शनिवार, 20 फ़रवरी 2010

NEW ACTIVITIES - June to Dec. 2009

People’s Institute of Rural Development, Ahmedpur, is implementing this ““Eradication of Child Labour through Education” Project in 30 villages from Chakur Tahsil of Latur district, The major objectives of the Project are;

• Eradication of Child Labour System from the Project Area; and
• Bringing the existing Child Labour in the main stream of education.
For accomplishing the objectives, one in each village 30 “Education-cum-study Centers” are established in 30 villages. More than 700 existing child labour from these villages are attending these study centers and preparing themselves to free from child labour system and joining the main stream of education.

Implementation strategy.

1. For implementing the Project, 30 villages from Chakur Tahsil are identified. In these identified 30 vilalges 30 ““Education-cum-study Centers” are established. They are functioning in the evening daily from 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm. For running these centers local “Teachers-cum-Organizers” are appointed. These teachers provide education inputs to the children and also offer counseling and guidance services to them.

Organization has constituted a “Monitoring-cum-Support” Team of senior workers for effective functioning of these centres.
The functions of “Monitoring-cum-Support” Team are;
o Regular visits to centers
o Conducting meetings and discussions with teachers.
o Assessing problems and difficulties encountered by centres
o Provide guidance and support to teachers for overcoming problems and difficulties.
o Meeting the parents of children in difficulties and motivating them for regular
attendances of their children in Centers.
This monitoring team proved to be beneficial for improving the functioning of the
Centers and delivering the results.

2. Monthly meetings of “Teachers-cum-Organizers”.

Regular monthly meetings of “Teachers-cum-Organizers” are conducted. The agenda of these meetings is;
o Review of previous month’s activities.
o Planning for the next month.
o Feedback from teachers and parents.
o Learning from sharing and exchange.
o Formulating common strategy for improving functioning of centers.
o Resolving the problems, difficulties and conflicts.

These meetings provide first hand opportunities to all the concerned associated with Project to learn form sharing and exchange. Common strategy is evolved for improving functioning of centers. It is also provides redress mechanism for resolving conflicts; if any.

3.Development of Kitchen Gardening Skills of teachers.

A training course was conducted for teachers on 6th July, 2009 for developing
practical skills in Kitchen Gardening. The objectives were;
o Developing Kitchen Gardening skills of local Teachers, so that they can utilize
these skills for generating additional income for their families.
o Transforming these skills to children through teachers so that children’s families
can also be benefitted.

With these objectives a One day workshop was conducted. An expert, Sri Vinayak Garade, from AFARM was invited to conduct the workshop and to provide necessary inputs.
Knowledge and Skills in cultivation of vegetables in the open space around the residential place by utilizing the waste water were provided to teachers. Besides this they were also informed about nutrition and healthy diet. They were also informed about utilizing locally available food grains and vegetables for improving nutritional status of a family, also advised to consume milk, eggs and fruits if possible for healthy living.

4. Parents Meeting and Home Visits -

Parents poverty, ignorance, social backwardness, illiteracy and lack of awareness about their children’s education are the major factors contributing for number of out of school children and school drop-outs. It may not be possible to deal with poverty directly. But having dialogue with parents about other factors, it is hoped that, it may help in improving children’s attendance schools.

Therefore; a strategy is followed by teachers and senior workers of the Organization, to conduct regular home visits and have a dialogue with parents. This strategy has resulted in improving attendance in the study centers and also enrollment in regular schools.

5. Distribution of necessary stationary and other teaching material to study centers.

In the monthly meetings of “Teacher-cum-Organizers” the required stationary and other material in distributed. It includes attendance registers, note-books, chalk-boxes, story books etc.

6. Survey of Child labour;

To asses the present situation of child labour in our 30 project villages a fresh survey was conducted in the month of June-July 2009. The findings of the Survey were used for assessing the impacts of the Project.
The findings of the Survey were;
o In these 30 villages, 450 boys and 202 girls are still out of school.
o Out of them 60 are totally illiterate.
o 268 were studied upto Ist to IVth Std; and
o 325 were studied upto Vth to VIIIth std
Majority of these out of school children are working as child labour. 283 children work as agriculture labour. Some of them are engaged in taking care of their siblings, 193 children work as cow-herd boys. While 26 boys are bonded on annual contract.

