Annual Report 2016-2017 · Web viewStudents then slowly progress to learn Microsoft Word, Microsoft...
Transcript of Annual Report 2016-2017 · Web viewStudents then slowly progress to learn Microsoft Word, Microsoft...
REPORT FOR THE MONTH
OF
July 2016 –June 2017
Submitted by:
JOINT OPERATION FOR SOCIAL HELP (JOSH)
www.josh4india.org, [email protected]
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Report for the Month of July 2016 to June 2017
During the month of July 2016 to June 2017 the following activities were
undertaken by Aheli Chowdhury and Saurabh Sharma as part of JOSH:
The focus of work of JOSH has been education, especially implementation of the
Right to Education Act and youth development, primarily young women. There
are three main core components of the work:
1. Capacity building of young girls by giving them employability skills
2. Improve governance government schools through strengthening
community based monitoring processes
3. Improving quality of delivery of education in school
1. Capacity Building of Young Women to enhance employability skills:
Under this programs young women and adolescent girls of the marginalized and
minority communities are trained in English speaking and Computer operations
to enhance their life skill and employability opportunity. In addition to that,
these girls are also exposed to ideas of gender, citizenship and governance to
help them in understanding themselves as gendered beings in their surrounding
society. These girls come from poor family and also have faced several kinds of
financial hardships, which have limited their access to life and career
opportunities.
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The main objective of this program is to help these young women acquired skills
that will help in improving their chances of getting jobs and become self
sufficient financially. Also to equip them with skills to help them to function
independently in their surroundings. The course has three main components:
-
-
English speaking
curriculum:
Through
years of
working
with youth, a 90
days curriculum
has been
developed.
This curriculum
targets to
teach
students
basic
English
language
and
conversational skills. This includes reading, writing, comprehension and
simple communication in English. The English curriculum has been
designed to help the students to read and write simple English. There is a
focus on grammar so that the students are able to get a clear sense of the
language rather than depend on rote learning. Emphasis is given on
conversation and communication skills. Students are encouraged to speak
Girls during Computer Class
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during group discussions and during workshops, which helps in giving
them confidence to speak in public.
- Computer operations: The computer operations course also follows a 90
days curriculum and includes, MS office with special focus on Microsoft
Excel. The course has component of teaching typing to all students. The
computer course starts by familiarizing girls to different parts of the
computer, basic understanding of hardware, and software. Students then
slowly progress to learn Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft
PowerPoint. The last part of the curriculum focuses on helping the
students learn and practice typing. Girls are encouraged to take regular
typing speed tests to track progress.
- Personality, life skills and job readiness workshops: Apart from regular
classes, weekly group discussions and activities were held to help
students open up to other issues beyond just their course curriculum.
This included understanding of basic ideas of gender, Right to Education
Act, Right to Information, requirements of a professional world and
others. Sometimes, girls would come on the weekend session to just talk
about themselves and their aspirations. Such open discussions were also
encouraged to help them explore their dreams and talk about themselves.
Thematic workshops are also held for them. These workshops which
include understanding gender and themselves, workshop on life skills,
workshop on job readiness.
o Gender workshop deals with concepts of gender roles and how
gender is socially constructed, ways in which these roles are build
and how they affect the way we see ourselves and the world
around us.
o Life skill workshop aims to work with the girls to give them
confidence that many work thought to be out of bound for them
are actually things that can be done simply. They are exposed to
simple and daily work like opening of bank accounts, or managing
their finance or writing their CV etc.
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o Job readiness workshop is a final workshop that aims to help the
students to prepare for a professional life. Mock interviews,
simulated group discussions are arranged.
2. Improve Governance of Government Schools through Strengthening
Community-based Monitoring Processes:
Under this component, there are several subcomponents. The subcomponents
are:
i. Capacity building and hand holding of School Management Committee
members
ii. School Inspection process
iii. Community mobilization around different campaigns
iv. Admission under children in public schools under the 25% quota for
Economically Weaker Section (EWS)
Group Discussion in progress
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2.i. Capacity building and hand holding of School Management Committee
members:
Under the Right to Education Act (RTE Act), the School Management Committee
(hereafter SMC), comprising of parents and teachers has been given significant
responsibilities. These include making of School Development Plan (SDP), having
a say in the budget spending and other administrative decisions of the school
functioning. However, in practice, it is far from attaining this standard. In Delhi,
the SMCs were formed after much effort and even after they have been formed in
schools, the members have been given no training or orientation. Given that the
parent members are not even aware of what they are suppose to do and their
responsibilities, in most schools SMCs’ functioning is tokenistic. In Trilokpuri,
JOSH has been working with parents members of 16 schools since 2010. Even
before Government of Delhi passed its rules to implement the RTE Act, JOSH had
started to orient community members on the different provisions of the law.
JOSH had also identified parents who had leadership quality and capacity build
them so that once the SMCs were constituted they could run for elections and
occupy these spaces in the respective schools. As of now, SMCs that are
constituted for three terms have completed one cycle and the second batch of
SMCs are now working.
JOSH has been working with SMC at three different levels.
