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Door Step School -Mumbai Project Annual Report 2006-07

DOOR STEP SCHOOL – MUMBAI

ANNUAL REPORT 2006-2007

INTRODUCTION

"Education was to open the way to thinking and knowing, and the schools, as the outstanding organ for people's education, must serve that end exclusively"

Albert Einstein

Believing strongly in this philosophy, Door Step School started its work 20 years ago in a few slums of Ward A with a focus on providing education to children who would otherwise go without it. Slowly as the organization began to consolidate its efforts, other slum areas were reached out to in Wards B and very recently, in Ward E. Work has now spread to 34 locations catering to more than 3,000 children in the community and as many more through direct intervention in the municipal schools.

Non-formal education for out of school children was the first community based education programme to be initiated, while simultaneously planning for the balwadi (pre-school preparation) as a preventive measure and study class (extra-coaching for school going children) as a supportive one has been started in consequent years, with the aim of 1) identifying children before they reach the school going age and 2) helping to sustain them within the school set up, once they are admitted. Door Step School has had one goal while working in the communities i.e. imparting of literacy skills. After working in the communities for the almost two decades now, the goal remains unchanged and any expansion of activity is related to it.

Position Of Door Step School Community Based Classes In Mumbai & Pune

COMMUNITY BASED BALWADIS

On Door Step School's part, running a balwadi worked as a net to "catch them young". Once children are identified, their progress can be followed up regularly

1/48 www.doorstepschool.org [email protected]

In Mumbai * In Pune

Type of ClassNo. of units Boys Girls

Total

No. of units Boys Girls

Total

BALWADI 36 575 640 1215 43 492 562 1054N F E 29 315 524 839 50 500 655 1155STUDY CLASS 41 563 466 1029 29 290 300 590Total 5882 106 1453 1630 3083 122 1282 1517 2799

NB : Approximately another 20,000 children are covered through direct intervention in corporation schools in both cities.

* The 32 children who attended class for 1 month at The British Gas worksites have not been included here.

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.doorstepschool.org/


and enrollment in school is almost ensured. The balwadi programme is more a school preparatory one and less academic.

Emphasis is given to a child remaining at the centre for 2 hours at a stretch, coming regularly and participating in class. The introduction of various concepts identification of colours, shapes, alphabet, etc. done besides children are also taught pattern of writing. The concept of numbers is introduced and these children are found to perform better in math later in school. On an average 80% of the children enrolled in the Door Step School balwadis carry on to the local municipal school.

Distribution of children attending Door Step School balwadis

Ward Balwadi Units

Girls

Boys

Total

Ward A

Ganesh Murti Nagar 2 40 34 74Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (Punarvasit) 4 67 60 127Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (EXT) 2 38 48 86Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar 3 64 58 122Shiv Shakti Nagar 1 27 16 43Mahatma Phule Nagar (Nariman Point) 1 16 9 25P. D Mello Road 1 10 12 22

B Ward Masjid Bunder 3 34 32 66Wadi Bunder –SoW II 1 17 11 28

E ward

New Tank Bunder 5 110 75 185Kawla Bunder 1 20 24 44Boat Hard Street 1 21 19 40Kolsa Bunder 1 10 11 21Hariyana Gt 1 15 12 27Lakdi Bunder 2 34 24 58Reti Bunder 1 11 11 22Powder Bunder 1 11 9 20Darga Galli 2 40 44 84

Total 33 586 508 1094School Support Activity

At Colaba Municipal School 3 54 67 121

Grand Total 36 640 575 1215

Balwadis covered a total of 1215 children between the years of 3-6 years in the different target areas. The Junior group (3-4years) consists of 696 children while the Senior group ( 4-6 years) has 519 children. About 80 % of the children were enrolled in 2006-2007, the rest having continued from the previous year.

At the end of the year in June 07, 32% had enrolled in formal school, 39% will continue with Door Step School, about 29% had discontinued by the end of the year. (For reasons, refer explanation given earlier under Municipal Enrolment)





Children in the Balwadis participated in a large variety of activities designed to help develop their cognitive and motor skills. Mehman pehechano ( Guess who?) and Nazaro ka khel ( an observation game) were among the favourite games. Chipak kam (collage work with coloured bits of paper) was also an activity they greatly enjoyed.

