Door Step School -Mumbai Project Annual Report 2006-07
DOOR STEP SCHOOL – MUMBAI
ANNUAL REPORT 2006-2007
INTRODUCTION
"Education was to open the way to thinking and knowing, and the schools, as the outstanding organ for people's education, must serve that end exclusively"
Albert Einstein
Believing strongly in this philosophy, Door Step School started its work 20 years ago in a few slums of Ward A with a focus on providing education to children who would otherwise go without it. Slowly as the organization began to consolidate its efforts, other slum areas were reached out to in Wards B and very recently, in Ward E. Work has now spread to 34 locations catering to more than 3,000 children in the community and as many more through direct intervention in the municipal schools.
Non-formal education for out of school children was the first community based education programme to be initiated, while simultaneously planning for the balwadi (pre-school preparation) as a preventive measure and study class (extra-coaching for school going children) as a supportive one has been started in consequent years, with the aim of 1) identifying children before they reach the school going age and 2) helping to sustain them within the school set up, once they are admitted. Door Step School has had one goal while working in the communities i.e. imparting of literacy skills. After working in the communities for the almost two decades now, the goal remains unchanged and any expansion of activity is related to it.
Position Of Door Step School Community Based Classes In Mumbai & Pune
In Mumbai * / In PuneType of Class / No. of units / Boys / Girls / Total / No. of units / Boys / Girls / Total
BALWADI / 36 / 575 / 640 / 1215 / 43 / 492 / 562 / 1054
N F E / 29 / 315 / 524 / 839 / 50 / 500 / 655 / 1155
STUDY CLASS / 41 / 563 / 466 / 1029 / 29 / 290 / 300 / 590
Total 5882 / 106 / 1453 / 1630 / 3083 / 122 / 1282 / 1517 / 2799
NB : Approximately another 20,000 children are covered through direct intervention in corporation schools in both cities.
* The 32 children who attended class for 1 month at The British Gas worksites have not been included here.
COMMUNITY BASED BALWADIS
On Door Step School's part, running a balwadi worked as a net to "catch them young". Once children are identified, their progress can be followed up regularly and enrollment in school is almost ensured. The balwadi programme is more a school preparatory one and less academic.
Emphasis is given to a child remaining at the centre for 2 hours at a stretch, coming regularly and participating in class. The introduction of various concepts identification of colours, shapes, alphabet, etc. done besides children are also taught pattern of writing. The concept of numbers is introduced and these children are found to perform better in math later in school. On an average 80% of the children enrolled in the Door Step School balwadis carry on to the local municipal school.
Distribution of children attending Door Step School balwadis
Ward / Balwadi / Units / Girls / Boys / TotalWard A / Ganesh Murti Nagar / 2 / 40 / 34 / 74
Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (Punarvasit) / 4 / 67 / 60 / 127
Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (EXT) / 2 / 38 / 48 / 86
Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar / 3 / 64 / 58 / 122
Shiv Shakti Nagar / 1 / 27 / 16 / 43
Mahatma Phule Nagar (Nariman Point) / 1 / 16 / 9 / 25
P. D Mello Road / 1 / 10 / 12 / 22
B Ward / Masjid Bunder / 3 / 34 / 32 / 66
Wadi Bunder –SoW II / 1 / 17 / 11 / 28
E ward / New Tank Bunder / 5 / 110 / 75 / 185
Kawla Bunder / 1 / 20 / 24 / 44
Boat Hard Street / 1 / 21 / 19 / 40
Kolsa Bunder / 1 / 10 / 11 / 21
Hariyana Gt / 1 / 15 / 12 / 27
Lakdi Bunder / 2 / 34 / 24 / 58
Reti Bunder / 1 / 11 / 11 / 22
Powder Bunder / 1 / 11 / 9 / 20
Darga Galli / 2 / 40 / 44 / 84
Total / 33 / 586 / 508 / 1094
School Support Activity / At Colaba Municipal School / 3 / 54 / 67 / 121
Grand Total / 36 / 640 / 575 / 1215
Balwadis covered a total of 1215 children between the years of 3-6 years in the different target areas. The Junior group (3-4years) consists of 696 children while the Senior group ( 4-6 years) has 519 children. About 80 % of the children were enrolled in 2006-2007, the rest having continued from the previous year.
