Odisha Children are Reclaiming Their Roots, Taking it Global

By Abhijit Mohanty

Bargarh, Odisha: In Dangerikia village of Odisha’s Kandhamal district, home to the Kutia Kondh, one of India’s Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups, a group of schoolchildren sit cross-legged around their grandparents, notebooks open and pens poised. “We ask our elders to tell us about ancient seeds, crops, and harvest rituals,” said Padmini Rana, one of the students. “Our school textbooks don’t teach us about our roots, the history of our village, or our ancestors. So, we are documenting them ourselves.”

What began as a small pilot, which we reported on early last year, has now grown into a cross-continental exchange of indigenous wisdom. The Village History Documentation Programme, launched in 2023 under the Shree Anna Abhiyan (formerly Odisha Millets Mission), is helping rural students reconnect with their cultural and ecological heritage and inspiring similar efforts across Africa and Latin America.

Run by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Empowerment (DA&FE), Government of Odisha, the initiative engages students from Classes 7 to 9 to research and record the living history of their villages, local food traditions, biodiversity, ancestral farming practices, and oral histories.

“I discovered that our village once grew five types of finger millets, each with its own story,” said Lenish Kumar Pradhan, a Class 9 student from Lergaon village in Bargarh district. “My grandmother showed me how they stored seeds in clay pots lined with neem leaves. I realised how much science there is in traditional wisdom.”

Inspiring others

The project was initially launched in just three districts: Angul, Bargarh and Malkangiri, with 30 students. In 2023, at the International Convention on Millets in Bhubaneswar, the students also presented their findings before global researchers and policymakers.

Encouraged by the response, DA&FE expanded the programme to 50 schools across Mayurbhanj, Gajapati, Koraput, Kalahandi and Kandhamal in 2024-25, each region rich in agroecological diversity and cultural memory.

“When children explore the stories, traditions, and memories of their own villages, they connect with something deeper than history. They rediscover who they are,” said Arabinda Kumar Padhee, Principal Secretary, DA&FE. “Engaging children in documenting their roots helps them take pride in their heritage and see their communities with new eyes. It strengthens their identity and plants the seeds of leadership grounded in culture and belonging.”

Swayamprava Parhi, an educator with Samadhwani, an Odisha-based initiative devoted to preserving local culture, said that “future generations are capable of bringing back the knowledge we had long neglected.” Parhi helped design the interview booklet that guided the children as they recorded their village histories.

Germany-based nonprofit joy∞untu, which connects grassroots networks working toward systemic change, noticed Odisha’s model and partnered with local organisations to encourage similar initiatives in Benin, Guatemala and El Salvador. Through online learning exchanges, tribal youth from Odisha interacted with NGO representatives and students from Benin and Latin America, sharing stories about seeds, soils and ancestral practices.

“When we heard schoolchildren from Odisha talk about traditional crop varieties and their grandmothers’ seed rituals, it felt like looking into a mirror,” said Lona Moussa, co-founder of Action for Sustainable Community Development, an NGO in northern Benin. “Their stories reminded us of our own communities. We realised this model could help our youth reconnect with their roots.”

In northern Benin, where Action for Sustainable Community Development works with rural communities, Moussa has watched young people drift away from their roots. Urban migration, modern education and global media, he explains, have pulled them toward new ways of life. “Our old traditions of storytelling, crafts, and farming are losing their appeal,” he said. “And when those traditions fade, a part of our collective identity fades too.”

Christiane Ströh de Martínez, co-founder of joy∞untu and joyn-coop, a Germany-based development consultancy, sees this exchange as transformative. “Learning from ancestral memory can ignite future leadership,” she said. “It is not just about remembering the past. It is about reclaiming identity and the right to shape one’s own future. Local NGOs in Benin and Central America are eager to adapt this approach, rooting change in their own cultural memory.”

