Asha SV Meeting Minutes of 08/25/09
Attended by: Bala, Madhu, Bhaskar[on phone from Chennai], Manoj, Sachin, Meenakshi, Amit, Anshu, Prakash, Uma, Shabbir, Saurabh, Subodh [on from from MN], Vineet [on phone from MN], Vinod

[1] TRUWDES update/project review [Madhu/Bhaskar]
http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=879

    * Remote location, within Indira Gandhi National Reserve forest
    * Primarily serves Manjampatti village, and 3 other nearby hamlets
    * 1 tin-roofed mud-walled shed serves as school as well as a hostel for the 15 residential students
    * 63 students, staff includes 2 teachers, 1 physical education teacher and a cook/helper
    * Bhaskar visited Manjampatti recently
    * Two routes to get to Manjampatti -- one muddy trek, longer route, 22km; another involves crossing a few streams, shorter, 12km trek
    * School structure is in pretty bad shape -- holes in the tin roof, flooring cracked up in various places
    * Police had been deployed for some time, and when outsiders are present, they stay at the school, so the school was not functioning for a few days
    * Most kids interact pretty freely with visitors and are enthusiastic about it
    * Asked them a few questions in Math and Science, some reciting rhymes (from the kural, etc.)
    * Kids were enthusiastic about answering, and nearly everyone interacted at least once
    * A few kids stood out in being able to do long multiplication and long divisions
    * On an average, the academic training of kids has definitely gotten better
    * They are trying to have a structure and as far as possible function as a regular school
    * Its not unusual for parents to take their kids away and stay at different other hamlets with their relatives etc. and then return them to school
    * Kids are grouped by class forms, but many forms are mixed based on subject -- particularly primary schools with ABL methodology
    * ABL is not used entirely since they dont have access to materials and such
    * There is a good bit of rote learning as part of the teaching methodology
    * The coordinator (Alex) goes to the teacher training workshops in Kodaikanal and take notes and come back and train the teachers
    * Communication has definitely improved with increased cell-phone coverage in the area
    * Drop-outs is still an issue when kids hit age 10-12. Lot of folks here do farming, and there is no access to external labor, and kids past age 12 many times help out in the farms with basic duties like guarding the field (including during the night, from elephants and other animals), chasing birds and pests away, etc. Girls some times get taken away to cotton mills in Tiruppur on contract work to work on weaving etc -- about Rs1500 for 3 years of contract + Rs50000 if they stay the entire time [middle school or high school girls].
    * 10-15kids stay at the hostel each night -- facilities arent much in the shed
    * The cook is very good, comes from Moongilpallam, but comes from a lower caste -- and so the Moongilpallam tribe folks dont want to send their kids as long as he is the cook. Alex needs to decide how to go ahead with this dilemma.
    * They do try to work with the govt, to have officials visit the school from Kodaikanal and officially recognize the school -- so far it has been avoided by the officials as its too much of a hike for them
    * There has been some confusion about the evacuation due to the Tiger conservation drive -- there is no clear order about this, the local officials say that they are allowed to stay until 2012 -- at least for the next year or two, the school will definitely function; Manjampatti is a revenue village; plus folks earn their living and have lived their for a long time
    * Building a new school was put aside because of possible relocation, so plan is to renovate the current structure only -- have to do the renovation when the rains are off -- need some flooring, some windows, replace part of the roofing, more protection from weather, and some comfort for the kids
    * To go to other schools, they are recognized as a bridge course to provide TC to be accepted in regular schools. But official recognition needs 21 certifications, and that will take a lot of time/effort to get there, and they are working towards that. Govt. does provide materials once in a while -- all on a request basis, nothing happens on its own
    * Q: Do they have access to any govt funds [state or central] like SSA, NREGA, etc.? The spending comes under Kodaikanal independent district and so the local government doesnt have access to these funds. Even in general case, regular schools find it very hard to get SSA or Education Dept funds -- primary schools get Rs 5000 annually for repairs etc. In this case, this is very remote, and access to funds is very hard. Besides, since it is not yet recognized, they dont have access to any funds. Alex has been also pushing for the govt to take over this school, since this is the only school in the area. But for all of this to happen, some official has to visit the school and understand the situation, but the officials have been refusing to come.
    * Q: Is there any issue with students of different caste in the school or is it only with the cook? Not particularly with the school, but the cook has definitely been an issue, and some parents have strictly forbidden their children from eating there -- The teachers have to be sensitive about how they portray their stance, because then parents may altogether not send their children to school. Issue also comes from kids being from different tribes with different customs, so cross-interactions are not always easy.
    * Villagers of Manjampatti are not particularly supportive of the school, while they do send their kids to school -- all kinds of mixed messages about this.
    * Asha SV supported Rs 3.2 lakhs in 2007 and in 2008. The funding approved for the building in 2007 was used for 2008.
    * 2009 budget items are very similar to 2007/2008
          o Teacher retention has been a big problem, and an year-end bonus is an additional component to help in this
          o Solar lamps with an inverter [no electricity in the village] for the school [particularly given its residential
          o Repair and renovation is also an additional component
    * Madhu to setup poll


[2] Parner [Subodh/Vineet from Asha MN]
http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=827

    * Currently supporting 5 schools in Parner area, catering to 125 students
    * Attendance fluctuates quite a bit due to migration
    * Non-formal education through themes like water, animals, etc
    * Had teacher training on teaching primary kids through alternate methods
    * They decided to close down 1 school, since teacher/students were not regular
    * Found a new hamlet to start a school where there was no govt. run school [starting Aug]
    * Currently they are running this school out of a hut, but hope to get a pukka room going forward
    * One other school also has a teacher/student attendance issue, but here they are trying to find an other teacher for this position
    * Current funds have been exhausted and this is a 6-mo update
    * Subodh to send the documents on the list


[3] Seva Mandir [Amit]
Project site: http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=876
Site Visit: http://www.ashanet.org/projects-new/documents/876/sevamandir_feb09_sitevisit.doc
Report: http://www.ashanet.org/projects-new/documents/876/seva_mandir_progress_report(text)_july_2009.txt

    * Update on the project after 6 months of funding
    * We support three primary components (all in Badgaon block in Udaipur) -- NFE centers, Activity Centers (in govt schools), and supporting some kids from Badgaon block to come to the annual summer learning camp in Udaipur
    * NFE centers are progressing very well, including some new techniques to teach English through tribal songs [details are in Amit's site visit report]
    * Activity Centers have started, its a bit early to assess impact yet, but the govt schools have been asking Seva Mandir if the teachers of the activity centers can work as para teachers in the govt school
    * That is not really the intent of the activity center, so the teachers continue to teach through activities, and also support with tuitions in the evenings
    * 38 kids from Badgaon part of the summer camp, we supported only 25. 25 of the 38 are not in NFE centers.
    * Lot of details are in the report, as well as site visit report
    * This update is prior to releasing 2nd set of approved funds