door step school & asha for education, silicon valley...1.4. balwadi children: educating balwadi...

April 2013

Door Step School-Pune 110, Parimal Anand Park, Aundh, Pune 411 007 Phone: 91-20- 25898762/9766337431 E mail:[email protected] Website:www.doorstepschool.org

Door Step School & Asha for Education, Silicon Valley

Report on

Educational Activity Centers (Project Foundation)

April 2012 to March 2013

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.doorstepschool.org/

DSS : Education Moves on to Every Doorstep

Contents Executive summary .............................................................................................................................. 3

1.0 Project Evaluation Metrics ........................................................................................................... 4

1.1.Learning Levels of Children: ................................................................................................... 4

1.2. Enrolment Levels: .................................................................................................................... 6

1.3. School Enrolment:.................................................................................................................... 6

1.4. Balwadi Children:..................................................................................................................... 8

1.5 Special Initiatives at Centres .................................................................................................. 9

1.6. Tracking Migrant Children .................................................................................................... 11

1.7. Qualitative Impact ................................................................................................................. 12

1.8. Volunteer engagement: ........................................................................................................ 13

Appendix- 1: Door Step School – At a glance ................................................................................. 14

Appendix-2:“Project Foundation” at Door Step School .............................................................. 15

Appendix- 3 - Projects for Pre-primary (Balwadi) Children........................................................ 16

Appendix- 4 – Volunteer Participation ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.


Executive summary

Door Step School would like to thank Asha for Education, Silicon Valley for sponsoring

our “Project Foundation” activities over the years.

“Project Foundation” is part of the Educational Activity Centres of Door Step School

which addresses the needs of children in the age group of 6 to 14 who do not have access

to formal schools. DSS runs Educational Activity Centres (EAC) - Literacy classes and study

classes for these children, supported by Pre-Primary Classes (Balwadis) and Day Care

Centres.

During the year 2012-13, a total of 12998 children were reached through our core

activities and 2087 children benefited through the support activities (School Enrolment

and Transport) at 143 Educational Activity centres in Pune. (For more information on our

Programs please refer to Appendix 1 & 2).

This report presents details of the 12 centers* (10 centers at any given time) funded by

Asha for Education, Silicon Valley covering the period April 12to March 2013. These

centers address the educational needs of children at Construction sites and Urban

Community slums. A total of 736 children were reached through our Educational Activity

Centres and 346 children benefited through the support activities (Children enrolled in

school, School transportation and children going to school by themselves).

Children reached:

*two centers are run for half a day therefore considered as 1center

Programme Number of Children Enrolled

Boys Girls Total

Pre-Primary Classes (Balwadi) 117 101 218

E.A.C.(Literacy Classes) 45 34 79

Study Classes 138 202 340

Day Care Centres*/Creche 43 56 99

Total 343 393 736

Education Support Services

Children Enrolled in Schools 93

School Transportation Provided * 176

Children Going to Schools by Themselves 77


1.0 Project Evaluation Metrics

The following metrics were collected and analysed for evaluating the impact of the

program and necessary interventions.

1.1.Learning Levels of Children: Each child should be able to read simple sentences

with composite letters in 120 days. This could be further split into the following: learning

letters in 50 days, learning Matras in 40 days and eventually composite letters in 30 days.

In other words, after 120 days the child should be able to read the newspaper.

As part of our process of measuring child‟s Progress we categorise them into 4 levels and

track the levels reached based on the no of days attending.

EAC Classes - Learning Levels of Children

Levels / Attendance 1 to 25 26 to 50 51 to 90 91 to 120 Grand Total

Learning alphabets 44 7 3 1 55

Alphabets completed 13 6 1 0 20

Matras completed 1 0 0 0 1

Composite Letter 1 2 0 0 3

Grand Total 59 15 4 1 79

Note: The yellow cells indicate “Expected levels”

5% of children are below the Expected levels of learning in our Literacy (EAC) Classes.

