Asha For Education TM

Project Proposal Submission Form

www.ashanet.org

Appendix 1 Formal/Non-Formal Education/Special Education

1.  Please list the school(s) run by your group and their locations. If you are requesting funds for only a few of several schools, please specify which ones.

SHED School (School and Residential facility)

P.O: Digaru P.S: Sonapur (near Indian Air Force Station)

Pin: 782401, Kamrup, Assam, India.

2.  Since when have the schools(s) been in existence?

School was started in 2007 in a rental facility

In March 2013, SHED acquired their own land and the school relocated to the current location.

SHED also started providing residential facilities at this new location.

3.  If your schools(s) provide non-formal/ special education please provide details about the same. ( Balwadi, Vocational Training, etc.)

The children in the school consists of underprivileged children and children with mental disabilities. The children with disabilities are provided special education according to standards defined by Govt of India.

4.  Describe the socio-economic background of the children and their parents (e.g. educational, occupational).

If some of your students are employed, please tell us about them as well.

The Sonapur Dimoria block of Kamrup district consists of villages inhabited largely by farm laborer families living below the poverty line. 90% belong to the Karbi, Bodo, Tiwa tribes, and tea garden worker (Adivasi) communities, which are recognized as Scheduled Tribes. The remaining 10% belongs to Scheduled Castes, other backward communities, and the "general category". The integrated education school is in the village of Khelkhati in that area. There is a need for education of the children whose parents earn their livelihood by daily wage labor. Due to poverty, underprivileged students have been lagging behind, missing education and maintenance of cleanliness and hygiene in their childhood.

Sonapur has a population of about 3000 disabled people. The national statistic is that 2% of the population consists of persons with disability. Other than the school operated by SHED, no other facility is presently available for providing services to this category of disabled population in that area.

The children in the school come from the following background :

- children with physical disabilities,

- children with mental disabilities,

- tribal children and Dalit girls in the age group of 5-18 living in tribal hamlets and Dalit colonies,

- victims of domestic or other violence,

- orphans or children who come from families with crisis,

- and other poor children.

Goal of the SHED school is to provide education and mainstream these children into society. There is also a strong need to make sure these children know how to work with each other regardless of whether they are differently-abled or not.

The currently there are 23 students in the SHED school Of the 23 students, 13 are hostellers and 10 are day-scholars.

5.  What is the literacy rate in the local community?

The literacy rate of Dimoria block is about 43% in a total population of 91,375, according to the Dimoria community information record.

6.  How many children are currently enrolled in your school?

Male : 20 Female : 3 Age Range :7-18

7.  How would you define the location of your school(s): Rural

Urban Rural Other

If Other please explain:

8.  Does your school have:

Its own building : Yes

Number : Number and Type of classrooms (e.g. Pukka):

Currently the school has 3 main buildings :

1.  Classroom building : this building is thatched with tin roof. The building is divided into 4 classrooms.

2.  Multi-purpose building : this building is concrete with tin roof.

The multi-purpose building is divided into 3 parts –

i)  Kitchen plus dining hall

ii)  Girls dormitory : The girls dormitory has 3 beds and has attached toilet and bathroom .

iii)  Office with attached toilet.

The kitchen plus dining hall is the largest of the 3 parts.

3.  1 boys dormitory : this building is concrete with tin roof.

The boys dormitory has 12 beds, 2 attached bathrooms and 2 attached toilets. .

4.  Additional Male and Female toilets for day scholars use.

In the following, put an ‘x’ in front of ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ as applicable

Toilet for Girls / Yes / No
Number of Toilets / 2
Toilet for Boys / Yes / No
Number of Toilets / 3
Chairs &Tables / Yes / No
Drinking Water / Yes / No
Laboratory / Yes / No
Playground / Yes / No
Blackboard / Yes / No
Electricity / Yes / No
Toys / Yes / No
Library / Yes / No
Computers / Yes / No
Telephone / Yes / No

9.  How many staff are employed at your schools?

Teachers : 4

Other Staff (Please specify details) : 6

Director - 1, Project Officer - 1, Administrative Officer - 1, Cook - 1, Care Giver 2.

10.  Please list the qualifications of all your teachers?

Special Education Teachers

·  Mrs Madhumita Barua (Teacher/Special Educator) - Service: 4 years

BA with foundation course on Education of children with disabilities. Recognized by Rehabilitation Council of India ,New Delhi.