7. Child Laboures Readmission in Schools.

We can see the impact of implementation of this Project. The child labour,
who attended study centers in 2008-09, have developed a taste for formal
education and 32 of them are again enrolled in regular schools. They have
become a part of the main stream education. The observations revealed that;
o Those who are above 9 yrs of age and having more than 1 yrs gap find it
difficult to join the main stream of education.
o They are not mentally prepared to adjust with the situation.
o In such situation, even though they are motivated to join the school, they
leave the school, after some period.
o The only alternative is empowering them through “Study Centre” which are
established in the villages.

8. Training of “Teachers-cum-Organizers”

In the beginning to the current year two day training course was conducted
for “Teachers-cum-Organizers” to build their capacities in following areas;
o Re-entry of child labour in regular Schools;
o Survey of situation of child labour;
o Administration and management of Study Centre;
o Planning curriculum according to the educational level of child labour
o Education through entertainment, methods of teaching;
o Use of training-teaching aids,
o Role of a teacher as a guide and counselors etc.
This training has helped the teachers in improving their capacities and
building their motivation.

9. Using Computers for education of child Labour.

Local ““Teachers-cum-Organizers” are selected and appointed for running the
Study Centers. These teachers are not highly educated, nor they are well
trained for the job. Therefore; it is not expected that they will function
as regularly trained teachers. Neither it is expected that they will teach
all the subjects. Therefore; after considering all those limitation, it was
decided to use computers as teaching aids in this programme.

After this decision, Organization searched for the donors for availability of Computers. And fortunately we could succeed in our endeavours. Tech-Mahindra and I & T Infotech from Pune donated 30 computers to the Project. Besides this Azim premji Foundation, Banglore, has donated 45 CDs and Tata Consultancy has donated “Software” which is appropriate and useful for our educations initiative. Nasscom foundation is willing to train our Teachers for utilizing these resources and material.

For utilizing the available computers, project wanted UPS, DVDs, writers, and around 300 blank CDs. For this purpose Mr. Umesh Rashmi Rohtagi and his brother Mr. Mr. Anurag Rastogi donated Rs. 70000/- and Seva International has donated $500. This amount is utilized for purchase of required material. And the order is placed with “Arin Computers, Kolkota”.

Once this material will be available, all the 30 Centers will be equipped with Computers, Software, and accessories. This initiative will result in computer literacy of the children (child labour) and opportunities for education through Multi-media.

In brief, process of identification of child labour, bringing theme to Study Centers, supporting them to join the main stream of education and freeing them form child labour system is going on. Latest technology is brought in for better results. And the impact is visible. We are hopeful that, in the coming days, by successful intervention and implementation of the Project, the system of child labour will be eradicated from the Project Area.

बुधवार, 28 जनवरी 2009

Recent Project Activities

1.0 GRADETION OF CHILDREN IN STUDY CENTERS

Our staff classified the children mainly in four grads / classes by taking various analogical & logical tests. Throughout this classification, intelligence was the sole criteria. Other issues like the age & last class attended by the children were considered non accountable.

2.0 SYLLABUS FOR CHILDREN IN STUDY CENTRES

The syllabus for study centers was designed not only in accordance with regular textbooks but also keeping in mind the view of education through entertainment. Things like study of surroundings, Physical education, General knowledge and communication skills were given priority in the syllabus.

The syllabus for each month was given to our teaching staff in the monthly meetings. After end of each month, our teaching staff submitted the teaching report.

3.0 STUDY CENTRE CHECKING & MEETINGS WITH PARENTS

In this project, it’s been usual practice to visit & examine the study centers. Our monitoring staff visited each study center on an average 2 to 3 times per month. In these visits the regularity of students, availability of educational aids & progress of students have been checked.

Our monitoring staff also visited the parents of childlabour in order to spread awareness about education. This activity helped the regularity of students in study centers.

4.0 VISITS TO VILAGE SCHOOLS

In the domain area of project that is 30 villages, our staff visited government & private schools. In these visits our staff talked with Principals and teachers on the issue of decreasing number of students in schools and the ways to improve this situation. Our staff got co-operation by teachers & they provided us with the list of students who had left the school. Teachers also helped us in meetings with parents.

5.0 DISTRIBUTION OF EDUCATIONAL AIDS TO STUDY CENTERS

To make the education easy & interesting, the necessary educational aids were distributed to all study centers.
e.g Various charts, note books, chalk boxes, black boards etc.

