Project update highlights. Mainstream demonstration school: Orientation of the staff included familiarization with the project proposal, strategic planning, a field trip to Bodh and visits and interactions with Pratham sites in Delhi, the Navyug School, and the Rural Community Based Rehabilitation Program of AADI in Haryana. These visits and interactions widened the understanding of the structure of government schools. Following this, a needs analysis was done from which areas for capacity building emerged. AADI school: The AADI school transitioned its preschool section into an inclusive education unit, and both differently abled and abled children have been admitted to the nursery and kindergarten sections. To ensure that the transition be as smooth as possible, all staff participated in a workshop aiming at linking the school's objectives to the daily activities in the school. Two staff members also visited the National Association for the Blind to learn about strategies and materials used for teaching young children with visual impairment. Alternative educational services: During the reporting period, 249 out-of-school children with disabilities accessed these community-based services. An innovative strategy to enhance quality of service delivery has emerged in the form of group sessions. In April, cluster services began in the South zone, as data analysis revealed that the South zone and Najafgarh had the maximum
Project update highlights. Apart from pedagogical training, teachers also received training in perspective building on SSA including problem analysis and understanding the target groups, roles and functions of different functionaries under SSA, school, community, state and national level linkages, the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS), teacher training interventions through distant education and project monitoring and evaluation. The resource persons for this training were from the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) and Xxxxxx Xxxxxx National Open University (IGNOU). Xxxxx also developed a puppet show based on UNICEF’s “Xxxxx Xx Xxxxxx” on education for the girl child using rod puppets. In all, 30 puppet shows, including for environment building were presented in the area. Large crowds witnessed the shows and the result of the evaluation revealed that people retained the key messages and their knowledge about the importance of educating girl children increased by 75 percent. On average, around 150 people attended each show. Disha’s mobilization techniques and sustained meetings with the various stakeholders have paid off: school authorities who were initially reluctant to admit Disha’s children relented, and the organization has so far mainstreamed more than 600 children into neighboring formal schools; parents now have access to schools, teachers and principals, and they are taking an active interest in sending their children to school; children are keen to go to school and working children pooled in money to pay for their admission fees in the formal schools. Disha had to provide some of the children a set of uniforms to enable them to attend school. Xxxxx also organized outings for the children and a theater workshop, in which forty children participated. Two groups of workshop participants later presented performances.
Project update highlights. XXXX has been busy conducting several teacher training workshops focussing on enhancing quality of teaching-learning materials and pedagogy. They also conducted a workshop for selected teachers on using puppetry as a teaching technique as well as one to train teachers for teaching English. Trainings will be held monthly to reinforce the concepts related to pedagogy and quality education. All the teachers and the centers’ staff also got together to review the SCERT textbooks (classes 1 to 5) that are in use in the municipal schools. Two agencies to provide training were identified: Bodh Shiksha Samiti and Central Institute of Education. The program staff was introduced to the concept of Quality Education Centres (QECs) at SARD’s Bharatpur program and at Bodh. The teachers were trained on how to deal with classrooms which had students of different levels and grades, and a heterogeneous group of students in terms of age, education, gender and social background. The area map of the project was made with community participation and helped SARD in getting to know important facts such as the connectivity of the area, resources and facilities available in the community along with the identification of landmarks. Approximately 35-40 children are coming regularly to each QEC. To avoid duplication, a series of meetings with SSA officials was held. A list of learning centers run by various NGOs in each Kshetra was obtained for the SARD target area. Officials from the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) and the District Institute for Education and Training (DIET) have agreed to become members of the Program Steering Committee. In relation to the selection of schools for remedial education classes, meetings with principals of various government schools were held. In addition, Xx. Xxxxxx Xxxxx, Director (Education), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), was briefed about the list of government schools where remedial classes could be started. Meetings were also held with DCCW for referral services for children with special needs. Parent-teacher committees have been formed in all the clusters where learning centers are functioning. Parents have started realizing the importance of education for their children as well as the role parents can play in monitoring the centers.
Project update highlights. More than 10 workshops were held in the last 10 months to build capacities of project personnel and forge a common vision. A one-day orientation workshop on convergence strategies for three projects of Badlao Foundation supported by different organizations -- REACH India, ICCO and PACS -- was organized early this year. Around 24 participants belonging to all the three projects deliberated on ways and means of strengthening synergies between all the three projects. The workshop concluded with participants clearly identifying areas of common interest and defining strategies for collaboration. Another workshop focused on developing teaching and learning materials. The languages in which materials were developed included the Santhali and Paharia dialects. Jitpur is a tribal village situated in Sundarpahari block of Godda district in Jharkhand. The village is 15 km from the block headquarters and 35 km from the district headquarters. The 70 Santhal tribal families, who reside in Jitpur, depend on farming and wage labor for sustenance. Badlao Foundation started its education center in the village in the month of March 2005. One of the children in this center is 13 year-old Xxxxx Xxxxx. Xxxxx has three brothers and a sister and is a first generation learner in his family. Xxxxx is physically disabled, and so for him, schooling poses greater challenges than for other first generation learners; Xxxxx lost the use of his legs when he was a child, and uses his hands to crawl to school. A diligent student who is always in school on time, Xxxxx has learnt the Hindi alphabets and has started reading and writing two lettered words. He also counts and writes from one to hundred. Choto can also recite the multiplication tables from two to five. Xxxxx regrets that he can’t play with his friends due to his disability, but his parents are happy that their son is learning to read and write; they are convinced that education is the only way for Choto to make his future. Badlao’s criteria for selection of education centers were: • Villages/hamlets with no school. • Places with no preschool/childcare centers. • Villages where there are at-risk children. • Community participation and/or participation of parents/Mahila Sabha. • Villages where teachers are available for providing education in the native language of children. Criteria were then developed for identification of at-risk children based partially on meetings with the communities. This was followed by a door-to-door survey...