·  Mr. Santiniketan Singh (Teacher/Speech Therapist Cum Hostel Warden) - Service : 5 years

BA with Diploma in Hearing, Language Speech(DHLS). Recognized by Rehabilitation Council of India , New Delhi.

Community Education workers :

·  Ms. Dipandita Medhi (Teacher & Office assistant) - Service: 1 year

10+2 with 2yrs working with disable.

·  Mrs. Mamoni Basumatari (Teacher & Community Co coordinator) - Service: 1 year

10+2 with 2yrs working with disable in vocational training

11.  What are the school hours? How many days of the week do the children attend school? \\

School hours are 9.30am to 3pm. In between there is 1 hour lunch break.

The children attend school 5 days a week.

12.  What is the average distance children travel to attend your school?

Current students consists of 10 day-scholars and 13 hostellers

The day scholars travel an average distance of 2~5 km

13.  Please tell us about your teaching techniques.

Grouping the mentally challenged students into pre-primary, primary I & II, secondary, pre-vocational & vocational. Then, their abilities will be assessed and goals will be set accordingly. Students of 18 years & above will be assessed and goals will be imparted vocational training for enhancing their capabilities.

14.  Are there any other schools (e.g. Kindergarten/Balwadi/Elementary School, High School) in the area? If so, please list the schools and the range of classes each of them offers.

Yes, there are other schools in the area. These are: Kendriya Vidyalaya (pre-primary to Class 12), Sonapur Higher Secondary School (primary to Class 10), Sankerdev School (primary to Class 10), and Kids Zee (elementary school).

15.  How is your program different from what is provided at these schools?

The SHED program is different from these schools.

For special needs children, SHED provides specialized education. Specialized education is a specially designed, instructional technique for the special need child depending on the disability. SHED teachers are trained in special education needs. The curriculum is designed according the need and capacity of the special need child.

The other normal schools do not offer special education for this category of children. All students in these other school follow standard curriculum.

16.  Why are the children in your school(s) not attending government/other schools in the local area?

Schools in the area do not have special education facilities for children with physical and mental disabilities. Also their teachers are not trained for educating disabled children specifically children with mental disability

17.  Do you try to involve the parents of the children in the running of the school (e.g. In setting the syllabus etc.)? Please specify details.

Yes, SHED has a parents association, which periodically meets to discuss and find out the development progress of their child with special educators and the management. Parents are also involved in the smooth functioning of the school, and are kept involved in the design of the individual educational program (IEP) for their child.

18.  In addition to education does your group provide any other services to the children in your schools? (e.g. Food, Healthcare, Clothing etc.). Please provide details.

Yes, SHED provides food, health-care, clothing etc. to children who need it to the extent possible.

i. Residential facilities for the disabled children come from the poorest of the poor economic background, providing free food and shelter and education.

ii. SHED conducts periodical medical checkup

iii. SHED provides clothing to needy students on occasion.

19.  If your schools(s) provide special education, please list avenues provided to the children for integration with the community.

Currently 13 children of the school have mental disabilities. These 13 students are hostellers. The school provides special education to these children. In addition to the 13 students with mental disabilities, the school has 10 students who do not have any disabilities but are underprivileged.

One of the key focus of SHED is to provide strong interaction between the children with and without disabilities. This interaction between the children provides a way for the underprivileged children to increase their own self-worth by being buddies to disabled children. The disabled children also build great friendships with people different from their own to increase their own confidence to integrate in mainstream society.

To increase these interactions between the various students, SHED plans to add 10 hearing impaired hostellers and 30 additional non-disabled day scholars in the next year.

20.  What are the proposed short term and long term benefits of the program?

-  Increased and more appropriate support for disabled children and their families.

-  Integration of disabled children and young adults into the wider community.

-  Increased social interaction between families with disabled children in villages in the area.

-  Education and Life skills development.

21.  How are these benefits measured?

-  By continuing to monitor the abilities and development of the child in areas where they have developmental disability. Currently the teachers closely work with the children and monitor the progress.

-  Increased interest from many families nearby who have expressed interest sending their children to SHED school, and enrolment in the current year.

22.  How many children have gone through your program in the past five years and what are they doing currently? Please tell us about their future education and employment possibilities.