• Identifying and orienting them to run for elections, which includes
facilitating the election process by helping parents to file nominations and
other such processes.
• Capacity building and training the elected SMC members on their roles
and responsibilities: Capacity building and workshops of SMC members
were done. The main focus was to help them understanding their roles,
responsibilities assigned to them by the RTE Act. They were also oriented
on how to make School Development Plans and the ways in which budget
and expenditure tracking can be done of the schools. Encouraged by the
training sessions, SMC members raised questions about expenditure
plans of school, which resulted in making the school processes more
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transparent and accountable. For instance, students’ desks in the GNCT
school of Mayur Vihar Phase-I (Janaki Devi and Prem Chand School) were
procured only after the SMC members consistently followed up on the
matter. When an SMC member initially lodged a complaint with the school
authorities for procurement of students’ desks, it was not acknowledged
in a correct way. Following this, with the assistance of project team, the
SMC member sent a written complaint to the Deputy Director of
Education, the Education Minister and also the local Member of
Legislative Assembly (MLA) about the unavailability of desk for students
in the said school. This led the Education Department set up an Enquiry
Committee to look into the matter and subsequently budget was allocated
and over 400 desks were procured for the school.
• Handholding and providing facilitation on regular basis to SMC members
to undertake their responsibilities in their respective schools. This is done
by holding regular meetings of SMC members, where they share the
problems faced by them in schools and ways in which solutions can be
sought. The sharing process helps to achieve two things; first, it allows the
members to find solution to problems faced collectively. Second, it allows
for crossing learning between schools. Many instance, when a particular
school does something good due to efforts made by the SMC members,
other members have used it as an opportunity to introduce it in their
schools.
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2.ii. School Inspection Process:
As part of JOSH we have been undertaking the process of school inspection vide
the order of the Central Information Commission since 2011. Since then,
members of JOSH, along with parents and SMC members visit schools to inspect
the records of different schools on the last working day of every month. The
main issues that were covered during the school inspection were: regularity of
holding SMC meetings, opening of bank account of students, which was made
mandatory for transfer of all kinds of cash benefits, delivery of text books,
distribution of scholarships, issues of cleanliness in and around the school to
combat spread of dengue and other mosquito bite related sickness. The school
inspection process allows for regular monitoring of schools by the community
over and above the SMC members. This forms the core of the community-based
monitoring process that JOSH has been trying to establish in the schools. It also
allows for regular follow up of specific issues of respective schools. Post school
inspection, there are community meeting held, which helps in sharing between
parents and community members about the problems faced and possible
solutions. These meetings also help to identify systemic issues across schools.
Capacity Building Training of School Management Committee Members
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For instance, during the school inspection process and the post inspection
meeting, problems regarding bank accounts emerged as a major point of concern
across all the schools. Since last year, the Department of Education made
accounts transfer of all cash benefits mandatory, which opened up several issues.
Most of the children did not have bank accounts. This would result in them been
deprived of scholarships. JOSH members along with parents and SMC members
made regular visits to Trilokpuri branches of both Punjab National Bank and
State Bank of India. The bank authorities initially refused to open accounts of
students who did not had the required papers. JOSH also approached the
Education department authorities to intervene in this matter. After much
persistence, the accounts of many students which were refused earlier were
opened and students received their scholarship.
Thus, the school inspection process is a linking process that connects to all the
other activities of the JOSH and the school. The school inspection process is used
to collect information for the school report card, to track delivery of textbooks,
track budget spending, to resolve grievances of parents and students, to track
and monitor quality of teaching and learning and to constantly handhold SMC
members and school authorities.
2.iii. Community mobilization around different campaigns
JOSH along with Campaign for Change (C4C) and other education organizations
in Delhi organized and run a campaign to ensure ‘text books’ for children in
government schools. This campaign demanded for books on time and of better
quality. In Delhi, text books, which are provided free of cost to children,
consistently reach the students mid session. The session starts in April and most
of the time students get their text books by October or November, by the time its
almost past mid session. Till then students are forced to by local guide books or
borrow from previous year students. This has been going on for long and
repeated raised by students and parents. JOSH has been raising this issue with
the school authorities, but since this is a more systemic problem, this year it was
decided that the issue will be raised through a mass scale campaign in order for
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the government to take notice and fix the issue by ensuring delivery of books on
time.
For the campaign, several meetings were done with different organizations
across Delhi to share with them the issues of the campaign. During these sharing
meetings it was also felt that with the present government coming to power, the
quality of books, including printing, has drastically deteriorated. Students
complained that books now have missing pages, print that is illegible, maps
missing, diagrams printed upside down etc.
The campaign had both online and offline component. A facebook page and a
twitter handle were created to promote the campaign on text books. As part of
the online component, several meetings were held in Seemapuri, Trilokpuri and
Holambi Kalan with the community to mobilize them around the issue. During
these meeting, children and parents shared about the problems faced by them
due to lack of books.
Following these community meetings, a large meeting in a form of a Jan Manch
(Peoples’ Forum). Jan Manch was in the form of SMC Charcha was organized. The
main idea of this meeting was to highlight the issue of delay and poor quality of
textbooks given to the students in schools of Delhi. The meeting was held at
Indian Social Institute, Lodhi Road Delhi. It had more than 200 SMC members
and community members from different parts of Delhi. There was
representation from more than 15 organizations. They shared their experiences
of children in their respective areas.
