adharshila learning centre newsletter_july - december 2014

7/26/2019 Adharshila Learning Centre Newsletter_July - December 2014

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ADHARSHILA

LEARNING CENTRE

The children have an active role in running theschool. At the beginning of the year 20 children were made

karyakartaas, incharge of various activities of the school like

mess, newspaper, Shiksha, guests, T.V . The karyakartaas meet

monthly (Swashaasan meeting) with teachers and discuss the

issues related to their department. There is a general meeting

where all children participate and tell the problems they are

facing.

The Saturday Baal Sabhas were done quite regularly in the past

months. Different groups are given responsibility to conduct the

Baal Sabha. There are individual performances and the group also

shares what they have learnt during the week. Basically this is a

forum for children to show their talents and shed their inhibitions.

Anniversaries, Jayantees or important days are also celebrated

here.

Running the Show..

Issue 3, Session 2014-15July 2014 - December2014

AdharshilaLearningCentre

Incorporating Democraticprocesses in running the

school is one of the strong

aims of Adharshila.Student

meetings, newspapers and

trying to develop an atmos-

phere where children can

speak out to teachers is very

important for Democracy in

Schools.

Adharshila Learning Centre is a

place of learning where children

live and learn.

Situated on a hill in Sakad, a

tribal village in the Barwani dis-

trict of Madhya Pradesh, Adhar-

shila strives to build a strong

foundation for the intellectual

and physical development of the

child and help them realise their

dreams. It explores alternative

ways of learning and teaching.

Started in 1996, Adharshila has

grown into a residential facility

for 100 children upto middle

school. Most of the children be-

long to the Barela tribe.

Weekly NewspaperThe weekly newpaper is another forum for the children to air

their views. They write about their tussles with the teachers,

problems in the mess, teacher - teacher fights and village

news etc.

The school participated in the National Convention against Privatisation

of Education which will directly hit the chances of the poorer sectionsto go ahead through higher education.

Saturday Baal Sabhaa


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animals is a day children

wait for. Everyday thre

kids have this duty which

means a day off from the

school.

The hearth near the

kitchen sitting is also a fa-

To try and have elements of

childrens home life at Adhar-

shila is very important to us.

We believe that hostels are not

the best places to learn, though

they have their advantages.

Guvaliya duty, to take care of the

vourite place for small chil-

dren after school.

The children are left with

free time and not pressured

to always do something all

the time.

Rhythm of home life at Adharshila

Organic Farming provides a

great learning environment and isvery engaging at least till class 6.

In the smaller ages children are

not worried too much about the

fruits but as they grow older

their level of interest depends on

the plant growth. For eg. the Ama-

zon group (6th) lost interest in

the papaya plot when they saw

The Bhopal show of Bhanai by the

Naatak India Company was made

possible due to financial support by

friends and friendly organizations.

A new feature of this years

performance was that four ex

students also participated. Good.

Swabhaav, a group

from Kolkata spent

20 days with the chil-

dren and prepared a

play Bhania Raja,based on a folk story.

The play was shown in

schools and villages in

Barwani district. The second play Bhanai was staged

in Bhopal (400 km) at the Cultural Resistance organ-

ized by All India Shiksha Sangharsh

Yaatra.

Page 2 Adharshila Learning Centre

that most of them had turned

male. The children love to culti-

vate small vegetable plots.

Besides providing vegetables

for the 110 member mess and

three households the organic

farm is a demonstration of turn-

ing two acres of barren land to

green area comprising of vegeta-

ble plots and a tree plot and this

done using only organic farming

techniques.

The farm also gives us anopportunity to propogate

traditional seeds and preserve

biodiversity. We now have about

8 varieties of beans, cherry

tomato which is a wild variety on

which more than 100 fruits can

be seen at a time: and about

more than 150 varieties of treesAdharshila Organic Farm

Theatre Workshop

A 15 day workshop was done

by Swabhaav group from Kol-

kata and a play Bhaniya Raja

was prepared. All the middle

school children participated in

the workshop. Four shows of

the play were staged in schools

and villages around Sakad. The

workshop was facilited by

SRUTI, Delhi.


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Children and teachers

devote one day in a

month to wall painting.This is part of a project

to create a text and

graphic rich environment

in the school. It is espe-

cially beneficial for the

small children who grow

up seeing words and con-

cepts that they will learn

in later years.

Wall Painting DayThis year we started a Recycling Day. Lot of paper is

torn and collected in the dustbin. The senior children

of Octopus and Nile groups made a softboard in their

classroom. The smaller children love making paper

mache balls. Mixed with cowdung one can make beau-

tiful toys.

We have been trying to do this for many years. Retry-

ing this year again. Usually it works for one or two

times.

The leaves and other organic farm waste goes to make

amrut mitti by composting or they go directly to mulch

vegetable plots.

Celebrating local festivals also helps children to keep

connected with village life and their tradition. We celebrated

Navai when the first beans ripened, then Village Diwali -

colouring and worshipping the bullocks.

Another local festival is the poola where children go to seethe bullock cart race in Chaatli, a nearby village.

