Site Visit and Evaluation Report
Of
Pratirodh Sansthan
For
Asha for Education
By
Amit Sharma
October 15, 2012
Pratirodh Sansthan, Amarpura Village, Tehsil Bhadesar, Distt. Chittorgarh, Rajasthan
Project Background
Pratirodh Sansthan is a NGO that focuses on tribal rights empowerment, and education in tribal regions of Chittorgarh district in southern Rajasthan. Pratirodh Sansthan has its roots in Prayas, a tribal rights and advocacy organization in the region. Pratirodh Sansthan focuses primarily on girl education and women rights and has been primarily seeded byAsha for Education for starting and operating this one of a kind residential school for tribal girls, in this region. The organization leverages its deep roots into tribal community to bring education to the first generation girl students. With AfE-SV support the school – Adhaarshila (Residential School for Girls) - has been running since 2007/2008, with 58 girls enrolled in this non-formal residential school with aims to bring quality education to tribal girls up to grade V. Primarily objective of this project is not only to make these girls literate but to act as a bridge to government KGBV schema for continued higher education, and to impart awareness of women equality and girl education in general in the tribal society.
Site Visit Background
The purpose of this site visit is to conduct a scheduled survey, verify the operations, and primarily understand and evaluate the workings of the organization, and in no small measure learn and understand about the children attending the school. The site visit is scheduled in three parts, (a) visit & evaluation of the school, including discussion/meeting with children, sit-in session in class along with the teachers (b) discussion & evaluation meeting with Pratirodh Sansthan coordinator(s) –along with the teachers and school staff, and (c) Meeting with Khemraj ji and Suman ji of Pratirodh Sansthan & an optional visit to Nahargarh KGBV school where over 60 students have graduated for high school education
Aadhsrshila
I arrived at the school around 10:00 AM in a cab from Udaipur City. This is my fourth visit to this school and while the road connectivity to Bhadesar has steadily improving, the off-the-road situation doesn’t seem to change much or at least not at the comparable pace of improving infrastructure to put it mildly. I walked up to the Pratirodh Sansthan office and met with Khamrak ji and Suman ji welcoming Namaste. And I met the new member of the staff, Narayani ji – a local tribal women who has been a social activist working on women rights with Suman ji for a while and as I was told later in the day a tribal strong (wo)man. While the faces were familiar and the home cum office of Pratirodh Sansthan bore friendly resemblance of the past, something was different from last time I was there. The large bare brich and concrete structure that once was the Aadharshila school was eerily quite, it laid bare, devoid of any reverberating sounds of children reading their story books in chorus. The school had to move from this stone-throw-away building for want of funds, and moved a little further away into a new facility – a much large area but much smaller and simpler structure. Suman ji, Khemraj ji, Narayani and I along with two Pratirodh Sansthan workers sat in their office and chated in general about the school for about an hour and then decided to go see the new school.
We walked through a narrow lane surrounded by lush kikar (mesquite) growth, rain has been good this year and summers would not mean virtual drought this year. Water supply dries up quickly as ground water feeders are predominantly dependent on rain water in the region. As we took a sharp turn, a brick wall emerged from behind the mesquite cluster and seemed to run for quite a distance. A small wooden door led into a large open courtyard that had remarkable resemblance to an old countryside home. A few well groomed Neem trees ornament a oversized brick fenced courtyard. Two roofed open rooms with mud reinforced floors were full of noisy children attending their classes. It was perhaps one of the most beautiful school I had ever seen – no walls no boundaries, and just beautiful.
Group I/II of younger students occupied the larger room while the smaller room was that of group III of students preparing for their grade-V examination. I sat with the larger group first and spent some time talking to children who were completing their writing assignments and getting it checked by their teacher. The next one hour was perhaps the most memorable where I got to observe, see, and in small part talk to some of these girls. While some of them were just being children, it was obvious and visible that some of these children had lost their childhood somewhere. I could almost sense anger if not in words then at least in eyes. I was also on a photo-journalistic mission, and I took perhaps some of the most memorable pictures at the school as well. I spent about 30 min interacting with the group-III students and took a tour of the school with Narayani ji and Khemraj ji as well.
The school has two covered toilets and two water tanks, a covered storage area, besides the two covered classroom space. Students bathe and sleep at Pratirodh Sansthan building and only come to the school to attend daytime classes. Narayani ji is the school monitor/guard and I should have guessed that already.
The Meeting & KGBV Visit
At around 1:30 we walked back to the office for a cup of chai along with the teachers as the kids broke for an afternoon break on a warm day. The summary of notes from the discussion is noted much further in this report. During our discussion, Khemraj ji suggested that we take a drive to Nahargarh KGBV school and meet the students from Aadharshila there. I was actually very excited to go to Nahargarh, first I wanted to meet the students in KGBV and see how they are holding up in the government residential school, and second it was a great opportunity to get some good pictures for the photo journal.