Some festival celebrations like Dahi Handi and Raksha bandhan were celebrated at class level. While events where the balwadi children performed and that brought the children of all the balwadis together were organized for Christmas and Republic Day at Ward A and Ward E respectively.

During Diwali a magic show was organized by inviting a professional who showed tricks such as flowers emerging from a hat, paper coming out from the magician's mouth and so on. The children were totally mesmerized and extremely happy at the event. It was a special occasion for them as they never have a chance to see such shows.

Education visits are an exciting experience for the little ones and whatever the venue Kamla Nehru Park or Rani Baug it is usually a first for them.

Balwadi teachers participated in an inter organizational workshop organized by Sesame Workshop where they oriented the Door Step School team to the material they have produced. This is to be introduced in Door Step School balwadis shortly.

The Niramaya Foundation was invited to talk to the Balwadi teachers about their health care programme for preschoolers, which was introduced in one community. In the coming year it may be taken up in more communities that Door Step School is working in.

Parents meetings were regularly held for all parents groups. They played a more important role in Ward E as this was the year entry into those communities.

At one of the meetings in Ward E, the representatives of the Rajasthani Mahila Mandal in Tardeo talked to the parents of an English medium school that was to open in June 2007, where they intended to offer quality education at a nominal fee. Initially the parents showed interest but later opted out as the school was too far and fees higher than they were ready to pay.

A group of volunteers of the corporate HSBC supporting some of the balwadis had desired to have some interaction with the children. They spent a very enjoyable morning taking a variety of art and craft activities with the drawing, puzzles, craft work with 90 balwadi children, who were thrilled with the attention they got from the new ‘didis’ and uncles.

COMMUNITY BASED NON FORMAL EDUCATION CLASSES





Children in urban slum communities and pavement communities often form part of a family where education is not a priority. The family may have moved to the city with the sole objective of earning a living, sometimes even supporting an extended family in the village. Every member of the family who can lend a hand towards that cause is expected to do so. Therefore, even if Municipal schools are there and offer free education, children do not go to the school as there is no time to spare for 5-6 hours of daily schooling. The non formal education classes come into the picture right here. If these children are to be prevented from growing up into illiterate adulthood there has to be a more flexible way of education reaching them. Non formal education seems to be the answer. It is non formal in every possible way- the place where class is conducted, the duration and timing, the content and the teaching methods used.

The School on Wheels which enables the organisation to take education to the scattered groups of street children first became a reality in July 1998 (from now on referred to as SoW I). This was joined by a second School on Wheels in 2005 ( from now on referred to as SoW II). Both School on Wheels service street children and pavement communities in different areas.

The first School on Wheels was replaced as per RTO rules this August. On August 28, ‘06, a new School on Wheels was inaugurated at the Y B Chauhan Centre. The guests of Honour at the inaugural function were Mr Akira Iwanade, the Chief Consul representing the Consulate of Japan and Mr Murli Deora, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India.

Distribution Of Children Attending Door Step School Non Formal Education Classes

Ward Non Formal Education Classes Units Girls Boys TotalWard

AGanesh Murti Nagar 1 10 16 26Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (Punarvasit)

478 23 101

Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (EXT) 3 67 27 94Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar 6 118 32 150Domestic Workers Class 1 - 21 21Shiv Shakti Nagar 1 15 2 17Crawford Market- SoW I 1 15 14 29Fashion Street- SoWI 1 15 14 29

Ward B

Masjid Bunder 1 10 19 29Wadi Bunder- SoW II 5 121 73 194

Ward E

New Tank Bunder 3 48 60 108Boat Hard Street 1 9 3 12Pardhiwada 1 18 11 29

Grand Total 29 524 315 839

'Hiresh, a 10 yr. old boy, used to collect scrap material in order to sell and get money. He was reached out to by Door Step School but was very irregular in coming to an NFE class at Backbay area. Even if he came he would remain in class only for 20-25 minutes. Over a period of time due to constant motivation by the teacher as well as the class activities which caught his interest, he started enjoying the classes. His achievement skills further encouraged him to attend





regularly. His interest did not stop only to himself, but he encouraged other scrap picking children in the area to come to the NFE class'.

Conducive classroom environment and teaching methodology, educational visits, festival celebration, extra curricular activities, visit to computer class and learning center etc. encourage the children to built up confidence and liking for learning.

