1 ARCOD, 4/637, Krishnagiri Road, Rayakottai – 635 116 Krishnagiri
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ARCOD, 4/637, Krishnagiri Road, Rayakottai – 635 116 Krishnagiri District Tamil Nadu Email: [email protected], [email protected] Web: www.arcod.in 1 Annual Report - 2017 ARCOD entered in to the 30th year of serving the marginalized people. ARCOD continues to strive in achieving the objectives. The year 2016 - 17 was important milestone as ARCOD managed to continue carrying out the activities with the local support and domestic grants without much dependency on foreign grants. Following activities were carried out during the year 2016-17. Strengthening functions of SMCs and Anganwadis ARCOD has been working to strengthen the functions of School Management Committees (SMCs) and Anganwadis to ensure quality learning by children of linguistic minorities by orienting them on the importance of their role. The project is supported by India Literacy Project, USA. The following activities were carried out under the project during the reporting period: Meeting of Parents 120 meetings of parents were organized (twice a year). About 1200 parents participated in these meetings. We could see some of the parents were very enthusiastic in attending these meetings. They were motivated to get themselves involved in the process of learning by their children. The following aspects were discussed in the meeting: Regular attendance of children to Schools and Anganwadis Cleanliness of School Premises especially during holidays Spending quality time with the children by parents Monitoring and Supporting children for their study at home The School HMs, teachers, VHNs and Anganwadi workers also attended the meetings. An interesting thing to note was that the grand parents were much involved in the process of learning by children. They gave importance to attend the meetings and spent quality time with the grand children at home than parents. Meeting cum Training for members of SMCs: Meeting cum Training for members of SMCs were conducted during the months of October and November 2016. 1338 Members from SMCs and Parents & 153 Teachers participated in these meetings. Members of SMCs during the Meeting cum Training Important Outcome of Trainings: SMC members were made aware of the school development program, schemes and programs of govt. for development of schools & monitoring the school activities. 2 The members were asked to motivate the parents to send their children to the school. The SMC members took the responsibility to take care of celebration of national festivals. They also agreed to ensure zero dropout / reduce the dropout of children from schools by close monitoring. Get to Gather of Anganwadi Workers 2 rounds of get to gather of Anganwadi workers were organized at cluster level. This was a platform to share their experience with each other in making the Anganwadis functioning effectively. 59 Anganwadi workers, 9 Anganwadi Helpers and 2 Supervisors gathered for these events. Functions of Anganwadis were discussed. The best practices were shared by the workers. A suggestion came out from the discussions that the Panchayath can depute a NREGS worker for the Anganwadi where there is no worker and helper. This will facilitate smooth continuity of the center. The focus was given to strengthen ALMS Committees, effective implementation of preschool syllabus, enrolment in ICDS and monitoring the school enrolment from ICDS. Community Drive: Community drive was organized by the ICDS on 06.01.2017 at ICDS Centre, Kelamangalam. 180 members participated in the event. ARCOD was requested to facilitate a session in the event. Ms. Arthi, Project Coordinator facilitated a session on “Ensuring Community Participation”. Celebration of Children's Day Week: Celebration of Children’s Day Week was organized in all working schools during the reporting period. During the celebration sports, games and cultural activities and competitions were organized for the children in school and Anganwadis. 3261 Children actively participated. Those who performed well (1017) were honoured with prizes. The Head masters and leaders of SMCs distributed prizes and gifts to the Children playing games during Children's Day Week children. Feedback from School Head Masters / Mistress: These kinds of activities will encourage and motivate the students. This will help to get the cooperation of parents as they are very happy seeing their children performing in different types of competitions and exploring the talents. Honouring children with gifts and prizes would motivate the children to participate in more competitions. We will extend our support and cooperation in these kinds of activities in the future. Inauguration ceremony of Multi – Dimensional Learning Space (MDLS): Multi – Dimensional Learning Space (MDLS) center was inaugurated on 21st November 2016 at Panchayath Union Middle School, Poonapalli, Kelamangalam Block by Mr. Sathyamoorthy who studied in the school in 1957. Mr. Harish, Ms. Arpitha from ILP, Bangalore, Ms. 3 Pusphalatha, Supervisor, BRC, Kelamangalam and HMs