SUPPORTING EDUCATION FOR RURAL CHILDREN (THROUGH NON-FORMAL EDUCATION CENTERS) IN UDAIPUR DISTRICT End of Term Progress Report (1st January 2012 – 31st December 2012) SUPPORTED BY – Asha for Education Submitted By: Seva Mandir Old Fatehpura, Udaipur – 313001, Rajasthan (India). Ph: 0294 - 2450960 / 2451041; Fax: 0294 - 2450947 E-Mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Website: www.sevamandir.org 1 BACKGROUND Seva Mandir works in 5 rural blocks in Udaipur district. Of the 5 blocks, ASHA supported the SK programme in Badgaon block starting on 1st October, 2007 and is continuing till date . From 1st January, 2012 the support was renewed for the following three components: 1. 20 Shiksha Kendras (rural schools). 2. Funding for at least 25 out of school children from Badgaon to attend two seasonal residential learning camps (out of the total three seasonal schools held in a financial year) organized by Seva Mandir. 3. The continuation of 5 activity cum tuitions centers. These centers were set up in collaboration with government schools in Badgaon block. An annual report on the three initiatives is given in the subsequent three sections below for the period of 1st January 2012 – 31st December 2012. Section 1 - Shiksha Kendra Introduction Seva Mandir works with village communities to establish rural schools called Shiksha Kendras (SKs) or rural bridge schools, in remote rural hamlets with the aim of providing access to quality education to out of school children between the ages of 6 and 14 years old. The SKs offer primary education which enables these children to transit smoothly into Government schools. Since these children are first generation learners it gives them confidence to persist with their schooling. The sound education provided at the SKs help the children become independent learners. Over the years it has been a process of learning and unlearning for Seva Mandir for effective and better implementation of programme. Consistent and concerted efforts were and are made to improve and maintain the quality of education provided by SKs like improving the physical structures, using diverse learning materials, regularly building teachers’ capacity, inculcating an interactive and child-centred pedagogy, and building community participation. The SKs are able to secure the all-round development of children and considerably enhance their learning levels. The programme initiated with 10 SKs and during the course the number scaled upto 200 in year 2009-10 reaching out to 5890 children. In past two years the number of centers has gradually decreased to 178. However the number of children enrolled has remained uneffected with current enrollment of 5861 children. The learning and challenges heiglighted by this trend are mentioned in following sections. Current Status of SKs Currently 178 SKs are reaching out to 5,861 children, 43% of which are girls. The 20 centres of Badgaon block currently supported by Asha, have a total enrollment of 576 children out of which 281 (49%) are girls and 295 are boys. 2 Table 1: Zone wise details - the number of SKs, teachers and enrollment ofchildren Block No. of Rural Schools/ SKs Enrollment of children January December Teachers March 2012 2012 2012 Male Female Total Boys Girls Total Delwara 5 4 4 1 5 52 57 109 Bagdunda 8 8 5 3 8 128 117 245 Dhar 2 2 1 1 2 31 35 66 Godach 1 1 1 0 1 22 12 34 Kadiya 5 5 4 1 5 62 60 122 Total 21 20 15 6 21 295 281 576 The table shows that the number of SKs has decreased by 1 as compared to last year. However the number of children enrolled has increased by 13 children. In the reporting period, due to irregularity of the instructor Negadiya SK was closed. Out of the 24 children enrolled in this SK, 14 were enrolled in nearby Government Primary School, Negadiya and 10 children dropped out. New Enrolments: As done in the past, Pravesh Utsav (a traditional way Block No. of Children of celebrating and encouraging the enrollment of Girls Boys Total out-of-school children) was organised at all the Delwara 10 9 19 centers of Badgaon block. Students of the SKs Bagdunda 41 43 84 organized rallies in their hamlet encouraging other Dhar 9 7 16 children to join them. As a result 172 new children Godach 3 13 16 were enrolled in the 20 SKs of Badgaon block. In Kadiya 20 17 37 comparision to the last year’s 14 per cent this year Total 83 89 172 the new enrollment has increased from The Table 2: Zone wise details- new enrollment enrollment of girls was higher (51.7%) than that of boys which is an encouraging sign. The fresh students were welcomed with jaggery, tilak and