Basic information Basic information
Basic information Site Visitor’s Information •
Name: 1) Anjan Nandi 2) Amartya Sarkar
•
Address: 1) CES, IISc, Bangalore-560012 2) SNBNCBS, Kolkata-700098
•
Phone Number(s): 1) 091-9620835158 2) 091-9433842507
•
Email: 1) [email protected] 2) [email protected]
Visit Information •
Date: 3rd. December, 2010
•
Name of Project: SWIRD - Pre-Primary Educational Centers
•
Name of the NGO running the project (if different):
Society for Women in Rural Development(SWIRD) •
Was your site visit planned and known to the project, or was it a surprise visit? Planned and known to the project
Places: We reached Bhogpur railway station around 6:45AM in the morning. We knew that the schools run till 1010:30AM and we had to visit as many schools as possible. We finally managed to visit 5 schools in the order given below. The information about them are given in the same order.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Bhogpur Sarodamayee Balwadi Centre Kishore Chakra Kalpana Chawla Balwadi Centre Baradabar Shitala Balwadi Centre Nahala Indira Balwadi Centre Nandaigajan Ayesha Balwadi Centre
This was the first place we visited in our trip. The school is around 2 kms away from the Bhogpur railway station. The road we took was a very narrow one and was in pretty bad shape. After bumpy 20 minutes ride astride the pillion we reached our destination. The children were still trickling in. It was cold and most of the parents we met said it being winter and all they had to coax them to get up and get ready for school. The kids were all wearing their uniforms and warm clothes.
The Bhogpur Balwadi center
Inside Bhogpur center
About the surrounding community
• About how many families live in the area to which the project caters? (Numbers refer to the respective center names mentioned above.) 1. There are around 800 families living in the village. 2. There are about 400 odd families in the surrounding. 3. Baradabar is bigger in comparison to other places we visited. The village houses around 1200 families 4. Nahala is a big village but the project caters to around 200 families living in the vicinity. 5. There are about 400-500 families around. •
What do they do for a living? 1. Most of the people in the area are landless labourers. A large number of the population are involved in the making of “Bidis”. We were told that a number of the kids are also put to work in the bidi industry as soon as they get a little older. 2. Majority of the people are landless labourers. People of the village are mostly engaged in the “bidi” industry or as workers at various construction sites. 3. Yet again majority are landless labourers. People are engaged in cottage industries like “bidi” making, plastic bags manufacture. There are a quite a few fishermen as well. 4. While majority of the population are landless there are quite a few who won very small lands. People are mainly engaged in the floriculture industry here. Others are involved in masonry. 5. Most people are engaged in the floriculture industry or work as construction workers. While few people have small to medium land holdings most are landless.
The Kishore chakra Kalpana Chawla Balwadi centre
•
What are their economic/religious/educational background?
1. A lot of the people in the region are below poverty line. The population has both Hindus and Muslims. Muslims are the minority and compose around 30 % of the population. While the Muslims are mostly uneducated there are quite a few educated families amongst the Hindus. 2. Around 70% of the population are Muslims and rest Hindus. People are pretty poor and uneducated. 3. Most people in this region belong to the scheduled castes. And most people are below poverty line and largely uneducated. 4. The population is equal number of Hindus and Muslims. Most Hindus belong to the scheduled tribes. The populace is pretty poor and largely uneducated. 5. The population is predominantly poor and uneducated. Most people in the region are Muslims while a few are Hindus. •
How do they view the efforts taken by the organization that runs the project?
People in most of the places we visited were quite enthusiastic about the pre-primary school projects. The local people are quite unhappy about how callously the government schools are being run. But since the SWIRD schools are being run sincerely, there is quite a growing demand in the region among parents for sending their wards to these Balwadi centers. •
Has the community supported the project (financially, donating land, volunteering, etc.)? The local community in each of the places have supported the projects in some small way or the other. All the schools are run at places rented to a token amount of Rs. 500. The people from local community particularly the women apparently get together for a monthly meeting and sort out any small problems the schools might be facing. The Nahala school is being run in the local clubhouse. The Nandaigajan school is being run in the room rented by one Shikh Abdul Mujid Ali.
Baradabar Center
About the project
•
How far away is the project site from the main town/village? How do children commute (foot, bus, etc.)?