These are children who need more time to learn.

(It has been researched that 10% of children in general are below expected levels of

learning)

Above Expected

29%

Expected 66%

Below Expected

5%

EXPECTED LEVELS BASED ON ATTENDANCE

1 TO 50 DAYS = LEARNING ALPHABATES

51 TO 90 DAYS = ALPHABATES COMPLETE

91 TO 120 DAYS = MATRAS COMPLETE

ABOVE 120 DAYS = COMPOSITE LETTER


Study Classes - Learning Levels of Children

Levels / Attendance 1 to 25

26 to 50

51 to 90

91 to 120 above 121 Grand Total

Learning alphabets 57 12 8 1 1 79

Alphabets completed 18 19 7 3 7 54

Matras completed 6 1 5 1 11 24

Composite Letter 49 12 24 14 84 183

Total 130 44 44 19 103 340

Note: The yellow cells indicate “Expected levels”

9% of children are below the Expected levels of learning in our Literacy (EAC) Classes.

These are children who need more time to learn.

(It has been researched that 10% of children in general are below expected levels of

learning)

We enrol the children in Government schools so that they get an opportunity to go to a

formal school and if they move to any other place they can continue their education. For

studies they depend on our classes because these children are migrant and many of them

do not know the local language and there is no one at home can help them in their

studies. The study classes are the only support mechanism for these children.

Our statistics of 2011-12 showed that 26% of children were below expected level of

learning in study class they were mainly from 5 centers of Kondhwa area. Since the

Government School in Kondhwa area was at a distance from the Construction sites,

transport had been arranged to take the children to school. Since the transportation had

to cover 5 sites, children at some sites needed to leave early and they spent less time at

our study classes which are held in the mornings before school hours. The duration of the

study class was reduced from two and half hours to one and half hour for these children.

We saw an impact of this on the progress of the child.

To address this, this year we moved the children to another school in the area. The timing

of new school is 7.00am to 12.30pm. Children attend school in the morning and in the

afternoon (2pm onwards) attend our study classes. As an outcome, the percentage of

children below expected level has come down from 26 % last year to 9% this year. In

addition, our teachers also used many different types of teaching aids to improve the level

of learning of the children.

Above Expected

44%

Expected 47%

Below Expected

9%

EXPECTED LEVELS BASED ON ATTENDANCE

1 TO 50 DAYS = LEARNING ALPHABATES

51 TO 90 DAYS = ALPHABATES COMPLETE

91 TO 120 DAYS = MATRAS COMPLETE

ABOVE 120 DAYS = COMPOSITE LETTER


1.2. Enrolment Levels: Enrol 100% children of the community/construction site in

DSS Educational Activity

1.3. School Enrolment: Try to enrol 80% of children of our educational center between age group of 6 to 14 years in government schools

S.No Name of the Centre

Total No of Children at

Site/ Community

Total No of Children Enrolled in DSS Centre

Total Children

Not Enrolled

Reasons for Non Enrolment

1 Chaturshrungi (Pulachiwadi)

62 62 0 These children are of pavement dwellers .We collect them in school and give them basic literacy

2 *D' Block 82 0 It is an unsettled slum of construction labourers. We collect children at one location and conduct classes.

3 DSS Anand Park (Golvalkar)

40 40 NA We collect children from many small locations at one place and conduct classes.

4 Kumar Siddhachal 50 50 0 With the support of builder all the children from labour camp attend our center

5 Kumar Surabhi 34 34 0 Parents are motivated and make sure all children attend school.

6 Palm Grove 36 36 0 Most children are 6yrs and above. They attend the center regularly

7 Range Hills Study 79 79 0 We are working in this community for the last 6yrs and now parents are aware about the importance of education. They make sure all children attend school.

8 *Shivaji Nagar 33 33 0 These are also pavement dwellers children. Therefore we collect all the children those are present.

