[This is a copy of: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/asha-wide/message/1033 ] From: "Chawla, Harish" Date: Wed Dec 13, 2000 10:18am Subject: Gramya site visit report Gramya site visit report is attached. (site visit report by paramita, only translated by me) copy of the site visit report is below, in case unable to open word document... Following is the new project proposal from Gramya, included for your ease... harish/ Gramya, Nogad, Chandoli Nogad Block, in the Chandoli area is 90 Km. away from Varnasi, encompassing 40 - 50 villages. The area has forests and hills around it. About 35 NGOs are registered in this area. The Gramya organization is involved in 10 villages of the Nogad block. The major livelihood comes from agriculture, animal breeding, and gathering mahua and chironji, from the forests. Yadav, Chamar and Musahar form the majority of the population in this area. Yadavs are better off than the others in this area. Chamar's have limited land, and the Musahar's don't have any land. They are dependent on the finding daily work, and the forest. The cottages are of mud, constructed by the individuals themselves. The villages looked clean, healthy and habitable. There are roads though some villages only have mud roads. Gramya is primarily involved in education. It has had its presence in this area since 1996, amongst the Chamars and Aadivasis. Other than education, Gramya is involved in land rights, monitoring the panchayat, and helping the women become independent and self-sufficient. Arguing / discussing for the rights of the laborers is also undertaken. Gramya has 10 centers, nine having education till primary. Jhumaria center has education till the eighth. The government school has a lock on it, thus not being used. With the support of the villagers, Gramya has constructed some schools. Most Gramya centers use the rooms of the government schools for holding classes. Other than Jhumaria and Amdahan, all other centers have only one teacher. The school time starts from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The current situation of the schools are as follows CenterChildrenNo. of teachers Amdaha 70Kaleshvar, Haricharan Narkati 60Vijay Basoli 35Vijay Kumar Lalatpur 44RamVilas Sahersatad 30Hargen Barvatad 35Baliram Karvaniya 25Munnalal Bhagelpur 15Ramgati Jhumaria 100Umashankar, Kailash, Paramhans, Subedash Chakchuia This center is not currently running For ASHA, four of the above sites/centers were visited: Jhumaria, Basoli, Lalatpur and Amdaha. Basoli has a new teacher, due to which the number of students, compared to other places, is less. The children of Jhumaria, Lalatpur and Amdaha depicted good understanding of math and social knowledge. The students are divided into classes, and the subjects are also divided. The instructor helps in building an understanding of the local environment and situation. The children of Musahar and Chamar come to the Gramya school in greater numbers. Those who have a better economic support send their children to a Christian missionary school, 5 - 6 Km. away. Gramya does not teach for free. Rs. 2 was expected from each child 2 years ago. Jhumaria center has started planning for extending the school to class 8th. 3.5 (35 ?) bissa of land in Jhumaria that had belonged to the village society has been registered to Gramya. There is a large mud room where classes 2, 3, 4, 5 are held. Children at the nursery level gather in a nearby straw hut. A room of a government primary school is vacant, where grades 6, 7, 8 are held. The number of teachers is 14. 10 of them are of the Chamar class, and 4 of them are of the Yadav caste. Mostly all teachers have trained and experienced the teaching method from elsewhere. Sometimes the teachers take the children for walks. Teachers have a good general understanding. Through education, the teachers want to spread love, knowledge and teach the notion of self-sufficiency. The teachers interpret education to have the ability to understand ones rights and be able to provide a livelihood for oneself. The teachers are paid between Rs. 600 and Rs. 1000 monthly. Other than teaching, there are six other people involved in the work of Gramya. Rama is the teaching supervisor, responsible for all the 10 centers. Two women who help run the women's organization, also help teaching when needed. A doctor has opened a clinic, using Ayurved medication to help the sick. Notes; Gramya's education centers, and the knowledge of the teachers seemed good. The children depicted self-confidence and signs of curiosity. Teachers do not use fear or beating for teaching the children. Based on the surrounding culture, the teachers form new songs, increasing the interest of the students in studying. Gramya tries to enforce the completion of the government syllabus. Other alternatives should be considered as part of the teaching syllabus for the Gramya schools. Creativity is not inspired within the children. The teachers help the children form an interest in education and developing their skills. But beyond this, the teachers are unable to clarify the long term prospects of the children. Other than books, other means of teaching should also be considered. Gramya's effort in providing education is commendable. They can be provided economic support from ASHA. Honesty and effort could be seen in the people. Education is needed in this area. CRY also funds them for education Parmita, 31st October 2000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Project Proposal from Gramya. -----Original Message----- From: ashain [mailto:ashain@l...] Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2000 12:59 AM To: asha-wide@egroups.com; laya_iyer@e... Cc: hchawla@a... Subject: new project in varanasi dear friends, following is a new proposal from an organization called gramya in varanasi. site visit has already been conducted by parmita, a new asha fellow from varanasi. the report is overall positive and has been presently sent for translation to harish chawla. he will post it once it is translated. however, we would like the asha chapters to favourably consider this project. we strongly recommed this for consideration for support. sincerely, sandeep ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- NAME OF THE ORGANISATION- GRAMYA ( Registered organization but does not have FCRA) ADDRESS AND LOCATION- GRAMYA SANSTHAN, NAVGARH CHANDAULI, 90 km. far from Varanasi. CONTACT PERSON AND ADDRESS- BINDU, L- 40 Vikas Pradhikaran Colony, Chandmary, Lalpur II, Post Lamhi, Varanasi. Background Information about the Organisation: GRAMYA is a ten year old organisation. Earlier CRY funding agency was giving financial support to it but it is no longer supporting it now. Gramya is basically a grassroot organisation which is working a rural areas particularly in Navgarh region which is 90 km. far from the Varanasi city. The main focus of the work is related to the human rights but Gramya is also working for the women and child development. Navgarh is dense forest area and village is situated between the dense forest. so, there is no communication, transport electricity facilities. Since 1996 GRAMYA is working for child education of NAVGARH area. Earlier they had started a Junior High School only for girls, but now Gramya wants to run a co-ed school because there is no alternative education center in nearby area. There is only one Govt. school which is very far from the main village. In this area the number of the girls is more than the boys. It is a Dalit and tribal community. So they are facing many social, political and economic problems. The main source of economy is agriculture so the primary income is coming from farming. In this region the condition of women is bad. They work in other people's land on lease but they don't get equal wages campared to men. For some reason sucidal tendency among women is on the increase. Because of this the family atmosphere and health of children is getting affected. Gram Sabha had donated a land to Gramya where a building of one room has been constructed. This is where the junior high school is running. There are 50 students. So the classes are held in shifts. Now the organisation's main intervention is in the area of child education and awareness. Financial support is sought from Asha for strengthening the education programme in this backward area. BUDGET (for one year) Teacher's honaraium: Rs. 1100 X 3 teachers X 12 months = Rs. 39,600 Book students: Rs. 300 X 50 students= Rs. 15,000 Tatpati (strip made of sack) = Rs. 500 Stationary = Rs. 1000 Total = Rs. 56,100 We are also including a Project Coordinator honaraium of Rs. 2000 per month for Bindu who would also be undertaking an investigation on women violence. Coordinator honorarium= Rs. 24,000 Total amount of the one year = 80,100 Rs. ------------------------------------------------------