Project Pride

Asha Chennai Proposal for 2004

8th Dec 2003

 

The proposal covers the needs of Urur Olcott Kuppam School and the Urur Kuppam Balwadi for the calendar year 2004.

 

Background:

Urur Kuppam is one of 4 villages located in South Chennai along the coastline close to each other. About 550 children reside in these 4 villages. Urur kuppam has a Balwadi and a middle school. Children below age 5 go to the Balwadi in these villages. The Balwadi is run by the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) and body that comes under the Central Government. Urur Olcott Kuppam School serves the needs of children attending classes 1st to 8th. The school is a government aided school. Salary for 5 teachers including that for the head-mistress and the noon-meal scheme is paid for by the government.

 

Urur Olcott Kuppam School

The school was inaugurated in 1939 by none other than Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ! The noon meal scheme was inaugurated by none other than Kamaraj . But when Asha undertook the project in 2000 the school was in shambles severely under-staffed, unhygenic surroundings, cramped conditions for kids to study in ...

Over the last three years Asha has significantly improved the education provided at the school. In particular Asha has done the following:

  • Fixed leaks in the roof of the old building.
  • Constructed a new compound wall for the school keep away unwanted intruders as well as ensure that the children do not run out during the day.
  • Constructed three classrooms on top of three classrooms built by Thursday Charities club. This allowed the school to expand upto the 8th standard. Further one of the rooms is to be used as an Audio-Visual room for Technology Aided learning.
  • Provided the SchoolNet K10 program for the school.
  • Provided school uniforms and notebooks for all the children for the academic year 2003-2004.
  • Provided phone and gas connection to the school.
  • Conducted events including Vanavil and Kalai Aruvi for children of the school.

In addition Asha is supporting the following ongoing expenses for the Urur Olcott School:

  • Enhancements to the midday meal to ensure a nutritious meal that all children would enjoy eating.
  • Support for three additional teachers for 6th, 7th and 8th standards.
  • One beautifier and one assistant for the head-mistress, so that the classes are looked after when she goes out on school work and also help her with routine work of salaries and expenses.

Further during this time Thursday Charities club, Inner wheel club and Lions club have built four more classrooms. All these things together have significantly improved the quality of infrastructure available at the school. The old badly roofed building will be completely removed giving significantly more space for the children’s outdoor activities.

 

Urur Kuppam Balwadi 

Most Balwadis in Indian have become places where children eat and keep quiet. There is no material for children to explore and learn. There is not much to stimulate the child. Not much teacher guidance is available because the balwadi teacher is constantly filling out information and delivering it to the nearest government Department office. Children learn to be passive or complain about others. The teacher wastes valuable time just getting children to be quiet while she should be facilitating children’s activity.

The Urur Kuppam Balwadi had all the above problems when Asha took up the project in May 2003. Further since the Balwadi is right next to the Kuppam and the beach, people we using the nearby area as a open toilet. The infrastructure was also in shambles with leaky roofs, no educational materials etc. Since then Asha Chennai has brought in several improvements to the Balwadi,

  • Constructed three toilets for the children to use. Note one of the toilets is provided for the adjoining building used as a youth club.
  • Provided a borewell, a motor, metro-water connection, sewage connection etc.
  • Provided electricity connection, fan and light for the buildings.
  • Constructed a compound wall surrounding the Balwadi and the youth club to keep the premises clean.
  • Fixed leaks in the roof.
  • Repainted the rooms to make them look clean and inviting. 

Further Asha also provides the following ongoing assistance,

·         One intern to teach and play with the children.

·         Ongoing maintenance including electricity bills for the Balwadi building.

With these assistance there has been a significant improvement in the functioning of the Balwadi. The number of children in the Balwadi has grown from 56 to over 80. This has brought in problems of its own in that now the amount of food supplied by ICDS towards the Balwadi is not sufficient. We hope to improve upon our work in the coming years.

 

 Project Goals for 2003-2004:

Our work now lies in improving the existing facilities and in providing the aids necessary to make productive use of the infrastructure available at both the Urur Kuppam Balwadi and the Urur Olcott School. We also recognize that this cannot be achieved without continuing the ongoing assistance that we have been providing for the last year.

 

Urur Olcott Kuppam School -- One time improvements:

  • Kitchen Reconstruction – The existing kitchen is in a bad shape. Further this is in the middle of ground and thus does not allow for the full ground to be used as a play-ground. We plan to construct a new kitchen at the North end of the compound and thus free up the ground to be used as a play-ground.
  • Improvements to the headmistress’ office including flooring, new desk/chair and a bureau.
  • A Public Address system and a school bell.
  • Contents for Technology Aided Learning. Asha is in the process of developing its own contents as part of the ECTAL project. This would be provided to all the Asha supported and other free school free of charge. The development of these contents need to be supported.

 

Urur Olcott Kuppam School -- Ongoing Assistance:

  • Uniforms and notebooks for the school children.
  • Salaries for three teachers (in addition to the five provided by the government), an office assitant (for the head mistress), a beautifier who maintains the school premises and an Asha intern who is permanently working for the needs of this project.
  • Nutritional supplements to the noon-meal scheme provided by the government.
  • Routine maintenance of the school infrastructure. This is somewhat unpredictable. This ranges from electrical repairs to providing a new borewell for water etc.
  • Educational Aids for the school – some more learning materials for the classes, an additional computer, etc. Note we have moved this under ongoing expense because the materials will need to be replenished periodically and further the school has a long way to catch up to get to the point where is has sufficient material.
  • Conducting of the Children’s Day and Sport Day events.

