Apna Schools Site Visit: May 2009.

Site Visit by: Madhav and Brunda, accompanied by Vijaya Ramachandran and Pranab Mahapatra.
Report written by: Madhav Ranganathan.

Mode of Travel: Van. We first visited the center in Panki, which is a town on the outskirts of Kanpur close to IIT. After that we went to two brick-kilns, one in Dhammikheda and another near Choubepur. We reached the first school around 10:30 am, and then went to the other schools around noon and 2 pm. 

Site Visit details: The school in Panki is located in a rented house; which consists of one room. The facility is adequate but not in great shape and the summer heat made it quite bad. This school is for children of migrant workers working in construction. THe school is located in low-cost housing development area. The workers are always on the move so it is very difficult for them to educate their children. There were about 80 students in a relatively small center, 40 of them girls. 25% of the children there are locals. The children are from classes 1-5 and attendance is not a problem. There were some children who had graduated from here and went to a regular school. One of the issues Jagriti is dealing with is to transport the students. They knew many children nearby who wanted to attend but because they did not have a school bus they could not come. There were funds available to buy a 24 seater bus, but this was not done as there was some discomfort with the purchase of a bus for the organization since there were liability issues. 

The water situation there is a problem there, especially drinking water. There was hand pump nearby which they used to get water. They were paying someone Rs. 400 to bring water to the center. The students made a very nutritious mid-day meal, that was also extremely tasty. It was made with vegetables and rice. For 3 days the mid-day meal consisted of rice and vegetables, kheer for 2 days and roti-sabzi on the remaining day.

I interacted with the children a little. The children were spread in various groups all over the room. The groups were spread in circles based on the class abilities. It was an english class, I asked some of the children to read the books. These were children from 3-4 std. I found that they could read quite well but it was a little difficult for them to understand as they read. The students were very eager and willing and were enjoying the school very much. They also enjoyed the ability to read and were very happy to read out pages to me. We also saw some of the small items made by the girls there. They had made some dupattas by tie-dyeing and beading and were selling them for Rs.120 each. There were two children from Mahesh's center who had come to teach some craft work. The center had two teachers. One was the wife of a construction worker. 

Next, we went to another center in a brick kiln in a village called Dhammikheda. The village is about 20 km away from IIT Kanpur towards Kannauj. It is off the highway (GT Road) amidst some field. THe center was run in a room that was formerly some Government office. I think it used to be used as a grain storage room, but now it was not being used. It was basically a couple of rooms in the middle of fields. The children at this center were from nearby villages. This center seemed to be doing well and the teachers there were very motivated. There was a lot of emphasis on discipline and the children were neatly ordered into rows and had bags and other stuff. Of the three centers we visited this was the one that seemed to be working really well. The village where the workers stay was a few hundred metres away. 


This center functions in the brick kiln which basically works from October to June and is closed during the rains. Right now, Kanpur has some of the best bricks in India but the conditions in which these people work is absolutely terrible and the wages they get are really low. We saw a worker mixing mud and stacking bricks in really extreme heat. His feet were in the mud and there were blisters everywhere. His wife was helping him and he had a little child who was playing nearby. Amidst the pile of bricks, he had used some of them to make a little shelter where he was staying during the working days. He belonged to a village called Ghatampur about 60 kms away. This is a really serious issue in our community and is often completely ignored. These workers are really suffering in ways we cannot even imagine. The physical toll on their bodies is highly likely to result in escapism like alcohol, gambling and wife-abuse. When people work in such abyssmal conditions right in our backyard, do we have the right to say that we are democracy ? And, by being silent about it, we are basically destroying a fraction of our society. 

We had lunch in the car, and then went to another brick-kiln near Chowbepur. This was off the main highway. There was a little village where people lived in temporary shelters using tins and thatched sides. One of the houses was used for the school. This was crowded with about 35-40 students. They were singing songs when we got there. They were fairly excited to see us and a few of them even had the confidence to go up to the front and sing s song for us. The school was run in the house of the teacher. The children had made a small "garden" in the front of the house. We stayed there for about 30 minutes and left. There were some students who seemed to have health issues there and Jagriti was taking them to a local physician. 

Analysis:
Overall, the centers are functioning and are doing a great service to the community. Their effectiveness depends on many factors, some of them beyond the control of Jagriti. Jagriti is running about 20 of these centers spread in many different areas. The salary of the teachers is quite low, especially since they have to work in difficult conditions. We strongly recommend that the salary of the teachers be raised. Also, we need to work out a plan for the future. Having 20 centers spread everywhere puts a lot of strain on the coordinators to ensure the effectiveness. There are always requests for Jagriti to open more centers and Jagriti needs to develop a longterm plan of action in this regard. It is in this regard that Asha can really play a big role and give the necessary guidance.