The children studying at the schools commute mostly on foot. In many cases accompanied by their parents or their elder brothers and sisters. The kids stay within 1-2 km range around the school at each of the places we visited. •
Please describe the infrastructure and facilities currently available to the project (e.g., furniture, toilets, midday meals, library, sports, residential facilities). Are the buildings permanent or temporary constructions? What is their physical condition? How big are the classrooms? How many children per each room?
1. The school is being run in a concrete 10 ft X 15 ft rented room. 2. The school's being run in temporary bamboo structure besides a small pond. The room is 10 ft X 15 ft. The roof is made up of asbestos. 3. The school building is made up of mud with bricks. The room is 10 ft X 15 ft and is in need for maintenance. 4. The school is being run inside the local club's building. The room is large 25 ft X 35 ft with tiled floors. The place is quite ideal for running a school like this. This place can take in more students and in fact there is a demand from the local community to do so but only one teacher can't possibly handle more than 40 odd students. 5. The schools being run in 10 ft X 15 ft rented room. The room is a bit dark. All the schools we visited had blackboards of appropriate size. The children were seated on plastic or traditional mattresses spread on the floor. All the schools had a number of different charts. The children had school bags, water bottles, slates, copies, a few books (a alphabet learning book, a rhymes book with colorful pictures). All the children had worn uniforms and black shoes. The quality of the uniforms and shoes provided were quite standard and judging from the state of them the pupils are regularly using them. None of the schools gave any food to the children. The school runs from 7-10 in the morning and the kids attend school after having breakfast at home.
Nahala Center
Child ren insid e Nahala Balwadi center
About the teachers
•
How many total full-time/part-time teachers/volunteers are involved in project? In each of the schools one full time teacher was involved.
•
What is the average age of these teachers/volunteers? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
•
Anupama Basu (Owner of the house rented to SWIRD). 29 years of age. Srimati Hazra (30 yrs old) is the only teacher. Durgrani Ojha (45 years old) is the only teacher. Malavika Das (29 yrs old) is the only teacher. Rehana Biwi (30 yrs old) is the only teacher.
How many women involved in the project and what are their responsibilities? At each of the project sites we visited a single woman was involved in the daily running of the schools. Their responsibilities included teaching the children read, write, recite poems and in general take care of the kids during the school hours. There are two more women, Bishnupriya Pramanik and Dipali Jana, involved in these projects. As we understood their responsibilities include creating awareness in the local populace, organizing the parent-teacher meetings and in general coordinating the effort in all the centers.
•
How many volunteers/teachers are from the local community? All the teachers in the centers we visited were from the respective local communities.
•
What is their level of education and professional background?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
•
Anupama - Secondary pass Srimati - Secondary pass Durgarani - 8th Malavika - 9th Rehana Biwi -9th
What it the motivation for them to work for the project? All of them said that their prime motivation was that they loved to be among the kids. The associated social work of course adds to their satisfaction.
•
How long they have been with organization/project? 1. Anupama has been with the project for last 10 years. 2. Srimati is now working for around 5-6 yrs. 3. Durgarani is involved in the project since the beginning i.e. 10 years 4. Malavika has joined the project since last 2 years after the last teacher involved got married and left the job 5. Rehana has been with the school for 10 years.
•
Where do they live, and how much they travel to work here? All of the teachers lived quite near to the schools and I no case had to travel for more than 10-15 minutes.
•
If paid, are they satisfied with their salaries? All of them are paid Rs 1000/- per month and none of them are at all satisfied with it. They believe the job is quite intensive and they deserve to get much more than what they get. And besides with increased inflation it is becoming increasingly difficult to devote their time in this endeavor.
•
How many teachers/volunteer have left the project in the previous year? How many new teachers/volunteers have joined in the previous year? We were told of two teachers who have left in the last few years from the project sites we visited. And in both cases they got married and could not continue with the job.
•
Does the organization train the teachers? If yes, how do they provide the training?
The organization has conducted a formal training program some months before and all the teachers attended the training workshops.
Nandaigajan Center
Inside Nandaigajan center
About the students •
What portion of children from the local community attend this school? What is the age group? Boy/girl ratio?
All the students at each of the centers were from the local community. The ages varied between 3 to 6 yrs with odd cases of one or two older children here and there. 1. 39 children in the class with 20 boys and 19 girls. 2. 41 children and 22 of them boys. 3. 42 children half boys and half girls. 4. 45 pupils and 25 of them were girls. 5. Here too more female students 15 boys and 30 girls.
