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PRABHAT, Sakri

“PRABHAT” Sakri is a constituent unit of Patna Jesuit Social Action. It had its origin inMadhubani in September, 1998. Fr. Sudeep Chacko S.J. the founder of PRABHAT stayed in arented room in Madhubani in the initial period to study the situation of the Musahars inMadhubani district. Later moved into own building at Sakri.

Vision"PRABHAT" aims at building a new society based on justice, equality and sharing, where

people are united and are able to decide for themselves. PRABHAT dreams of reaching thisgoal through Education, Awareness, Organization and United Struggle.

“PRABHAT” has given an emphasis on the empowerment and self-realization of theMusahar community through education, awareness, building grass root level organizationsof people, advocacy and legal assistance.

Profile of Madhubani District:

Madhubani District borders Nepal on the north. The District was separated from DarbhangaDistrict in the year 1976. The ministry of Panchayati Raj included Madhubani in the list of250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). Madhubani has a total population of4.48 million. The density of population per square kilometre is 1279. The rate of growth ofpopulation of the decade 2001-2011 was 25.19 per cent. The District has a sex ratio of 925females for every 1000 males and a literacy rate of 60.9% (census 2011). Kosi River which isalso known as ‘the tears of Bihar’ for its disastrous sudden floods flows at one side ofMadhubani district. Yearly floods caused by the monsoon rains in the Himalayan country ofNepal wash away many lives and a good amount of the cultivation of the people every year.Being a border area a number of illegal activities such as human trafficking, child labour andterrorist activities are common.

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Socio-economic ConditionsPeople belonging to the target groups (the economically underprivileged) of PRABHAT aremostly landless agricultural labourers. Since the prevailing culture is still a feudal one, amajor chunk of the land is owned by the wealthy. With the emerging trends in the worldsuch as globalization and privatization the rural poor are the worst hit. Lack of attention tothe unorganized agricultural labourers by the government and the multinationals hascaused the flight of people in the villages and migration to the cities or other states lookingfor better opportunities. Migration for a living affects family life and the instances of HIVand T.B. are on the increase. Government health centers and hospitals do not provide freetreatment and the private hospitals and clinics are too expensive for the poor. The averagelife span of Musahars is less than fifty years.The imposed deprivation on account of the caste system in the feudal society of the statehas left a large section of the underprivileged at the mercy of the rich and the landlords.Most of the children belonging to the Musahar community which has lost its indigenousidentity because of the socio-political oppression, suppression of self-image, and so on, arecurrently in despair trying to merge with the socio-religious practices of the dominantclasses, unaware of further rejection and reduction of themselves as minorities in a differentpolitical setting.

Plight of Musahars in Mithilanchal:

Schedule caste community, mostly Musahars, counts for more than 10 percent (481922) ofthe total population of Madhubani district. Various studies, articulating the Musahars’voices, suggest that education is one of the crucial areas of social intervention that canenormously contribute to their socio-economic development. Education is the key todevelopment and socio-economic mobility. Realizing this we give utmost importance toimpart quality education to the children of the most marginalized ‘Musahar’ community.

The ‘Musahar’ community in Madhubani district consists of two groups; the Maithilispeaking ‘Musahars’ of Mithilanchal are known as the Sadays. During the British rule theMagahi speaking ‘Musahars’ came to north Bihar as temporary employees in the cultivationof indigo, sugarcane and in the construction of roads and railways. These people settleddown along the banks of ponds and canals. They are known as Manjhis.

Both Saday and Manjhis come under the general category of ‘Musahars’. The ‘Musahars’ areat the bottom of the caste hierarchy and 99% of them do not have cultivable land of theirown. They work in brick kilns, work as temporary labourers in farms or migrate to citiesoutside Bihar to earn a living working as unskilled labourers.

Literacy among the ‘Musahar’ community members who are above eighteen years old is lessthan 2%. There is high level of migration of predominantly male members outside the stateto work in agricultural labour in rural areas and construction in urban areas. This also affects

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the flow of family life, especially the women and children, who are left behind or sometimesaccompany their male members if the need arises. All of this has a profound impact onchildren who remain neglected and usually do not go to schools regularly. Educationalinterventions that are specifically designed in their content and pedagogy to suit the socio-economic, politico-cultural and psychological context of this community are necessary forthe educational mainstreaming of the community. A unique intervention of accompanyingthe children and the community is required so that the children are brought into themainstream of the education system.

Our Interventions: Rehabilitation of 25Bonded Child Labourers was initiated inMadhubani as part of the activities ofPRABHAT in collaboration with theMISEREOR in the first phase for threeyears. Our current interventions are thefollowing: Women empowermentprogram IN COLLABORAION WITH BiharGovernment, Dalit Human Rightsadvocacy, strengthening of Panchayat Raj Institution, struggles for entitlements andRehabilitation program for 50 former child labourers (25 girls and 25 boys) at its centre inSakri.

