Viveka Asha Yojana

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June 20th, 2004
Melli
 
Provided overview of Viveka project which can be found at 
http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=296
 
The current proposal was for the annual renewal. 
5 Teachers salaries @ Rs. 1500 pm
Drama Teacher salary Rs. 1000 pm
 
 
Set of issues/problems as observed at Viveka were discussed. 
Lack of infrastructure leads to large classroom sizes.
One teacher following the concept of joyful learning, while other teachers
seem to be indifferent. How can this be modified, to allow more teachers
to comprehend the benefits of changing their teaching styles?
 
It was mentioned that training is not important without sufficient infrastructure. Training has taken place, but teachers are unable to follow through at times. Govt. training lacks interaction, thus making it less interesting.
 
Asha should intervene in ensuring that training suggestions get implemented.
Further, try to understand why teachers do not adopt proposed methods.
 
It was observed that an MA trained teacher does not know basic maths, and 
is thus intimidated to teach the children. 
 
Amy was giving an example of teachers training in Mass. Teachers become the 
students, and the trainer is the instructor. Teachers have to complete workshops to present, before using the workshop assignment in the class.
 
Regarding Viveka, it was suggested to qualitatively analyze the project, and 
understand how previous fundings have improved education standards, if at all.
Currently Viveka works with a large number of schools. It maybe appropriate to 
focus on a core subset of the schools to qualitatively comprehend impact.
How can this be assessed? What suggestions can Asha give to the social workers?
Can we provide a survey for the teachers, and the children?
How can the social workers intervene here?
What is the profile of the social worker?
 
The relationship between the social workers was initially challenging, but has
significantly improved. 
 
Asha should be involved in a coordinated effort at Viveka adopted schools, which
should include infrastructure in some form, and ensure that proposed methods are
used in teaching.
 
Parents also seem to be motivated in these schools. PTA understands the importance of education, thus why not participate in this process also. Empowering parents is beneficial also.
 
Let's try to identify some core issues, and work with 5-10 schools to 
provide training, infrastructure, PTA and additional support to teachers.
 
Is there training follow-up? This is imperative.
What/How is govt. training different than private training?
Do the children benefit? How to identify
Focus/Efforts in getting govt. funding for infrastructure.
 
Ensure focus & followup on teachers training program.
Focus on specific activities required. Teachers should have regular meetings to learn from eachother. Understand and improve the format of workshops
Teaching Aides? Do they use their own? Bring it to the meeting
to discuss and share ideas about teaching aides.
Why is hindi taught earlier than class Vth?
Have teachers practice workshops themselves.
Are there neighboring schools that are doing well?
 
Asha-Madison has been funding Viveka also, and are dropping out.
Should that affect our decision? On the other hand Asha SV has surplus
of funds, and has offered to share project funding with our chapter..
 
Need to get some answers/clarifications. 
 
 
Would our chapter be interested to ship computers to the Viveka project?
It costs ~$70 to ship a computer. 10-20 computers are offered to Viveka, thus
costing ~$1400. This discussion was tabled for the time.
 
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Melli A.
Sept. 7th, 2003



The viveka project was discussed earlier in July also.

The second installment of the funding has been due

for a few months now. A brief introduction of the

project was provided, and Melli’s site visit report

was discussed. 



A few issues were mentioned in Melli’s report, as the

use of material / posters / boards. Question is, if

we think that they are not being used in the best way,

and Mr. Jayadev also believes the same, why cannot the

same be communicated to the teachers in the different

govt. schools?



Why can we not encourage joyful learning, though

realizing some restrictions in the govt. school

atmosphere?



We should learn from Mr. Jayadev as he is on the

education committee now.



It is still slightly unclear what the social workers

are doing exactly?



Other questions were asked?



Upon some further discussion, a vote was taken. 



Should Asha Boston send the second installment of

$1500 to Viveka Asha Yojna?

Yes - 5

No - 0

Abstain - 6



The vote passed, and the second installment of $1500

will be sent.
 
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Viveka Asha Yojna (Viveka Foundation)
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Melli 
July 2003
 
Viveka Asha Yojane (the govt. school adoption project
in Karnataka) was discussed. Melli presented a brief
history of the project and site visit. 20 more
schools have been adopted for a total of 72. The
social workers are very committed, and several
teachers seem very happy with the program. One of the
fundamental issues to be addressed is how do we
continue teacher training in a way that inculcates the
point of activity based learning in the teacher's
minds. While the teachers are very eager to see
change, it is not clear that they realize that their
methodology of teaching must change for real learning
to happen. More details are at:
https://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=296
 Since there was a lot of material to absorb and
digest, and also it was felt that it would be good to
have input from those on the strategy list via email,
a vote for the second installment was not taken, but
will be taken after discussion on email. (this is the
second installment for the year 2002-2003, it was not
necessary earlier on because of excellent money
management by the coordinators).
 
 Swami Viveka Youth Movement also has a project in
Karnataka which has adopted goverment schools. They
initially adopted 28, and have now expanded to the
entire H.D. Kote taluk. Anand of AID presented a
video of his and Ananth's (Asha-MIT volunteer) visit
there. This project has two interesting features: (1)
the coordinators have included components in the
syllabus that would be locally controlled (input by
the community, local geography and so on) and (2) As
part of the adoption they made it a condition that
teachers who might not have the formal qualifications,
but who are trained by SVYM are appointed. The govt.
agreed to it as long as SVYM bears half the cost of
salaries. (they also double as Primary health care
workers, and they are from the area, but had moved on
to Mysore and other cities, and are now coming back
after SVYM initiated this project).
 
The two govt. school adoption projects SYVM and Viveka
Asha Yojane are located in the Southern Karnataka
region, and the coordinators know each other, and the
projects have interacted with each other. Social
workers from both groups have visited the group and
had discussions. Asha can help in further adopting
good and successful ideas from one to the other. 
Asha-SV is supporting the SVYM adoption project, and
Asha-MIT/Boston will get the details from them to
learn more about it.

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Vivekananda Foundation:

Presented by Melli:

July 2000.

Project proposed for WAH2000.

Amount required: $32,977. Location:Karnataka. Children:?

It is a federation of voluntary organisations and individuals committed to

the cause of development of society. This proposal is based on the fact

(according to the proposal) that one dedicated person at an instituion

(school) can bring about qualitative change. A social worker to improve

conditions in these institutions...

Questions:

- Have the social workers done something of this sort before? Have they

been successful?

- Will this kind of tweaking of the existing system work? Vinay was quite

critical of this "tweaking" of the exixsting system rather than creating

alternatives to set an example. Joydeep felt it may not be entirely bad to

fix an existing system. Anu was skeptical of how this would work becuase

teachers ar eoften a migrant group in these sort of schools and if the

social worker is around to motivate on group and then a new group of

teachers join over a few years, do social workers have to be continously

present to motivate the teachers? Anu commented that something like VASORD

where they employed their teachers to teach at govt schools might work

better rather than a social worker trying to motivate the teachers.

- Why are they starting with so many social workers right at the

start? Can they start with 2 or 3 rather than 50 at the start?