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The project-site is located in a slum just alongside Vasant continental near Vasant kunj and also Vasant vihar. It is essentially an Tutorial centre for the children who live in the slum. Overall the project is doing fine. The children seem happy to be there and are learning something. Sangeeta, Ravi and myself went to see the project-site, unannounced on one day and we met Prof. Tripathi a week later.

There are some concerns, suggestions that we have, and issues. I will list them out in the next email. Please do discuss them at a meeting and address it accordingly.

Place: Slum-near Vasant continental- Newdelhi.
Status: Being Funded since 2001 june.
Date of visit: 18th, Oct. 01 (Part I) and 28th, Oct. 01 (Part II)
Area: Essentially a slum. The people who live there are essentially rag-pickers and maid servants.
Organisation: Sad Bhav mission.
Basic project: Running a tutorial center for the children who (may or may not) go to the government schools nearby.

PART-I: Ravi, Sangeeta and myself reached around 4.30pm in the evening. We saw Mona, Afzal (main teachers) and Vinod (a help boy) teaching the children. They were divided into groups of four or five. Some where learning geography, some mathematics, some sewing, some basic alphabets, some multiplying tables and there were some little ones who accompanied their siblings as well.

It is held in a small open space in the slum. A couple of roll up black boards are on the wall. The children all sit in groups here. Afzal mainly teaches mathematics for higher classes , Mona rest of the subjects, Vinod was on that day helping out on basic alphabets to a group.

We talked for a fair bit about the school with Mona, Afzal and Vinod. We also asked a few children some questions on what they were studying as well. Some answered and some did not. I shall elaborate these further in the future. As we were leaving we talked a mother who lived in the slum and sent her children to this school/center. She held Mona in high regard. So did the two boys/men as well.
Discussions with Mona:

Mona is one of the teachers at this school. She is doing her Ph.D. at Jawarhalal Nehru university (J.N.U.) nearby. She has been working in the slum for the past two and a little bit years. Mona explained to us the basic school functioning.

CENTER/SCHOOL: It runs from 4-6pm (I might be off by half hour). On most days she has to go to the houses and goad the parents/children to send/come to school. Then when the children come to the center they clean the area a bit and set things up. This process itself takes about 15-20 minutes of the school. Attendance is then taken. There is a register that is maintained. It had 71 names on it, we saw only 40 or so kids. Children are divided into groups and on each day a group handles a particular subject. A timetable is maintained. I listed the groups we saw on that day above. The teachers take turns to each group, either the home work from school is taken up or are given some work to do. Each group is checked on a timely basis. The notes of the children are also looked at and mistakes if present are corrected. The range of the students is vast from 1-11 .

Apart from this Mona also told us that the clothes and cleanliness of the children had increased since the school had started. So some essential learning is also imparted.

She handles mainly the lower classes in various subjects and seems very interested in what she is doing.
Discussions with Afzal:
Afzal does some work at a Psychological center near ITO during the day. He works here during the evening hours. He lives in Ghaziabad and does a fair bit of commuting as well.

He teaches mainly Mathematics, Science and English. He clarifies to the children what they have been taught in school earlier. He also told us there was no black board and now they have a couple of roll up boards. He also explained to us the need for a carpet/dari so that this area could be kept clean as well. He likened the idea of an adult literacy program in the slum as well.

He has been working in this job only in the last two/three months or so. He told us that he plans also to talk to the parents along with Mona. He also made some remarks about regularity of the students (my notes desert me here). He seems to be settling in as well. We asked him how long does he plan to be here..to which he replied about 8 months.
Discussions with Vinod:

Vinod has passed 10th standard and is from the slum itself. He teaches small kids in 3-4th standards. Sangeeta and Ravi are helping him register into a 11-12th class. We also spoke to him on how to emphasise alphabets to the students and how to make them repeat it. He also seems quite keen to help out here.

We left the center around 5.30 pm after this.

PART II-Tuesday a week from this day we met Prof. Tripathi at around 7pm. Three other people came to the meeting as well, Professor asked them to join in as well. Prof. Tripathi's wife joined us in the middle as well. I list our discussion with him.
Discussions with Prof. Tripathi

MOTIVATION and such: Sadbhav mission was started initially as an organisation to resist communalisation and promote means. One of the means of this was decided to be education in the slums. They were of the opinion that the learning level was low even in regular schools.

