The Learning Space Foundation has been dedicated to rural educational development for over 15 years with a mission to bridge gaps in the education ecosystem and act as a catalyst empowering rural children and youth with the power to live their dreams. 
Visit: Learning Space Foundation

Sarpanch of Chimbipada Village: Nita Jadhav
With the support of the village head, LSF and GrassrootED wish to provide educational support to the village by engaging with native families and indigenous resources. 

Architects: GrassrootED (Ayushi Motiwalla, Pranay Motta)
GrassrootED is a team of socio-experimental architects hoping to make good design accessible to the rural. At We are passionate about traditional vernacular architecture, working with local communities and indigenous materials to develop unique solutions in rural areas. So far our work has been focused on adding playgrounds to schools in Karnataka & Maharashtra and impacted 1750 children.

Visit:
GrassrootED Instagram
GrassrootED Website