Mehra people consider themselves superior and claim that they are the descendants of Js (Land Lords), but others do not give much importance to their claim.
Population in the Project Area: 30,13,874
The People
India
Mehra people are mainly found in the south of Central India. Politically the Mehra area consists of certain districts such as Betul and the border of Harda, and Chindwara districts. Basically, Mehra people are farmers. They live in rural areas. They mainly grow crops like rice, maize, and wheat. The Mehra also engages in animal husbandry, particularly rearing cattle and goats. In recent years, some members of the community have also taken up wage labor and work in nearby towns and cities. Their usual daily activities include men going for agricultural activities and women handling household activities. Children went to Government schools for education. But their literacy rate is comparatively low. They face many social issues such as superstition, alcoholism, etc.
The Project
Mother-Tongue literacy.
The Mehra language belongs to the Dravidian language family, specifically the South-Central Dravidian subgroup. It is closely related to the Gondi language, which is also spoken in central India. The Mehra language has its own unique script, which is a variation of the Devanagari script used for Hindi and other languages in India. The Mehra people show a positive attitude towards their mother tongue. With their help and assistance from the linguists, we prepared the materials for literacy training. The materials were created based on a pre-designed layout and methodology, and they include a pre-reader, books that teach the alphabet in a systematic manner, an accompanying storybook, a basic mathematics book, teacher’s guides, a spelling guide, and an alphabet chart.
Progress
As of March 2023
The literacy materials have been tested, revised, and published, and now the community needs to be equipped to implement the program themselves. This initiative aims to provide those with limited access to education the opportunity to become literate in their heritage language through engaging materials. This will establish a solid foundation for further education and is expected to have cognitive, social, and economic benefits. The literacy committee will receive training on how to recruit and train mother tongue teachers using best practices, as well as how to monitor and report on the project. Experts have highlighted the value of literacy in one’s mother tongue as it promotes a sense of value and transformation.