9 Simply City 83 83 0 Builder take cares that all children attend the class

10 Skyline 50 50 0 All the children of the community attend class of DSS

11 Sunflower 28 28 0 Site is closed in May

12 Venezia -2 60 60 0 Children from many small locations come together at one place to attend study class

Total 637 637 0

We achieved 100 % enrolment as per our goal. All the children at the sites were enrolled in

DSS Centres.


We enrol children in schools in the month of June as the new academic session starts

then. Of the 419 children who joined the Literacy (EAC) classes and Study Centres at

the sites during the year and were of school going age (6+ years), 17 children migrated

between April and June 2012. 44 children attended our centres only for a month and

were therefore not considered for Enrolment.

Of the 358 children available for Enrolment and eligible, 95% are enrolled and 4% are

children who joined DSS center February 2013 and will be enrolled in June 2013 if they

continue at the site.

5 children (1%)could not be enrolled due to the following reasons:

Parents of two children were not ready to enrol as they have to look after their

younger sibling. Two children were slow learners therefore their parents were hesitant

to send them out of the site. Parents of one child were unwilling to send him away

from the site to mainstream schools.

Available for

enrollment 85%

Migrated in June 4%

Attended less than

one month 11%

Enrolled in 2012, 340

95%

Joined sites in Feb 13-

will be enrolled in June 2013,

13 4%

Not enrolled due to issue, 5

1%


1.4. Balwadi Children: Educating Balwadi children on different aspects such as

importance of water, vegetable, fruits, animals, birds, seasons. Also teaching

alphabets and numbers to children of the age group 4-5 years.

We have a Project Based Teaching Method for Pre-Primary Children (Balwadi Children).

One Topic is chosen for a month and all aspects of that topic are covered. For E.g. Cloths:

we create a model in class related to that topic and put up charts and words related to

that topic in the class to create an “Environment” in the class. Then we discuss the topic,

conduct different activities like craft, drawing, songs and stories related to the topic.

Sometimes children also bring some bring different items in the class related to that topic.

The experience through all sense organs gives them long lasting understanding of the

subject and also help them to relate the topic with their daily life. The children develop

their vocabulary and also learn concepts of numbers.

This year we made a teaching aids bag for Balwadi and initiated a few new activities in

the class. It makes the classroom more attractive and children learn while playing.

The topics covered each Month and the concepts taught are listed in Appendix-2.


1.5 Special Initiatives at Centres

The following special initiatives were carried out at the centres:

Sanitation and Hygiene Program-

Under the „WASH (Water Sanitation and Hygiene)‟ program initiated by Kirloskar Company,

we conducted the following activities at 7 centres (Kumar Surbhi, Kumar Siddhachal,

Kumar Palm Groove, Sky line, Simply City, Shivaji Nagar and Venezia II) from August 2012

to February 2013.

Under the WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) program initiated by‟ Kirloskar

Foundation, we conducted the following activities through the year to create awareness of

safe water and sanitation:

A. Clean Drinking Water in the month of August through games and flash cards of germs.

The objectives were:

1) To create awareness regarding water polluting germs and diseases caused by them. 2) Symptoms of diseases caused due to drinking of polluted water. 3) Simple method to filter water.

B. Use of Urinals and Toilets- September 2012.

Objectives were:

1) To create awareness related to proper use of toilets. 2) Consequences of improper use of toilets. 3) Create awareness regarding keeping the toilets clean after use.

DSS staff presented a street play „Chakachak‟ depicting how to keep school toilets clean

which was showcased at all the centers. The play had characters named „zadu‟, „kharata‟

and „kersune‟ (types of brooms) etc. The „kharata‟ complained that as the children were

not using the toilets properly and not keeping them clean, he had loads of work to do. The

way this topic was presented was very interesting and impressive.

C. How to wash Hands – December 2012.

Objectives were:

1) To make children aware of the right way to clean hands 2) Inform about when one should wash hands.


