SLADS site visit report discussion

March 11, 2001

Joydeep

J.K. Mahato, a lawyer started this organization for

the purpose of fighting for the rights of people

living in forests in Bihar. ASHA has funded this

organization for the primary school and health

initiatives. The funding was used for teacher’s

salary / capital investment / science lab / furniture.

It has been running well, as mentioned by Joydeep.

As this falls under the jurisdiction of the new

Jharkhand govt. the NGO gets Rs. 500 - 600 per student

for their initiative in education and health. They

could not register their organization in the Bihar

govt. but have been able to do so in the Jharkhand

govt.

ASHA-Boston has supported this organization for 3

years, ending in late 2000. They have been good in

communication, providing reports etc. Over the period

of the 3 years, the number of girl students has

increased, and overall the students have been

performing better, as measured by the results.

The school is trying to get itself recognized by the

govt., thus come under the govt. jurisdiction but not

loose the community control. Similar schools, running

as govt. schools, with community control are seen in

the south. This provides the monetary support needed

to run the school, at the same time keeping the

teachers accountable and responsible. As was

mentioned, it is interesting to see a parallel school

joining the mainstream, and getting funded by the

govt.

Currently teachers are paid Rs. 600, and the NGO would

like to pay them Rs. 1000. Once the school is

recognized, which is expected to happen in the middle

of 2002, the teachers will get a salary of Rs. 4000,

thus the teachers will want to stay with the school.

Less fear of them leaving.

SLADS has given a proposal for funding the teachers

salary for the duration that they do not get

recognized by the govt. (or till March 2002). The

amount requested is Rs. 1 lakh 82,000, for the period

of Oct. 2000 - March 2002. The issue would be that

ASHA has a policy to fund an organization for 3 years,

and expect self-sustainability thereon.

§ Realizing the 3 year argument is not very strict

§ The school will become get funding from the govt. in

another year

§ ASHA has helped build the school, and should help

see it through as a success

These were the reasons given that we should fund the

requested amount in 2/3 installments.

The issue was raised that SLADS may be able to get

funding from other places, or redistribute its

priorities to support the teachers for 1 year. Thus,

should we fund them?

We have some other proposals on the table, which were

postponed.

In past meetings, it was discussed that we may bring

funding to a halt for some time, allowing us to

comprehend the type of projects ASHA Boston would be

interested in.

If SLADS funding were postponed for a couple of

months, would that be an acceptable alternative?

A vote was taken whether we would be interested in

funding the amount requested by SLADS. Result was

unanimous acceptance.