                       

Urur Kuppam Balwadi – Ongoing Assistance:

  • Intern salary – Intern provided by Asha would assist with teaching and managing the children at the Balwadi.
  • Electricity and Maintenance.
  • Nutritional support to feed the increased number of children and to enhance the quality of the food given.
  • Clothing for the children.

 

Project Cost Estimates for Year January 2004 to December 2004

SNo

Work Description

Cost Details

Cost

 

Urur Kuppam School

1

Kitchen Reconstruction

Demolition expenses existing kitchen -- 10000

Build new 200 Sq Ft. x Rs 450/Sq. St kitchen – Rs 90000.

Rs 1,00,000

2

Construction of two additional classrooms adjoining the existing 10 rooms.

2 * 150 Sq Ft at 450 Rs / Sq Ft.

We expect other donors to contribute close to 50% of the cost.

Rs 75,000

3

Public Address system and School bell.

 

Rs 13,000

4

Principal’s office. Providing additional storage space and furnitures.

 

Rs 25,000

5

TAL contents. Continued development of contents under ECTAL project.

 

Rs 25,000

6

Medical camp for the students

 

Rs 5,000

7

Medical expenses (first aid, medicines and consulting/dispensary expenses)

 

Rs 15,000

8

Uniforms and notebooks for school children (293 students)

Uniforms – Rs 60,000 (based on actual expenses in 2003)

Notebooks – Rs 30,000.

Rs 90,000

9

Salaries for 3 teachers, office assistant, beautifier and Asha intern.

12 * Rs 9,000 per month plus Rs 10,000 bonus.

Rs 1,08,000

10

Teaching Aids for the classes

Learning aids for classes – 20,000

Computer+UPS+TV display card – 35,000

Rs 55,000

11

Routine Maintenance

12 * Rs 1250 per month.

Rs 15,000

12

Food Supplements

12 * Rs 2500 per month.

Rs 30,000

13

Conducting Children’s Day and Sports day functions at the school.

 

Rs 20,000

14

One Educational Tour

 

Rs 20,000

15

Honorarium and travel expenses for resource persons to conduct special programmes in children’s education.

 

Rs 10,000

16

Honourariums of resource persons for assessment of students’ progress.

 

Rs 10,000

Urur Olcott Kuppam School Sub-total

Rs 6.16 Lakhs

 

Urur Kuppam Balwadi

1

Intern salary

12 * Rs 1500 per month + Rs 250 travel expense.

Rs 21,000

2

Educational Aids + First Aid.

 

Rs 20,000

3

Electricity and Maintenance

12 * Rs 1000 per month

Rs 12,000

4

Gas Connection and gas cylinders.

Initial Connection Deposit – Rs 2,000

Gas Cylinders – Rs 5,000.

Rs 7,000

5

Food Support

12 * Rs 1000 per month

Rs 12,000

6

Clothing for children (85 children)

 

Rs 20,000

Urur Kuppam Balwadi Sub-total

Rs 92,000

 

GRAND TOTAL

Rs 7.08 Lakhs

Continuing Vision for the Project 

The Urur Olcott Kuppam School project is part of the broader Project Pride which envisions Urur Kuppam and the Besant Nagar area to become the pride of Chennai and project itself becomes the pride of Asha. As part of this project Asha is participating in several initiatives including the following, 

  • Making improvements and sustaining quality at the Urur Olcott Kuppam School.
  • Making improvements to the Urur Kuppam Balwadi with active cooperation from the Urur Kuppam villagers as well as the concerned government agencies.
  • Working with the Police Department to create a youth club / library next to the Urur Kuppam Balwadi.
  • Project Bridge at Olcott Memorial School hopes to bridge the digital divide between the haves and the have-nots in a day where computer literacy is essential for any well-paying job.
  • A new project in discussion to develop the corporation school near Ashta Lakshmi temple and Shrine Velankanni in Besant Nagar.
  • Some volunteers are participating in an ongoing effort by Chennai Citizen’s Forum to improve the quality of education at all the corporation schools in Chennai. This includes Zone 10 under which the Urur Kuppam and Besant Nagar areas fall.

 

Specifically for the Urur Olcott School, here are some our still evolving plans for the future.

 

Expansion vs. Quality The school has been expanded gradually to include upto the 8th standard. We do not intend to expand the school beyond this. By this year the schools available infrastructure will be fairly adequate for a good middle school. We plan to concentrate on education quality rather than expansion from this point forwards.
Mentoring Passing Students Currently Asha has not done much in terms of monitoring the future of the kids who pass out of the school from the 8th standard. As Asha Chennai is already doing for the Asha-Scholarships project, we will need to provide active counseling for higher age children to guide them towards a fulfilling future. The head of the Urur school, concerned and knowledgeable educationists and representatives from schools to which the children go after 8th Std would be involved in the processes.
Government Support This year the school would receive the recognition from the Government Education Department upto the 8th standard. It would also enable us to request the government to bring more students into the noon-meal scheme soon may be even in the next academic year. Three years down the road this would also allow us to request the government to recognize additional teachers of the school.
Community Participation In the longer time frame for the work done by Asha to become self-sustaining, we need to bring in more community participation in the school. Community includes the PTA as well as individuals and organizations in this area. This is already happening to some extent. Several of the recent infrastructure improvements to the school were provided by local community organizations. However we need to make them more actively involved and also bring a greater sense of ownership and responsibility to the Parents Teachers Assoc. Asha would facilitate the improvement and strengthening in the PTA by being part of the discussions. Ideally Asha would like to see the school not depending on Asha for its effective running.

The school was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi in 1939. With the efforts of the father of our nation we won our fight for independence from imperialism in 1947. However our fight for independence against ignorance, poverty and apathy continues. Making a model school of Urur Olcott School would be our corner stone in the launch of our next struggle for independence.