The children were first asked to tell instances when one should wash hands. Many children

gave correct answers whereas some did not say anything. The children were then

explained about the diseases that can spread due to unclean or dirty hands. A song that

listed steps for cleaning hands was shown to them and they were also asked to take an

oath about following these steps. A pamphlet giving the same message was then pasted

near the toilet and each child was given the pamphlet to put up at their houses.

D. Body Hygiene for Adolescent Girls – December 2012.

Objectives were:

1) To make girls aware of changes in their bodies 2) To teach them to maintain health and hygiene

In December month a session was conducted by Dr. Vaishali Deshmukh where she gave

information on various issues related to adolescent girls. Dr. Deshmukh used charts to

explain body parts, changes that happen in the body during puberty, how to maintain good

hygiene, nutritional food, exercise etc. The girls were encouraged to ask any questions

that they had. Dr. Deshmukh answered their questions and also distributed a booklet

„Swachatecha Mantra‟.

E. How to maintain body Hygiene - January 2013.

Objectives:

1) To make children aware of the importance of cleanliness 2) To teach them how to clean important body parts

Supervisors as a team narrated a story with flash cards on „How to maintain body

Hygiene‟. The children were also shown a song on CD based on the same concept with the

help of a volunteer. A pamphlet giving the message of body hygiene was then distributed

to the children.

F. Proper use of Toilets Follow-up - February 2013

A play based on „How to keep school toilets clean‟ was presented. A follow-up session was

conducted in the month of February. The children were divided into 2 groups. A quiz was

conducted which had questions on cleanliness. The team collecting maximum points was

declared winner. Children were also asked to take the oath of „Cleanliness‟.


Reading Room:

At the Golwarkar center we started a reading and lending Library for all the children who

attend the center. Following are the no. of beneficiaries:

Standard Boys Girls Total

1st to 4th 20 15 35

5th 1 2 3

6th 3 3

7th 2 2

Total 21 22 43

Parents Involvement and Support:

The School is many times located far away from sites. Children were not going to school due to crowded and unsafe road conditions in the area. With Special efforts from our side, parents agreed to partially fund the School transportation and School Transport facilities were started from Jan 2012. This year also we continued this practice. At the beginning of academic year, children were eager to get enrolled in school, so we conducted parents meeting at 5 construction sites where we had the problem and discussed with them. We requested the parents to contribute financially towards school transportation. We were able to raise 40 % of the amount from 60% of the parents. To sustain this, continuous follow up with the parents is required and as well involving the new parents who come to the site. So we continued this initiative until funding from alternative sources became available. It is heartening to see many parents coming forward to support their children‟s transportation.

1.6. Tracking Migrant Children: April 2012 to March2013

Type of Class Continued Migrated Transient Grand Total

Pre-Primary Classes (Balwadi) 66 106 46 218

E.A.C. (Litrracy Classes) 12 47 20 79

Reading Room 35 31 6 72

Study Class 113 116 39 268

Total 226 300 111 637

We make every attempt to track the children who migrate from our sites to know whether

they are continuing their education after migrating to a new location. At the centres


supported by Asha for Education, Silicon Valley, we are able to track 81 out of

194(Migrated from EAC, Reading room and Study class) migrating children.

Type of Class Continued in

School

E.A.C. (Litrracy Classes) 2

Reading Room 1

Study Class 78

Total 81

All 81 tracked children are continuing in the school.

1.7. Qualitative Impact

We have many instances of how our classes are impacting the children, parents and

builders at the construction sites. A few are mentioned below:

All the children of Kumar Surbhi go to school holding hands in a line. All the people

watching them on the road appreciate their spirit. The girls finish their house hold

work and get ready for school on time. It shows their interest of learning and to be

educated.

Brothers of Durgesh, Pradyumna, and Sarkumari attended the class at site for a

year. The progress in these boys inspired their parents to bring in their elder

siblings from the village for their studies. All the boys have been admitted to a

school. They are regularly going to school as well as attending our study class.

