From: "Chauhan, Raj" <
Date: August 31, 2014 at 10:32:45 PM PDT
Subject:Muskaan Visit
Muskaan, Bhopal Visit(August 28-29, 2014)
Last week I visited an organization called Muskaan in Bhopal. It was 12 years earlier in 2002 that Preeti and I visited Muskaan as members of Asha for Education. Twelve years ago this organization impressed us for a number of reasons. First, it worked with the most deprived and underprivileged communities in the slums of Bhopal. More importantly, it worked 'with' the people -- at a level that a few NGOs successfully manage to do by gaining the trust and confidence of the community they serve. The communities they work with are scheduled tribes such as Gond and Pardhi who came from the tribal regions of MP decades ago and now do menial work such as rag picking in Bhopal. More importantly, we had found ShivaniTaneja (who herself comes from a privileged background) the founder of Muskaan as an honest, down-to-earth and extremely dedicated person.
With great satisfaction I note that in 12 years Muskaan has grown in many important ways and it has gone from strength to strength notwithstanding the challenges and hurdles they continue to face day to day that test their mantle. What does Muskaan exactly do? What are their engagements with the community like? Muskaan's primary work involves education of children in these marginalized communities. They have tried a number of different education models from providing bridge education so children can join government schools to now running a primary school.Muskaan also operates learning centers in the slum for children who can't leave the slums. Of course, education is only part of the story since Muskaan's intervention is at multiple levels such as developing an improved pedagogy for teaching, organizing skill development workshops and creating awareness of human rights. Muskaan is now operating at more than 2 slums (Ganganagar and Rajiv Nagar) they had initially started with. In addition, Muskaan also has a full time residential program for about 25 slum children.
For those of us who haven't been toa slum - it is a very grim reality. Dwellings sometimes are no more than 3ft by 5ft with a tarpaulin and/or tin sheet as a roof which is usually about 5ft in height. These contiguous dwellings have an open drain with sludge flowing right around them enveloping the residents in a permanent sulfuricodor. Despite their dismal physical surroundings, these are living communities with people just like you and me. Some of the homes may also have fan and a dish TV connection. The children who come go to school or centers run by Muskaan typically go rag picking for a couple of hours before school as required by the family. Each rag picking trip can generate as much as Rs. 100 ($1.50). Around festivals this income can be even higher and as a result kids end up skipping school.
I sat through a couple of classes at Muskaan primary school which is in a very run down part of a building rented out by Muskaan. The class rooms are small, furnished only with a blackboard, where children sit on the floor. Undeterred by the setting, the classroom was as dynamic and happening as any I have been to. As a naive observer I could see that the children seemed keen to learn. More significantly, I was very impressed with the teachers (some of whom have been teaching at Muskaan for over a decade) and their teaching style that was direct and engaging and yet very friendly and warm. A different class for younger children was even more interesting where it was harder for the teacher to get the children's attention. An interesting anecdote that captured the moment was how 8 year olds were teasing a 10 year old boy who had just got engaged to be married. I don't think it bothered him a bit though, as he happily went about thrashing the other kids. It is typical for children from these communities to be engaged and be married by the age of 12 or so. Yes the children could read and write Hindi and seemed rather confident and were actively participating in classroom discussions. Muskaan emphasizes arts and drawing for creative expressions and today the young children were drawing about a Hindi sentence ('Nanikeechad me girgayee' or 'grandmother fell into the sludge') that teacher had written on the board. All the children surely enjoyed this exercise and each one showed their drawing to me as they laughed at each others’ drawings.
Separately, I had a chance to visit Muskaan learning centers in two different slums. One was a small rented room with a single light bulb fighting the darkness, where children between the ages of 6-12 come to study. The environment in slums is less controlled as kids come and go as they please while simultaneously managing household duties and babysitting their younger siblings while in the class. Of course, learning here is more challenging. We played games with the children and as more kids found out about the game the more started to trickle into the room. Kids wanted to know when I would be back and of course all had to give a handshake when I was leaving the center. The 2nd slum visit involved a youth meet where older children (ages 15-20) come together to discuss their issues, problems and potential solutions. This is facilitated by a Muskaan person. The day I visited the youth, mostly adolescent girls, were asked by the Muskaan youth coordinator to draw a tree that reflected them. An interesting exercise for anyone let alone an adolescent living in a slum. Since Muskaan has a long term presence in this particular slum the youth were very animated, open and articulate in their discussions. If one ignored the physical setting this could have been a bunch of teenagers from privileged backgrounds sitting and chatting over a cup of their favorite drink.
On the 2nd day of my visit I spent time going through their Muskaan’s book-keeping i.e. how accounts are kept and recorded. Much of this is manual and a lot more can be automated. I also sat down with the five Muskaan teachers to better understand their assessment methodology. We also discussed if and how computers can be incorporated in classroom whether it is for information dispensation, playing games, focus on learning outcomes, etc. Teachers seemed very excited about working with technology. One of my goals is to create simple applications on Android-based tablets that can aid teachers, assess outcomes while making learning a bit more exciting and fun for the children. Some of these teachers at Muskaan also have helped Government schools which have had varying degrees of success e.g. starting libraries, training Government school teachers, reading to children, help improve student attendance, etc.
Finally, I visited a full time residential camp run by Muskaan on the outskirts of the city. This facility of a few larger rooms and a kitchen next to a college is given by a friend of Muskaan on a temporary basis. Here about 25 children ages 7-12 eat, study, play and liveon a 24x7 365 days basis.Muskaan has been experimenting with this approach for a while and finds that it is good for some children to be taken out the slum environment for an extended period to bring about fundamental change in the children. Some of these children have little parent support and get abused at home or even by the police. While I was there children were just generally mulling around as it was Ganesh Chaturthi (holiday) and some wanted to go home while others seemed rather happy being away from their homes. A group of children were sitting and making an idol of Ganesha with clay totally immersed in that experience while others were casually fighting with each other.
Despite doing some incredible work in education, Muskaan has been kicked out of different rented premises for various reasons including not wanting to have slum children around.Muskaan secured a piece of land in 2011 on the outskirts of the city so it can maintain a permanent and proper facility. The construction of permanent facility with classrooms, kitchen, library and a residential facility will cost about Rs. 1.2 crores (approx. US$200K). One of my very generous colleagues at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong has donated US$50K for this purpose and with Goldman Sachs and a few other colleagues’ support we hope to raise a total of USD100K for the construction of this facility by year-end. I got a chance to visit the site and saw that foundation was already in place. The school’s design is very original and will use arches and clay bricks to reduce costs while making sure the structure is sound. There will be enough room for some greenery around the building and will even afford a small amphitheater. This will bring stability and permanence to work Muskaan is undertaking.
Last but not least, it was great to see the same children who were part of Muskaan 12 years later -- educated and confident in all matters (personal and professional). In fact, some of them are still part of Muskaan and now responsible for the community outreach program. This, more than anything, is a testament to the impact that Muskaan is having on the communities it is working with. No doubt significant challenges and work remains but it was good to see Muskaan is progressing well to address them.