MASUM, Pune (India)

Survey report of tribal hamlets in ParnerBlock of Ahmednagar District

Background:

Parner in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra is not considered a tribal block by the government. However there is a small tribal population (numbering 5000-7000) living in hamletsscattered in the remote hilly terrain bordering Sangmner block. MASUM started working with these Bhil and Thakar communities sometime in 2000 and we started a support-cum-bridge school (evening) in Mandwa to check drop outs and mainstream Bhil children into government school. MASUM helped thecommumities in getting caste certificates which entitled them to get benefits under various special government schemes for tribals. MASUM also started pre-schools in some of these hamlets to promote education of children. This effort of MASUM was initially supported by Drs. Meenal& Bashir Mamdani of Prayas (Chicago) and later (from 2007 onwards) by ASHA for Education, Minnesota Chapter.

Results achieved:

  • Children enjoyed coming to school and they got active and loved to learn, play and eat together.
  • On completing six years of age all of them (100%) were enrolled into the government primary schools.
  • Through monthly follow up visits to primary schools the school teachers reported that these children were regular in attending school, their academic performance and social behavior was found to be very good.
  • Drop outs were very rare and such children were paid home visits, and parents talked to for getting them back to school.

Challenges:

  • The educational level being very low among tribals, it is difficult to find a teacher from the community for the pre-school. The teacher therefore has to come from the main village which is generally at about 2-3 kms from the tribal hamlets.
  • The pre-schools have to be located close to the hamlet where children can have easy access but these hamlets are situated in such far flung areas and difficult terrain that regular monitoringgets difficult.
  • We formed village education committees from the hamlet for community supervision of these pre-schools. Lot of inputs went into the community to appreciate the value of education but the supervision was not very effective.

Objectives of the present Survey:

  1. To find out if tribal children of 3-6 and 6-14 age groups were being covered by now fully operational ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) programme and under Right to Education, respectively.
  1. To assess the inputs required to promote education in these communities in view of changes in social and economic development over these years.

Methodology:

  • A format was prepared to collect data and two investigators visited 15 tribal hamlets and collected desired information by talking to people.
  • Some key informants were identified and they were talked to on phone to confirm information about some of these hamlets.
  • Two senior staff of MASUM visited six of these hamlets, met primary school teachers, visited ICDScentres, and had community meetings to understand the situation.

Findings:

  1. The tribal hamlets which had less than 20 children of 0-6 yr age group, the ICDS centre was not located in the hamlet and therefore the children of the hamlet were not able to access the supplementary nutritional food and educational inputs provided by the centre.
  1. The hamlets where MASUM had in the past or is presently running a pre-school, the number of children going to school was good and there were very few drop outs. The community too felt concerned about children’s education.MASUM had pre-schools in Paar-dara, Bhosar-maal, Shelvak, Gurhe-wadiandMandwa (evening school) and presently the pre-schools are running in Kuran-vasti and Godse-dara.
  1. Very few children go beyond 8th standard of schooling. There was no role model from their community – anyone with higher education leading a better life and there was no social or family support to study further.
  1. There were two free residential schools for tribal children(in Palashi and Dhavalpuri) in Parner block but very few children from these hamlets were studying in these residential schools. The general perception of the community was that the children were not cared for well in these schools run with government funds.
  1. Some hamlets namely Pot-bhari, Kale-vasti and Hadole-jhap are too small (not enough children of 3-6 yrs) to start a pre-school there. The houses at Talyacha-maal of Dhoki were dispersed over a large area near a small dam. The location of this habitat was about 2 kms of unpaved track from the road. Most of the families migrate to neighbouring towns to work on brick kilns for six months of the year.
  1. Karjule-harya hamlet was located close to the road near the main village. With forty five households and located in proximity of the main village, the people wanted their children to be educated. They offered a community hall to house the pre-school and a support class. About 27 children were attending government school in the main village. The people there demanded support for education so that their children could do better in studies and move to beyond 10th std.

