Avehi-Abacus Project

Plans for 2011-2012

Brief Introduction:

The Avehi-Abacus Project which is an initiative of the Avehi Public Charitable (Educational) Trust; has been working in the area of quality education for all from 1990. After developing a prototype supplementary enhancement curriculum from 1990 to 1996 the programme was gradually spread to all schools in MMC from year 2006. The curriculum module known as Sangati is aimed at the age-group of 9 to 14 years i.e. classes V, VI, VII. Sangati is a series of 6 teaching-learning kits.

In addition, a module for Pre-service Teacher Education has been developed which was tested in two DTEd (Diploma in Teacher Education) colleges between 1998 and 2000. This module is being currently reviewed and finalized.

Avehi-AbacusProject is also actively involved in the 'Right to Education Campaign' which seeks the repeal and re-enactment of RTE Act 2009. The Act was enforced from April 2010 and is discriminatory in nature and comes with serious flaws.

Over the years the project has also built linkages with several State and National level Institutions like the National Council of Educational Research and Training, Maharashtra State Council of Educational Research and Training, Maharashtra State Council for Elementary Education. These institutions recognize the significant contribution made by Avehi-Abacus Project and look towards the project for direction and inputs in strategy and resource building.

The project plans to continue and further sustain these efforts.

Given below is a brief plan for intervention for the period April 2011 to March 2012.

  1. Implementation of Sangatiprogramme:
  • Implementation of Sangati kit 5-Understanding change and kit 6- Preparing for our future for std VII in all Upper Primary Municipal Schools of Mumbai:

Approaching the Education Officer for permission to organise orientation workshops for Middle level Supervisory Officials (April 2011)

Organising orientation workshops for Middle level Supervisory Officials (April, May, June 2011)

Distribution of Children's material for kit 5 to all Upper Primary Municipal Schools in Mumbai and replace damaged/lost kits if any (June 2011)

Seeking permission to organize Sangati Orientation workshops for kit 5 for teachers of std VII

Organising two day Sangati Orientation workshops for kit 5 for teachers of std VII in all wards of Mumbai (July-August 2011)

Implementation and follow up of Sangati kit 5- Understanding change in all the Upper Primary Municipal Schools of Mumbai (June-November 2011)

Liaising with Middle level Supervisory Officials of MMC for effective implementation of Sangati.

Organising orientation workshops (provided permission is granted) for kit 6 for teachers of std VII in all wards of Mumbai (November-December 2011)

Implementation and follow up of Sangati kit 6- Preparing for our future in all the Upper Primary Municipal Schools of Mumbai.

Seeking written feedback from teachers and students on impact of Sangatiprogramme (March, April 2011).

Approaching Education Department authorities for permission to continue Sangatiprogramme for the period 2012 to 2015 (January to March 2012). The project plans to implement Sangatiprogramme in a consecutive, spiral manner for the next phase (2012-13: Std V, 2013-14: Std V, VI, 2014-15: Std V, VI, VII). The aim is to ensure sustained use of the programme and smooth integration in the MMC schools.

  1. Working with State agencies for improvement in Pre-service and In-service Teacher Education, text book revisions:
  • Finalisation of the Pre-service Teacher Education Module.
  • Working with select District Institutes for Educational Training (DIET) and Diploma in Teacher Education (DTEd) colleges affiliated to these DIETs for field testing of the module.
  • Contributing to review of syllabus for Diploma in Teacher Education. Thereby ensuring that the ethos and element of the Module developed by the project are included in the revised syllabus used all over the state.
  • Liaisoning with National level bodies like National Council for Teacher Education for approval of course material.
  • Pro-active involvement/contributing to the Comprehensive Quality Education Programme initiated by State Project Director, SarvaShikshaAbhiyan (SSA). The programme aims at specifying clauses of quality as per Right to Education Act 2009.
  • Collaborating with the Pedagogy Unit of SSA to provide inputs to the Resource Bank of innovative teaching material. The process aims at improving quality of in-service teacher training programmes under SSA.
  1. Conducting a Research study on status of education in Mumbai (access and quality delivery) in view of RTE Act 2009:
  • Undertaking study based on technical support and guidance from Tata Institute of Social Sciences.
  • Data collection and report preparation (qualitative and quantitative) in selected wards of Mumbai with specific characteristics/vulnerability to understand the status of education in Mumbai in relation to issues such as;

Types and proportion of Out of school children

Availability of schools

Infrastructure

Teacher: Pupil Ratio

Quality of classroom transaction

Biases of school functionaries and society in general

Children enrolled in schools but who are not learning.

Phenomenon of dual enrollment in MMC and private schools.etc.

  1. Advocacy for repeal and re-enactment of Right to Education Act 2009:
  • Organising public programmes to create awareness about the shortcomings/limitations of the Act.
  • Making efforts to draw attention of legislature (Chief Minister, Education Minister, Education Secretary, etc) to this issue at the State level.
  • Linking with other Rights based organizations, movements (working on issues of shelter, livelihood, food-security, health etc)
  • Expanding activities of the Committee for Equal Fundamental Right to Education, to other districts of Maharashtra including Thane, Pune, Nagpur, Nasik, Kolhapur, Jalgaon, Dhule etc