ASHA: Community-Based Schools in Hyderabad District Slums - An Article

[Subramanya Sastry <sastry@cs.wisc.edu>]

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Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 04:53:30 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: Community-Based Schools in Hyderabad District Slums - An Article


   http://www.changemakers.net/journal/99june/banagiri.cfm
 
                    What Communities Can Teach Themselves 
                         Self-Managed Learning 
 			   in Southern India 

                           By Vanaja Banagiri 

 You could mistake Sharat Babu Vasireddy for the guy-next-door. His age
(34), disarming smile and unassuming demeanor make it hard to believe that
this is the man who has pioneered the decentralized education movement in
Andhra Pradesh, a state in Southern India with over 66 million people,
larger than most countries. 

Vasireddy has succeeded in placing school governance in the hands of
students, parents, teachers and communities. Moreover, while some private
schools for the privileged in India have experimented with forms of
decentralization, Vasireddy has applied this principle to a very different
population slum residents, with neither the means nor the awareness to
help their children succeed at school. 

   This target audience is one that Vasireddy knows well. Although he had
studied engineering, he joined the civil liberties movement during
college, after which he joined a child rights organization called the M.V.
Foundation. In this role, he worked hard to get children, who live on the
streets, into classrooms. This experience, as well as his work as a
champion for child laborers, tribal people and handloom weavers, taught
him that access to education is critical. 

    "Though I had always been interested in creative education, I realized
that unless one has access to basic education, one cannot be creative,"
says Vasireddy, who feels that power is "access, utility and control."
This insight provides the basis for the "Baljyothi"  (Enlightenment for
Children) schools he devised, which are accessible to, and utilized by,
people who feel empowered to control them. 

      Community Control of Schools 

    Starting with three schools and 7,000 students in 1996, Vasireddy's
program now covers 200 model schools serving the slum districts of
Hyderabad, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh. With a negligible drop-out
rate, these schools provide first-time access to education to thousands of
children and are managed by the local community. 

  Vasireddy understood that there were compelling practical and
psychological reasons to place administrative control in the hands of the
slum residents. When people accustomed to rejection and alienation are
empowered to make decisions for themselves, they generate a powerful
energy directed towards social ends. Furthermore, there is a
transformation in a community's culture when a majority of children shift
from being wage-earners to students. 

  Initially, Vasireddy's three schools aimed at helping child laborers
regain their lost childhood. The children were removed from work
situations and enrolled in school after counseling the parents. 

  "Most of our students were daily wage-earners, and it really boosted
their morale when they were addressed and treated as students and not
laborers," recounts Yadaiah, a teacher in one of the "Baljyothi" schools. 
The families of wage-earners were put in touch with voluntary
organizations to enhance their income so that they did not withdraw their
children. For example Balamma, mother of nine-year-old Velu was given a
sewing machine with which she could more than make up for the income lost
as a result of her son's school attendance. 

   While Vasireddy had initially turned to the government for funding, he
gradually encouraged the community to invest in the schools financially
and otherwise reflecting his conviction that if the schools were firmly
grounded in the community, they are much more likely to succeed. The
running of these schools is in the hands of parents and teachers, who form
management committees. Mothers' committees are formed by the mothers in
the slums to recommend teachers and act as watchdogs to ensure the smooth
functioning of schools. 

   The management and mothers' committees meet regularly to solve problems
on a day-to-day basis. Absenteeism of students from single-parent
families, for example, is the single biggest problem that the schools
encounter. In such cases, the committees approach the parent and provide
counseling about the importance of regular attendance. The nearly
non-existent absentee rate is evidence of the strategy's success. 

    Recruiting Teachers
   
    Students of all ages study together in the classrooms of the community
schools.  Children aged nine to fourteen may also attend educational camps
held on a campus outside the city of Hyderabad. The continually evolving
curriculum is based loosely on official textbooks in Urdu and Telegu (the
region's mother tongue); the other materials are generated by the
experiences of local teachers, children and communinty. 

  Some of the curriculum is devoted to issues particularly relevant to the
community, such as sanitation, health, pollution and communal harmony.
Vasireddy also recruits teachers from the local community. He first
conducts workshops with young, unemployed adults from the slums, helping
them redefine their roles and visualize themselves as responsible lead
players in the community. From these groups, he identifies girls with
potential, depending heavily on the recommendations of the mothers'
committees. 

   All teachers are required to have passed tenth grade, and Vasireddy
only selects women, who, he says "have more tact than men." Significantly,
girls make up 60 percent of all the children enrolled in schools. The
teachers earn more than they would have in any other job. For orientation,
they must attend a 15-day training program to interact with the community
on educational issues. 

   The dynamic interdependence between the school and the community that
Vasireddy has crafted contrasts sharply with India's government schools
for the poor, run from a distance by state or federal government
employees. The government controls the selection of teachers, curriculum
and administrators. It assigns certified teachers to posts in various
cities and villages, where the teachers have no connections or loyalty. 

   Central control saps local initiative and prevents teachers from
developing a broader role in, and accountability to, the community,
perpetuating antiquated teaching systems and standards. While India does
have a number of private schools that offer superior education, these are
strictly for the privileged. 

   "But it's not as if the government alone can be accused of
non-performance," says Vasireddy. "It also has a lot to do with people's
attitudes of accepting everything passively." Sensitizing communities to
various social issues is the single most important aspect of social
development for Vasireddy and this work has not exactly been a cakewalk. 

 "I faced ridicule, rejection and discouragement at every step,
initially," he recounts, "and there have been instances when senior
government officers listened to my concept and showed me the door
straightaway!" However, his conviction did not let him give up. "His
tenacity can be quite exasperating," says Latha Memon of UNICEF. "There
are times when I have given in to his demand only because I wanted to get
rid of him." 

  Local and National Support

   Vasireddy's persistence is complemented by the intrinsic appeal of an
idea that works.  Because "Baljyothi" schools are community-based,
Vasireddy has been able to build up a powerful network of diverse interest
groups, policy advocacy groups, informal labor groups, youth clubs,
voluntary organizations (like UNICEF) and government agencies. Fifty of
his schools have been adopted by local citizen organizations. 

    The state government has been supportive through departments beyond
the Ministry of Education. The National Child Labor Program, the Adult
Education program and the Women and Child Welfare department, all provide
financial assistance to Vasireddy's work.  "Ultimately, decentralization
of schools must become standard policy,"  says Vasireddy, looking ahead. 

         Needs: 

  Any organization or individual interested in working on similar ideas,
please get in touch with us. 

        Contact: 

     Sharatbabu Vasireddy 
     Project director - child labor
     District Collectorate office
     Opposite Annapoorana Hotel
     Station Road
     Nampally
     Hyderabad 500 001
     Telephone: (91-40) 3204123
     Fax: (91-40) 3202833


   Vanaja Banagiri is a Hyderabad-based correspondent of Femina, a
magazine belonging to the Times of India group