6.0 MONTHLY MEETINGS OF STAFF

In first week of every month, a meeting of total staff related to this project used to hold. During these meetings, reporting of previous month’s work & planning for next month’s work used to be done.

7.0 FACT SHEET

Last year in June 2007, total 65 childlabour took readmission in schools. In our follow up, it is found that out of these 65 children, 57 students are going regularly to schools. 8 students had left the school. Out of these 8 students, 2 students have lost interest in studies owing to their long gap in studies and 6 had to leave the school due to critical economic conditions at their home. These 8 children are now studying in our study centers.

This year in June 2008, total 30 childlabour took readmission in schools.

शुक्रवार, 4 अप्रैल 2008

कार्यक्रम तथा लक्ष्य प्राप्ती

Implemented Programme and Events.
Implementing the project “Elimnation of Child Labour Through Education”, the following main activities were he also
1. Educational Awareness Campaign for Eradication of child labour
The “Educational Awareness Campaign for Eradication of child labour is the most important activity in the project. It encompasses
Generating awareness amongst the parents about education.
2. Generating interest and liking for education amongst the children,
3. Act for child labour prevention and eradication at the village level.

Campaign Training and Methodology
A training programme was held on 1st and 2nd May for the project staff and volunteers. In this training keeping in mind the objective of the campaign, we discussed & planned regarding duration, campaign activities, role of volunteers, village level people participation, the need to spend at least 3 days in each village (total 30 villages). In this training programme the following topics were covered: the problem of child labourers, efforts made by the Government and other organisations to eradicate child labour, laws relating to child labour and their implementation, importance of education, the role of village education committees, etc. In consultation with the resource persons the following programme for the campaign was worked out.

Implementation of the Campaign Programme
Activities with Children. Both school going and out of school (working as labourers) were contacted and problems relating to the school, schooling were discussed. Entertainment programmes and competitions were arranged. Of all the participants in the campaign, we got the best co-operation from children, Altogether 3495 children, out of which 131 were girls, took part. Meetings with Different Village Groups. As planned, in each village meetings were held with the village education committee, women and youth groups. Topics covered were conditions in the school, their attitude towards schooling, child labour Etc. In these meetings spontaneous and the best response was from women. In the thirty villages where such meetings were held, 15 to 45 women took part. Next in matter of taking interest was the group of the young. The most disappointing response was from the very people on whom the responsibility for education rested, namely the Village Education Committee. The women said that they would participate in the future also. Please see Appendices for more details. Public Meetings (GRAM SABHA). At least two village meetings or gatherings were held in each village. Guidance was given using video shows. In such meetings a number of notable people, teachers, doctors, lawyers, social workers, farm labourers etc took part. All of them contributed their thought on the questions of child labour and its eradication through education. Participation by Volunteers. A total of 35 volunteers helped in running the campaign successfully. In each village, volunteers from the village also took part and showed their interest in the objectives of the campaign. Organiser’s Training Programme on Litercy. This programme was held in the premises of Residential School for the Disabled. The topics discussed were: social awareness, developmental awareness, teacher – student relationship, responsibilities of the teachers, school and class room atmosphere, Marathi and Arithmetic, literacy, teaching methodology etc. For this programme Shri. R.E. Khandagale of the State resource Centre, Aurangabad, Mr. SP Kulkarni, Mr.VS Lahane, and the President of PIRD, Shri Macchindra Gojamae took part and gave in depth guidance.More about campaign .....

2. Appeal to take Advantage of Residential Schools.
Boys from socially and economically backward class could not join school due to certain difficulties. PIRD was prepared to help such boys who wanted to get admitted to class 5th to 12th. A leaflet stating the above and requesting parents to get in touch with PIRD was distributed in villages. Village wise visits were also undertaken to explain the above

3. Re-admission of Child Labourers to School
Using the medium of the programme of Eliminating Child labour Through Education study centres were conducted regularly in 30 villages during March to July. In addition Educational Awareness Campaign programme was conducted between 7 May and 11 June.2007. During the course of this activity our workers and resource persons met the parents held talks with them, generated awareness amongst them regarding the importance of education. As a result of this 65 child Labourers out of a total of 710,

In the Project Eliminating Child labour Through Education, the main emphasis was on admission of school drop out and child Labourers in schools. Also to arrange free admissions to poor and needy students in residential schools. During this period representatives of The United Way, Mumbai, namely Mr Charu Jain and Ravi Rajure visited the on-going programme.

