Biren Nayak
Biren works for ActionAid in Balangir district, Orissa, India.
He is a Programme Officer and works in villages like Khalipathar. He works with the villagers to find ways of making sure everyone has enough to eat all year round.
The best part of Biren's job is working with communities and taking risks. He believes that young people in rich and poor countries need to talk to each other, become friends and work together to change things.
Biren loves Oriya classical music, and his favourite food is rice, dal, green vegetables and ice-cream!
Questions and Answers (April 23, 2004)
Q: Is access to school a problem for children in the projects you work with?
A: Yes it still a problem in our project area.
What proportion of the children you work with have no access to school?
A: About 35% of children had no access to school just one year before. After Sarba Sikhya Abhiyan (Education for all) campaign in our district it has been reduced to 25%.
What difference would it make to childrens lives if there was free access to school?
A: In fact access to school is free every where in our state up to 7th Standard. But it is a question of availability within the reach. The reason are continous absence of teachers in the school, distance from house, household work burden on children and poor road condition specially during rainy season when school opens after summer vacation. It will definitely add quality to the lives of children if they attain school regularly. In residential schools, children of migrants families have expressed that they are not interested to go to brick klin with their parents but to study in this type of school.
