Report from July –December 2001

Asha for Education started giving financial support from the month of July to teachers of Sadbhav Mission. It is nearly 6 months since the inception of the financial aid.

Here in this basti that is known as the ‘Jhuggi Basti on the other side of the canal’ or as Kuli Camp about 1500 families live. There are 200 jhuggis (huts) and in each Jhuggi about 4-6 family members reside. I, Mona Gupta, have been teaching here, since last October, along with my husband Mohammad Shahzad Ibrahimi. However, due to some problems he had to discontinue teaching here. In his place, Prof. Tripathi appointed Vinod from the month of August and Afzal (r?) Jama from the month of September. Both the teachers have been fully involved in teaching along with me.

About 40-45 students have been attending the school in this past 6 months. There are about 17 small children and 15 bigger ones. 8 children of upto class 8 do not attend school. 10 children come to the tuition center occasionally. These 10 children attend school and in addition attend other tuition centers also. Therefore, the number of children attending the school varies from day to day. There is a severe water shortage in the Kuli Camp and often times the children spend the better part of their time getting water for their homes.

After getting money from Asha, we did four major events in the period of 6 months. The children were encouraged to participate in the social activities. In addition all the teachers too participated.

The first event was on the occasion of our Independence Day on August 15th. Sangeeta Kohli, her husband, her mother, and her son attended the function and we requested them to unfurl the flag. Prizes were distributed to those children who had excelled in their studies and also to those children who participated in the celebration.

We next celebrated Deepavali. The children were actively discouraged from spending money on crackers. Instead we tried to interest them in studies and towards this goal we distributed prizes. We also conducted a sports competition.

The third event was to celebrate Id. We distributed sweets amongst the children and Afzar Jama conducted a test.

The fourth event was held in September when we conducted an examination for the children. The children were tested in drawing, Math, Hindi, English, and Social studies. They were also tested in sewing and embroidery skills. Prizes were distributed to children who stood 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in these examinations. Prizes were also given to children who participated in the examination.

Feb-Mar Update

Hello Rohini

Mona and Afzal came to see me today. I list the items below as per theproject-details. Asha-Colorado should decide on this issue as soonas you can. They agreed on almost everything I suggested but I am notsure if they will implement them or not.

I am treating this project very hands off-just basic coordination. Mysuggestions are more on record keeping and recording-difficulties andsuccess of the project.

I have a report written by Mona for the last six months-which I shallsnail mail to you by this week end. Let me know if you have any questions.

Best

Siva

Basic BUDGET OF THE PROJECT per month:

Salaries- Rs 2000 Mona

Rs 2000 Afzal

Rs 750 Vinod.

Miscellaneous expenses list will be given to me by Mona and Afzalsometime next week, I shall send it to you as well. Some of which areneeded, some of which may not be. The expenses as I recall include:(a) prizes given out to students, (b) infrastructure improvements (c)bus pass money for all three of them (c) maps, (d) books and pencilsto be used at the centre.

(Agreed)Future Plan/Activities of the Project:

-Running the center in the slum as it has been running so far- withoutany breaks.

-Maintain a Data sheet for every student attending the center. EachData sheet will contain: Name, school, class, educational/socialdifficulties faced by the student. The data sheet will be updated on a monthly basis.

-Mona, Afzal, Vinod-: will maintain an overall monthly diary of theiractivities in the project. Their efforts: what was successful, whatwas not. What they plan to do in the next month as well.

-Visitor's Register : will be maintained. Name/purpose of visit/Suggestion/organisation/how did they know about the project ? and suchwill be kept on record for every visitor coming to the project.

-Attendance register: for every day of the school will also bemaintained.

-Weekly timetable: is also being maintained and I shall see it when I visit the project soon.

-Anil Sharma will do a media workshop for the students. He will try todo encourage students to do some creative things and so on. Once aworkshop is done he will send you a write up as well.

-Rakhi, a girl child in class 11th, apparently can be trained tobecome part of the work force. She has stopped going to school becauseof lack of money. I suggested to Mona to ask her help in the project,first in lieu of fees being paid. Then we can start giving her salarylike Vinod as well.

-May 15th-July 15th: Is broadly speaking the vacation time in theschools. During this time, I suggest: (a) we give them two weeks of paid vacation.(b) Mona wants to teach tailoring/cooking/typing classes during thistime.(c) Afzal has agreed to make tutorial sheets/worksheets for nextyear. This will be made with help from me and others.

[(Debatable)-for lack of a better word] options for the future:

-Mona and Afzal want to work in another slum as well. They see this (Ithink) primarily as an opportunity to make a little bit more money aswell. I am not sure if this is a good thing. I would like to make thisone school operation perfect and self-standing before taking onmore. I said that I will mention this to you guys and thats all I havedone.

-Mona and Afzal- want to explore applying for an Asha fellowship. Theykept bringing that up. I really donot know. I asked them to submit aplan of what they want to do with the fellowship. When that comes Iwill let you know. I also think the intention here is monetary.