the tying of laccha (a traditional wrist band). At Dhar and Badanga villages, students of the SKs celebrated the Pravesh Utsav together with the government school. Graduation to Government Schools: Once the students from SKs are have achieved basic competencies in language and mathematics they are encouraged to enroll in a government school. Every year around 14% from the total students graduate from Shiksha Kendras and are further enrolled in Government schools. Table 3: Class-wise breakup of mainstream children per zone. Block Class 1 to 3 Class 4 Class 5 Class 6 Total Delwara 4 1 0 14 19 Bagdunda 7 3 8 19 37 Dhar 1 7 2 0 10 Godach 7 2 0 0 9 Kadiya 11 1 11 1 24 Total 30 14 21 34 99 3 As shown in the above table, during the reporting period 99 children have been mainstreamed in the government schools for further education. Out of these around 55% children got admission in class 5 & class 6. This is the second highest number in the last 3 years, signifying first that the efforts made by the teachers at the SKs are showing good results. Secondly, children when receive an enabling environment do better and get enrolled in higher classes. Last year, 102 (63%) children were mainstreamed. Evaluation of children: To measure the extent to which SK students have been able to acquire new knowledge over the course of the year, standardized tests were conducted twice a year. An attempt was made to make the evaluation process an interesting and learning experience for both the children and ourselves. In the half yearly evaluation of November, 2011, which is before the reporting period, a total of 404 children, out of 563, had appeared. Their level1 wise distribution is given below: Table 4: Half-Yearly Evaluation – November 2011 Block Level 0 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total Delwara 1 21 52 24 98 Bagdunda 3 62 55 20 140 Dhar 1 6 36 8 51 Godach 1 7 8 1 17 Kadiya 3 35 49 11 98 Grand Total 9 (2.2%) 131 (32.5%) 200 (49.5) 64 (15.8) 404 In the annual examination of May 2012 a total of 443 (205 G & 238 B) students out of 576, took the exams. Their level wise distribution is as follows: Table 5: Annual Evaluation – May 2012 Block Level 0 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Total Delwara 0 12 72 29 113 Bagdunda 2 74 85 16 177 Dhar 0 15 32 8 55 Godach 0 5 13 1 19 Kadiya 0 24 40 15 79 Grand Total 2 130 242 69 443 1 To identify the progress of a child Seva Mandir has categorized four learning levels from 0 to 3. The levels are roughly equivalent to government classes. Level 0 is when a child enters the SK and can barely read or write. The child has attained Level 1 when she or he can read and write small words, do simple counting and identify some numbers. When a child can start reading, understand simple sentences, write small/incomplete sentences and do basic counting and simple operations like additions and subtractions with small numbers, she or he is placed in Level 2. At level 3 a child can read and understand simple texts, articulate themselves by writing a group of sentences and understand the concepts of multiplication, division, etc. 4 A total of 301 students were common in Table 6: Common Children’s Assessment both the exams. The table below shows Exam Nov 2011 (%) Exam May 2012 (%) the percentage of children in all the four Level 0 5 (1.7) 0 (0) levels. Result shows that out of all the Level 1 86 (28.6) 66 (21.9) common children many have moved to higher levels as more than 78% children Level 2 162 (53.8) 179 (59.5) are currently in level 2 and 3 indicating Level 3 48 (15.9) 56 (18.6) the progress made by them in 6 months 301 301 time. Capacity Building of Instructors Since most of our instructors have studied only up to 8th or 9th class a Certification Course for the instructors of Shiksha Kendra was designed in collaboration with Vidya Bhawan2 and was started in the year 2003. For the past nine years the course had become an integral part of the capacity building efforts of the Education Programme. This course helped teachers improve their academic competencies resulting in their increased confidence in teaching. The course also aimed to set up a mechanism that enables a continuous dialogue and interaction with the instructors on academic issues, in a manner that the instructors found interesting, challenging, and meaningful for their own learning. In March 2011 the course was completed and results and certificates were distributed to the instructors. A review of the course will be done next year and will be restructured and based on the findings and learning if required will be restarted.