Asha Shikshan Sansthan (A.S.S.) Report
Dated: 16/9/05
 
Asha Shikshan Centre's proposal came to India Focus Group (IFG) in 2003.  Asha Austin supported us under the Support A Child (SAC) programme.  Initially the proposal was for 30 children.  Following direct talks [over phone] and letter correspondence between A.S.S. coordinator Mr. Brijendra Bhai and Asha Austin, the support was extended to 129 children.  Since A.S.S. did not have foreign currency regulation act (F.C.R.A.) permit, the funds were routed through Asha India.  Till date, this project has got financial support as shown in the table below.
 
ASS-Ballia
Receiving       Payment  Date    From    Amount  Date    Cheque no.      Amount  Name
25/9/03 Asha Austin     34,767.00       20/10/03        Cash    
20,000.00
Vijay
25/9/03 Asha Austin     48,675.00       12/11/03        1313    
21,000.00
Vijay
12/8/04 Asha Austin     49,502.00       11/2/04 DD      40,000.00
Vijay
8/10/04 Asha Austin     48,824.00       11/2/04 Bank Charges
80.00   Vijay
16/03/05        Asha Austin     85,691.00       25/08/04        08088
25,000.00       Brijendra Bhai
18/7/05 Asha Austin     47,531.00       10/11/04        10084   
30,000.00
Brijendra Bhai
23/7/05 Asha Austin     86,220.00       18/12/04        16961   
20,000.00
Brijendra Bhai
                        10/1/05 16967   25,000.00       Brijendra Bhai
                        7/4/05  20167   85,000.00       Brijendra Bhai
Received                 4,01,210.00            Total Paid
2,66,080.00
                                Balance      1,35,130.00
 
 
 
Initially, the funds from Asha Kaithi used to be sent to the impress account of Mr. Vijay Bhai, who is the Ballia coordinator.  From there it was routed to A.S.S.  But later, upon Brijendra Bhai's request, money was sent directly to Brijendra Bhai. The completed vouchers, as per the sanctioned heads for the project, were received by us.  According to these vouchers, seven teachers received Rs.1500/- and the coordinator, Mr. Brijendra Bhai received Rs. 3000/- every month.  In March 2005, Mr. Ashok, a teacher at
A.S.S. came to visit me at Kaithi. On discussion with him, I came to know that some teachers were receiving only Rs.500/- [per month], while Rekha and Manav who are Mr. Brijendra Bhai's daughter and son respectively, received the full Rs.1500/- [per month]
that too when they were not working regularly in the school.  Mr. Brijendra Bhai's role was also limited to that of coordinator with no active participation in teaching.  It must be noted that in the year 2000, he used to teach 25 to 30 children alone with no other
person's support.  Sometimes, he used to get some partial [financial] support from other projects (such as Asha Bhainsaha).
In April 2005, we received all the vouchers from A.S.S.  When Mahesh and I were working on the accounts, we thought something was amiss in the accounts submitted by A.S.S.  For example, there was no bill for the purchase of items such as angle pipes,
and there were duplication in vouchers for books – these made us suspicious.  We decided that we should get to the bottom of the irregularities at A.S.S. after we became free from our account related duties. 
In July 2005, Mahesh discussed with some of the teachers and found out that out of the seven teachers, four were receiving Rs.1500/- per month, while three were receiving Rs.500/- per month – while the voucher that has been submitted to us, all were shown to be receiving Rs.1500/- per month.  Mahesh is originally from Reoti and is a neighbour of Brijendra Bhai. Hence, he expressed his inability to give any official / formal report.  I could not go there because of my poor health.  Therefore, we requested Mr. Arvind
Murty, who is an active volunteer of Asha and the editor of Asha's sachhi-muchchi magazine, to investigate the matter.  He went to Reoti on 17th July and informed us that three teachers were receiving a compensation of Rs. 500/- and that too they had not
received it in full.  Even for those teachers who have started working only from September '04, the vouchers showed them to be working from July '04.  The teachers
were asked to sign on blank vouchers.  They did not know how much money was being received in their name None of the teachers had a knowledge of the total budget [allocation] for the school.  Brijendra Bhai took all the decisions and he was the only person who has all the information/knowledge about the running of the school.  When Arvind-ji went to the houses of the former teachers of the school and talked to them, he
was told that they had left the school because they were receiving very little money.  On hearing reports of such financial irregularities, we were very unhappy and informed all the details to Sandeep Bhai.  He called a meeting at Ballia on 29th August to discuss
this issue.  Mahesh, Arvind, Vijay Bhai, Brijendra Bhai and all the current and former teachers of A.S.S. were present at this meeting.  On coming to know the full details about the budget at the meeting, the teachers became very agitated.  Confronted with the
situation, Brijendra Bhai agreed that he had put aside money by cutting the salaries of the teachers and that he had made all the teachers sign blank vouchers.  He had invested the money that he had put aside for bee-keeping and medicinal herb cultivation.  From the
profit made from the production of these [honey and herbs], he said the teachers will be reimbursed.  No one else had any information or knowledge about the use of this money.  Neither us (Asha Ballia and Asha Varanasi) nor A.S.S. teachers nor Asha for Education
Austin had any knowledge of these plans.  At the meeting, Brijendra Bhai was unable to answer satisfactorily why he had not made any deductions from the salaries of his son Manav, daughter Rekha and other 'trustworthy' teachers.  Why wasn't everyone not taken into confidence about his decisions. Finally, it was decided at the meeting that Brijendra
Bhai had to reimburse all the teachers the arrears according to the amount filled in the vouchers (Rs.1500/- per month).  Financial support to Asha Shiksha Sansthan should be stopped or Brijendra Bhai's role as a coordinator [in the Sansthan] should be
ended.  To discuss further on the issues, a meeting was to be held at Kaithi on 10th September and here the future of A.S.S. would also be decided.
A meeting was convened at Kaithi on 10th September in which Mahesh, Arvind, Rakesh, Pradeep, Vishwesh, Brijendra Bhai and I were present.  The following decisions were taken at the meeting.
1) The financial authority of Brijendra Bhai at A.S.S. should be ended and the authority should be handed over to Mr. Vijay Bhai, who takes care of the account of the Bhainsaha project. 
2)  A.S.S.'s coordination role should be taken up by Om Prakash along with Brijendra Bhai.
3)  Asha Austin should be request to contact only Vallab on A.S.S.'s budget related issues.  Presently, about Rs.1,35,000 belonging to A.S.S. is remaining in the Kaithi [Asha] account.  This amount should be adjusted against an updated budget for A.S.S. as per the needs of the school from April 2005 to March 2006.  This budget proposal will be sent by Vallab to Asha Austin by 25th September.
4) Mr. Om Prakash, Vallabh Bhai and Brijendra Bhai will send A.S.S. reports collectively.
5) Vallabh, Mahesh and Arvind will go to A.S.S. and meet with the teachers at a meeting and explain them the complete details of this project, so that there will be greater transparency.
6) Either from the income from bee-keeping and medicinal herb cultivation or from the monthly remuneration of Brijendra Bhai, the arrears of the past and current teachers will be reimbursed.
7) If Brijendra Bhai has any objections, he should be relieved from the organisation.
                                                                - 
Vallabh

 

[Translated by S.K.I.]