PEOPLE in SADBHAV M.: I am not sure who the societies General body members are and such. It seems that a majority are volunteers like Mr. Tripathi, students from IIT and other like minded people. Administrative structure is held to a minimum. I am not sure if they have monthly meetings and such either. Essentially we can assume that it is loosely built organisation. He mentioned a few names but I donot remember them.

ACTIVITIES SO FAR: Initially for two years they worked in slums and started teaching the children during the evening. In 1991-93 the focus shifted to schools with low pass percentage. One such school in Ambedkar nagar was taken up. On every satruday they would work with the students in the school. Three professors did this. Initial resistance from the teachers also disappeared and the pass percentage improved. From 1993-96 they worked in Kasturba Gandhi nagar's balika vidyalaya doing the same type of activity. They have written a couple of books as well intended to make learning of mathematics easy and such. They have also written a book on the lessons of life. All these are in Hindi. They have not used this book yet in the school that Asha is funding.

INFRASTRUCTURE: _no buildings, no vehicles either.

NO F.C.R.A. and no plans to get one as well

PROJECT (which ASHA is funding)- This is their only funded project. Rest of it all is on a voluntary basis.

AIM: Develop a support system for school learning; local volunteers and to impart technical training to girl children. Future plans include getting a black board and dari etc.

AREA/LOCAL PEOPLE: There about 1800 juggies (huts) in the slum. Most people seem to work in odd jobs and are maid servants. Though exact occupations are unknown. The parents are illiterate. Mona seems to have a good working rapport with the parents in the area. The nearest schools are in Sector 5 of Rk.Puram. Some children go to school and some don't. Prof. Tripathi also complained of lack of cooperation from the parents at times.

DAY TO DAY OPERATIONS: are done by Mona, Afzal. It is not clear whether they have regular meetings with them or is it done on a need basis. Prof. Tripathi told us that he has known Mona for four years and Afzal for the past eight years. He met them during other volunteer efforts of Sadbhav mission. Vinod is possibly the first"grass roots" volunteer(though needs to be trained) that they have.

CHILDREN: There is no selection of children. Whoever comes to the school comes. Many donot go to a regular school and are not inclined to study for whatever reason. No food/clothes are provided for them as well.

COORDINATION: Professor Tripathi wants to hand this project to Asha-India as such. He seems to think that he has already done this as well. He is of the opinion that this is not a Sadbhav mission project. However he is inclined to address the project, run its day to day operations, allocate salaries, and remedy its errors. He told us Sangeeta will coordinate this. To which we disagreed. Ravi also explained to him an accounting procedure in Asha in terms of who is to maintain accounts and such.

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CONCERN
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Here are some impressions/concerns/suggestions that I had. I think Sangeeta and Ravi share the same. They will respond/add/delete to this email if necessary.

GENERAL: We think the project is functioning well. In the sense that we found that the children were studying there and the teachers seemed sincere. Prof. Tripathi seems really commited to the organisation he runs as well.

EFFECTIVENESS: The children did not seem to be learning a lot. This is in part because of teacher student ratio, lack of effective day school system for them and also in 2 hours you can only do so much. Under the circumstances the fact that the children are engaged in homework or such is to be cherished.

COORDINATION/RESPONSIBILITY: This has to be sorted out. Asha-colorado is moving the money through Asha-lucknow. Then Asha-lucknow was to send the money to Asha-delhi which is giving it to Sadbhav mission. Prof. Tripathi sees this as an Asha project as far as accounting and payment of salaries is concerned. On the other hand he has strong opinions on how the center needs to be run. He is commited to the work, does take charge, like employing Afzal etc. Sangeeta nor Ravi nor I have the resources to monitor/run this project on a regular basis. One must explain to Prof. Tripathi, where the responsibility lies. This issue needs to be sorted out by Asha-colorado at the earliest and DEFINITELY before the next renewal.

FUNCTIONING: Prof. Tripathi seems very certain (opinionated is a better word) that "math and hindi" are the most important things to teach. He wants(coerces) Mona to do the same. He has hired Afzal with this intention. By his experience, he maybe right. I would rather disagree on this. Children were weak on the basics when we went there. Just shoving math down may not be appropriate. There does seem to be a discussion with regard to this among Mona and Prof. Tripathi. Sangeeta has spoken to both of them independently as well. She may want to add to this and other issues. These sort of ideological ifs and buts are common. ***But with this in mind coordination/responsibility issue of the project becomes of paramount importance.***