•
What is the socio-economic background of students? (Are they first generation learners, what is the educational and monetary background of family etc.)
Majority of the kids at the places we visited were 1st generation learners. At the Nandaigajan centre we were told the whole class was 1st generation learners. Although we interacted with one or two parents who have had some education. •
What are their activities they perform outside of school hours?
Well the kids of course play around outside of school hours. A few, we learnt attend private tuitions. When the kids are older 9-10 yrs of age people get them involved in bidi rolling but not the kids as young as the kids studying at the Balwadi centers. •
What is their motivation for attending the school?
It seemed quite apparent that the kids enjoyed their school time. The teachers made them do activities in groups like reciting poems and songs in unison, dancing o acting out a poem etc. The kids are taught in a fairly burden free and enjoyable manner. Coming to school and meeting friends of course remains the other big motivation. •
What is drop out rate among the students? What do they do after they leave the project?
We were told the dropout rate at the various schools was practically zero. Hardly ever has such a case occurred where kids have dropped out of the schools. After leaving the project the children join the local primary schools. The teachers and project coordinators told us that they encourage all the kids to continue education and in many cases convince their parents to support their ward's continuing education. And also they keep track of the kids who pass out of these schools. •
Are the children charged fees for attending school? No fees are charged for attending school.
•
What curriculum does the school follow? (State Board/ Central/ Alternative). What are the children taught? What is the medium of instruction?
As for curriculum which isn't much important at pre-primary level yet the teachers followed standard state board recommended “varna-parichay” books of course with other colorful rhyme books etc. The children were taught with the help of various charts. The medium of instruction was Bengali.
Inside the Baradabar center
Comments: The SWIRD project caters an area in the state of West Bengal which is not only economically backward but also very short of educational facilities. We got the impression that they are doing an excellent job and therefore we strongly recommend that the project should continue in the future. We personally feel that the teachers are getting very low salaries. In the current economic scenario even a household cook gets Rs. 600-800 per month, it is a shame that a teacher engaging around three hours per day is getting Rs. 1000 per month, which is less than Rs. 40 per day. They deserve their due respect by the funding agencies also.
Name: 1) Anjan Nandi 2) Amartya Sarkar
•
Address: 1) CES, IISc, Bangalore-560012 2) SNBNCBS, Kolkata-700098
•
Phone Number(s): 1) 091-9620835158 2) 091-9433842507
•
Email: 1) [email protected] 2) [email protected]
Visit Information •
Date: 3rd. December, 2010
•
Name of Project: SWIRD - Pre-Primary Educational Centers
•
Name of the NGO running the project (if different):
Society for Women in Rural Development(SWIRD) •
Was your site visit planned and known to the project, or was it a surprise visit? Planned and known to the project
Places: We reached Bhogpur railway station around 6:45AM in the morning. We knew that the schools run till 1010:30AM and we had to visit as many schools as possible. We finally managed to visit 5 schools in the order given below. The information about them are given in the same order.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Bhogpur Sarodamayee Balwadi Centre Kishore Chakra Kalpana Chawla Balwadi Centre Baradabar Shitala Balwadi Centre Nahala Indira Balwadi Centre Nandaigajan Ayesha Balwadi Centre
This was the first place we visited in our trip. The school is around 2 kms away from the Bhogpur railway station. The road we took was a very narrow one and was in pretty bad shape. After bumpy 20 minutes ride astride the pillion we reached our destination. The children were still trickling in. It was cold and most of the parents we met said it being winter and all they had to coax them to get up and get ready for school. The kids were all wearing their uniforms and warm clothes.
The Bhogpur Balwadi center
Inside Bhogpur center
About the surrounding community
• About how many families live in the area to which the project caters? (Numbers refer to the respective center names mentioned above.) 1. There are around 800 families living in the village. 2. There are about 400 odd families in the surrounding. 3. Baradabar is bigger in comparison to other places we visited. The village houses around 1200 families 4. Nahala is a big village but the project caters to around 200 families living in the vicinity. 5. There are about 400-500 families around. •
What do they do for a living? 1. Most of the people in the area are landless labourers. A large number of the population are involved in the making of “Bidis”. We were told that a number of the kids are also put to work in the bidi industry as soon as they get a little older. 2. Majority of the people are landless labourers. People of the village are mostly engaged in the “bidi” industry or as workers at various construction sites. 3. Yet again majority are landless labourers. People are engaged in cottage industries like “bidi” making, plastic bags manufacture. There are a quite a few fishermen as well. 4. While majority of the population are landless there are quite a few who won very small lands. People are mainly engaged in the floriculture industry here. Others are involved in masonry. 5. Most people are engaged in the floriculture industry or work as construction workers. While few people have small to medium land holdings most are landless.