Proposed Intervention Plan:

  1. Present pre-schools in Godse-dara and Kuran-vasti to continue.
  2. A pre-school to be started in Karjule-harya (indira nagar hamlet)

There were about 26 children in 3-6 age group who were enrolled in the ICDS centre located in the main village but these tribal children were not going there since the location was far off for small children.

  1. A support class to be started in Karjule-harya since there was good scope that a support class would help children go higher in education and some role models could be created.
  2. Strengthening of School Management Committees (SMCs) in six villages namely in

(i)Godse-dara (ii) Kuran-vasti (iii) Karjule-harya (Indira Nagar hamlet)

(iv)Dhoki (v) Dhotre, and (vi) Mandwa

Under Right to Education Act, it was the responsibility of the school teachers to get every child between 6 to 14 ages into school. Yet no efforts were made to get these tribal children into school and special attention paid to retain them in school. We therefore propose to involve the School Management Committees constituted under this Act, with 75% representation of parents (50% women) in monitoring the education of tribal children. Hence we propose to undertake strengthening of the SMCs by training them and involving them in the task of monitoring 100% enrolment and quality of education in the government schools. This Act also had a provision to arrange a transport for children who had to travel a distance more than 1 km for children up to 5th std and beyond 3 kms for older children.

Estimated Budget Requirement: (1st January-30th June, 2013)

Items / Amount / For 6 months
Salaries: / (Per month)
Four teachers (4 x 2250 per month = 9000) / 19,250 / 115,500
Three helpers (3 x 1750 per month = 5250)
One part time field worker (5000 per month)
Project related travel costs:
Monthly Meetings at Ralegan: 2500 per month / 5,500 / 33,000
Monthly monitoring Visits: 3000
Aids, materials and stationery / 1xRs3000 / 3,000
Teaching aids: flash cards, charts, books, toys etc.
Materials: towel/napkin etc.
Total(Indian Rupees) / 1,51,500

Budget Explanation:

  1. Four teachers include two for existing pre-schools, one for the new one at Karjule-harya and one teacher for the support class.
  2. One extra helper for the new pre-school.
  3. One part time field worker to work on strengthening the School Management Committees (SMCs) for implementation of Right to Education Act.
  4. Travel costs have gone up due to increase in Petrol/Diesel prices.
  5. Additional stationery only for the new pre-school.

Hamlet wise data:

S.N0 / Village / No of tribal house holds / Tribal Population / ICDS centre or a Pre-school by NGO / No of school going children
1st-8th9th 10th / School drop outs
Boys Girls / Comments
1 / Dhoki (Talya-cha-maal) / 26 / 114 / ICDC in main village / - / - / - / - / 6 children of 0-6 yrs
2 / Dhotre / 17 / 105 / none / 17 / - / - / -
3 / Karjuleharya
(Indira nagar) / 45 / 186 / ICDS – far off / 24 / 3 / 5 / 3 / Need pre-school and a support class
4 / Bormala (Shelvak) / 27 / 60 / Shelvak
pre school by Social Centre / 23 / 2 / 4 / 5 / 25 children of 3-6 yrs from 3 hamlets on the roll
5 / Umbri-chi-malai
(Shelvak) / 20 / 90 / 18 / 2 / 3 / 4
6 / Pot bhari / 15 / none / 29 / 2 / 5 / 3
7 / Bhosarmaal / 35 / 160 / ICDS / 36 / 1 / 1 / -
8 / Kuranvasti / 42 / 222 / MASUM / 23 / 3 / 1 / -
9 / Godsedara / 17 / 90 / MASUM / 19 / 7 / 0 / 2
10 / Paardara / 35 / 105 / ICDS / 47 / 3 / 2 / 1
11 / Mandwa (Var-chi-haati) / 37 / 111 / ICDS / 38 / 2 / - / -
12 / Mandwa (Khal-chi-haati) / 22 / 116 / ICDS / 26 / 1 / 4 / 4
13 / HadoleJhaap / 12 / 68 / ICDS / 15 / - / - / -
14 / Kale vasti / 11 / 56 / none / 6 / - / - / -
15 / Gurhewadi / 15 / 90 / ICDS / 19 / - / 1 / 2

Some Pictures of Tribal Hamlets surveyed