The Juanga community made history this time during the panchayat elections.

They demanded neither booze nor a community feast nor high-pitched promises from the contestants but asked them to cooperate for the educational development of their progeny, setting a model for the so-called higher class people who boast of their education, wealth and social status.

Members of the Juanga Child Protection Committee organised for the first time  pre-election meetings inviting the contestants to interfaces asking for support to their demand of mother tongue-based pre-school education in their area.

Hundreds of Juanga people gathered in the pre-election meetings to press their demands before the contestants, seeking their commitment to the development needs as articulated by the adivasi communities instead of accepting election bribes.

About 12 such pre-election interaction meetings were organised between the voters and the candidates in the area. On February 16 an open forum discussion was organised at Tala Champei in ‘Juangapidhi’ by the members of Child Right Protection Committee of Tribal law Centre where the aspiring candidates were invited to clear their stand on the reasonable demands by the Juanga community, including the demand for mother tongue-based early childhood education at the Anganwadi Centres in the area.

The member of the Child Right Protection Committee and founder member of CLAP Bhaktabatshal Mohanty highlighted the need of mother tongue-based education for the children below the age of five years as it is easy for them to learn in their own language. Kainta Juanga, a Juaga woman, stressed the need, going by the fact that most of the parents are not literate in Odia language and find it difficult to support their children in their studies.

Speaking to the aspiring candidates programme manager of TLC Bhagirathi Mohanty stressed that once the Juanga verbal language got adopted in the local Anganwadi Centres, the children of the area would feel at home as it would enable their learning potential.

This would help them feel confident and improve their reasoning which would ultimately help them continue their education in any language in later stages, he said.