At the end of the year in June 07, 32% had enrolled in formal school, 39% will continue with Door Step School, about 29% had discontinued by the end of the year. (For reasons, refer explanation given earlier under Municipal Enrolment)
Children in the Balwadis participated in a large variety of activities designed to help develop their cognitive and motor skills. Mehman pehechano ( Guess who?) and Nazaro ka khel ( an observation game) were among the favourite games. Chipak kam (collage work with coloured bits of paper) was also an activity they greatly enjoyed.
Some festival celebrations like Dahi Handi and Raksha bandhan were celebrated at class level. While events where the balwadi children performed and that brought the children of all the balwadis together were organized for Christmas and Republic Day at Ward A and Ward E respectively.
During Diwali a magic show was organized by inviting a professional who showed tricks such as flowers emerging from a hat, paper coming out from the magician's mouth and so on. The children were totally mesmerized and extremely happy at the event. It was a special occasion for them as they never have a chance to see such shows.
Education visits are an exciting experience for the little ones and whatever the venue Kamla Nehru Park or Rani Baug it is usually a first for them.
Balwadi teachers participated in an inter organizational workshop organized by Sesame Workshop where they oriented the Door Step School team to the material they have produced. This is to be introduced in Door Step School balwadis shortly.
The Niramaya Foundation was invited to talk to the Balwadi teachers about their health care programme for preschoolers, which was introduced in one community. In the coming year it may be taken up in more communities that Door Step School is working in.
Parents meetings were regularly held for all parents groups. They played a more important role in Ward E as this was the year entry into those communities.
At one of the meetings in Ward E, the representatives of the Rajasthani Mahila Mandal in Tardeo talked to the parents of an English medium school that was to open in June 2007, where they intended to offer quality education at a nominal fee. Initially the parents showed interest but later opted out as the school was too far and fees higher than they were ready to pay.
A group of volunteers of the corporate HSBC supporting some of the balwadis had desired to have some interaction with the children. They spent a very enjoyable morning taking a variety of art and craft activities with the drawing, puzzles, craft work with 90 balwadi children, who were thrilled with the attention they got from the new ‘didis’ and uncles.
COMMUNITY BASED NON FORMAL EDUCATION CLASSES
Children in urban slum communities and pavement communities often form part of a family where education is not a priority. The family may have moved to the city with the sole objective of earning a living, sometimes even supporting an extended family in the village. Every member of the family who can lend a hand towards that cause is expected to do so. Therefore, even if Municipal schools are there and offer free education, children do not go to the school as there is no time to spare for 5-6 hours of daily schooling. The non formal education classes come into the picture right here. If these children are to be prevented from growing up into illiterate adulthood there has to be a more flexible way of education reaching them. Non formal education seems to be the answer. It is non formal in every possible way- the place where class is conducted, the duration and timing, the content and the teaching methods used.
The School on Wheels which enables the organisation to take education to the scattered groups of street children first became a reality in July 1998 (from now on referred to as SoW I). This was joined by a second School on Wheels in 2005 ( from now on referred to as SoW II). Both School on Wheels service street children and pavement communities in different areas.
The first School on Wheels was replaced as per RTO rules this August. On August 28, ‘06, a new School on Wheels was inaugurated at the Y B Chauhan Centre. The guests of Honour at the inaugural function were Mr Akira Iwanade, the Chief Consul representing the Consulate of Japan and Mr Murli Deora, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India.
