Children Learning Numbers in Desert School of Gujarat

This school belongs to the Kharaghoda district and is located in the desert of the Little Rann of Kutch. The students at the school are the children of the salt workers or Agariya people. They are between the ages of 5 years to 12 years. The salt workers settle down in the desert for 8 months between October to May and their homes adjacent to the salt pans that they work on. On reaching the school, one can see a number of temporary homes in the horizon where the Agariya families reside.

The school, surrounded by nothingness, is possibly the only school of its kind. It was started by an NGO about 15 years ago to educate the children of the Agariya people. The NGO felt that atleast a basic education was necessary for the children of salt farmers who were kilometers and kilometers away from schools in towns and villages. The aim of this school was to educate the children so that they study further and leave the ancestral occupation of salt farming as the Agariya people are heavily exploited by salt merchants.

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