4. “Dharane” Satyagraha
On the Child Labour Day, 30th April, a satyagraha was staged jointly by PIRD and the State’s programme for eradication of child labour, at the Tehsil office in Chakur, District Latur. It was resolved that the State should be urged to undertake widespread schemes in his respect. The following demands were made.
.1. Various programmes for eradication of child labour, establishing village schools and for effecting universal literacy be vigorously implemented.
2. A free hostel facility should be provided for needy children
3. The Child Labour Act of 1986 should be strictly enforced.
4. Landless labours be given work throughout the year.
5. Children who have been freed from child labour should be rehabilitated through schooling or job oriented training.
6. A comprehensive central act. be enacted to protect farm workers.
.
A memorandum listing the above demands was presented to the Tehsildar

5. 17 GramSabha in one Day.: -
With solidarity of Wada Na Todo 17 Gramsabhaswere held on 17th OCT in 17 Villages the programe is highleted with Millinium goal regarding education, Employment, Health & human rights. Thease gramsabhas were called by concern villages on requiest of PIRD.Various resolutions passed by gramsabhas about education of children and their health, employment for labourer and women & dalit Rights.


6. Bal Panchayat:-
Special Bal Panchayat Sabhas were held on on World human Rights Day on 10th December 2007 in 25 Villages. The programe is highleted with rights of Children , specially education and Health about children. In such programme a number of notable people, teachers, social workers, farm labourer’s etc took part. All of them contributed their thought on the questions of child labour and its eradication through education and Health. We invited Gram Sarpanchs in every village and discursed about their village children their problems and we planed number of programs for children in different sectors like health , education, sports).

7. Balika Shikshan Din Programme
In spite of undertaking various activities for Girls Education, it has not been possible to make any major breakthrough in certain difficult pockets, especially those dominated by population from the SC/ST/Other Backward Classes / Minority communities. In some of the areas, migratory population, or the practice of child labour have posed major problems. The most important factor that has Retention and Quality Assurance for girls is the societal attitude towards the necessity of educating the girl child, especially at the upper primary level. A Programme was organized on 3rd December at Ajansonda Kh) by project staff and a number of notable people, social workers, farm labourer’s etc took part (The birthday of Savitri Phulle) this programme we organized some events in sports.

8. School Drop Outs Survey – 2007-08
We all of knows thre is regular school drop outs in our society. We are trying to find what is the percentage of current year of drop outs in our project area ? as well as we are going to search what are the real reasons of school drop outs in the year 2007-08. The survey is in progress.

Hence the PRID has been designed for undertaking more intensive gender interventions in Future

Special attention is paid to adolescent girls through the proposed development of supplementary teaching material that will include material on women achievers, nutrition, sanitation, Ivironment, gender and legal issues.



Training Programmes & other Activities
1. Organiser’s Training Programme on Litercy. This programme was held in the premises of Residential School for the Disabled. The topics discussed were: social awareness, developmental awareness, teacher – student relationship, responsibilities of the teachers, school and class room atmosphere, Marathi and Arithmetic, literacy, teaching methodology etc. For this programme Shri. R.E. Khandagale of the State resource Centre, Aurangabad, Mr. SP Kulkarni, Mr.VS Lahane, and the President of PIRD, Shri Macchindra Gojamae took part and gave in depth guidance

2.. Training of Study Centre Staff
Thirty organisers from the Study Centres in the project villages attended a one day, and a two day, training session in the month of September. Improving their skills, strengthening their inter-action with children, and teaching using simple, interesting and Entertaining methods were the areas covered. The sessions, or seminars, were held on 1st, and, 22nd and 23rd September.

3. Training of Gram Shikhan Samiti Staff
In the last phase of the campaign for elimination of child labour through education conducted by PIRD the objective projected before the Gram Shikshan Samiti was that not a single child should be out of school and not a single child should be engaged in labour. For this purpose it is necessary to arrange training for the staff of the Samiti and this was what PIRD was engaged in for the past two months. The programme got delayed due to rains, holidays and lack of resource persons. Ultimately it was held on 30th September, 2007 at the taluka village Chakur.

