1)
960 children have been helped under a similar project before. What year
was this ? The report says they were given ‘functional literacy’.
How is that defined ? What are those children doing now ? Are they
in formal schools, non formal centers, transit centers, are they working ?
The
earlier program was implemented from 1995-1998 with financial support from
KFO-Austria. 960 children in the age group of 8-14 who were working
full-time were identified for Non-formal education. They came from very
poor families where the parent were illiterate. Formal education was not
possible since the parents did not want to be deprived of their income.
The curriculum was NFE was designed so that the children were exposed to basic
education and recreation. After 3 years the children reached the level of
reading Tamil books, signing their names etc. 85 joined formal schools.
20 NFE centers
were begun under the program. Now 5 continue to exist each covering 4-5
villages were children continue to be provided with books (storybooks, moral
books, newspapers). WARM staff members regularly visit the centers.
Functional literacy is defined as basic literacy.
2) Are transit schools organized continuously every year ?
Five NFE schools continue as
discussed above.
3) Your proposal says 720 children in 20 villages have been
identified. There must be more children in the villages. Do they go
to school ? What is the population of the 20 villages, number of children
in these villages.
Total population: 19631 4) Is the proposal for conducting transit schools or NFEs for the 720
children, or to simply encourage them to attend formal schools or NFEs or
transit schools ?
The proposal is for
NFE centers for school dropouts, where the main focus will be to get them to
join school again.
5) Your proposal seems to indicate that they have already been
identified. If so, why are you asking money for identification of children
?
The money is for the
identification of 150 (in the first year) of the 760 children who have dropped
out. They will be identified by a committee consisting of school teachers,
village panchayat representatives, social worker. The poorest of the poor
will be given preference.
6) Are some of these tribal children ? Do they live with other
villagers or do they have their own villages?
7) What are the exact duties of the coordinator ? We would like
all specific details.
8) What are the duties of the 5 organizers ? We would like
all specific details.
9) What is the staff orientation for ? We would like details of
the orientation.
10) The items in the budget is for 30x5 centers = 150 children, not
720. 11) We would like very specific details of awareness, leadership, and
women’s programs. These do not seem relevant to the project in hand.
12) What books are planned for the library ?
13) What furniture are you buying for the money requested in the budget
? 14) What will the cycles be used for ? WARM must have already
have several vehicles …
15) The proposal estimates 50% will be in formal school in one
year. So it will take one year to induce them to go to school ? And
for the other 50% one year is not enough ? Or is it that you will work
with only 50% of the children per year ?
16) What are the reasons for dropouts ? 18) Your proposal says that parents are very interested in
sending their children to school . Then why the literacy campaign ?
Who is the campaign for ? 19) What NFE curriculum is used, and will the 720 children be given
that before going to formal school (basically the structure of NFE centers and
transit schools).
20) It looks as though some children will go to formal schools, some to
NFE centers. Do NFE children eventually go to formal schools ?
21) Details of other developmental programs - is money given as loans
or as gifts ?
Number of children: 4272 (2840 attend
formal schools, the rest don’t)
There are 12 primary schools, one
middle school and two higher secondary schools in the area.
In all 20
villages both tribals and non-tribals lives together.
The person will
have experience in coordination and social work and will have at least a
graduate degree in social work. Duties include overall coordination of the
project and organization of various schemes.
These are
people on the field who work in the five different centers. Apart from
assisting the coordinator they identify common problems of the villages and
remedies (from the government) and maintain close contact with the villagers,
parents of the NFE school children and formal school teachers.
The orientation
is to give the staff training in convincing illiterate parents to send their
children to school, focus and objectives of the program, how to approach elders
in the village to convince them about the usefulness of education.
Initially 150
children will be targeted.
Awareness: awareness of the
benefits of education, facilities available from the government, avenues for
increasing income of the family etc.
Leadership: Most villages
in India follow the village leader. So it is important to educate the
village leader so that he can give proper advice on various issues
including education of children.
Women’s program: self-help savings groups. Increase in income will
encourage them to send their children to school.
Daily newspapers (one in regional language and one in English), small story
books in regional language, moral books in regional language, books on
self-confidence, books on various productive activities, books on basic
computers, Children’s knowledge series, books on basic health. Almost all
will be in the regional language. Books will be circulated in all 20 villages by
the organizers. Moral story books will be read out among the children.
One
Table + 2 chairs per center, a total of 5 tables and 10 chairs
Not
answered.
We are
confident that 50% of the families of identified children can be convinced in
sending the wards back to school. This will be achieved in the second
month of the program itself. While our endeavor is to put all the children
back in school at the earliest possible time, considering the likely
reservations and objections of family members, a phased program of coverage of
children has been envisaged. WARM will work with all identified children
from day one.
17) (a) parents feel
that children don’t gain anything from education and prefer the income they
bring in.
(b) elder siblings have
to take care of younger ones
(c)
distance of middle and high schools from the villages and inability of parents
to meet transportation costs
(d)
lack of proper transportation from village to school center.
The elders in the
family prefer to send their children to work instead of to school. The
disinterest of parents and poor income are the major factors in high level of
dropouts. It is therefore incorrect to say that parents are interested in
sending their children to school. Our major task will be to convince these
parents to send their wards to school.
The curriculum
will depend on the target group. As the target group is currently school
dropout children, the curriculum will aim to make them proficient in reading and
writing. So that when they join the formal education system, they will not
face any difficulty coping with the standards of education in the school.
For drop outs
from many years ago, regional language reading and writing, health, cleanliness,
environment, facilities available to students, advantages of education etc. will
be taught. Efforts will be made to raise the knowledge of the dropout
student so that he/she can rejoin school. Some NFE books are enclosed.
Transit schools are
meant for dropouts who cannot leave their present jobs. The school will be
held in the evenings, with a syllabus similar to that of formal schools.
The students are expected to acquire knowledge equivalent to that of formal
school children.
Transit center will also be under the charge of the organizer. The
assistance of the local teacher will be made use of for making the centers and
education more effective. The curriculum of NFE and transit schools will
be finalized under the able guidance of the Head Master of the schools
functioning in the project area. A copy of finalized curriculum and
syllabus will be given to Asha-MIT on sanction of the project funds.
The aim of the project is to put
children back in schools. It will there be ensured that all children who
go to NFE centers go to school. If the children cannot leave their job,
then they will go to a transit school.
Detailed table and charts
will be presented at the meeting.