-BUS pass- Afzal deserves a bus pass. I am not sure if Mona or Vinoddoes. But Mona seemed to think that giving Afzal-one would bringinequality in the payments. I was taken a little by surprise. But ofcourse did not show it. A bus pass I think is Rs 500. Again I havepassed this on.

March/April--Update from Sadbhav mission/Asha Colorado/Kuli Camp project

Meetings held:

  • March 13th Wednesday(2pm)--at the slum-- Anil, Afzar, Mona, Siva and Vinod
  • April 4th Thursday(3pm)--at the slum--Afzar, Mona, Siva and Vinod.
  • April 20th Saturday(3pm)--at the slum--Afzar, Siva and Vinod.

Next meeting planned: May 21st, 22nd-when Rohini Muthuswami visits.

Summary of the items discussed in the various meetings

  1. Rakhi employment: there was a plan to employ a girl called Rakhi from the slum to help out with the teaching here. Mona found various difficulties in dealing with her parents. They asked for a written undertaking and such. I am not sure why but we were kind of not prepared to do this. The plan has been temprorariy shelved.
  2. Room: The discussion is on going. Currently two people in the slum have agreed to provide space so that the things can be kept in their houses. The rent does not seem much. It is around Rs. 500 or so. Mona is keen on this plan. Afzar and Vinod also seemed convinced about it.
  3. Communication: In the march 13th meeting, I stressed the fact that they(Mona, Afzar and Vinod) were not communicating with me properly. I was being treated like a tekedhar in some sense. The ideas of the project and their visions were not known to me. I also urged them to take responsibility of the entire project and that they should work as a team. I should be used as a resource help and other emergency help. Since then it has been very positive. We have all talked that much more openly about the project.
  4. Plan for the summer: There is going to be a vacation for two months begining-May 15th-July 15th. The children also go their villages during this time. In this time the following activities will be carried out:
  5. Typewriting classes: A type writer will be bought and Mona/Afsar will teach the children who remain to learn.
  6. Tailoring classes: A tailoring machine will be bought and Mona will teach.
  7. Work/Tutorial Sheets: Since they are overloaded with children during the regular days. A series of worksheets will be prepared and copies made of them. Afsar is going to make three levels of worksheets in mathematics. Vinod said that he will make some for the little children-as well. Mona will do it for Hindi. Afsar has asked me for some workbooks from the market. I am not able to find them as such. They all said that they will do it. But this is hard work and I am hoping two months would give them time. They need guidance, I am hoping some members of Asha delhi will help out. Since I am out of town till July 7th.

Summary of Activities

  1. Trip to railway musuem. Mona organised a trip to the railway museum for about 40 children. The trip was very successful. Afsar and Vinod also went with them. They left in the morning and returned around 3.30pm. Since such ventures are successful, we decided that we should carry out more such ventures in the near future.
  2. Diary Initiatives-- Mona, Afsar and Vinod each maintain a diary of their activities in the project. Mona and Vinod update it quiet regularly but Afsar the less said the better. Also this idea of having a lesson plan and searching out ideas on how to tackle these problems has not sunk in with these people. The student data sheet is being maintained quiet well. In the recent exams that concluded in end of March-pass fail record has been maintained.
  3. Parents-teacher meeting--A meeting was held on April 18th. The turn out was low. They were hoping for me to show up but I could not. The parents comments have been recorded in a diary as well. Some are very happy and some have concerns like--the kid failed even after coming here, or they are not learning much.

 Issues:

  1. Coordination/Interest/Motivation: I am getting better and learning a bit more about how to deal with this situation. But still we are very far from where the project should be. Afsar does not really take intiative on the project. Does his work and moves on. Infact diary he does not fill up because there is no time in the two hours at the slum. Mona is enthusiastic but does not seem to be able to forge a team. Vinod is coming up nicely and he needs to be pushed around. When I say something to do..it is done upto the first level of resistance--when that occurs they don't seem to be enthusiastic to go around it. Maybe once Rohini visits we can even think of a team change.
  2. Regularity--This was an issue. Afsar went on leave and did not inform me. I told him not to do so. We had decided that they would get two weeks leave on pay and any other leave taken should be notified in advance. Now Mona wants a couple of days off for a wedding. I think its okay but we must forge a policy for this. Still a minor issue but need to give it a thought.
  3. Exam--During the exams the attendance at the center was thin. Children prefered studying at home. In some sense the centre does not cater to exam preparation we must try to mould curriculum towards this as well. During exam time there will be a special time table. I would like Mona and Afsar to think of this as well. Lets see.
  4. Summer--I am hoping with crossed fingers-the worksheet plan flies. If it does then next year we will have a good set of way of running the center. I am hoping Mona will get the type writer and tailoring machine. One hopes that this is put to good use. Rohini could stress that as well during the visit. Before the May 21st meeting I am supposed to give my ideas on the worksheet plan as well to them. Lets see
  5. Salary--Vinod wrote in his diary that he is working against his father's wishes. So perhaps when we increase everyone else's salary we must increase his as well. We can discuss this when Rohini visits.