The New Modern English Medium School (BGM)
Letter to I2 Background Last Visit Conclusion

Detailed Explanation sent to I2 Foundation

Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2000
To: Bindu Nambiar

Dear Bindu,

I am writing to you about the status of the Nandgad project (BGM) that I2 Foundation funded last year. Much of the content of this letter has been written after detailed discussions amongst various Asha members. As painful as it may be for all of us, in keeping with Asha's policy of transparency, we are providing you a full and frank assessment of the situation along with our recommendation.

Asha would like I2 Foundation to retract its support of BGM. We have given BGM sufficient time to utilize the funds but its internal politics and a lack of clear direction appear to have come in the way. You will find a detailed analysis of the situation below. We are making every effort to learn from this mistake and refine our feedback and monitoring mechanisms to avoid a situation like this in the future.

If I2 Foundation wishes to receive the amount back in full, Asha will be happy to do so within two weeks. However we would like to suggest that the foundation consider diverting these funds from BGM to another Asha project, The Timbaktu Collective, which is in need of the monies. Asha has been funding Timbaktu for 6 years and it has been site visited 5 times. It is an extremely well-run project and Asha has been very satisfied with the regular feedback it receives from the project. You can find more details on the project at: http://www.ashanet.org/nycnj/projects/tim.html

We sincerely apologize for this slip with BGM and hope that I2 Foundation will support our recommendation and will continue to work with us in the future.

Regards,
(signed for)
Asha for Education
 

Background

Nandgad is a small village in Karnataka inhabited mainly by landless laborers, who work the nearby paddy fields, or as brick makers, a profession that has been growing in that region lately. Nandgad has one Kannada medium Municipal school which is run in a two room building in a very bad state of disrepair. The new Modern English medium school (BGM) is the only English language school today in Nandgad and the neighboring 10-15 villages.

The proposal from BGM was for the construction of a new building to expand the school. The grant that Asha received from I2 Foundation was immediately sent to BGM. The school authorities then deposited the money in a bank while discussions were undergoing to decide the action plan for the new construction.

Recent Developments
Six months after sending the money, there had still been no progress on the construction of the school. BGM was unresponsive to our repeated queries about when the construction would commence. After consultations with Ms. Bindu Nambiar of I2 Foundation, Asha decided to give BGM more time to proceed with the construction. Now, several months and many more phone calls later, it is apparent that BGM has been maintaining the status quo and has made no progress in the utilization of the funds.

Things have come to a pass where Mr. Bodharao Kulkarni (father of Ms. Kavita Kulkarni), who has been closely involved with the school and helped Asha monitor the school, is now recommending that the support to BGM be withdrawn.
 

Last visit

A longtime Asha volunteer, Shankar Srinivas, visited the school in September 1999 and his findings on that occasion were cause for some unease. The motivation behind the establishment of the school was suspect, evidently being at least in part, merely to act as a foil to the increasing number of missionary schools in the area. Moreover, some members of the managing committee of the school appeared to be driven more by feelings of the personal glory that would accrue to them by association with a large school, rather than by a desire to meet the needs of the local community.

At that time, being reluctant to pass judgement on motivations, Asha decided to continue its support to BGM, reasoning that whatever the motivations, the ends were for the good of the local community. However, it now appears that even the ends of the local community are not being served.
 

Conclusion

The BGM school is very slow in making decisions regarding construction etc. The school is also not very responsive in sending progress reports to Asha. Its reasons for expansion are not beneficial to the community at large. As a result, Asha firmly believes that it and I2 Foundation should discontinue support of BGM's activities. There are also plans for the construction of a Government supported English medium school in the area which would provide (in the next 2-3 years) the children of the community an opportunity to learn through the English medium which BGM has been promising. Hence, the local community would not be negatively impacted by the cessation of our support to BGM.