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. This prep work gave AADI a good foundation to start its intervention in government schools, but approval from the UEE Mission was slow in coming, and turned out to be a bigger challenge than envisaged; AADI had to hold more than seven meetings with different offices of the Department of Education (DoE) before approval was granted. In May, AADI conducted its first workshop with all the five approved government school principals and representative of different offices of the DoE. The objective of the meeting was to introduce AADI and the project, and have principals define the issues at their respective schools. A panel of people with disabilities shared their viewpoints on inclusive education. The workshop concluded with each school drawing a simple action plan for the issues faced by their school. The workshop was followed up with meetings at each of the schools; AADI is also providing ongoing training support in the schools’ primary sections through two educators. Two trainings for capacity building were organized where discussions were held on effective ways of functioning in government school, curriculum differentiation, review of the SCERT books and the importance of monthly planning. So far, the staff has facilitated the admission of nearly 50 out-of-school children into the government schools. 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. A class conference for nursery and KG classes was held to discuss issues like grouping, physical layout of classes after the renovation, feedback o...
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. 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. Xxxxx learns to read and write -- despite all odds 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 comm...
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.
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.
Project update highlights. Xxxxxx has hired a new education director who is, among other things, responsible for the REACH India project in Chhattisgarh. The director visited Chhattisgarh to understand the educational scenario in the project catchment area, and concluded that Xxxxxx would need to refine its proposal to address some of the realities on the ground. The revised proposal is currently being reviewed by REACH India. In the meantime, Xxxxxx is engaged in a dialogue with government and other stakeholders to facilitate their participation in the project.
