Jan Kala Sahitya Manch Sanstha - (JKSMS) ILM School

Project Brief: The project is a non-formal school for the children of downtrodden community of artisans of the Jaipur jewellery sector. The aim is to mainstream as many students as possible into nearby government schools.
Project Type: Non-Formal Educational Centers (description)
Primary Focus: children from slums (description)

Secondary Focus: to go to formal school

Area: Urban
Supporting Chapter Contact: Stanford
Status: completed - requirements ended
Project Steward: Rahul Batra
Project Partner(s): Kamal Kishor
Other Contacts:
Project Address: , A-17, Ashok Vihar, Near Babul Paradise Marriage Garden,,New Sanganer Road, Mansarovar,Jaipur,
RAJASTHAN  302020
Tel: 91 98280 15081
Stewarding Chapter: Stanford
Feb 2020StanfordUSD 12320
Jul 2018StanfordUSD 12601
Nov 2016StanfordUSD 13546
Nov 2015StanfordUSD 14749
Jun 2015StanfordUSD 6870
Sep 2014StanfordUSD 7163
Aug 2014StanfordUSD 13500
Mar 2013StanfordUSD 6563
Jun 2012StanfordUSD 6550

Total = $93862

Jaipur is well known as the worldwide capital for Jewels. This industry is one of the most important one in this area and involves a significant part of the people living there. In the conception of a jewel, there are different steps that start from the faceting of the brute stone to the final sell in a shop. The artisans are working at the base of this chain and they sell their labor to the middlemen at a very low cost. The artisans have been an outcast in the society for ages and live in the slums at the outskirts of Jaipur. They have been exploited by the middle men of the jewellery trade for ages; one of the main reasons being a lack of any form of education. There is a complete lack of awareness of the importance of education among this population. They continue using old techniques, passed on by their ancestors and are hardly aware about innovation. Put together, their situation becomes precarious and heavily dependent on the middlemen and buyers who hold a place at the top of the industry.
Already working on different livelihood projects for these artisans, JKSMS staff were convinced that the role of the artisans in the jewel industry had to be strengthened in order to improve their life conditions. We felt that the best way to develop self esteem, self confidence and awareness among the artisans could be through education, a component which is completely lacking in this community. Unfortunately, the artisans themselves are not aware about the importance of education for their children.
The ‘Interactive Learning Methods’ school’ (ILM-school) concept has been created to make learning fun. We use lot of interactive methods (images, games etc.) to teach basic lessons to children. Indeed, when exposed to such learning methods, most of the children are able to understand and retain what is being taught. Besides, they ‘want’ to come back to learn more, unlike the situation in govt. schools. We closely monitor and record the progress of each student through regular tests. We also keep the parents updated by having regular meetings with parents of every child. After 6 months and then 1 year, the children are evaluated to determine if they are ready to be ‘mainstreamed’ into govt. schools. The children who are mainstreamed continue to be given help by the teachers at the ILM School in the after-school hours. This is because each child takes some time to adapt to the change from the non-conventional ILM School to the govt. school. The kids who don’t get mainstreamed continue learning in the ILM School till they are evaluated as ‘ready’ for the transition.
We aim to generate awareness in the community about the importance of education in their lives and how that could make their lives better. We believe that creation of schools for the children of artisans and initiating the concept of education among this group should help prevent their exploitation, help them integrate in the society and in the long run, lead to their self-sustainability. We also hope that seeing the impact of education on the confidence and awareness among some of the children in their community, and the vast array of opportunities that opens up to these children, more and more parents would enthusiastically start sending their kids to nearby govt. and/or private schools. Our goal is self-sustainability of the community, such that an organization like ours can show them the path to education and the community should take over.
Our short term goal is to sensitize the downtrodden community of artisans of the Jaipur jewellery sector towards the importance of education for their children. In the next 5 years, we also aim to mainstream as many students as possible into nearby govt. or private schools. Our long term goal is creating sustainability of this education initiative so that every parent, on their own initiative would send their children to school and no child in this community would remain illiterate.
'Jan Kala Sahitya Manch Sansthan' (JKSMS) is a registered non-government organization based in the state of Rajasthan. JKSMS has been involved for almost 25 years in livelihood generation and promotion projects, health initiatives for women and children and education. The organization was founded in the year 1983 by social activists who were committed to change some of the grappling issues in indian society and to work towards social justice.

The organization became a legal association with its registration under Rajasthan Societies Registration Act 1958 on November 9, 1983. JKSMS has also been registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulating) Act, 1976 in the year 1998. More details about JKSMS can be found at http://www.jksms.org/.
Project Partner - Mr. Narendra (Project Coordinator)
Phone number: +91 9314466524