Gender wise pattern of attendance in non formal education classes

TYPE OF CLASS SEX >50% 49-21% <20%

Grand Total

N F EGirls 145 221 158 524

(27% girls) (42% girls) (30% girls)

Boys 100 134 81 315(31% boys) (42% boys) (26% boys)

Class content in non formal education classes is closely linked to the language and math syllabus followed in the Municipal Schools to enable children to take year end exams like the other school going children. Maximum children are those preparing for Std. I. The number of children remaining in class for more than 2 years is less than 20%.

For the classes on the School on Wheels, the coordinator put to use some of the strategies he had earlier tried out with similar groups of children. One such strategy was what he refers to as the 100 days project. A very conscious effort is made as part of this project to have the children in class learn all the letters of the Hindi Alphabet and numbers from 1-100. The children who attend regularly, that is about of a third of them, do pick up quite fast but once again the ones who attend less than 50 % of the time continue to lag behind.

Though a prize for best attendance in class was introduced, for the students on the School on Wheels, the irregularities continued. It is not always the child's level of interest that affects their attendance in class. There are many factors involved here. This year one of the factors that affected the children's attendance in class was the BMC drive against unauthorized squatters. Parents used to insist that the children stay at home while they themselves were out at work. If the BMC van came around then someone should be "at home" to salvage what they could from being taken off. This hindered the attendance of the school going children as well and emerged as on of the major reasons for irregularity at a parent meeting called by the school in February.

Parents’ meetings that evoked that a good response were those where the agenda included the BMC rounds. This year, stringent measures have been introduced for removing unauthorized squatters from the pavement and also rounding up beggars. The children were also picked up in these rounds. The Door Step School team helped the parents make contact with their children who were taken to the





Remand home. The Door Step School team took this opportunity to emphasise the role of parents in caring for their children.

We gave the necessary documentation to prove that these children were part of our classes, and that some were also attending Municipals Schools. This facilitated the release of some of the children from the Remand home on the grounds that missing school would hinder their ability to cope with their school work.

Level Wise Percentage Distribution Of Students In Non Formal Education Classes 06-07

Class level Girls Boys General

I 73.48% 72.15% 73.04%II 12.78% 11.39% 12.31%III 10.54% 12.66% 11.25%IV 3.19% 3.80% 3.40%

Performance Of Students In Non Formal Education Classes - 07 MarchChildren Knowing

Class Level

All Alphabets All Matras

Jod Akshar (combined letters)

Makes Words

Able To Answer Simple Questions

Std. I 27% 2% 9% 45% 22%Std. II 76% 36% 20% 40% 42%

Std. III & Std. IV

Words Makes Sentence

Question Answer

Independent Writing

Letter Writing

Paragraph Writing

100% 63 % 98% 75% 65% 57%

The above table is based on performance of the students in language (Hindi) as recorded in March 2007. Performance levels show that the pace of learning picks up both in Language & Math in children who have been attending for 2 years or more.

The year end exam for the BMC were scheduled for early April, and 189 children from the non formal education classes were identified as prepared for taking the exams for class levels I – IV, as appropriate.

Class Level

Children Listed For The BMC School Exam

Listed Children Took The Exam

% Of Listed Children Took The

Children Not On List But Took Exam

Total





ExamStd. I 91 50 54.95% 11 61Std. II 40 16 40.00% 16Std. III 45 23 51.11% 3 26Std. IV 13 7 53.85% 1 8Total 189 96 50.79% 15 111

Only 50% children were actually able to take the exam they were prepared for. This low turnout is primarily because the timings of the annual exam of BMC schools are held in April, at the same time as the schools year end exams. The timing does not suit many of the children at Door Step School has on the list for the exams, as some can get away from their work at a later time of day, and for others it is the time of year when some families begin returning to their native place.

A handful of children took the exam at the last moment. These were children who were likely to discontinue attending the non formal education class in the coming year because of the family planning to move or some other reason. Having a mark sheet in hand may make it possible for them to enter the mainstream when they shifted. They might otherwise not take up any form of schooling at all.

COMMUNITY BASED STUDY CLASSES

The educational needs of children of school going age in urban India are generally met by BMC schools, Government aided schools or unaided private schools. Parents who can pay for the children's schooling enroll their children in the aided or unaided private schools. The BMC schools cater to those children whose parents cannot afford to pay for their children's education.