Project update highlights. One of the biggest challenges rural NGOs face is student absenteeism during certain seasons e.g., harvesting, planting etc. To counter this, CWD organized awareness programs in many villages on “seasonal absenteeism from school” and used a street play on the topic in Sadri (the common language of communication between the tribes here). Three to four centers in each vicinity were clustered together and scripts and some guidance was given. All the teachers (balwadi staff, tutors, school teachers) participated; Self Help Group (SHG) members and children of the villages were also involved in the play. Entertainment-starved villagers thronged the program, and it was declared a success based on the huge numbers in the audience! After the play the teachers conducted a reflection on it through questions, and it was found that many people were deeply affected by the play’s message as evidenced by the anecdotes below: • In one hamlet, after the awareness program, a lady in the audience began weeping. She said “If I had been aware earlier, I would not have taken my child with me for seasonal work. Now my child has missed studies”. • In another village, the teacher of the single-teacher school was generally drunk and inside his house most of the time. He was told by the village women to come to school regularly as it was affecting the studies of the children. Now he comes to school daily. The NGO learned that new ideas and solutions to problems can come from teachers themselves, provided they are given the freedom and support e.g., the tutor in Xxxxx shared at the monthly meeting that he has an entertainment program once a week at which only the children who have been regular in attendance are allowed to perform. This has helped the regularity of attendance. Based on that, other centers are also trying out a similar approach.
Project update highlights. NBJK’s sub-grantees have been so successful in sensitizing the local communities on the importance of education that villagers have not only agreed to provide space for the centers, but have also come forward to help in putting a roof over the centers. The organization has developed a curriculum for the bridge course centers and this draft was presented at a workshop which was attended by NBJK’s sub-grantee NGOs as well as various educational experts in the region. A workshop was also held to introduce the baseline format to sub-grantee NGOs. In terms of data collection, it was decided that it should be collected at the family level, village level and block level. Before finalizing its sub-grantees, NBJK met with identified NGOs to assist them in proposal development as well as ensure that they understood the project requirements. Apart from NGOs, regular contact is maintained with the state SSA office in Ranchi and concerned district officials.
Project update highlights. Soon after receiving approval, CLPoA’s five sub-grantee organizations opened coaching centers with 25 students in each. However, a few difficulties were faced during the opening of centers. In most cases, parents wanted to send younger children (below five years of age) to these centers. CLPoA has also begun its capacity building activities; training was provided to each of the sub- grantee organizations in financial management, Student Tracking Tool and baseline survey and data compilation.
C. Vikramshila Education Resource Society [Capacity Building grantee]
Project update highlights. Manovikas flagged off the project with a sensitization workshop that was attended by multiple stakeholders including the state Principal Secretary (school education), SSA Project chairman and other government officials. Also invited were teachers of the schools initially surveyed and some parents of children with SLD from these schools. The identification of the SLD children started initially with the assistance of class teachers, who were required to complete a behavioral checklist of those students who had recorded poor performances in the last two consecutive half yearly examinations. Manovikas professionals were then brought in to test the 3686 (1939 girls) “poor performers” for IQ and compile an individual case history. Based on these evaluations, 600 odd students were identified as the first group of recipients for remedial teaching in the respective schools. Manovikas has conducted training programs on the causes, problems and remediation of the types of disabilities that make up SLD – dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia -- for teachers in the government schools.
Project update highlights. Implementation of this project began with a series of awareness campaigns on education including door to door canvassing, street plays and rallies in the catchment villages and hamlets. The community’s participation was sought at all levels, and it is evident from the increased enrolment of children in the formal schools this year that the message was successfully conveyed. This has actually become a bit of a change since it has become difficult for these single-teacher schools to manage the increased number of students. They have requested AASHA to provide some teaching support for the children.
Project update highlights. A list of potential partner NGOs were received from various sources following which they were short listed on the basis of the following criteria: • Years of experience working with PWD (Persons with Disability) • Linkages with community • Track record • Organizational capability • Geographic location Based on the criteria, site visits and interactions with organization staff, five NGOs were selected as Digdarshika’s sub-grantees. Digdarshika has sent the proposals to the REACH India staff and the review process is underway. The organization also conducted a workshop on developing materials on inclusive education in Hindi. Participants included twelve rehabilitation professionals including clinical psychologists and special educators. The materials developed during the workshop will soon be published.
