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| Status |
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current / ongoing
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| Project Steward |
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Murali Narasimhan
murali DOT narasimhan AT
gmail DOT com |
| Project Partner(s) |
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Maneesh Pandey
maneesh_pandey AT
rediffmail DOT com |
| Additional Contact |
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Pankaj Kalra
pkalra AT gmail DOT com |
| Project Address |
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41, Bal Mandir Colony
Bazaria
Sawai Madhopur, RAJASTHAN 322001
India
Tel: +91-7462-233507 |
| Funds Disbursed |
| Oct | 2005 | Austin | $6,132.00 | | Nov | 2006 | Austin | $5,000.00 | | Mar | 2007 | Austin | $9,270.00 | | Jul | 2007 | Austin | $10,000.00 | | Mar | 2008 | Silicon Valley | $11,896.00 | | Mar | 2008 | Austin | $7,241.00 | | Jul | 2008 | Silicon Valley | $11,142.00 | | Nov | 2008 | Austin | $6,769.00 | | Jan | 2009 | Silicon Valley | $13,300.00 | | Mar | 2009 | Austin | $6,662.00 | | May | 2009 | Silicon Valley | $13,022.00 | | Aug | 2009 | Austin | $4,429.00 | | Dec | 2009 | Austin | $5,000.00 | | Dec | 2009 | Work an Hour | $7,000.00 |
Total = $116,863 |
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Funding Details |
| Chapter Contact |
| Austin |
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Project Description
The organization has established three model schools (Uday Pathshala) with objectives of setting standards for education. These education centers are owned by the community. It is expected that once a certain quality is provided and observed and perceived by the community it will demand a similar level of quality from the other educational facilities in the area, especially government facilities. It is expected that with this understanding people will generate political pressure for improvement in government schools. In the case of private schools it will perhaps be easier as they would then be expected to provide that quality in order to stay in business.
These schools will also create models of alternative ownership of schools, which till date are known to be owned either by government or private entrepreneurs. In most of India, the community finds itself stuck between two bad options - a school that does not work and a school that is not accountable. Any community if it has and feels the ownership will be concerned about the quality of the school and the education that it is providing. It is expected that over time seeing the benefit in having community schools, the government would be able to convert some of its schools into community owned and managed schools. The success of this project is not just in making the schools that are set up run effectively but in bringing a change in the way the other schools in the area operate.
The government has been trying to improve the education system of the state for long. Their first priority was in ensuring reach to education by any means and which they did by setting up rather sub-standard schools. This led to a crisis of quality, which the government is still not in a position to address. There is an assumption that improved quality implies better infrastructure.
Gramin Shiksha Kendra aims to address this issue of quality squarely and provide an option that is easily adaptable and implement-able in the government school sphere. The first element is in developing a truly community led and owned school. A school where the community has a major say in deciding what is taught and where the children do not get alienated from the rural area as a result of education.
In 2003, Gramin Shiksha Kendra finally set up the Uday approach through which it will bring in the much-needed relevance to education for the rural communities.
All the schools run by Gramin Shiksha Kendra have been set up in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan. The 2 schools supported by Asha since 2005 are located in the villages of Jaganpura and Bodal, both of which are about 15km from the Sawai Madhopur city and close to the Ranthambore wildlife sanctuary.
Purpose / Goals
Setting standards of quality in school education
Establishing model of community owned school
Evolving pedagogy and curriculum for relevant education
Mission Statement: Uday will over a ten-year period set up three high quality learning-centres and schools in the Sawai Madhopur and Khandar blocks of Sawai Madhopur district. This will help communities see and learn what quality in education actually means. In addition, through a community outreach programme, encourages them to demand better quality of education from the existing governmental school system and the private sector. Uday will also design, develop and implement a curriculum and evolve a pedagogy which makes education more relevant to people's lives in the rural areas and gives them the information necessary to take informed decisions and make informed choices about their livelihoods and their future.
Organization Description
In 1996 after a series of experiences of working together on social and environmental development issues in Sawai Madhopur, a group of people from the villages along with two external development professionals felt that a lot that was wrong in the socio-economic conditions of Sawai Madhopur was the result of poor and irrelevant education that the existing system had on offer. This group decided to make an attempt to change that and together formed the Gramin Shiksha Kendra.
Gramin Shiksha Kendra was set up as a Society under the Rajasthan Societies Act, 1958 and is mandated to work in Rajasthan on issues related to education and development.
Gramin Shiksha Kendra remained on the drawing board for over seven years till the right combination of talent, enthusiasm and preparedness was available to take it forward. It became operational in 2003.
BOARD MEMBERS
1. Mr. Sachin Sachdeva (president): A management graduate from IRMA with 20 years experience in development sector.
2. Mr. Vijendra Pal Sisodiya (vice-president): A rare talent from Sawai Madhopur; teacher by profession but also an artist, writer and poet.
3. Ms. Jyotsna Lall (treasurer): A management graduate from IRMA with 20 years experience in development sector particularly in the field of education.
4. Mr. Maneesh Pandey (secretary): A development professional from XISS with 10 years experience in development sector particularly in education.
5. Mr. Prithiviraj Meena (member): a farmer (and previously the Zilla Pramukh of Sawai Madhopur district) with the urge to learn everything that he had not been able to in school and to lead, like he was destined to.
6. Radhyshyam Sen (member): A driver who realized the meaning of being unemployed straddled the farm and non-farm sector to make ends meet.
graminswm@gmail.com
Project Type: Alternative Education
(description)
Area: Rural
Number of Children: 350 Student/Teacher Ratio: 19 : 1
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