Despite a large number of BMC schools, there are a host of problems such as stagnation and non achievement among the students. This is because most of the children enrolled here are first generation learners and have difficulty in coping with their school work. For many families of these students, the priority is keeping a roof over their head and food on their plates. Hence coaching classes falls no where on their list of priorities. Intervention of Door Step School was, to sustain children in school, and to improve the level of achievement of school going children.

Study classes were started since 1992 catering to children attending to Std I to IV of Hindi and Marathi medium. As soon as they are enrolled in the municipal school, children may enroll tem selves in the community based study classes.

A group of up to 30 children are taught for 2 hours a day for 5 days a week with the regular school curriculum. Children are also taken for educational visits and participate in other extra curricular activities once in a month. The study class teacher also maintains contact with the school teacher to help accelerate children's performance .

Monitoring and evaluation of each child is done every month by the teacher and every 3 months by supervisor at study class level.





Distribution Of Children Attending Door Step School’s Community Based Study Classes

Ward Study Classes Units Girls Boys TotalWard

AGanesh Murti Nagar 1 14 16 30Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (Punarvasit)

3 44 60 104

Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (Ext) 2 21 39 60Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar 3 34 78 112Shiv Shakti Nagar 1 11 10 21Garib Janata Nagar 1 20 9 29Nariman Point 1 19 14 33Mantralaya-SoWI 1 15 19 34Azad Maidan- SoWI 1 9 13 22Cross Maidan - SoWI 1 8 16 24

Ward B

Masjid Bunder 3 33 26 59

Ward E

New Tank Bunder 1 15 22 37Boat Hard Street 2 25 26 51 Total 21 268 348 616

N. B.: Study classes conducted under the school adoption project are not included here.

Moving out of the curriculum a variety of exercises were taken with the students of the study class. The children really enjoy working on picture compositions orally. Beginning with the obvious, as the tempo builds imaginations begin to flow and so does the conversation.

Another exercise undertaken was talking about their aspirations which ranged from wanting to be superman to wanting to be a post man like “Baba”, because he helps everyone.

Also in the planning for this year activity based work had been incorporated at class level. For this children were asked to bring very easily available items from their surroundings. In this term the project was to be making ‘limboo pani’. The children were very excited when they got to make the ‘limboo pani’ and then be able to taste what they had made. One of the children, Pandu from the Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (Punarvasit), was so thrilled at what he had done he told the teacher that he would go home and make it for his mother.

To help children to realize the practical implications of being educated, activities are often designed around such application. One such activity taken up this year was a “form filling” activity, where children were required to fill in personal information. While filling in their name came easily to them the other information was not so easy for them to fill out as they did not have any practice. This was an important realization for both the teachers and the students.

The exercises on independent writing and “form filling” moved into their second phase by month of October 06. The topic for independent writing was the Community Learning Centre that the children visit every week and engage in a variety of learning related activities from looking at / reading books to measuring themselves, using magnifying lenses, compass, etc.





From the way the children write it appears that they need exercises in vocabulary building. Such exercises can be taken up in the next term.

Similarly, the results of the “form filling” exercise, showed that despite so much emphasis being placed on knowing & writing their address, children still find difficulty in this. We will have to devise ways of addressing this problem, too. So much emphasis is being given to this as there are often incidences of children getting lost and chances of them finding their way back improve if they can confidently give their address.

A Reading competition was conducted in all classes in August. The activities were planned to suit the level of the children. For the young ones the teaching aids were used to encourage them to coin words and then put them into sentences, for the older ones it was more linked to their curriculum.

For an essay writing competition the students of Stds. III and IV were asked to write on real life incidents. A recent rather macabre incident, the murder of a young girl from the Backbay community, was fresh in their minds and many of them wrote about it.

A drawing competition was organized at the time of the Ganpati festival. The children came up with a variety of designs for Ganpati idols.

Some of the teachers have started encouraging their students to create word banks. The children are encouraged to read words from their surroundings and write them down. If the children forget to bring a word they have to borrow one from the word bank created by putting all the words collected together. The next day they have to repay the bank by bringing 2 new words.

On February 22, a meeting was arranged at the Bora Bazaar school for the parents of the street children Door Step School had enrolled here. The meeting brought 42 parents together. It deserves mention here as shows the concern of the school authorities.