Three representatives from each of the village study groups were invited In fact only 25 representatives attended.In some villages the impending Gram Panchayat elections came in the way of representatives attending..In this programme the topics covered were : organisation of the Gram Shikshan Samiti, its functioning, its aims and its responsibilities. Shri Vaijanath Surnar and Subhash Motheroa, the project director, conducted the proceedings. There was also a question and answer session. Because of this those present could get a good idea of the working of the Gram Shikshan Samiti. The staff of the samitis became more aware of their duties and responsibilities. They were also expected to keep a eye on the working of the village school, check the efforts made by the teachers, parents and wards to get the drop outs back into school. The should establish a dialogue with these persons and ensure that, as far as possible, there is no dilution in the education process.

During the course of the programme the participants said that they were, till then, not aware of the importance of the Samiti. Our signatures were obtained on the school register. The headmaster did not call for any meetings with us. In future we shall take more interest in the working of the school.


Other Activities
Evaluation of the Organisers Cum Teachers and Training of Study Centre Staff

In order to increase the performance levels of the organisers and motivate them to train themselves more, a performance appraisal was done. A test was conducted and the organisers were asked to solve a question paper covering the village, taluka, district and state and country level awareness, history, arithmetic, geography and other subjects. The examinees were expected to give one line answers. Nearly 70 % f the organisers came up to expectations. The remaining 30 % were given guidance on how they could improve their studies. Those securing the first three places were felicitated. The organisers stated that they should continue to get guidance on increasing their performance levels. They expressed the hope that they would be able to establish rapport with the audience, face them with confidence. They hopes that they would be given training to secure these objectives. Thirty organisers from the Study Centres in the project villages attended a one day, and a two day, training session in the month of September. Improving their skills, strengthening their inter-action with children, and teaching using simple, interesting and Entertaining methods were the areas covered. The sessions, or seminars, were held on 1st, and, 22nd and 23rd September.

Inspection of Study Centers of the Village level
A regular feature of the project is to observe the working of the village level study groups. Visits, at least two or three every month, are paid to all the study groups in all the villages falling under the PIRD Project. During these observation visits the working of the group, its regular functioning, the attendance of students, availability of the required study material, the progress made by students and such items are covered. Information on work which is done at the village level as a whole, is also provided and assistance taken of other persons and organisations.

Distribution of Study Material to Study Groups
At the time of the formation of the Study groups, class room material was initially provided. This included black boards, slates, copy books, pencils, chalk, drawing paper, drawing pencils, colour pencils, etc. Light kits for the class rooms and registers, attendance register etc were also given. At this initial stage material which would enable teaching to become interesting and related to day to day life had not been provided to child workers. Hence such special material was procured. It included calendars, alphabet and numerical charts and blocks, vocabulary charts, multiplication tables, charts listing numbers from one to hundred, English alphabet and words, mathematical symbols etc. A session was held to show how this material should be used while teaching children. All this has led to the belief that the children of the study groups will speedily benefit. Along with study material, each study group was given a set of 12 to 15 books. These books were such that the newly literate would be able to read them without difficulty and interest in reading would come about in different age groups. The books were of stories, poems, picture stories, biographies of great men, health topics, nature, and social issues. In addition some books which would prove useful to the organisers of the study groups and the parents, were also given.

Project Visit by United Way of Mumba
The united Way of Mumbai team visited two times in during the project period. Charu Jain and Ravi Rajure from the United Way of Mumbai visited the project on 6th and 7th July 2007.Sibani Sachdeva, Director of the United Way of Mumbai herself visited on 5th Jan।2008 They are satisfed with organization work .

We surely have plans to expand the project considering the problems they encounter. Our Organization is very thankful to UNITED WAY OF MUMBAI for giving support to run it smoothly and also support to ELIMINATING OF CHILDLABOUR THROUGH EDUCATION , which makes their life happy and comfortable. And also thank to all sponsors.

हमारे बारे में

मेरी फ़ोटो
अहमदपूर , जी. लातूर, महाराष्ट्र, India
ग्रामीण विकास लोक संस्था यह संस्था महाराष्ट्र के लातूर जिले मी ग्रामीण विकास तथा सामाजिक परिवर्तन के क्षेत्र मे पिछले 30 साल से ग्रामीण मजदूर , महिलायें, किसान तथा बालामजदूर और बालिका के साथ कार्यरत है .