ANNUAL UPDATE FOR 2014 - 2015

Project Stewards – Kesava Viswanathan & Latha Madaiah Project Coordinator – Vijay Kanagala

6th May 2015

Neel Bagh Trust - Sumavanam

Mission

Sumavanam provides alternative education in an environment of co-operation, and self and peer supported learning, along with vocational training for children from poor villages

History

• School started in 1974 by David and Nicholas Horsburg, eminent educators located in Madanapalle, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh

• Mr T M Narasimhan is the present managing trustee of this school

• He and his wife took over from 1980 and are largely responsible for turning an arid landscape into a green school campus that exists today

• They provide vocational training to 40 children currently from nearby villages

• Asha Cleveland started funding this project from 1997

• 48 children age group ( 3.5 – 9.5 years )supported by 3 teachers and 1 assistant• Children are provided a mid day snack – fruit/ eggs, etc, currently unable to

provide snack / milk due to lack of funding • Children take part regularly in cleaning the classroom & garden, attend classes

Math, English, learn Telegu poems followed by handicrafts, the younger kids spend time playing

• Local community is very supportive of the school, and helped with registration of the school recognition until 5th standard and are encouraging Mr Narasimhan to register upto the 7th grade

• Local community got together and painted the school premises without any fee seeing the good work being done by the school and the positive influence on the children in the village

Activities

There has been a spate of visitors this year. First coming to the school part:

There are 48 children in the school from three and a half to nine and a half year olds. There are four teachers. Narasimhan, Usha, Chinna, Madhavi and Manjula.

The children come to school at 8 am. We do not employ any workers at school for cleaning. Children, under the supervision of the teachers, take turns cleaning the classrooms, garden etc. This is followed by a singing class at 9am.They sing children’s songs in various languages. There is a Maths class between 9.30 and 10.45am. children in different grades sit in the same class room doing their individual work. Of course there are a couple of teachers helping them. Between 10.45 and 11.15 children have a break during which they have biscuits. Then they have an English class till 12.30 pm. Children eat their lunch between 12.30 and 1.30 pm

Children learn Telugu poems between 1.30 and 2pm.This is followed by a Telugu class till 3pm. From 3.15pm to 4.30pm they do either science or handicrafts (handicrafts twice a week). Children return home at 4.30 pm.

The three and a half year old children are in the school for half a day (9am to 12.30pm). They have been taught some rhymes. They have learnt the names of some objects shown. They do crayon work and a bit of pre number activities (each activity on different days.). They spend the rest of the time playing some games like passing the ball etc.

Learning outcomes: When these children come to school they are wild. They are generally taken care of by their grandparents (because the parents go to work). They frequently quarrel, used to eating snacks, have no regular toilet habits and are generally left to themselves (in the village). When they come to school they have to share crayons or biscuits, wait their turn while answering questions,, should not use bad language, should go to toilet unless it is really necessary, come to school clean, not throw paper or plastic in the school premises and so on.

Extract from latest report – May 2015

Activities

Finance – Historical payouts

Asha, Seattle BudgetItem Amount Current Fiscal Year

(Rs) 2014-2015Amount Previous Fiscal Year (Rs) 2013-2014

Salaries (Mr and Mrs Narasimhan)

1,92,000.00 1,92,000.00

Salaries (3 other teachers + Chinna)

1,92,000.00 1,92,000.00

Electricity 10,000.00 10,000.00

Newspaper 2000.00 2000.00

Food (NEW) 20,000.00

Maintenance 20,000.00 20,000.00

Stationary 10,000.00 10,000.00

Books 10,000.00 10,000.00

Total 4,56,000.00 4,36,000.00

- Asha, Seattle is the only source of funding for Sumavanam (similar to project Vikasana, Bangalore from 2014, hence increased funding requested from October 2014

- We need to provide 100% funding, else they may not be able to sustain, currently they are running on personal finances $7600.00 (at 60Rs/1$) for each of the above periods versus last disbursement of $2760.00 in Nov 2013. The difference is that Asha is now being asked to provide all funding, since other funding source (UNIS, USA) has stopped

General Partner Updates

PROVIDED IN ATTACHED WORD DOCUMENT

 

Microsoft Word Document

Site Visit Report (Valid for 2 years since Rural project)

• Volunteer: Giri Kolanupaka (Date: May 2013) • While visiting Timbaktu Collective in Anantapur and

on the way back, along with Purnachander Rao of NICE (Needy Illiterate Children Education), we visited Sumavanam. This is located in a remote village, near Madanapalli and very close to borders of AP and Karnataka. There was no good mobile phone signals, some times it was under roaming and sometimes it was local if it gets connected.

Site Visit (continued)• We met Mr. Narsimhan and his wife. They are the

ones who run the school there in about 1 to 2 acres land that they own. The school is a separate thatched roof house with a big hall that can accommodate about 35 to 40 students. In fact the time we went there were already few children in their class. I did ask them few questions and they seem to be very responsive compared to the children from normal and formal school. This school is based on informal education and children learn to explore on their own and they will be asked to do several tasks like painting, making toys etc and as part of that they learn.

Site visit (continued)• There was an issue locally with government and this

school as the school syllabus was different they were not considering this school as a recognized one (I do not remember if this is exactly the issue), but they were trying to get this resolved by talks with government and others there. The parents since are also not literates, they are not keen on getting their children educated. It is very tough for these couple to get children’s parents to convince to make them come to school. The children are all from local tribe community.

Site Visit (continued)

• Overall I felt that the site visit was a good one and this school is very good in terms of the kind of education provided and the efforts, the organizers are putting in, are definitely commendable.

• Some of the pics are: https://plus.google.com/photos/118399438370528747211/albums/57709633 61814846161?banner=pwa (the first 10 pics except the first one). Go over the latest site visit report.

Audit Report

Audit Report for 2013-2014 available

Process Checks

Item Status

Approved Budget Rs. 4,56, 000.00

Approval Type Recurring with Annual approval

Amount(s) disbursed last fiscal year Last disbursement Nov 2013 from Seattle chapter for $2760.00

Amount Utilized by the project last fiscal year

All funds to NeelBagh trust were sent to Vikasana

Last Site Visit May 2013

Current Primary Steward Latha Madaiah, Kesava(Vish) Viswanathan

Current Secondary Stewards Latha Madaiah, Kesava (Vish) Viswanathan

Status of the web page Documents to be uploaded