Poll Question: Do you approve Asha SV supporting Gramin Shiksha Kendra for the year from July 2011-June 2012 to the tune of Rs, 11,36,000 to be spent on teaching materials, teacher salaries, capacity building for staff, consultant support, school library and administrative costs. Budget and other details are available at http://www.ashanet.org/projects/project-view.php?p=603 ========================================================================================= Chapter mtg minutes: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ashasv-vol/message/8916 Asha 10/12/11 Meeting Attendees: Gramin Shiksha Kendra, Madhopur, Rajasthan ( Murali and Kapil ) * 4 schools- 3 rural and 1 urban * asha supports the 3 rural schools * 3 years back Asha SV started supporting 2 schools- Jaganpura and Bodal * 550 children together-the idea is to create 3 schools with 300 kids each * main highlight of this project is a child centric approach to education * the school curriculum is integrated with not just studies but drama, sports, crafts, etc. so that children get well-rounded education * ABL and muti-level and multi-grade education-this helps foster better learning * the teachers are very well trained as enablers and guides for the children so that they can educate the children in this new style of learning. * teachers spend 2-3 hours each day to go over the progress of each child to see what activity of each child in order to understand whether the child is learning or not, how to better teach the child * children who go through this learning become self-learners by the time they are in middle school * rajasthan school board has designated this as a model teacher training school where teachers are being sent for training etc. * 231 children in jaganpura and in Bodal there are 99 children-total 330 * there was a teacher training workshop in May this year-the training is not free-each year they have these sessions and the fees for the training are on a sliding scale-this year they made about 1.5 lakhs or so. however this training requires a commitment of about 45 days at a stretch-the other model that seems to be working better is for GSK teachers going to other schools as consultants. * in Bodal there were about 500 kids but this year it has come down to 99-the school is near the Ranthambore natural forest and the Govt, has tried over the years to relocate people from inside the forest and some people finally accepted the deal to move so the kids who were coming from inside the forest are no longer a part of the school * the children publish a journal called Morange- edited by Prabhat, a locally accomplished poet, who is also a part time teacher * last site visit was in March by Murali-it appears that the school has been more stable with funding now that they got their FCRA clearance, and also they have better infrastructure, which adds to the stability of the children and the faculty * there was a new school started in Faria a few years back and it is doing really well with funding from an Australian Foundation * the goal of the school is to show that this model is a good model to work with * also another goal of the project is to foster community involvement to better the schools, to understand the teaching methods, and so on * Community Intervention program-reach out to 100 government schools in the next 5 years-to convert the schools into using this new methodology to teach children-they plan on targeting about 20 schools this year-but instead of going to the school, they plan on going to the community to tell them what is the benefit of using GSK methods * question-the idea was to start a school with this new teaching method and then see where we go in 5 years- answer-the founders had no idea how long it would take them to reach a proper school that has an entire set of classes till High School-question-so why is it part of the objective to create a school that goes all the way up to 10th standard? why does it have to be by creating a full blown school? what is it they are trying to do here? * Answer- the conventional method is that the montessori method is now being accepted as a good method to use for all schools-a few years ago when they started this teaching method there was skepticism about this method but seeing the success, they want to try and use this as something they can speared out. * Question-is there a need to teach these methods over the older classes? Answer: the success of the method is something that can be taught to other schools to the benefit of all * what is their ultimate goal? Asha SV has been their key funder, they do not have any other sustained source of funding-answer-the only way they can stop expanding is that they will have to stop accepting more kids-that will stop the schools completely. they do want a sustained source of support from a big foundation in India so that they can be self-sustaining. * is there a way for the school to change their model so that they are not so dependent on an increase in funding year after year? Answer-they are not looking at additional schools at this point. * Are there government schools in the area? Answer-the government schools are not everywhere-there is one in Bodal but otherwise the situation is that the government schools are not working anymore-so the problem is that the GSK schools are the ones that work. GSK will have to find a way to change the model or change the way they operate because it does appear that they are aware that the funding is being cut. * budget- a revised budget, most of the numbers are the same as last year. * Most ítems have remained the same-Vibha has approved 8 Lakhs or so * Asha SV is expected or being asked a total of about Rs. 14 Lakhs odd-this has not taken into consideration the 20% proposed cut by Asha SV * Kapil will have to revise the budget with the 20% cut and then we will set up the poll for GSK once the new amount is reviewed.