Dear Harish Chawla ji

Greetings from SAHANIVASA

Assembly & Parliament elections in India have dramatically changed the ruling parties both in the state and central. Whatever the campaigns which we have contributed to this process.

I am so sorry for the delay in sending the response since we had to depend on our teachers to collect the data in detail. We could not disturb timings as they were fully engaged in preparing for the students exams. Hence, only after the examinations they have involved in collecting the data. Hence, the delay. This mail is to respond to your questions raised on January 24^th. They are:

1) Present Status of students promoted from 10^th standard

So far 1061 students (till 2003 March) have promoted 10^th class from our schools and joined in various courses as mentioned below .

Total students studied intermediate:	454
Total student studied graduation(under graduation):	218
Total No. of poly technical students:	38
Total No. of students joined in ITI:	162
Total No. of students employed	70
Total No. of discontinued students	119
Total No. of students got married	67

• 6% of the total drop outs have discontinued due to their marriage. This also indicates that the early marriages among the vulnerable communities is more than normal.
• As data narrates 10% of the students have discontinued their studies due to various reasons. 60% of drop outs have expressed that it is because of lack of support from parents for further studies and also the financial problems. Rest of the 40% have settled as cultivators.
• The discontinued students have been very much actively taking part in the struggles of people to restore their rights and they are the active organizers of youth in their respective villages. All those studied well – 20% are in graduation. 16% have gone to technical courses.
• 7% of the studied have got the various employments from teachers to drivers and self employed.

For detailed data please look into the annual report

Self Sufficiency of the project:

When we have initiated the process we are very much hope to be self sufficient by collecting contributions from the students. Hence we have also initiated such process both in Primary & high Schools. In the process we have realized that self sufficiency in managing the centre only in looking financial terms is not the viable approach. Hence, when it comes to the primary schools, we have made one step ahead in different manner. This is motivated the parents and also educated youth in the village to work for the evening schools for the betterment of their own community. The parents were also motivated to pay for the teacher who take care of the educational needs of these students. Therefore we are able to achieve self sufficiency in 5 centre during last year and we hope to do the same in another 5 centers during this year. So here self sufficiency means making use of the youth and also enlighten the parents to work towards the direction. Here our responsibility is to continue to monitor and encourage the teacher to carry on such work. Since, he has get the resource from the parents he will also work sincerely to accomplish the tasks. We could only achieve this after running school for 3 years in the village, motivated the parents and children to enroll in the schools, stop the child labour, train up the drop outs to go to formal school. This amount of encouragement developed interest among the parents to carry on the school regularly by spending money from their purses. While we have attempted to do the same thing in all the 15, we have not succeeded but we hope it can be done in phased manner. The first 5 villages have set the model.

This will be replicated in all other primary centers year by year. Though we get support from ASHA for 15 centers, 5 centers have become self sufficient an addition of 5 centers needy centers are included. That way ASHA support is expanded for other deserving needy villages.

The contribution mobilized from the parents has accumulated Rs.23,122/- over 4 years time from the primary schools. An educational committee is formed to maintain this funds. For more details please see the report.

10^th class students

Unlike the primary schools we could not go much further than collecting an amount of Rs.33,283/- in all these years. Though initially we have planned to mobilize in systematic manner – on every monthly basis that did not worked out, since there has been half decade cumulative impact of drought prevailing in the area. Whatever the meager resources people get due to down fall of the employment only for 60 days in a year, is not even sufficient to feed the stomachs of everybody in the family. Hence, there are instances, parents are use to eat in rotation basis that is when mother eats afternoon and father eats only at night to feed the children’s two times. It is in that context many parents even decided to stop the children from the education which we did not allow by motivating them to work in government food for work schemes which started at the time for few months in Andhra Pradesh. Therefore when it comes to the 10^th class students we are still hoping that we can do better than present, once we mobilize employed dalits who settle down outside of the project area. When we have tried to tap the resources from such an effort our experience is that they are no more dalits and we felt dalitisation of dalits is also one tool we can use to convert them to commit for the community. Of course, all these takes time.

These issues are more interlinked to the socio economic conditions of the area which have been changing from time to time in a speeder manner due to penetration of global capitalism into agriculture. When there is a traditional form of agriculture dalits has a source of income of getting labour are working as tenant farmers. Now more of contract forming is increasing where absentee landlords are coming back to the rural areas to start the export oriented agriculture in high capital intensive manner using labour displaced technology. This has drastically affected the employment situation of the rural workers. Hence, parents like to go for migration and look 10^th class student is an additional resource in the family to accompany the family. Therefore, their financial vulnerability is did not allow them to pay and rather encourage them to drop the child. Most of the children even after promoted to the higher class has been dropped because of this situation.

However, we will not leave this concept as we strongly believe that we have to depend on the local resources. We also hope that the situation will not be the same, once we get out of the drought situation. Simultaneously we have been lobbying with government of Andhra Pradesh to give employment guarantee for the rural workers and once this is actualized we will be completely away from all the problems narrated above.

Mobile library

It has gained good name in the schools where the teachers and the students have been extensively using. A detailed description is given in the annual report.

Please feel free to raise any doubts /clarifications raised either in the above description or any other thing related to the schools and other activities of SAHANIVASA, of course, it will not be delayed like what has happened now! More in person when we meet in US.

Thanking you and with kindest regards

(P.CHENNAIAH)