The meeting was called by the School's headmistress in collaboration with the Door Step School team, as the parents always respond better when Door Step School invites them. The main purpose of this meeting was to emphasize the need for regular attendance in school and to encourage the parents to make sure that the children came for all the exams. The response from the parents on that day was overwhelming and the classroom that that the meeting was held in proved too small. The parents were very vociferous and all wanted to have their say. It seemed like a rather vicious circle with the parents putting the blame on the children and vice versa. One or 2 parents had to be asked to leave the room. The current eviction drive due to which their "homes" were frequently raided was one of the causes for their agitation and every time the term BMC was brought up the would get angry. It is the same government authority that runs the school their children attend who is responsible for breaking their homes. This issue though could not be addressed through the meeting.





The school had also arranged for the audiovisual equipment to screen 2 episodes from the popular animation series, Meena that advocates gender equality ad especially education for the girl child.

In comparison to the attendance pattern seen in the non formal education classes, the attendance pattern of the study classes reflects the higher motivation levels in the children and their parents.

Pattern of Attendance in Community based Study Classes

100-50% 49-21% 00-20% Grand Total

Girls 157 (59%)81

(30%) 30 (11%) 268Boys 212 (61%) 89 (25.5%) 47 (13.5%) 348

Performance Of Students In The Community Based Study Classes - 07 March

ClassLevel All

AlphabetsAll Matras Jodh

Akshar (combined

letters)Makes Words Able To Answer

Simple Questions

Std. I 48.65% 21.76% 21.76% 32.83% 37.18%Std. II 48.65% 28.48% 31.25% 37.18% 41.93%

Knows Words

Sentences Able To Answer

Questions

Independent writing

Letter writing

Paragraph writing

Std. III 80.00% 79.09% 80.91% 80.91% 80.91% 64.55%Std. IV 92.42% 90.91% 92.42% 92.42% 74.2% 72.73%

It is worth noting here that 44 students from the study classes stood among the top five scorers in their class in school.

COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTRE (CLC)

Over the 2 years of its existence, the CLC like its neighbour the computer centre has become a popular lace with the children from the communities around it. The pattern for its use too is similar to that of the Computer centre. Here the learning here is far from virtual, it is in the here and now, through the handling of books, pictures, and a variety of apparatus.

Using the CLC service during this period were 10/48

www.doorstepschool.org [email protected]




Daily Average : 125 children Programme wise Age group

322 Students from 8 Balwadis ( 4 - 6 years)388 Students from 14 Study Classes ( 5 -12 years)345 Students from 17 Non formal Education Classes ( 7 -18 years)A collection of 770 books was available in the library, of which 359 were purchased in this year.

The 1 hour that the children spent in the CLC was divided into time slots for 1) Story telling or poetry reading, 2) selecting books for themselves and reading them, 3) taking a small game, 4)sharing new information (on a pre decided topic). An element of functional literacy forms a component of the information sharing and related activities, which children becoming familiar with weights and measures, date and time, distances, directions, temperatures, etc.

What was organized on December 4th at the CLC came to be known as a Pustak Mela. This was an attempt to observe the benefits of the CLC on the children who had been spending an hour a week at this centre. A couple of activities were relating to books in the CLC which the children heard stories from and got to handle / read themselves. In another room all the material e.g. magnifying lenses, weighing scales, spring balance, globes and maps, compasses were displayed and their uses talked of. As the children came in small groups It was possible for them to handle the equipment themselves.

It was an interesting experiment that threw up some tips on how the activities at the CLC can be enhanced.

The CLC also serves as an open library for the children and youth of the communities around it. There were 48 children registered for the service, of which 11 were girls and 37 were boys. About 25 of them visited the centre regularly.

Added to the games and toys available at the CLC was a consignment of 146 toys / games ordered from the Toy Foundation. This was followed by a workshop to orient teachers to their use. Of these 69 are suitable for children below 6 years of age and 77 are meant for the older children. These were made available at the centre from December ’06.

They are used at the CLC itself and also are available for the teachers to use in their classes. With this addition, a new dimension was added to the CLC, that of a teachers’ resource unit. This has further been enhanced by making available some apparatus for simple science experiments, as well as a collection of puppets ( made in-house during a workshop).

The toys and puzzles suitable for the Balwadi have been made into sets and put in bags that teachers can carry with them to use in class. The science experiment related equipment and the collection of puppets can be used in a library fashion with the teachers selecting what they need from it for a particular activity.

