Muskaan site visit report- 19th April 2013- By Garima Bangard
I directly went to Muskaan center and from there me and Mega one of the teachers of Muskaan school went to the government school where hobby classes were going on and it was clay modeling this time. Hobby classes are organized generally 2-3 times a week. There were around 30 students in the class. The facilities were temporarily occupied by Muskaan because the government school was moved to some other place. Kids made tables, butterflies, kitchen, utensils, animals, temples out of clay work. They seem to enjoy the idea of creating so much out of small chunks of clay. They were pretty interactive and keen on showing their work. The teacher helping them was Sashi who goes to Ganganagar, Rajunagar and Kotra to pick the students. Most of the kids of basti pick rags early morning and come back by 10am and are then picked by teachers in the van and transported to education center of Muskaan.
I met the staff personally and included Seema, Rubeena , Neelam , Mega, Brajesh and Shashi . Muskaan has following programs :
Community Savings Program
This program is meant for woman of Basti for setting aside savings and loaning them during hardships. It is managed by Reema and entails educating women on their rights.
Balwaadis
This is pre-schooling program meant for kids of age 3-6 years. The classes are conducted for few hours in the slums where kids live in common space. It aims at preparing the kids for school so that the transition to school is smooth. It entails hand controlling, language development, using pencils, holding books etc. Apart from that they are also involved in the activities such as reciting poems, painting, building blocks, puzzles, clay, etc.
Residential Camps
Camps are organized for children who cannot attend school regularly; kids are engaged in various activities such as yoga, dancing, evening classes, language study etc.
Some camp focus on vocational skill such as welding, carpeting etc. the resources are from Basti itself. Parents notice changes in kids, and get encouraged to keep them in camps. In fact parents are also encouraged to participate in such activities and show off their skills that can be put to good use.
Jeevan siksha Pahal
This program is registered with the government for primary education. Teachers use practical approach to teach kids by making the words in the language part of the teaching so that they can learn quickly. Real life examples such as concept teaching and visual techniques are used to enhance the learning process. Monthly PTA meetings, assessments, community discussions, film shows are conducted regularly. Extra classes held for students with low intelligence kids to bring them on par with other students.
Bal melais organized for math, measurements and science based activities. Bal akhbaar is published detailing the activities of the kids.
Student to Teacher ratio is 25:1.
Health programs
Muskaan is actively engaged with the community as part of the health program for health and hygiene issues, family planning operations, issues with gender violence, self-respect with adolescents, vaccinations etc.
Government school strengthening programs
Muskaan also has its teachers to go government schools to improve the quality of education by making it interesting to learn children. Regular classes are followed by questions n answers sessions n group activities. Extra classes are conducted for weak students.
Muskaan is very actively involved in issues of the community. Some other observations are mentioned below:
Ø Muskaan also helps the community in getting caste certificate by interacting with government officers.
Ø It also engages with police who take kids to jail who are begging on the streets, it did help soften the attitude of police.
Ø Muskaan can't provide the facilities on some of the center due to them being temporary, this should improve when Muskaan has its own place to conduct the classes.
Ø The design of building is almost finalized and construction will start soon.
Ø There is noticeable improvement in the attitude of parents after seeing the progress of their children which makes it little easier for this slum kid to keep going on their education.