Recycling Day.

July 2014 - December2014 Page 3

Working with the hand is a

very strong value that is

created in Adharshila. Senior

children are responsible for

plumbing, electrical amd

masonary repa ir work.

Tinkering is a key word here.

!!BrightIdea!!RecyclingDayWallPaintingDay

Celebrating Local Festivals

C

R

A

F

T

Artists wanted !!


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Adharshila LearningPage 4

Suresh Dudwe an ex student got admission in M.Phil. through a rigorous en-trance test and viva in the Wardha Central Hindi University.

Kamal Dudwe of the first batch completed his MA Economics from BHU in

first class. Also cleared the preliminaries of MPSCS exam and a written

exam for PhD at Allahabad University.

Prakash Walvi another ex student has joined Adharshila as activity facili-

tator. He is also documenting adivasi culture of his area. Interested in

learning photography and film.

Suresh arole through his hard work has made his place in a local NGO

working for differently abled people while doing his graduation. He is

thinking of doing MSW.

The Harvest

Togetherness

Majalii, an ex student and now one of the senior teach-

ers was trained to give first aid and treat malaria,

stomach upsets, dysentery, headaches and simple wounds

Healing TouchWe are also trying to promote home reme-

dies, herbal medicines and homeopathy.

Mostly this is the route before we head for

the doctor in the city.We saved the aloev-

era fence just in time as its jelly has be-

come a favorite with kids and teachers

alike for shampooing the head.

Your best wishes needed for our Heroes

We are not satisfied with just school. We want our children to achieve their full potential.

Sports Day


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Some Hi Tech.. Adharshila RadioLast year we started an initiative to broadcast short conversations via

mobile. These broadcasts were to promote the idea of organic farm-

ing. This year the senior students scripted and recorded short audios

for the Adharshila Mobile Radio Program. They chose a social issue

of their concern like organic farming, addiction, education etc. Once

we have more than 10 audios we will go on air. They will hopefully

learn editing in the next term.

Two professors of the Work and Education group in the Azim PremjiUniversity accompanied by the leaders of their Madhya Pradesh team

came to look at Adharshilas work.

A group of co-ordinators and teachers from Talimi Haq School, Kolkata

stayed for 5 days for an exchange of ideas. Besides education we also ex-

changed food ideas !

Harishchandra, Punjab - A Govt. school teacher, runs an idependent

school with wife.

Ashok Choudhary, Chariman, Adivasi Ekta Parishad

Dr.Jitendra Vasave, specialist on tribal languages, Gujarat. Rajesh Kanouje, Mukesh Dudwe and Gajanand Brahmane - Activists of

Adivasi Mukti Sangathan.

Page 5July 2014 - December2014

Interactions With Other Institutions...

Teacher Training - Two day workshop with teachers of schools run by Khedut Mazdoor Chetana Sangath

in Vakner, District Alirajpur, M.P

Curriculum Development for literacy program of women members of self help groups in Ajmer district,

Rajashthan

Material development for bridge course children based on RTE and organic farming techniques for Lok-

mitra, U.P.

Interaction with youth and children of refugees in Jammu.

Two lectures at Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

Manpur Shivir- Talk and discussion on Problems of Education in Tribal areas organized by Adivasi Ekta

ParishadSambhavana Education Workshop - We were invited to conceptualise and conduct a 3 day

workshop on Education and Social Change. Had a first time experience of workshop with cityfolks with

diversed backgrounds.

Children of the school participated in Birsa Munda Jayanti (15thNov. 2014 ) in Sendhwa.

Visitors...


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Adults

Adharshila is run primarily by a local team of

adivasis -

Badribhai

Devika Behen

Majali (Ex student)

Shanta

Kesarsingh(Ex student)

Shobaram Kanouje

Prakash (Ex student)

And volunteers

Nidhi from Bhopal, Amrita from APJ Institute

did her internship and Pappu an ex student

came to help during his holidays.

The team is guided by Amit and Jayashree

and supported by local adivasi activists, pri-

marily Gajanand Bhai, Rajeshbhai, andMukesh bhai and Adivasi Mukti Sangathan.

Children

There are 102 children, divided in 8 groups

starting from the youngest -Beej, Yamuna,

Kaveri, Brahmputra, Amazon, Nile and Oc-

topus.

There are more than 15 karyakartas who

look after the various jobs - TV shows, mess,games, visitors etc.

Who runs Adharshila

About us.

The Adharshila Learning Centre was started

in 1998 by the Veer Khajiya Naik Manav Vikas

Pratishthan.To provide quality education to children of

marginalized sections of society.

To propogate the ideas of Equality, Secular-

ism, Democracy and Progressive thought.

Adharshila runs on contributions made by

parents of children studying here and friends

of Adharshila. Many friends contribute by

volunteering.

ToDonateorVolunteer

Contact

adharshila.learningcentre@gm

ail.com

09685843272

08889289196

ADHARSHILA

LEARNINGCENTRE

adharshila learning centre newsletter_july - december 2014

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