Nahargarh KGBV school is about 7-8 KM away from Aadharshila and we got their around 3:00. As Khemrak ji and I walked into the school entrance, a group of girls swarmed around Khemraj ji – touching his feet in respect and welcoming him into the school. And in a few minutes what was a small cluster of girls became almost a sea of blue salwar kameez wearing girl students surrounding their favorite teacher and mentor. I think it was a reinforcement of how deep Khemrak ji’s [and Suman ji] actual relationship with this community and children goes. We moved inside the school and sat with a students and two teachers from KGBV in a courtyard. The school building was quite impressive, a large grassed playground, a small garden, a huge two storied building with big sized classrooms, a large library, and science lab. While there are instances where government schools exist in papers or only in letter, this was clearly a much better – well funded, and well managed school. A large signboard of SSA adorned the front wall, and a the time of my visit at least four classes were in full swing and three classes were in the middle of a break. I came away encouraged from KGBV not only because of the school operation but also because of the confidence of students and how one after another student came forward and proudly declared that they are Aadharshila alumni!
Notes
1. Most girls in Aadharshila are from SC/ST casts mostly, meena and bheel tribes, and quite a few of them are orphans.
2. Almost every other girl is married, and child marriages are quite prevalent in the community – Prayas in general has been working on this issue for a long time, and things have improved over last few decades, although its no way close to being eliminated.
3. The oldest girl in the school is 15 yo and is in group-3 learning level preparing for grade-VI/VII admission in KGBV
4. All material is from Digantar and there is lack of funds to procure new study material, so most of the books are recycled or are photocopied.
5. Most of the time the children are divided into two or three groups by learning level with maximum of 15-20 girls in each group
6. 17-23 girls are preparing for KGBV examinations in total for a variety of target grades in which they can be enrolled
7. Sunday is day off form the classes i.e. there are no scheduled classes but instead of focused on maintenance of the school, washing clothes, group discussions, and possible excursions around the village
8. Water is a problem in the area, earlier facility had a open tube well, but, they have to pay for drinking water here and cost is upwards of 250 Rs/mo
9. Prayas office is right next door and has a computer that girls get to use sometimes and get training in basic use of a computer
10. All accounts, funds, and bills are maaged through Prayas, including reports and auditing
11. Girls bathe and sleep in the upper flor of their office building an the open school building is only for day classes for security and privacy reasons.
12. Every girl gets a big canister with a label to heep her belongings in that are stowed in the school building.
13. Children along with teachers make most of the study material – charts, posters, flash cards etc. and learn while making these things.
14. Children also paint charts themselves that are displayed in the school walls
15. There has never been a complaint of theft or things going missing; most girls don’t have processions and mostly store their clothes – which are given by the school or donated in there canisters.
16. Individual storage is to ensure some routine, and make them practice some good hygiene – wash and clean-fold their cloths etc.
17. Study material is distributed regularly or on need basis
18. Children do get homework regularly, and group discussions and help is encouraged instead of individual excellence; attaining a learning level is not primary objective, but, comprehension is
19. The generous compound around the building is used to grow Jowar (millets), bajra, and some fruits (papaya, banana). Some food is sourced from this cultivation while most if bought from the open markets.
- Prayas strongly desires to work with the community to completely rely on its own produce eventually
20. Narayani Ji care taker of the school – watches over the girls, cleans the premise and helps girls in daily chores etc.
21. Ramesh ji and two helpers in the school mostly helping with maintenance, running errands, and helping with the daily operations of Prayas
22. Kusum ji is a teacher for close to two years
- Kusum ji is a BA, and pursuing MA (Hindi) part-time
23. Priyanka Ji has been with the school since it started and has got training in Degantar; and has been with Prayas for a long time
- Priyanka Ji is a BA, B.Ed, and teaches sciences in the school
- Trained in Degantar methodology, and has worked and trained under SSA scheme
24. Regular teacher training is required and Priyanka ji stressed on a need of training on an on-going basis and expressed need to get some computer training. As of writing this, I in my personal capacity was able to arrange for basic computer training for both the teachers who have completed their certificate training successfully.
25. School staff seems very competent and dedicated, seems very good use of limited resources
26. Teachers find the study material to be sufficient for the students, but, need newer material from digantar and.or other sources
27. Priyanka ji finds a lot of change in the girls after they spend one year in the school, generally improved confidence, awareness, and much more independent.
28. Awareness towards education is perceptible when they go into villages with the girls and meet the parents and community in general