See Also: When Police Used a Child Victim to Nab his Father in a Murder Case

Voices from the ground

A WhatsApp group titled “Village History Exchange: Africa, Latin America, Asia” now connects NGOs, students and educators across continents. The chat buzzes with photos, stories and reflections from intergenerational storytelling sessions.

“I never imagined friends from Africa would be curious about our village,” said Himani Pradhan, a student from Baidapali village in Odisha’s Bargarh district. She remembers the excitement of their first exchange, typing out stories from her village while imagining children thousands of miles away reading them. “They told us their grandmothers also save seeds in gourds. It felt like we were part of one big global family.” Her village history project has since been translated into English and published by Samadhwani.

For teachers, the programme has reignited pride among rural students. “When children interview their elders, they see history come alive,” said Margarita Raita, headmistress of a government secondary school at Gaiba in Mohana block under Gajapati. “They begin to understand that tradition is not old. It is ongoing. That shift is powerful.”

“Documenting our village’s past was sometimes frustrating,” said Priyanshi Seth from Naugaon village in Loisinga block, Balangir. About two decades ago, farmers in the village cultivated traditional varieties of finger millet, paddy, pulses and vegetables. Over time, however, many shifted to high-yielding paddy, leading to a sharp decline in millet cultivation. “Our elders often remind us that traditional crops are hardy, nutritious and can withstand erratic rainfall,” Priyanshi explained. “Hybrid crops, on the other hand, depend on costly chemicals that degrade the soil and fail to tolerate even minor changes in climate. As a result, our food diversity has reduced. And the younger generation appears shorter and weaker compared to our grandparents. I have started sensitising my parents and peer groups that it is high time for us to revive our traditional crops and food diversity.”

“Initially, I was nervous. I had never interacted with foreigners before. But it was also a moment of great pride,” says Sanjulata Chhatria, a student from Jharabandh village in Paikmal block, Bargarh. “For the first time, I had the opportunity to virtually share the rich history of our village with participants from Germany, Benin, Guatemala and El Salvador. Two years ago, when I began documenting our village’s history, I never imagined that one day I would be sharing my learnings with people from across the world.”

“I still remember during our virtual interaction, one of the participants from Benin asked me what inspired me to document the history and traditions of my village,” recalled Jhili Bariha, a student from Dhaura Dadar village in Patnagarh block, Balangir. “When I started this work, I spoke to many elders and learned how, in earlier days, people in our village celebrated every festival together. There was a strong sense of unity and joy. But now, it doesn’t feel the same. People, especially the youth, spend most of their time scrolling on their phones or watching TV. We don’t talk to each other as much anymore. Earlier, all the boys and girls would play together. We lived like one big family. That’s why I feel it is important to know our past, our roots and our traditional culture. Documenting our village history is my way of reminding other children and young people that our stories, songs and traditions are worth preserving.”

“It was wonderful to learn that our friends in Africa and Latin America are encouraging students to document the stories of their villages, just like us,” said Himani. “When I shared our village’s history and the memories of our elders with friends from other countries, the whole village gathered to listen. Our elders were deeply moved, some even had tears in their eyes. They said they never imagined that the stories they grew up with would one day reach people across the world. It made them feel proud, as if their voices had finally travelled beyond our hills and fields.”

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Decolonising education

Education experts said Odisha’s initiative represents a powerful model of place-based learning, connecting modern education with local knowledge systems, environments, communities and cultures.

“This is what decolonising education looks like in practice,” said Professor Srijit Mishra of the University of Hyderabad, who helped conceptualise the Shree Anna Abhiyan model. “It is youth learning from their elders and sharing that wisdom across borders. It’s beautiful and deeply needed.”

As the exchanges deepen, Odisha’s young chroniclers are finding new purpose in their past. “We thought we were learning about our history,” said Himani, smiling. “But now, it feels like we are building our future, together with the world.”

From the red soils of Kandhamal to the green hills of Benin, a quiet revolution is taking root, one where children are the keepers of memory, the narrators of change, and the bridge between tradition and tomorrow.

This article was originally published in 101 Reporters under Creative Common license. Read the original article.

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