The school existed in its previous location for more than 03 years, and between years 2008-2012, twenty children have gone through the special education program in the past 03 years.

In 2012 academic year, the school shifted its premises from Guwahati to Sonapur SHED permanent campus. The main reasons for the shift are:

- Community pressure to remove a special school for disabled in a urban, developed community in Guwahati suburb due to misunderstanding about disabled children.

- It made long term financial sense to run the school on owned property (the school did not have sufficient funds to maintain the school in a rented house, in Guwahati locality since the prices were too high)

- lot of demand in the new locality (Sonapur did not have any special education schools for less-abled children, and the locality was chosen after conducting survey to assess need for the school)

Due to the recent change of the school premises, the school is not able to support the previous students. New students have enrolled with the school for the past year.

23.  Do you help your students with their future education efforts after they have passed from your school?

If yes, please specify details.

Currently we have not done much since we moved location of the school last year. SHED is initiating to start a SHELTER WORKSHOP inside the school campus to provide jobs to adult persons with mentally retardation. The idea is to provide some income generation while meeting the work needs of the school where possible.

24.  Does your organization run similar programs in other locations? If yes, please provide details.

No

25.  Please list down the below details covering current and projected budget. If expense is one time, please specify period during which it is proposed to be spent.(Please note: Funding amount and tenure is at the sole discretion of Asha for Education)

Programs / Item / Amount –Current Year / Amount-Year 1 / Amount-Year 2 / One Time/Annual (Y/N)
RCC Classrooms / Build 5 pukka classrooms / Rs 12,50,000 / 0 / 0 / One Time
New kitchen & dining hall / Build thatched kitchen cum dining hall / Rs 1,25,000 / 0 / 0 / One Time
New Hostel facility / Conversion of Multi-purpose kitchen cum dining hall into hostel / Rs 75,200 / 0 / 0 / One Time
Teachers, Care givers and Community workers salary / Salary for 4 special ed. teachers, 5 caregivers and 2 community workers / Rs 6,72,000 / Rs 6,72,000 / Rs 6,72,000 / Recurring
Overview of other budget items that is self funded or from other funding sources
(detailed budget and funding sources attached)
New kitchen & dining hall (1/2 of total cost) / Build thatched kitchen cum dining hall / Rs 1,25,000
(1/2 of total cost) / 0 / 0 / One Time
(Funded from AFNA)
Students related costs for 23 hostellers / Hostel messing, water bill, electric bill stationary etc / Rs 3,24,014 / Rs 3,24,014 / Rs 3,24,014 / Funding from monthly tuition and hostel fees
Salary for 2 teachers / Salary for 2 teachers for non-disabled students / Rs 1,20,000 / Rs 1,20,000 / Rs 1,20,000 / Funding from yearly donation by Sonapur College Teaching Staff
Administrative staff salaries / Salary for 10 staff members – Director, Admin officer, Project officer, 2 cooks, peon, 2 security guards, clerk and night watchman / Rs 5,28,000 / Rs 5,28,000 / Rs 5,28,000 / Self Fund generation & donation from well wishers
Other expenses / Expenses for teacher training, function/hospitality, vehicle expense etc / Rs 2,80,00 / Rs 2,80,00 / Rs 2,80,00 / Funded from India Institutes, parent membership, recurring donation from Wahid Saleh (well-wisher) etc

26.  Please provide details of staff and their salary expenditure.

Staff / Number / Salary Range
Special Ed Teachers / 4
(2 for metal disabilities, 2 for hearing impaired) / Rs 7000 /month
Care Givers / 5
(3 for metal disabilities, 2 for hearing impaired) / Rs 4000 / month
Community Based Rehabilitation Workers / 2 / Rs 4000 / month
Overview of other staff members whose salary is coved via self generated funds or other funding sources
Regular Teachers / 2
(for non disabled students) / Rs 5000 /month
Director / 1 / Rs 8000 / month
Administrative Officer / 1 / Rs 6000 / month
Project Officer / 1 / Rs 5000 / month
Cooks / 2 / Rs 3500 / month
Clerk/Typist / 1 / Rs 3500 / month
Peon / 1 / Rs 4000 / month
Security Guards / 2 / Rs 4000 / month
Night Watchman / 1

27.  Do any of the school children pay school fees? If yes, please provide details.