Though the construction work at Palm Grove site has been completed, we continue

to run the Educational activity centreat on same site. The builder has permitted us

to continue the class at this site andchildren from nearby small construction sites

come to that class and. This shows a change in attitude of the builders too.

Shubham Suresh Wagh of study class at Palm Grove is learning Composite words. He

loves reading and finishes any new book he gets. He reads all the names in the

attendance register while taking attendance. He is in 1st Standardof Municipal

School and is very regular at school.

Range Hills is a community of vegetable vendors and Pardi people (nomadic

community). Around seven years ago, when we began our work in this community

the situation was very challenging. Parents were not ready to send their children to

school since they were from out of Maharashtra and unwilling to educate the

children in Marathi. Now after 6 years all the children of the community are

enrolled in school by their parents itself and a few children have reached 9th and

10 Standards.


All these instances motivate us to face the challenges and move ahead with zeal and zest.

1.8. Volunteer engagement: This year the number of volunteers engaging with DSS is

comparatively higher. Volunteers from different companies visited the classes; some of

them even conducted different activities with the children on Saturdays. It is a unique

experience for the volunteers to spend time with the children. Children often see these

volunteers as role models and also like to interact with them. A few activities conducted

by Volunteers are mentioned in Appendix 1.


Appendix- 1: Door Step School – At a glance

All children deserve an education. An alarming number of India‟s urban poor still remain

without an opportunity to receive formal education. Door Step School

(www.doorstepschool.org), an NGO working in Mumbai and Pune, has a vision to be an

instrumental force that brings development to these children.

Our mission at Door Step School is to bridge the divide between children who do not have

access to school and the formal education system which already exists. We use innovative

programs that facilitate in bringing education to the children and help them make the

transition to literacy and brighter future. Our key goal is primary education to all

children up to 14 years of age.

Our programs are divided in two main categories:

1. Educational Activity Centers - Project Foundation

Children of construction site labourers do not go to school for various reasons. Door Step

School sets up temporary education facility with the help of the builders at the

construction site. The following programs are run in these facilities:

Literacy Classes

Pre-primary Education ( Balwadi)

Study Classes ( for School Going Children)

To support these programs, we also run a Day Care Center (Crèche) at the construction

sites. A transport facility is also provided to children who are enrolled in mainstream

schools. Details about all the services are given on our website „wwwdoorstepschool.org‟

2. School Intervention program – Project Grow With Books

Door Step School works with Municipal Schools to conduct 90 minute reading classes in the

primary schools. The main goal of this program is to enhance reading capabilities of the

children and to inculcate reading habits in the children.

3. DSS also runs two Community learning Centers, to cater to urban slum

communities. A Community Library, Reading Room Facility, Computer Classes and Science

Laboratory are run at these Centers. These Centers also serve as an umbrella for many

other extracurricular activities that are conducted by our Volunteers.

4. DSS has a dedicated Training Center. The training centre “Parivartan”, which was

initiated in October 2007, focuses on training new teachers to teach in the non-formal

education setting, this being the need of the organization as a part of Project Foundation.

Refresher trainings for all levels of the team are also part of the annual training calendar.


Appendix-2:“Project Foundation” at Door Step School

Project Foundation program of Door Step School addresses the needs of children in the age

group of 6 to 14 who do not have access to formal schools.

Since its inception, Door Step School has seen a steady increase in the number of sites

covered and the number of children brought under its network.

Under Project Foundation the following programmes are conducted:

1. Educational Activity Centres

Pre-Primary Education (Balwadi) –This programme is for pre-schoolers in the age group of 3 to 5 years.

Literacy Classes– This programme covers non-school going children in the age group of 6 to 14 years.

Study Classes – This programme caters to school going children in the 1st and 2nd standard.

