Meeting Minutes 10/19/08

Attendees: Bharath, Murali, Ganesh, Gaurav

    1. Unnati Uday Pathshala
    2. RMKM

    1. Unnati Uday Pathshala - Murali
    - Murali presented a brief update about the school. He then went through the answers to the questions that came up in the last meeting
    - http://www.ashanet.org/projects-new/documents/603/gsk-10022008.pdf
    - The school might pass the requirements put down in the draft bill of RTE - own land, pucca buildings, monitoring committees, etc
    - Maneesh has a MSW degree from TISS, and people typically starting work about Rs 25,000//month
    - Government school teachers get a starting salary from Rs. 7300/month
    - Maneesh is the secretary for the board of the school, and the salaries are approved by the board
    - Murali to send out more information about support from Asha-SV and Vibha
    - Santhosh will be visiting the school sometime in November

    Questions
    - How does NIOS system work? Get more general information about this system.
     - What does Maneesh think about the effect of RTE on the school?
     - Are teachers aware of the salaries given to different personnel? How do they feel about the difference?

    Action Item
    - Send questions or requests to Murali regarding Santhosh's visit to the school
    - Murali to set up an online poll for project approval

    2. RMKM - Murali
    - They have two programs - CBR (community based rehabilitation)  and an inclusive school for children with learning disabilities (around 50-50)
    - They also have a vocational training setup but it is supported by other groups and people
    - Sales from the items they make support 40% of the expenses of the vocational training unit
    - RMKM visited Srishti Special Academy and two others organizations that have been successful with vocational training.
    - They currently sell their items through the Pushkar Mela at Ajmer
    - Rajesh used to work with Vibha but now works on his own. Murali asked him to visit RMKM and Unnati
    - Rajesh checked on kids whom he had visited on a previous visit and he saw definite improvement
    - Some kids who could count before now were able to count money, etc

    Questions
    - Last time we paid for the motorcycle, have they made the purchases?
    - They spoke about increasing the school teacher salaries, but it is not included in the numbers shown. Is that an oversight?
    - What happened to the community outreach material we supported last year?
    - Murali will check with Vibha on what they are supporting in the project

    Action Item
    - Send report (yearly or half-yearly) to the group