The program had three panel discussions. The first panel had discussion the
supply chain of textbooks, from its printing to distribution. This discussion was
followed by, elected members of the SMC of schools from different parts of Delhi
sharing their experiences on how textbooks always reach late and the problems
faced by children due to poor quality of printing. SMC members shared that
during the initial years the textbooks would always reach almost 7-8 month late.
The delay has persisted, with it has now become 5-6 months. The second issue
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that the SMC members raised is that after the present government has come to
power, the quality of textbooks has significantly deteriorated.
There were also presentation and sharing by children, who had got their books
to demonstrate the poor quality. The last panel had all the SMC members, heads
of different organizations and parents draw up a resolution to work towards
ensuring that children get textbooks on time and they are of good quality. All the
SMC members also resolved to go back to their respective schools and work
towards fulfilling of this resolution. At the end of the meeting, it was decided that
Jan Manch in Progress
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a group of people representing SMC members, parents and the grassroots
organization will meet the Minister of Education, Shri Manish Sisodia to get his
signature on the resolution. They group went to his office, but despite his
presence, the SMC members were turned away from the gate and were not
allowed to meet him. This meeting and the textbook campaign received
significant media coverage in main national dailies. The links to the news is given
below:
http://
indianexpress.com/article/education/no-textbooks-as-govt-mcd-schools-open-
4598367/
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/govt-schools-distribute-tattered-
textbooks-parents-unhappy/articleshow/58073820.cms
iv. Admission under Economically Weaker Section (EWS):
To facilitate admission under EWS category, which is 25% quota under the RTE
Act, camps were set up to create awareness and facilitate admission. Camps
were held during the month of December and January. During these camps, more
than 800 people were reached out to. This, year EWS admissions were done
SMC members and Parents in front of official residence of Shri Manish Sisodia, Minister of Education, Government of Delhi
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using online mode, which create several hurdles for the parents. JOSH facilitated
the process by helping parents with the different documents required. Then the
parents were all called to a office, where they were helped to fill out the online
form. JOSH facilitated filling up of 120 forms of which 8 children were given
admission.
Success Story:
Entry Gate got repaired and constructed in Kalyanpuri School No. 2:
In Kalyanpuri GNCT (Government of National Capital Territory) school, Block no.
2, the efforts of SMC members did wonders. The school for long, had one
entrance gate which was almost falling apart. This was posing a big threat to the
safety of the students and also led to immense commotion during the change of
shifts. One from which the girls, studying in the first shift exit and the second
from which the boys of the second shift enter the school. Parents had been
complaining to the school authorities for a long time, but to no avail. This time,
the SMC members took it upon themselves to undertake concrete actions. They
raised this issue with the school authorities. They, with some facilitation from
JOSH, wrote to the Education Department, to the Minister of Education and the
local MLA. Soon authorities started making visits to the school. The SMC
members made their representation in front of these authorities, which included
Community-reach out for EWS admission
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the PWD engineers. After some time, the work started. First the old gate was
repaired and then a second gate was built. Now the school, like the others, boasts
of having similar facilities and all this was possible because of active and
responsive SMC members.
Transfer of Principal from Kalyanpuri, School no. 1, Government of Delhi:
There was a growing complaint amongst the parents and SMC members that the
school Principal, Ms. Pammi Bhargava was non-cooperative and refused to listen
to anyone regarding any concern of the school. The SMC member complained the
she took all decisions of the school, including spending of budget and others on
her own without involving anyone. This was considered undemocratic and
against the provisions given under the RTE Act. The SMC members complained
to the Education Officer and to the Directorate of Education about the principal.
As a result of which she was transferred from this school. This incident proved to
be hugely empowering for the parents and SMC members as it gave them the
confidence that they could also raise up to face school authorities.
Construction and Fencing of Boundary Wall of Prem Chand, Mayur Vihar,
Phase I:
In Prem Chand, Mayur Vihar Phase I, a school under the Government of Delhi, the
SMC members and parents complained that the boundary wall of the school was
too low, which allowed the boys to jump over the wall. This was a constant
source of worry for the parents and many children have been injured in the past.
The school authorities agreed to take up this issue and write to the
administration for allocation of budget for the same. The wall has been built and
additional fencing has been done, to avoid any such incident.
Initiating Commerce and Science Course in School No. 27, Trilokpuri:
School no. 27 of Trilokpuri, is a Government of Delhi school, and has classes till
XII standard. For long the parents complained that their children were only
offered Arts courses, which limited their future prospects. This year, SMC
members of that school, wrote to the school authorities. A meeting was then
called to discuss this agenda, subsequent to which, SMC members wrote to the
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Directorate of Education, to the local MLA and to the Deputy Chief Minister, Shri.
Manish Sisodia. Representations were given to all these people. After which,
Directorate of Education has ordered to offer both Science and Commerce course
in school no. 27 as well as in all the other schools where only Arts course was
available earlier.
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