Dear All,
 
There have been several recent developments at the Asha Shikshan Sansthan that we would like to share with you.
 
1. Asha team has identified some financial discrepancies at the Sansthan, has performed a detailed investigation, and has taken steps to rectify the problems.
2. The investigation has also led to a revised budget. As per the latest budget, it is estimated that the cost to sponsor each child would be only about $60 per year. So, the $10 you are paying for 1 child now can be used to support the same child for 2 years or you can choose to support 2 children per year instead. Please let us know your decision. 
 
Please feel free to contact us for any clarifications. Both Asha-Austin and Asha-India are committed to make the best utilization of your support to the children to make their future better. 
 
The details of our investigation and our subsequent decisions are as follows.
 
Reason for starting an enquiry into financial discrepancies




In March 2005, one of the teachers of ASS was visiting  the Varanasi center to learn about bee keeping techniques. Vallabh, an Asha-India treasurer, asked him what the salaries of the teachers at ASS were. The teacher was a little hesitant and said that he only knows about himself and that he gets Rs. 500. The number was quite low even for Asha projects where teachers are partly volunteers. If you are not already familar, the funds disbursed from Asha-Austin reach A.S.S. through Asha-India (Vallabh, in particular). So, Vallabh receives and maintains all financial documents from A.S.S. and releases funds based on the requirements provided by A.S.S. On looking through the financial documents submitted by A.S.S., Vallabh found vouchers for Rs.1500 for all the teachers. 
 
Subsequent observations
 
In April 2005, Asha-India received all vouchers from A.S.S. When they were working on the accounts, they found that something was missing in the documents submitted by A.S.S. For example, there was no bill for the purchase of items such as angle pipes for school building, and there were duplication in vouchers for books. These observations made them suspicious, and it was decided that they should investigate the matter more carefully, after getting free from other work.
 
In July 2005, Mahesh, an Asha-India volunteer, discussed with some of the A.S.S. teachers and found out that out of the seven teachers, four were receiving Rs.1500/- per month, while three were receiving only Rs.500/- per month. Even for those teachers who started working from September '04, the vouchers showed that they started from July '04. Mahesh also found that the teachers were asked by Brajendra bhai, the A.S.S. coordinator, to sign on blank vouchers. The teachers did not know how much money was being received from Asha-Austin in their name. 
 
Further probing brought to light that 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 functioning of the school.  When Arvind-ji, another Asha-India volunteer, 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. 
 
These discrepancies were taken very seriously by Asha-India. A meeting was convened at Ballia on 29th August to discuss this issue. Sandeep, 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 of 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. However, none of Asha-Ballia, Asha-Varanasi, A.S.S. teachers, and Asha-Austin had any knowledge of these plans. Also, Brijendra Bhai was unable to answer satisfactorily why he had not made any deductions from the salaries of his son and daughter and other 'trustworthy' teachers, and why everyone was not taken into confidence during his decisions.
 
To discuss further on the issues, a meeting was convened at Kaithi on 10th September 2005, which was attended by Mahesh, Arvind, Rakesh, Pradeep, Vishwesh, Brijendra Bhai and Vallabh. The following decisions were taken at the meeting.
 
Decisions by Asha-India to fix the irregularities
 
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, an Asha-India volunteer who also takes care of the Bhainsaha project. Vijay bhai has been with Asha for about 12 years now, and is trustworthy.
2. A.S.S.'s coordination should be taken up by Om Prakash along with Brijendra Bhai.
3. In future, Asha Austin will only contact Vallabh 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 Vallabh 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 organization.






Asha Austin’s conclusion on if we should continue supporting A.S.S. or pull out

The school certainly has been serving a good purpose since its formation. First, the school currently educates about 40 children of a backward community, who wouldn’t go to other schools because of social discrimination at the schools by the other communities. Second, the school provides better quality education than other schools in the vicinity, and takes special interest in getting children to school.

In light of the above positive points, volunteers at Asha-Austin have decided to closely monitor the school with the above decisions in action for about 6 more months. Since Brajendra bhai will not be handling finances any more, we are expecting that there will certainly be improvements in the school. Asha-Austin will also be including the teachers in all the meetings/discussions with A.S.S. After 6 months, if we still don’t see any positive results, we will seriously consider pulling out our support to the school. However, we believe that such a scenario will not arise.