Dear Murali, I have tried to write answers to the questions you had and have also some corrections.

- One of the questions asked was about their FCRA Status, and the
status is that they have applied for permanent FCRA as their total 3
year total has exceeded Rs. 6 lakhs.

We have applied for FCRA. All the enquiries at the district level are complete. I met the collector; he has promised me to send the file to Home Ministry in a week's time. Hopefully after that it won't take much time. However I am expecting FCRA number before July 2007.

- Murali mentioned that they have plans to start Urban school in city
which will be self-funded. They are going to use the same teaching
methods as before.

Yes, We have talked to some parents. We are expecting at least 30 students so that we can start the school.

- They have introduced carpentry and pottery. Consultants come down to
teach this in the school.No permananent teacher.

Yes. We have also introduces theater as a subject and a permanent teacher has been hired (qualified and trained/experience in dramatics)

- Last Year , they started second school.....under the tree.

- Questions were asked about the current school building. We need to
find out why the building structure has so low windows,what about
ventilation?

 

Murali, Sawai Madhopur is generally very hot in summers and we face strong hot winds, small windows reduces the heat of the wind, and the height of the windows allow the wind to cross the room at the level of the face of children sitting(children sit on the ground). This structure was suggested by an architect who is working on low cost locally suitable constructions. In fact this is the first summer in these rooms and they are cooler than other rooms in the village. The light too in the rooms is sufficient. There are 12 such windows (1X1)sq. feet at the height of 2.5 feet and a door (3.5X7) in each class room.
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- There was some discussion about the daily newspaper articles written
by the school children. Newspapers are archived every week.

- Update for second school. They have identified the land, waiting to
be approved by teshaldhar. Building of the new building will be a
shramdhan ( voluntary labour)

- Total strength:
First School :160
Second School : 75

- Talked about some of the advantages of this alternative school.
Going to local government schools didnot help the local village. So
they want to teach something that they can practice (say farming in
scientific way). Another example was to find out the history of the
canal in the village and write a report based on that, so children
have a
good knowledge about their community.

- The children are involved every Saturday with Community service
event like clean up of village

- Question was asked about the eldest school child. Answer: Primary
high is the oldest student.

- We then discussed about the next year budget:
Talked briefly about the role of Academic coordinator and his salary :
Rs. 19712 (Rs. 17,000). He lives in the city.

 

- Accounts and Support person's salary: Rs. 4200 , Rs ( 3600 last year)
Why increase in salary by 20%
What are his tasks?

We have a part time accounts support staff whose salary is booked under Vistaar Project. Besides, day-today maintenance of the project's accounts, banking operations and generation of reports; he also maintains UDAY project's accounts. The volume of work is sufficiently enough for a person in 'Vistaar' project for a single person. The accounts and the stock maintenance of UDAY project is a complete task for a single person. With the increase of teachers in the project additional responsibilities like PF records, tax obligations will be taken by the accountant. We need a professionally qualified accountant for these tasks, for which Rs. 4200 is a good starting salary. We will not be able to find a qualified and experienced person if we pay less than this.

- We then deliberated on the disadvantages of not providing a proper
salary to these teachers, which is losing the teacher as they are in
good demand.

- Decided to get a breakdown of costs per school and discuss the
budget again as we can then better account for the changes from last
year's budget.

Budget with breakups attached.

- The school will also have a 45 day workshop (16 hrs a day) for govt.
teachers in summer holidays. Signed a MOU with Rajasthan Government.

Murali, the training is for teachers from different organizations working on education, not government teachers.

We are about to sign a MoU with the government. The delay is because of the two transfers in last five months, o ne education secretary and other the Director SSA.