More than 60 years after independence, we still face a multitude of problems, some inherited, the others man-made. Should we accept and carry on with them as they are ? Should we lament and comment on them at each single opportunity and leave everything to God or to the government ? Can we afford this luxury ? We, at the Friends of Tribals Society (Vanbandhu Parishad), feel that we can NOT. We strongly recommend to each and every individual to choose his area of operation to eradicate at least one malady which afflicts this nation of great traditions. For ourselves, we have fixed our FOCUS. We will bring back joy to the lives of our VANAVASI brethren and alongwith them to others who live with them. Some call the vanavasis as Tribals, janajatis or such other names. They are about 8 crores in number residing in about I lakh villages and spread over most of the states of the country, mainly the entire North East, Jharkhand, Orissa, W.Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan. This entire area is our area of concern For ages, this vanavasi has been neglected by the entire society which includes the successive governments. There is no other reason why he is the poorest of the poor, why he cannot afford one, let alone two, meals a day, why the literacy rate there is only 12 per cent (female - 5 per cent) against the national average of 62 per cent. He is still far far away from railheads, highways, electricity and all other normal facilities now largely available to the populace. Jungles, mountains and rough terrain are his abode. His children are devoid of education. Government schools are few and far between and they too for namesake only. The literacy rate data speak for themselves.

We must put our best efforts without fail and without delay. Friends of Tribals Society through its efforts in the last few years has developed an affinity between the people living in the cities and towns and those living in the distant forests and mountains. This effort has borne some fruits also, some visible and others intangible. In the process, some models have developed which we feel are appropriate and feasible for reversing the trend of the downfall and for accelerating the progress and reconstruction of the nation as well. Why should we care when we in the cities and towns have our own woes and worries ? Yes, we do have these problems and they have been compounded a hundred times because we have neglected the reality of the ground. We have used his jungles, his forest products and his minerals and we have conveniently forgotten the welfare of our own flesh and blood who has sustained this nation through thick and thin of history. He has been the strong arm of our motherland . He has also provided us with our culture which we proudly call the 'Aranyak Samskriti", culture that has been nurtured, developed and sustained in the jungles by our forefathers. If he turns against us, where would we be? We are indebted to him upto the hilt.

ONE TEACHER SCHOOL (OTS: (Gram Shiksha Mandir)

One outstanding and successful experiment has been the One Teacher School (OTS) formula. It is a non formal type of literacy method and it imparts education to the young ones at their doorsteps. In the hilly,mountainous or deep jungle villages where the light of learning has not yet reached, we endeavour to select, train and equip a local youth, man or woman, and motivate him or her to accept the responsibility of taking a class of 35/40 children, age group 5 to 12 years, everyday for three hours. The syllabus is well made to include nursery to primary standards of teaching and it includes playing, physical training, samskar and patriotic songs. A multi-tier system for administration of the schools is put into place Resources are provided by the people who are satisfied by the credible work of the FTS over the years. The financial requirement for running the OTS is so cost effective that people find it hard to believe There is a continuous process of training of the workers at all levels. Wherever feasible and depending on availability of land ,a number of small functional buildings have been constructed to accomodate these shools so that they can run unhindered during rains or other vagaries of nature. Otherwise the OTS are run in the open under large trees or in a room provided in his hut by a vanvasi.

In 1986, inspired by the efforts of the early Vivekananda workers, a group of young educationists began work with the primitive tribes in the dense forests of Jharkhand. Notable amongst them were Dr. Rakesh Popli (a USA-returned nuclear scientist) and his wife Rama Popli (a child education expert). They refined the concept of the 'one-teacher school' amongst the tribes of Gumla (125 km away from Ranchi (Jharkhand), Chhatisgarh. Two years later, Shri Madan Lalji Agarwal established similar schools in 60 villages near Dhanbad.

By 1995-1996 there were 1200 schools being run in Jharkhand. Jharkhand's experiment with the one-teacher, one-school non formal education concept was extraordinary. Overall literacy rates in Jharkand doubled; the literacy rate soared from approximately 30 to 60 percent, with youth literacy surpassing those numbers. Furthermore, during the same time frame, health workers noticed a sharp decline in diseases caused by non-hygienic practices, witchcraft, and alcoholism. Inspired by the success of the Jharkand experiment, organizations around the country adopted the concept. Many organizations including Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra and Friends of Tribals Society (FTS) have been the frontrunners in propagating this cause and have brought education to the doorsteps of many forgotten children.

The Friends of Tribals Society is working earnestly, hand-in-hand, to help raise the funds necessary to build 100,000 non-formal schools across the Tribals belt by the year 2011.