1 Child in Need Institute (CINI) Vill.: Daulatpur, P.O.: Pailan, Via Joka, Dist.: South 24 Parganas, Pin: 700014, West Bengal, India Tel.: +91 33 2497 8192/8206 Fax: 91 33 2497 8241 Website: www.cini-india.org Report prepared & designed by Focus Insights 2 TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 5 FINDINGS ON PROGRAMME IM 9 CHAPTER 2 PLEMENTATION HIGHLIGHTS OF PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION CHAPTER 3 HIGHLIGHTS OF PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION 11 – REPLICABLE BEST PRACTICES SOME LIMITATIONS AND AREAS FOR CHAPTER 4 22 IMPROVEMENT CHAPTER 5 LANDSCAPE OF EDUCATION 24 CHAPTER 6 STATUS OF EDUCATION FOR ALL 30 UNDERSTANDING QUALITY OF CHAPTER 7 36 EDUCATION 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AWC Anganwadi Centre AWW Anganwadi Worker CINI Child in Need Institute DI In-depth Interviews ECCE Early Childhood Care and Education FGD Focus Group Discussions ICDS Integrated Child Development Services IEC Information, Education and Communication KMC Kolkata Municipal Corporation MO Medical Officer NCERT National Council of Educational Research and Training NCLP National Child Labour Project NGO Non-governmental Organizations OBC Other Backward Classes OOSC Out of School Children PS Police Station RTE Right to Education SC Schedule Caste TLM Teaching Learning Materials WHO World Health Organization WLCPC Ward Level Child Protection Committee 4 CHA PTER 1 IINNTTRROODDUUCCTTIIOONN PROGRAMME BACKGROUND The project “An approach towards reinforcing education of deprived children in Kolkata” is a three- year project which has been implemented in Kolkata since the year 2017. The education programme of CINI complements government efforts to control the ever-increasing magnitude of child labour. enrolment and retention of all children in the age group of 6-14 years in formal schools from disadvantaged background. The programme has been addressing different stakeholders as secondary audience and children who are the direct audience of the intervention. Apart from children, their immediate family or parents are also covered through the programme. The support teaching staff or the community volunteers have been instrumental in running the centres which are providing support for the child’s educational development. In line with the different target groups covered during the intervention, the study participants are the following, (i) Primary audience: Student/children, parents, support teaching staff (ii) Secondary audience: community leaders, school teachers, ICDS workers, Montessori teaching staff Figure 1: Programme Audience Apart from education, the project targets overall development of the children through life skill trainings, counseling, creativity classes, physical exercises, trainings on child rights and child protection issues. The project also focuses on family strengthening approach. Parents have been mobilized and formed into groups to address local problems and to ensure education and protection rights of their children and that of the communities. Schools are also of another focus of the project, as they are the main government service providers of education. Strong school community linkage is being established through regular school visits, meetings, and school-based camps. 5 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY STUDY OBJECTIVE The programme has completed eighteen months (mid-term) of its operation in October 2018. The mid-term programme evaluation was conducted to assess the impact of the project as well as to identify the vulnerabilities in the project location. Analysis of stakeholder also forms a vital part of the impact assessment to identify the gaps in knowledge, attitude and practice of the stakeholders with regard to education. The broad objectives of the research were: OBJECTIVES i) To assess the impact of the project as well as to identify the vulnerabilities in the project location ii) Stakeholder analysis or impact assessment at different levels COVERAGE COVERAGE The programme was conducted in 4 wards of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (34, 58, 65 & 66) in Kolkata and two more areas from greater Kolkata, namely, Kalarait, Bamanghata and Keyadaha. During the mid-term evaluation, two wards were purposively randomly – the chosen wards were number 58 and 66, owing to presence of majority of centres covered in the programme implementation. The two wards give representative scenario of the impact of the programme implementation across locations. The two wards are also the top most populous wards in KMC areas. Greater Kolkata areas: Keyadaha, Bamanghata & Kalarait Wards covered for mid-term evaluation CINI Intervention areas Figure 2: Program and Research Coverage 6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Mix of Qualitative and Quantitative methods of data collection were used for the evaluation of the implementation programme. i. Quantitative data collection was done among children covered through the programme and compared with children not covered under the programme to assess the difference in academic aptitude levels. Further to assess the extent of vulnerabilities in terms of presence of child labour, incidence of school dropout house to house data on children was collected. ii. Qualitative data was collected among children to understand various dynamics with regards to gender equity in education, child’s agency to choose and develop a plan for future and other developmental outcomes. Among important stakeholders such as parents, school teachers, community volunteers – qualitative evaluation was undertaken to understand the impact of the programme on them. iii. Facility Survey of education institutes was conducted in the two wards of Kolkata Municipal Corporation namely, 58 and 66 to understand the availability of educational institutes. 7 8 FINDINGS ON PROGRAMME CHAPTER 2 IMPLEMENTATION Education is vital both for economic growth of a nation, as well as for allowing individual citizens to benefit from this growth through improved employment outcomes. In developing countries, the challenge starts with the availability of proper facilities and properly trained human resources in the supply side. Many times, even though the facilities are available, there are barriers to availing the education system due to various economic conditions which needs to be addressed through inducing policies and incentives which can reduce the opportunity cost of attaining education. Lastly, the social conditions and norms in the form of gender inequality or ignorance about child entitlements within the community, limit the process of child development through education. With the ultimate aim for child development through improved quality of student learning, the drivers for change of CINI’s programme implementation can be broadly categorized as (i) supply side capability interventions by providing physical and human resources and learning materials; (ii) advocating and enhancing utilization of policies and schemes that incentivize education related behaviour among deprived sections; and (iii) improved community participation interventions through parent involvement in child’s education and development. Figure 3: Process of Change through Programme Interventions CINI has the mechanism of monitoring the indicators on quarterly basis to check the process of improvement on continuous basis. 9 10 CHAPTER 3 HIGHLIGHTS OF PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION – REPLICABLE BEST PRACTICES Creating reliable resources within the community providing teaching support Community volunteers are identified within the community with the objective of better relatability and understanding of the local education needs. The volunteers receive offsite and onsite training support from CINI to understand the issues of the children in a better way and to perform their teaching duties properly. Parents acknowledge the contribution of community volunteers (mostly referred as centre teacher) in keeping vigil on their wards’ regularity in school going – “if the child does not go to school the teacher calls over phone or comes to visit our home and check the reason for absence in school”. The volunteers also are seen as a connecting link with the school as parents feel more comfortable contacting centre teacher to know about exams or child’s learning update in school. Acceptance of the community volunteers among children is also evident as they affirm the behaviour of centre teacher as ‘more friendly and approachable’. Their teaching methods are also found more interesting and helpful in understanding. The regular and rigorous practice of syllabus is found more ‘complete and comprehensive’ compared to syllabus coverage in school classroom teaching. The volunteers often serve as confidante for the adolescents as they feel comfortable sharing their dreams and problems in day to day life. Figure 4: CINI Centre Teachers 11 12 Innovative Teaching Methods for Improving Student Learning The use of innovative and interactive learning and monitoring materials during class interactions and has resulted in improved student learning. Micro innovations for better learning experience among students – community volunteers at different centres use various innovative techniques to address the issues among students in the respective centre. Use of technology or visual methods for better retention among students - “When I teach history, I try to show them videos on my phone. One such example is when I was teaching the students about French revolution, I showed them a video, it helped children to retain the details better than others”- Mobile Teacher at ward 66 Since the students come from varied background and community, some students find it difficult to cope