Index
Home

Catching the missed bus

The educational camp for child workers, run by the M.V. Foundation, Andhra Pradesh, has proved to be successful with the children showing a lot of enthusiasm. As a result, there has been a spurt of activities and programmes to promote basic education among them, says VIMALA RAMACHANDRAN.

IN the Fifties, Durgabai Deshmukh and Soundaram Ramachandran and various units of the Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust introduced a ``Condensed Course."" The idea was to provide adolescent school- dropouts a chance to complete their primary education and help them enter the world of work with greater awareness and skills. This concept was rediscovered in 1988 by the education department, not as a welfare programme, but to increase the number of educated and articulate women in rural areas. Mahila Samakhya remodeled the condensed courses programme as a residential accelerated learning programme.

In Banda District of Uttar Pradesh a unique residential training facility for school-dropouts was developed. This was started with the support of the Nirantar Centre for Women and Education. A team of educationists interacted with Sahayogini (animator for a cluster of 10 villages) of Mahila Samakhya to establish the Mahila Suikshan Kendra. Understanding the needs of the pupils, developing locally relevant curriculum, ensuring acquisition of learning competencies comparable to the formal system, building in activities and programmes to enhance the self-esteem and self- confidence and enabling the teachers to acquire and develop their own capabilities were an integral part of the strategy. They worked with the teachers called ``Saheli,'' Sahayogini and the students to develop teaching and learning materials that women will identify with. This painstaking process took almost a year. One or two resource persons from Nirantar lived with the teachers and students for six months, constantes interacting, preparing teaching aids, experiment kits, songs, skits, plays and games. Ensuring pedagogic validity of the material produced was not compromised. Balancing the need of women learners to learn standardised Hindi and recognising the importance of reinforcing ``Bundeli'' the local dialect of the area - demanded extensive research and training. Nirantar drew upon a small pool of educationists. Scientific experiments and lessons were developed with care, drawing upon material of NGOs working in other areas. Providing an environment without fear was a major challenge especially where education was synonymous with discipline and hierarchy.

When the first batch of students passed out in 1995, they celebrated by riding the bicycle around the campus and on the streets. Many adolescent girls opted to move into the formal school after graduating from class V. As the first batch went back to the villages, demand for enrolment increased. From Illiterate Sakhi, women hand-pump mechanics, school dropouts, young women with small children, middle aged women the list was endless. This experience proved that if education was seen as being relevant in their daily battle for survival, poor women would reach out and also send their daughters to school, the moot point being that education should be seen as a life skill, one that enabled them to negotiate the world from a position of strength. It also provided a role model for others to follow, creating a pool of qualified women who could work on rural programmes for education, health, empowerment and development. Five years down the line this centre still attracts rural women and girls.

Bridge courses for child workers:

In 1990, the M V Foundation set-up a Mahila Shikshan Kendra in Rangareddy District of Andhra Pradesh. While this programme was underway, the foundation started working with child workers and bonded children with the objective of pulling them out of employment and bondage and enabling them to get back into schools. They were confronted with a problem. Slightly older children were not happy joining Class I! And, given their background, their educational and counselling needs were not being met by the formal school system. As a result, they hit upon the idea of organising camps to help the children catch up with their peer group in formal schools. These camps were necessary to help the children make the transition from work to schooling and motivate their parents to acknowledge the right of every child to basic education. The first ``camp'' was organised in 1991.

Using existing educational material, teachers in the first time- bound camp plunged into an intensive programme. They were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and learning pace of the children, most of them in the 9-15 age group. There was no turning back. Today M V Foundation runs two camps for girls and two for boys. Motivation to enroll out-of-school children starts in the villages. The Foundation runs small centres where child workers and other out-of-school children are invited to come for a few hours. Here, the motivator-teacher interacts with the families and talks to them about their dreams and aspirations. They also talk to parents and elders in the family. Within a few weeks, children at the motivation centres are raning to go to the camps. Many boys get so impatient that they refuse to wait for their parents' permission! They run away and join the nearest camp. It takes a little longer to motivate the families of girls. On reaching the camp, they first learn the ways of community living. Like MSV-Jalore, they are taught basic hygiene, personal grooming and of course made to feel that as children they have a right to childhood. Games, music and theatre are an essential part of the camp.

Within a period of six to 18 months, children complete Grade VII. Some learn fast,others are slow. The children are grouped according to their pace of learning. Teachers trained by the Foundation live with the children and interact with them all the time. While they adhere to strict timings for classroom work, teaching and learning is a round-the-clock activity. As and when the children achieve class VII competency, they are encouraged to take the entrance tests for residential schools or are enrolled in the middle school near their village. A large number of children from the camps have successfully cleared the entrance examinations conducted by the Government for enrolment into residential schools.

Studying these programmes in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Bihar, it is apparent that these models are not only replicable but can be adapted to the specific needs of each area and for different age groups. While MSV Jalore caters to adult women, the M V Foundation works with children in the 9-16 age group. The initial investment is quite reasonable and any organisation with interest and commitment can set up such centres. In the last five years there has been a spurt of activities and programmes to promote basic education. The nation- wide DPEP programme of the Government is geared to address the educational needs of children in the 6-14 age group. Creating educational opportunities for older children in society will not only mop up the illiterate population in the 14-20 age group, but it will create a positive environment in the community.

Even out-of-school children in the 8-14 age group will benefit from a ``bridge'' or ``start-up'' programme. Judging from the growing demand from poor families to send their children and even young women, one can safely say that there is, in India, a need for educational opportunities for children and women who have missed the bus.

The bridge courses run by MV Foundation comes to approximately Rs 700 per child per month in the camp. This includes boarding and lodging, teacher salaries, books and stationery and other running costs. As these camps cater to children and adolescents, there are no childcare/day-care centre costs. They are also not given any clothes. The above cost does not include village based motivation/mobilisation, teacher training and publication of books. The textbooks are taken from the regular school system. The community donates the buildings (camps). Similarly the Mahila Shikshan Kendra costs come to approximately Rs 850 per student per month. Again, the cost includes boarding and lodging, books, teachers salary (Rs. 1500/- per month) and running costs. This does not include cost incurred in development of curriculum, training and other hidden support costs - which are absorbed by the Mahila Samakhya Project.

Travelling around the villages which fall in the area of these institutions, it is more apparent that the returns to investment is much more than the education of the pupil concerned. These young people are role models who influence the opinion of people in the community. The women, adolescents and children who have passed through these institutions are confident, aware, and socially conscious. They are transformed after this experience.

(Concluded)

The first part of this article appeared on August 22.

Section  : Features
Previous : Women and children last
Next     : The other side of midnight