Questions and answers: ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. What is being taught at this NFE? In NFE we teach reading, writing and basic arithmetic. We follow the formal schools' curriculum for the 1st to 4h std. The Pune Municipal Corporation holds external examinations for 1st to 7th std. students. Some of our students also appear for these exams. They get mark lists and certificats of passing which are useful to get admission in formal school if they want. 2. Is the goal of your NFE to be an alternative to formal education? NFE is not an altenative to formal schooling. We try our best to put a child in formal school. That is why we help parents to get their children's age certificates if they do not have the birth certificates with them and we provide pre-primary education facility. Our Study classes and school transport facility are meant to help children continue in school. However, once children are a little older (10 to 12 years of age) it is difficult for them to put in school because they themselves feel odd to be in a class where 6 or 7 year olds are their classmates. The parents are also not keen on their education as by this time these children help the parents in many diffrent ways. In some cases they are also gainfully employed. Our NFE classes target this group of children and the aim is to make them proficient in reading and writing and prevent them from being 'adult illiterates'. 3. Why don't the children attend the two municipal schools close to Laman Tanda, Sant Tukaram & Gora Kumbhar? The reasons are self evident in the kind of supportive services we need to provide, · Parents illiterate · Fear of the unknown and ignorance of school system, rules & regulations etc. · Older children are a great support for mothers to look after younger siblings and to do the work such as filling water, washing etc. · Very young children have no one to reach them to school . Roads have heavy traffic and parents do not want take risk. By the time child is willing to go alone he is much older in age for the 1st standard and feels shy to sit with other younger children. · If the school is in the morning then mothers are not ready with the children’s tiffins etc. If it is in the afternoon mothers are not around to send children . Thus it is a no win situation from all angles. · Futility of the education as seen by the parents 4. Why are you proposing to have all part-time teachers? What is your experience with part-time teachers? Our NFE classes are of 3 hour duration for 5 days a week. Hence the teachers are shown as part time. If one teacher takes two classes, morning and afternoon it is a full time work for her. Since we depend entirely on funding we cannot make long term commitment to our staff. From that point of view our teachers are both part time as well as temporary. We give them one monhs paid leave and a performance incentive upto one one month's salary after they complete one year with us. 5. What are the operating hours of the NFE? Normally. 9.30 to 12.30 in the morning and 1.30 to 4.30 in the afternoon. However, the timimngs vary according to the needs of the children. For example, we run evening class at Shivajinagar for working children. 6. You called out a Rs. 20 lac budget in the proposal, was that for DSS projects in Pune-only or Pune & Mumbai combined? Rs. 20 lac budget is only for Pune projects. Mumbai has much larger coverage and budget.