INDIA
Organization: Centre for Alternative Research in Development (CARID)
Children’s Education Program - West Bengal

Located near the Indo-Bangladesh border of West Bengal, Ramchandrapur has a population that roughly consists of 73% Scheduled castes and 1% Scheduled tribes. Approximately 150 families have migrated to Ramchandrapur in the last five years and the stream of migration is still continuing unabated.

The village economy is mainly agricultural. Most of the working populations of the area, which includes children, are either cultivators or agricultural laborers. The government funded village primary school is ill equipped and has only three teachers for the 295 students. Unable to meet the educational needs of the children, the drop out rate of the children from this region is thought to be as high as 50% at the primary level, 30% between level six and level eight, 10% at the nine and ten levels and 5% at the eleven and twelve levels. In order to both retain attendance in the school system and encourage first generation learners CARID have undertaken an education program designed to provide non-formal learning centers for the students in basic education subjects and extracurricular activities such as art competitions, health promotion and environmental awareness. Two centers are operated by CARID with one for Scheduled caste students and the other for Scheduled tribal students. LOMEF/ARF has made grants that support both of these centers in the form of teacher’s salaries and teaching materials/aids.

Ramchandrapur Village School

At the Ramchandrapur school, two locally educated, unemployed youths were employed to teach the children. Ram Kishor Sangha, a prominent youth organization in the region provided space for the classroom. The school offers education for first generation learners who have never been enrolled in schools with a view to encouraging them to join the formal school system. They also offer free coaching to students enrolled in local primary schools who find it difficult to cope with schoolwork either because they are illiterate or because they are too poor to engage private tutors. Classes are conducted from nursery level through to level three. In these classes, students learn in a Bengali medium of instruction with a small amount of English also studied.

Srimantapur Tribal School

Srimantapur village is a tribal dominated area with approximately sixty Mundas’ families living there. In this village there is only one person who has passed level ten and another who has passed level nine but was unable to continue her study due to financial difficulties.

The basic pre-conditions for study, time and appropriate facilities are not available to the tribal children who engage themselves in laboring work during harvest time. The children were also not availing themselves of the facilities offered by the CARID educational centre due to its location quite far away and the teaching times. Therefore, a school was established in the area. Regular classes are held but they are not divided into levels and the school time table is changed according to the agricultural season. This allows students to fulfill financial obligations to their families and also attend the center. A young, educated tribal woman was recruited as coordinator and 26 students currently attend the school.

Exams are held every six months and they have demonstrated an increase in the levels of basic literacy and numeracy among students with reduced levels of absenteeism also in evidence as compared to initial periods. A permanent school building has further been arranged, with local funds mobilized for repair costs and local labor provided free of charge by the villagers.
These three factors indicate that education is increasingly being viewed as an important need, not just by the children themselves but also by the wider community.

Organization: Lok Swar Non-formal Education Center for Children - Dhurwa Slums

The Dhurwa area of Ranchi was once a prosperous place due to the presence of heavy industrial installations, however, since their closure unemployment rates have risen dramatically and quality of life has declined rapidly. Today, the 200 families living in this slum area are daily wage earners making approximately 60 rupees per day through small businesses such as rickshaw pulling, rag picking, milk delivery, and food and small goods vendors. This income is not enough to meet even the basic needs of families, let alone the financial requirements of attending government schools. The current literacy rate stands at only 15% among school age children and an appalling 0.5% for the women of the population. The project area is also plagued with other problems linked with financial hardship such as indebtedness, alcohol and drug abuse, family violence, and communal conflict.

Within this situation and with the support from LOMEF/ARF for teacher’s salaries, teaching aids, activity materials, and classroom stationary, Lok Swar initiated their education program for children of the area in May 2004. The program began with the establishment of a free of cost non-formal education center and with just 11 children in attendance. Initially, little support was given by the community with families unconvinced of the benefits of education, particularly as it is a long term commitment. This hesitation, however, was overcome by constant liaising between Lok Swar and the community, particularly the village women.

A total of 43 children, 27 girls and 16 boys, aged between 6 – 15 years now regularly attend the center and receive instruction in Hindi, English, mathematics, and moral science. The instruction follows the curricula used in formal government schools in order to keep the children on par with basic levels of education in India. Classes are run in the morning five days per week, with three part-time teachers sharing the responsibility for the lessons and the co-curriculum activities such as counseling, health education, art & craft, and sport that are a regular routine for the development of the children outside the classroom.

The mobilization of the target communities’ children has firmly taken place and motivated the community, particularly the mothers of the children, to participate in other activities related to their communities’ development. The overall enthusiasm can now be seen through the participation of these women in all events organized by Lok Swar that are held under the umbrella of the project, be it a sports day for their children or the general running of the center. Local fund contributions and help in maintenance of the center further demonstrate a keen interest and active participation in the program by community members.

Expansion of the education program and for the formation of savings and loans groups for small income generating projects has been put forward by the community women. In view of this, Lok Swar is looking to 1) open up two new centers in the coming year and register eligible students with the local government school in order that they are formally accredited. 2) Provide support for vocational training, seed money funds and marketing of products for village women’s income generating projects. Some women’s self-help groups have already begun to form.