Digantar Shiksha Evam Khelkud Samiti

Project Brief: The Elementary Education Programme is being funded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India (GOI), under the ministry's scheme of financial support to innovative and experimental programmes.
Project Type: Alternative Education (description)
Primary Focus: girls (description)

Secondary Focus: children of dalits/tribals

Area: Urban
Supporting Chapter Contact: Seattle
Status: current / ongoing
Project Steward: Katie Harrison
Project Partner(s): Riti Dhankar
Other Contacts: Neha Kapoor
Project Address: , Todi Ramjanipura,Kho Nagoriyan Road,Jagatpura,
RAJASTHAN  302017
Tel: 011 91 141 2750230
Stewarding Chapter: Seattle
Aug 2023SeattleUSD 32234
Oct 2022SeattleUSD 32417
Jul 2021SeattleUSD 35706
Nov 2020SeattleUSD 35489
Apr 2020SeattleUSD 31396
Nov 2018SeattleUSD 34018
Jul 2018SeattleUSD 32514
Jul 2017SeattleUSD 34803
May 2016SeattleUSD 60493
Dec 2015SeattleUSD 39649
Dec 2002SeattleUSD 25000
Dec 2001SeattleUSD 3000
Dec 2000SeattleUSD 6000
Dec 1999SeattleUSD 3000

Total = $405719

Elementary Education Programme:

Elementary Education programme can be seen as a system of three schools educating about 500 children; all the children belong to less privileged section society and the schools are situated in rural area just out side Jaipur. Most of the children who are in these schools would have been out side the fold of education but for these schools. Almost all children come either from minority (about 70% Muslim Children) or from schedule cast social background. Education in Digantar schools is completely free for children. No fee is charged and all needed teaching-learning material, books and the school provides stationary.

The schools have been very successful academically and are liked a lot by the community. The curriculum, pedagogy and school organisation followed in these schools is based on the principles of learning with understanding, learning to learn and freedom of pace of learning. Consequently, the learning groups consist of children at different levels of learning rather than as homogeneous classes.

Teacher child relationship is democratic and of mutual caring. Teachers have a very good rapport with the community and community has accepted as well as become quite fond of the new pedagogy used in these schools.

The schools provide education up to primary level (5 years of schooling) but from this academic session (1998-99); one group of 20 children is at the upper primary level as well. This has been started to extend to upper primary level the pedagogy and general approach to education being used at the primary level.

This programme can be called the fountainhead of all ideas and understanding, which Digantar uses in providing resource support to other organisations. Almost all ideas which we use in our approach to teaching-learning methodology, curriculum and material development and teacher education programmes have evolved and being evolved through teaching children in these schools. Therefore, this programme is very important to Digantar. If this programme collapses Digantar as an organization can not remain healthy.
Developing sensitivity and autonomy in every student in the school to ensure social justice through education.
Digantar is a voluntary organisation (Registered society) working in the field of Elementary Education, mainly for rural, underprivileged children. The organisation has been working for over 20 years; for the first 10 years it existed as a small school privately funded by a family. Since 1989, it has been working as a registered society and is being funded by a numbers of agencies.