from other schools, project managers of other projects of ARCOD also attended the event. The Head Mistress of the school expressed her happiness and thanked ARCOD ILP for having chosen her school to establish the center. She and her teachers assured their cooperation An image during Inauguration of the Center in implementing the program successfully. The center is equipped with School Library, Computers, Laptop and LCD Projector for effective learning by children. Reading assessment: Reading assessment was done to the children of PUMS, Poonapalli, in the month of March 2017. The Hippocampus reading assessment method was used. The result of the assessment is as follows. Results of Reading Assessment - March 2017 Class / Grade 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th Total Beginner 21 27 29 0 0 0 0 77 Green 0 0 0 10 7 4 1 22 Red 0 0 0 20 26 17 36 99 Orange 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 White 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Blue 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Yellow 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total No. of Children 21 27 29 30 33 21 37 198 Holiday Camps 2 rounds of holiday camps were organized for the children studying 6th to 8th Standard. The first round of camp was organized for all the 12 Middle Schools in the working area during the month of September 2016. The one day camps were organized in 11 batches for 397 children. The second round of camp was organized in December 2016 in 11 batches. The camp was designed in such a way the children enjoy it and learn through games with fun. During the camp the following activities were carried out: Competitions for children (Essay Writing on “ My Leader” Drawing on “My Dream School) Sports events (Kabbadi, Ko Ko and Running) Body Mapping 4 A Session on the Rights of Children as per the UNCRC Good touch & bad touch Anatomy Child Rights. Distribution of Gifts (Pen, Pencils, easer and Scales) Learning Level Assessment In the month of February 2017, the 3rd competency assessment was done in 60 Schools. The assessments were carried out for the students studying from 2nd to 5th standards. The following table shows the summary of results of the assessments: Children participating in assessment Adolescents Development and Home Based Care for Ante Natal & Post Natal Mothers: This is the 2nd year of this project which is supported by UNICEF. Club Melas: The quarterly club melas were organized where the club members got an opportunity to show case their cultural talents in the forms of skit, singing, dancing etc. As a part of these melas, the club members painted labels on the important and ancient places, buildings. This helped the club members to understand the history and importance of their own village. The club members were also trained on making nurseries. They have raised seedlings and distributed them to the general public and schools. Parents Meetings: Meetings of parents were organized by the club mentors. The academic performance (Results of Club Members involved in Mapping Activities during Mela monthly tests) of the club members were shared with their parents during these meetings. The parents were encouraged and facilitated to contribute fixed monthly fees towards the club activities in order to ensure the sustainability of the clubs. Monthly Tests for Club Members: Monthly tests for the club members were conducted. The results of monthly tests were shared with the parents concerned. It helped the parents to understand the improvement of the club members. Stakeholders Meetings: The stakeholders like Head Masters and teachers of schools, parent, members of School Management Committees, Anganwadi workers attended in the meetings. The purpose of these meetings was to ensure their support in implementing the project effectively. 5 Exposure Trip to Club Members (Summer Camp): The core team along with Mr. T. Sivamurthi visited Agasthiya Foundation, Kuppam on 23.04.2016 to see the possibilities of organizing the camp where it was found that the campus does not have accommodation for the visitors. The management also said that the dates are not available for the next 6 months. A planning meeting to discuss other possibilities of organizing the exposure trip (summer camp) was held on 27th April at Club Members enjoying their travel in bus Rayakottai. The Executive Director, Finance Manager and All the Project Managers of ARCOD took part in the meeting. It was collectively decided that the camp would be arranged in Bangalore and all project managers should involve themselves and their team members in organizing the camp. It was also decided to organize the camp in two phases, the first phase starting from 6th to 12th May 2016 and the second phase from 21st to 27th May 2016. It was decided to have around 100 club members per batch for 12 batches. Following the meeting, a team consisting Mr. T. Sivamurthi, S. David, K. Loganathan and R. Venkatesh visited Bangalore on 28th April 2016 to identify the places to visit and arrange travel and A group of club members at VITM, Bangalore accommodation.