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 athri: The Resettlement of the Gujjar Community
By Durgam Vahia, Asha Silicon Valley
The Pathri colony is located in the state of Uttaranchal, about 15 kilometers from Haridwar. This project is managed by the Friends of Doon Society (FOD). FOD is a non-governmental organization (NGO) and was founded in 1986 to protect the environment of the Doon Valley which has been adversely affected by local limestone mining. FOD also believes that the interests of the local community must be safeguarded for any sustainable and replicable environmental protection to occur.
The Gujjar Resettlement Colony was set up by the state government of Uttar Pradesh in the late 1980's to relocate 512 Gujjar families who had been living in the Rajaji National Park causing harm to its forest and the wildlife, while depriving themselves the opportunity to join the mainstream Indian rural community. To help this community undergo the transition and for their social and economic advancement, FOD began various educational and vocational programs in the colony in 1996. These programs include a children's school, adult-literacy classes and basic facilities for the community's health-care needs. Asha Silicon Valley has been involved with the project since 1999, exclusively funding the school and the adult-literacy programs.
Pathri School
Thanks to the efforts of FOD and Asha's funding, Pathri now boasts an enrollment of about 400 students, including 160 girls. In 2003, for the first time, standard nine was introduced. The school employs ten full-time teachers and one part-time physical-training instructor. The school follows the state government syllabus in Hindi and offers optional Urdu classes for standard five and above. The school recently initiated class excursions to nearby Chilla Sanctuary in the Rishikesh and Lacchiwala Forest. The school also provides medicines for common ailments and modest nutritional supplements of roasted gram, molasses and banana.
As for the adult literacy class, the program consists of the national basic literacy program followed by three graded primers. Upon accomplishing the third primer satisfactorily, a participant is considered to have elementary proficiency in reading, writing and arithmetic. This program has graduated about 150 neo-literates in age group of 15 to 35.
Asha Silicon Valley has disbursed approximately US$38,000 in the last four years to the Pathri school and adult literacy project. Funds have been largely spent on teacher's salaries, books and stationery for students, clothing and basic furniture for the school. Funding has also allowed the school to organize annual events such as an independence-day flag hoisting and provide developmental training for the teachers.
Accomplishments and Challenges
Before Asha's involvement with the Pathri project, FOD had been running the school through the meager financial resources generated by individual donations and charitable trusts. Financial constraints limited enrollment to about 120 students and four teachers in the school's first three years. However, since September of 1999, Asha's first year of sponsorship, enrollment has tripled and the number of full-time teachers increased. Some notable accomplishments of the school include:
- Formal education in Hindi from standard one to ten for 400 children;
- Government recognition of standard one through five, with recognition of standards six to eight imminent;
- Ten motivated full-time teachers;
- Basic nutrition for all the girls and younger children; and
- About 150 adults, including 54 women, participating in adult education classes.
Apart from quantitative measures of success, there have been significant qualitative gains apparent from the Pathri project in the Gujjar community. The school has given Gujjar children and, by extension, the entire community a sense of self-confidence and pride. The prospect of education for their children is one of the prime motivating factors for the remaining forest-dwelling Gujjars to relocate to the colony. The strongest signal that Gujjars recognize the importance of the opportunity given to them is that they have started paying fees for the school and are now committed to making succeed through their own resources.
Although the Pathri school has been run with great dedication and hard work by the FOD, it has not been without challenges. There is the chronic problem of absenteeism. Traditionally cattle herders, not all Gujjars have realized the importance of education and they frequently call on their children to help in farming and cattle-rearing at the expense of a day at school. At Asha Silicon Valley's insistance, FOD has been able to improve the attendance level from 50% three years ago to about 70%in 2003. Another ongoing task has been to get the state government to take over the running of the school. Although the process is initiated and the state government has, in theory, accepted the idea, the bureaucratic formalities continue to delay the transition. FOD and Asha Silicon Valley expect the process to be complete by 2005.
For more information about this project, please visit the relevant Asha Silicon Valley Pathri page. |
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the Gujjar Resettlement Colony
the Pathri School
the Pathri School building
a classroom at the Pathri School
another classroom at the Pathri School
an outdoor class at the Pathri School
physical exercise at the Pathri School
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