Day Care Centers (Crèche) – This programme caters to children in the age group of 0 to 3 years.

We also have the following Supporting Activities under our Educational Activity Centers.

School Enrolment: We enrol all children between the ages of 6-14 in mainstream Marathi medium schools closest to the construction site.

School Transportation - It is an added service provided to bring children to municipal schools as well as collecting them from different construction sites to

one location for conducting classes.

2. School on Wheels These are buses that serve as mobile classrooms to enable us to reach difficult areas or to collect children from smaller sites to one location. The School on Wheels is also useful to jump start classes at a site when facilities are being made ready.

Currently Door Step School has its Direct Education Programme at 100+ construction and

urban community slums in Pune.


Appendix- 3 - Projects for Pre-primary (Balwadi) Children April – Cloths

- In the month of April topic “Cloth and Materials required for stiching clothes" was taken up.The Children were informed of the clothes worn by the people earlier.They were shown samples.

- Showed different type of clothes for different seasons.Woollen clothes are worn in Winter, in Summer cotton clothes are worn etc. . Children were also informed about how these clothes were made.

- In some classes children stitched small clothes with their hands. -

May - Revision of All project of previous year

- Games, embossing, embroidery and various games were organised relevant to each project

June – Trees / Plantation

- Discussion of advantages of trees; what happens if there are no trees etc.

- This project was conducted by planting trees by teachers and students.

July – Human Body

- Human body was discussed and elaborated to the students as a part of the project.

- Pictures and charts of the Human Body were hung in the class .

- Sense organs were explained by practically smelling,hearing etc by the students.

- Students were made to walk on their toes, knees to remember their body parts.


Aug – Flowers

- While covering the topic of flower fresh and paper flowers were used to understand the flower. Paper flowers were made by the children.

- - Various creative activities like drawing the shape of the flowers,colouring the flowers was performed to understand about the flower.

- - During the activity plastic bottles were converted into flower vases.Flowers of various shapes and sizes were assembled in the vase.

- Various flowers with names were assembled in a "Toran" to undrestand the flowers.

- Creative activities like drawing the shape of the flowers,colouring the flowers was performed to understand about the flower.

September – Vegetables

- Across all centers the topic of vegetables was undertaken.

- Various creative activities like drawing the shape of the vegetables,colouring the vegetables was performed to understand about the vegetables.

- Children also share the information regarding vegetables that allready knowing them.

October – Paper

This project was conducted to make children aware of benefits and uses of paper

In this project paper charts were made from paper pulp

Students were told about types of papers, objects made up of papers like charts, money,crackers, dish etc

Students participation was overwhelming,even creche students participated

Students made different artices using paper as a part of creative activity


November - Revision of All project of previous year

In project revision students planted some saplings but later they came to know that palnts are not growing because of insufficient sunlight, students replanted the saplings at a place with sufficient sunight. - Games, embossing, embroidery and various games were organised relevant to each project

December–Grains

To make children aware about grains , a project "Grains" was conducted using means of different creative activities, practicals and chart preparation.

Children were practicaly demostrated how the plants grow by sowing the seeds. At some places tree charts were drawn.

Students were taught about types of grains such as cereals and pulses with their active participation.

Students told their parents about the different activities.Parent visited the school to see the projects.One of the parents planted garlic and told the children about his farm in his village.

Januaryand February– Environment and

Pollution (Soil,Water,Air)

Students were described the reasons for pollution and types of pollution .Students were told about how the changes in the environment affect our body and how our diet should be adjusted accordingly.

Students were taught about elements of environment. Water cycle was taught. Charts were prepared.

Importance of plantation to avoid soil erosion was explained. Students were told to keep the surroundings clean.

Project "Animals” was also covered along with

environment. Students were aware of domestic

animals. Students were told about different

types of animals the food they eat and how

animals help us.

door step school & asha for education, silicon valley...1.4. balwadi children: educating balwadi...

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