STRATEGIES• Mainstreaming and remedial education to children in non-schooling hours.• Empowering and mobilizing Musahar community involving Mata Samitis,• Networking and linkages with AWCs, Government schools, education department

and media• Capacity building of Mata Samiti members on RTE, RTI, MNREGA• Documentation of best practices, learning and challenges. Curriculum development

for Musahar children pre-school to class II.• Strengthening institutions of local governance like- PRI, SMC, Government schools

and AWCs.ACTIVITIES• Objective 1: To initiate large-scale community mobilization in 56 villages and community

based support system in 16 villages, through members of 115 SHGs, to create conduciveenvironment ensuring all children going to school and implementing provisions of Rightto Education Act.Capacity building of female members of 115 SHGs of 62 villages on children’s right toeducation, provisions of RTE and entitlements to children

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• Capacity building of SMC and PRI members of villages on children’s right toeducation

• Creating awareness through audio-visual shows on child rights• Monthly meetings with selected Mata Samitis.

Objective 2, 3 & 4:

(2) To ensure 100 percent enrolment and retention of all the children (6-14 years) ofMusahar community of villages in schools through 16 SHGs, 12 educational leaders andvillage level education committees.

(3) To ensure pre-school education and proper health of all the children (0-6 years) ofMusahar community of villages through activating/strengthening Anganwadi centersinvolving 16 SHGs and 12 educational leaders.

(3) To provide remedial/supplementary education to school going Musahar children of 16villages to prevent dropouts.

• Imparting basic education and developing other necessary skills in children tomainstream them in government schools and providing remedial education to schoolgoing children to prevent dropouts

• Enrolment campaign in villages• Capacity building of community education leaders on community mobilization and

innovative pedagogy• Quarterly exam and evaluation of children’s learning• Celebration of important national days, Musahar community festivals and organizing

sports & cultural events to link children with school & education• Networking, regular monitoring and working with government schools and capacity

building of teachers on the special needs of Musahar children• Organizing health camps involving AWCs and health centers• Networking and linkage with media, NGOs and administration for effective

implementation of various welfare schemes such as, NREG, PDS etc• Restructuring and strengthening village education committees and ensuring regular

meetings through Shiksha Premis and animators.• Documentation of best practices and case-studies to highlight the issues

Objective 5: To make contextual NIOS programmes accessible for the education of Musaharchildren and short term residential complementary education to enhance their academiccompetency, talents and leadership, and for their personality development.

• Developing contextualized curriculum for Musahar children and lobby with NIOS toadopt the same

• Intensive teaching and learning for NIOS students to pass metric and accompanythem to further higher education through supplementary education (residential) for10 days in a month.

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• Developing leadership and overall development of children, through trainings and 3-days youth camp, to understand, preserve and promote their cultural roots for theiremancipation.

The objectives of the residential training:• To create an interest to study.• To inculcate the habit of self study.• To enhance the motivation of the children going to school• To enhance their self –confidence and self-esteem• To develop their talents in singing, paining and dramatics and games• To motivate them to personal and village hygiene• To introduce to them the method of accelerated –learning• To teach them the art of time-management• To introduce to them the method of group learning.• To inculcate social values of team work and group living and sharing.• To enhance their talents.Thrust Areas:

1. Supplementary education of children 6 to 18 years and adults above eighteen years.2. Rehabilitation of child laborers.3. Legal Aid programs4. Health programs5. Residential Supplementary Education Programs for Mahadalit (Musahar) children.6. Enrolment of dropout children in Government schools.

Primary Stakeholders:• Children under 14 years (School -going and drop-outs)• Child Laborers• Young girls and Boys (Adolescent group)• Unemployed youth• Village development Committee• Women Groups (Maata Samiti)• BPL Families• Teachers of the Government schools, PRI members,• Local Leaders both political and religious.

Involvement of other Stakeholders• Patna Jesuit Society Social Action• Caritas, India• NEG-FIRE, New Delhi• Government Departments, Anganwadi workers, ASHA and ANM• PRI Members• Government health staff, ICDS• Local churches and other religious institution.• DRDA(District Rural development Agency)• BEO, BDO, DEO and CDPO

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PRABHAT’s area of work and beneficiaries1. No. of Saday/ Manjhi families- 91502. No. of Saday/ Manjhi students- 14633. Women Groups- 1154. Youth Groups- 345. No. of Volunteers- 1266. Blocks- 087. Districts (Darbhanga & Madhubani)- 02

Current programs

Supplementary Education Centers (SEC) at 33 centers. Altogether 680 boys and 640 girlsbelonging to the Musahar community are getting two and a half hours supervised study intheir own villages under 39 staff. PRABHAT works in 5 Cluster Human Resource centers(CHRC) under which 75 boys and 68 girls are helped under the guidance of 10 staff.

Staff

PRABHAT has a hostel which is supervised by two persons. There are two cooks. PRABHAThas three Jesuit staff members and one office staff working for the development of Musaharcommunity especially in education, empowerment and organization.

Activities at a Glance

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ADDRESS:

Director,PRABHATCenter for People’s Training & ActionPurani Bazar, Sakri, Madhubani- 847 239BiharEmail: prabhatsakri@gmail.com