The Kishore chakra Kalpana Chawla Balwadi centre
•
What are their economic/religious/educational background?
1. A lot of the people in the region are below poverty line. The population has both Hindus and Muslims. Muslims are the minority and compose around 30 % of the population. While the Muslims are mostly uneducated there are quite a few educated families amongst the Hindus. 2. Around 70% of the population are Muslims and rest Hindus. People are pretty poor and uneducated. 3. Most people in this region belong to the scheduled castes. And most people are below poverty line and largely uneducated. 4. The population is equal number of Hindus and Muslims. Most Hindus belong to the scheduled tribes. The populace is pretty poor and largely uneducated. 5. The population is predominantly poor and uneducated. Most people in the region are Muslims while a few are Hindus. •
How do they view the efforts taken by the organization that runs the project?
People in most of the places we visited were quite enthusiastic about the pre-primary school projects. The local people are quite unhappy about how callously the government schools are being run. But since the SWIRD schools are being run sincerely, there is quite a growing demand in the region among parents for sending their wards to these Balwadi centers. •
Has the community supported the project (financially, donating land, volunteering, etc.)? The local community in each of the places have supported the projects in some small way or the other. All the schools are run at places rented to a token amount of Rs. 500. The people from local community particularly the women apparently get together for a monthly meeting and sort out any small problems the schools might be facing. The Nahala school is being run in the local clubhouse. The Nandaigajan school is being run in the room rented by one Shikh Abdul Mujid Ali.
Baradabar Center
About the project
•
How far away is the project site from the main town/village? How do children commute (foot, bus, etc.)?
The children studying at the schools commute mostly on foot. In many cases accompanied by their parents or their elder brothers and sisters. The kids stay within 1-2 km range around the school at each of the places we visited. •
Please describe the infrastructure and facilities currently available to the project (e.g., furniture, toilets, midday meals, library, sports, residential facilities). Are the buildings permanent or temporary constructions? What is their physical condition? How big are the classrooms? How many children per each room?
1. The school is being run in a concrete 10 ft X 15 ft rented room. 2. The school's being run in temporary bamboo structure besides a small pond. The room is 10 ft X 15 ft. The roof is made up of asbestos. 3. The school building is made up of mud with bricks. The room is 10 ft X 15 ft and is in need for maintenance. 4. The school is being run inside the local club's building. The room is large 25 ft X 35 ft with tiled floors. The place is quite ideal for running a school like this. This place can take in more students and in fact there is a demand from the local community to do so but only one teacher can't possibly handle more than 40 odd students. 5. The schools being run in 10 ft X 15 ft rented room. The room is a bit dark. All the schools we visited had blackboards of appropriate size. The children were seated on plastic or traditional mattresses spread on the floor. All the schools had a number of different charts. The children had school bags, water bottles, slates, copies, a few books (a alphabet learning book, a rhymes book with colorful pictures). All the children had worn uniforms and black shoes. The quality of the uniforms and shoes provided were quite standard and judging from the state of them the pupils are regularly using them. None of the schools gave any food to the children. The school runs from 7-10 in the morning and the kids attend school after having breakfast at home.
Nahala Center
Child ren insid e Nahala Balwadi center
About the teachers
•
How many total full-time/part-time teachers/volunteers are involved in project? In each of the schools one full time teacher was involved.
•
What is the average age of these teachers/volunteers? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
•
Anupama Basu (Owner of the house rented to SWIRD). 29 years of age. Srimati Hazra (30 yrs old) is the only teacher. Durgrani Ojha (45 years old) is the only teacher. Malavika Das (29 yrs old) is the only teacher. Rehana Biwi (30 yrs old) is the only teacher.