Distribution Of Children Attending Door Step School Non Formal Education Classes
Ward / Non Formal Education Classes / Units / Girls / Boys / TotalWard A / Ganesh Murti Nagar / 1 / 10 / 16 / 26
Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (Punarvasit) / 4 / 78 / 23 / 101
Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (EXT) / 3 / 67 / 27 / 94
Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar / 6 / 118 / 32 / 150
Domestic Workers Class / 1 / - / 21 / 21
Shiv Shakti Nagar / 1 / 15 / 2 / 17
Crawford Market- SoW I / 1 / 15 / 14 / 29
Fashion Street- SoWI / 1 / 15 / 14 / 29
Ward B / Masjid Bunder / 1 / 10 / 19 / 29
Wadi Bunder- SoW II / 5 / 121 / 73 / 194
Ward E / New Tank Bunder / 3 / 48 / 60 / 108
Boat Hard Street / 1 / 9 / 3 / 12
Pardhiwada / 1 / 18 / 11 / 29
Grand Total / 29 / 524 / 315 / 839
'Hiresh, a 10 yr. old boy, used to collect scrap material in order to sell and get money. He was reached out to by Door Step School but was very irregular in coming to an NFE class at Backbay area. Even if he came he would remain in class only for 20-25 minutes. Over a period of time due to constant motivation by the teacher as well as the class activities which caught his interest, he started enjoying the classes. His achievement skills further encouraged him to attend regularly. His interest did not stop only to himself, but he encouraged other scrap picking children in the area to come to the NFE class'.
Conducive classroom environment and teaching methodology, educational visits, festival celebration, extra curricular activities, visit to computer class and learning center etc. encourage the children to built up confidence and liking for learning.
Gender wise pattern of attendance in non formal education classes
TYPE OF CLASS / SEX / >50% / 49-21% / <20% / Grand TotalN F E / Girls / 145 / 221 / 158 / 524
(27% girls) / (42% girls) / (30% girls)
Boys / 100 / 134 / 81 / 315
(31% boys) / (42% boys) / (26% boys)
Class content in non formal education classes is closely linked to the language and math syllabus followed in the Municipal Schools to enable children to take year end exams like the other school going children. Maximum children are those preparing for Std. I. The number of children remaining in class for more than 2 years is less than 20%.
For the classes on the School on Wheels, the coordinator put to use some of the strategies he had earlier tried out with similar groups of children. One such strategy waswhat he refers to as the 100 days project. A very conscious effort is made as part of this project to have the children in class learn all the letters of the Hindi Alphabet and numbers from 1-100. The children who attend regularly, that is about of a third of them, do pick up quite fast but once again the ones who attend less than 50 % of the time continue to lag behind.
Though a prize for best attendance in class was introduced, for the students on the School on Wheels, the irregularities continued. It is not always the child's level of interest that affects their attendance in class. There are many factors involved here. This year one of the factors that affected the children's attendance in class was the BMC drive against unauthorized squatters. Parents used to insist that the children stay at home while they themselves were out at work. If the BMC van came around then someone should be "athome" to salvage what they could from being taken off. This hindered the attendance of the school going children as well and emerged as on of the major reasons for irregularity at a parent meeting called by the school in February.
Parents’ meetings that evoked that a goodresponse were those where the agenda included the BMC rounds. This year, stringent measures have been introduced for removing unauthorized squatters from the pavement and also rounding up beggars. The children were also picked up in these rounds. The Door Step School team helped the parents make contact with their children who were taken to the Remand home. The Door Step School team took this opportunity to emphasise the role of parents in caring for their children.
We gave the necessary documentation to prove that these children were part of our classes, and that some were also attending Municipals Schools. This facilitated the release of some of the children from the Remand home on the grounds that missing school would hinder their ability to cope with their school work.
Level Wise Percentage Distribution Of Students In Non Formal Education Classes 06-07
Class level / Girls / Boys / GeneralI / 73.48% / 72.15% / 73.04%
II / 12.78% / 11.39% / 12.31%
III / 10.54% / 12.66% / 11.25%
IV / 3.19% / 3.80% / 3.40%
PerformanceOf Students In Non Formal Education Classes - 07 March
Children KnowingClass Level / All Alphabets / All Matras / Jod Akshar (combined letters) / Makes Words / Able To Answer Simple Questions
Std. I / 27% / 2% / 9% / 45% / 22%
Std. II / 76% / 36% / 20% / 40% / 42%
Std. III
&
Std. IV / Words / Makes Sentence / Question Answer / Independent Writing / Letter Writing / Paragraph Writing
100% / 63 % / 98% / 75% / 65% / 57%
The above table is based on performance of the students in language (Hindi) as recorded in March 2007. Performance levels show that the pace of learning picks up both in Language & Math in children who have been attending for 2 years or more.