Minati Mallick (in red sari) along with the children at her open school in Barahipur village. Telegraph picture

Kendrapara, Aug. 21: Every morning, a thatched house in a remote village teems with playful children with a zeal for learning. Impoverished Dalit folks are eager to send their children to this school with a difference.

The school set up single-handedly by a 32-year-old woman at Barahipur village in Rajnagar tehsil is attracting more students than government-run primary educational institutions nearby.

Meet Minati Mallick. She is virtually a one-man army. She runs the school that functions for three hours every morning. Education here is free.

“These children used to be non-performers in school. Made to assist their parents in their struggle for bread and butter, they were not regular school-goers. The drop out ratio was high, especially among Dalits in the village. But things have changed for the better ever since Minati began educating the Dalit children,” said Dillip Rout, sarpanch, Koilipur gram panchayat.

The children enrolled in government-run schools attend classes for free from 6am to 9am. About 90 children now attend Minati’s private school. They were now performing better in their school examinations, said Jagannath Das from Mangarajpur village.

Minati interacts with each child to pinpoint his or her strong and weak points. Accordingly, she motivates and guides the children to make them academically stronger. She stands apart from well-paid government schoolteachers, Das said.

“After my marriage broke up, I decided to do something constructive for the betterment of society even with my limited ability. Illiteracy was pronounced in Dalit sections of the village despite the sprouting of several schools. Poor Dalit parents would engage their kids in manual labour to augment the family’s income. I resolved to put a stop to this,” said Minati, who gets voluntary help from villagers that takes care of some of her financial needs.