How many women involved in the project and what are their responsibilities? At each of the project sites we visited a single woman was involved in the daily running of the schools. Their responsibilities included teaching the children read, write, recite poems and in general take care of the kids during the school hours. There are two more women, Bishnupriya Pramanik and Dipali Jana, involved in these projects. As we understood their responsibilities include creating awareness in the local populace, organizing the parent-teacher meetings and in general coordinating the effort in all the centers.
•
How many volunteers/teachers are from the local community? All the teachers in the centers we visited were from the respective local communities.
•
What is their level of education and professional background?
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
•
Anupama - Secondary pass Srimati - Secondary pass Durgarani - 8th Malavika - 9th Rehana Biwi -9th
What it the motivation for them to work for the project? All of them said that their prime motivation was that they loved to be among the kids. The associated social work of course adds to their satisfaction.
•
How long they have been with organization/project? 1. Anupama has been with the project for last 10 years. 2. Srimati is now working for around 5-6 yrs. 3. Durgarani is involved in the project since the beginning i.e. 10 years 4. Malavika has joined the project since last 2 years after the last teacher involved got married and left the job 5. Rehana has been with the school for 10 years.
•
Where do they live, and how much they travel to work here? All of the teachers lived quite near to the schools and I no case had to travel for more than 10-15 minutes.
•
If paid, are they satisfied with their salaries? All of them are paid Rs 1000/- per month and none of them are at all satisfied with it. They believe the job is quite intensive and they deserve to get much more than what they get. And besides with increased inflation it is becoming increasingly difficult to devote their time in this endeavor.
•
How many teachers/volunteer have left the project in the previous year? How many new teachers/volunteers have joined in the previous year? We were told of two teachers who have left in the last few years from the project sites we visited. And in both cases they got married and could not continue with the job.
•
Does the organization train the teachers? If yes, how do they provide the training?
The organization has conducted a formal training program some months before and all the teachers attended the training workshops.
Nandaigajan Center
Inside Nandaigajan center
About the students •
What portion of children from the local community attend this school? What is the age group? Boy/girl ratio?
All the students at each of the centers were from the local community. The ages varied between 3 to 6 yrs with odd cases of one or two older children here and there. 1. 39 children in the class with 20 boys and 19 girls. 2. 41 children and 22 of them boys. 3. 42 children half boys and half girls. 4. 45 pupils and 25 of them were girls. 5. Here too more female students 15 boys and 30 girls.
•
What is the socio-economic background of students? (Are they first generation learners, what is the educational and monetary background of family etc.)
Majority of the kids at the places we visited were 1st generation learners. At the Nandaigajan centre we were told the whole class was 1st generation learners. Although we interacted with one or two parents who have had some education. •
What are their activities they perform outside of school hours?
Well the kids of course play around outside of school hours. A few, we learnt attend private tuitions. When the kids are older 9-10 yrs of age people get them involved in bidi rolling but not the kids as young as the kids studying at the Balwadi centers. •
What is their motivation for attending the school?
It seemed quite apparent that the kids enjoyed their school time. The teachers made them do activities in groups like reciting poems and songs in unison, dancing o acting out a poem etc. The kids are taught in a fairly burden free and enjoyable manner. Coming to school and meeting friends of course remains the other big motivation. •
What is drop out rate among the students? What do they do after they leave the project?
We were told the dropout rate at the various schools was practically zero. Hardly ever has such a case occurred where kids have dropped out of the schools. After leaving the project the children join the local primary schools. The teachers and project coordinators told us that they encourage all the kids to continue education and in many cases convince their parents to support their ward's continuing education. And also they keep track of the kids who pass out of these schools. •
Are the children charged fees for attending school? No fees are charged for attending school.
•
What curriculum does the school follow? (State Board/ Central/ Alternative). What are the children taught? What is the medium of instruction?
As for curriculum which isn't much important at pre-primary level yet the teachers followed standard state board recommended “varna-parichay” books of course with other colorful rhyme books etc. The children were taught with the help of various charts. The medium of instruction was Bengali.
Inside the Baradabar center
Comments: The SWIRD project caters an area in the state of West Bengal which is not only economically backward but also very short of educational facilities. We got the impression that they are doing an excellent job and therefore we strongly recommend that the project should continue in the future. We personally feel that the teachers are getting very low salaries. In the current economic scenario even a household cook gets Rs. 600-800 per month, it is a shame that a teacher engaging around three hours per day is getting Rs. 1000 per month, which is less than Rs. 40 per day. They deserve their due respect by the funding agencies also.