Adding variety to what offered to the children was what student volunteers had to offer them. They were encouraged to develop their content, incorporating activity





with language, which allowed them to take topics like – my family, fruits, vegetables, colours, etc.

The volunteers involved with the CLC were A student of Early Childhood Education who took sessions for a week with the

study class children. Her sessions incorporated single English with art & craft- as in a workshop.

A group of 10 interns (university students) from Singapore took off from where the first student left of, working with the children for about 2 weeks.

A social work student from TISS worked in the CLC during her first semester, developing some story line or using available reading material to build on the children’s language skills.

COMMUNITY LIBRARY

The community based door to door library was initiated with the objective of helping neo and semi literates to build their literacy skills.

In the community, many who have at sometime been to school are unable to read and write after some years. These neo literates had no opportunity to hone their newfound skills. Providing easy access to appropriate reading material and promoting the reading habit was the main work of this component. Observations with children attending Door Step School classes showed that those who had developed good reading skills were able to cope with their school work better.

Literacy skills imparted in the classroom are not enough to ensure retention of all that is learnt there. There is need to provide an ongoing stimulation by making magazines and books accessible libraries run at two levels for beneficiaries. The library work is done by volunteers from the community. A weekly round in the com-munity providing door to door service helps to make the service more visible and more families are likely to become members.

A community wise library register is also maintained to keep records of books rotated between volunteers and between communities. Each volunteer, too, maintains a register, in which number of rounds undertaken every month and details of books exchanged weekly are noted. The library registers show (i) how many books the children have read and (ii) what books the children prefer. This helps make the choice of books when new purchases are to be made.

In this year the community library was functional in 3 communities reaching out to 454 members.

Community

VolunteersMembers Books

Girls Boys Total In Circulation

Damaged Or Lost By Year End

Babasaheb Ambedkar 5 50 163 213 327 3112/48

www.doorstepschool.org [email protected]




Nagar (Punarvasit)

Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar

5 73 121 194 295 67

Shivshakti Nagar 2 34 13 47 73 12

Total 12 157 297 454

695 110

Most of the members were school students, studying Stds. IV- VII. This is a encouraging sign. The aim is to have a library in every community but recruiting the volunteers who can handle this responsibility well has not been easy.

The volunteers are encouraged to build a strong relationship with members they serve. To enable them to do this meetings for the group of volunteers and between volunteers and members were organized.

The reference library for secondary school students, a facility which provides the material and the place to the study, was operational in 3 communities and used by 47 students.

COMPUTER CENTRE

Students of all Door Step School classes in the 4 communities which are situated around the computer centre and a few other classes whom it is possible to convey to and fro follow a schedule which enables them to get an hour in the centre every week. This year 39 such classes benefited. For them computer are used to enhance literacy skills and provide them with basic computer knowledge.

Programme Wise Distribution Of Students Benefiting From The Computer Centre

M F TotalBalwadi 101 123 224

NFE 138 266 404Study Class 239 178 417

Total 478 567 1045

At the end of the year when children performance at the computer center was being recorded, a marked improvement was opted in the way they handled number related/ Math activity. Another area where they seem to benefit greatly is the understanding of concepts of science. This is especially true of the study classes where the teachers can select appropriate topics from the supply of educational software given by the Azim Premji Foundation. Though there has been an effort to make the children familiar with English, this as not gone much beyond the





alphabet. One of the main reasons o this is that the use ad application of watt e learn, where English is concerned , is virtually nil. Private batches were conducted in the evenings for 17 youth from the community, to enhance their potential in the job market. Of the 17 who were enrolled, 12 completed the course successfully.Fourteen members of the Bal Samuha attended a 15 day computer course soon after they had finished with the year end exam. Most of whom are high school and college students and do not get too much time during the academic year, but it s important for tem to get familiar with computers, a must for almost any field of work today. In the 2 weeks prior to the summer break was a good time for them to devote some time for building this skill.

An opportunity was also provided for the Door Step School’s coordinators of the organization to learn computers. This, too, was possible for the 2 weeks prior to breaking for the summer.

BAL SAMUHA

Talking of child participation and child rights and holding workshops on the topics and inviting Door Step School to participate have been a partner organizations, but sustaining the movement in the field has been the work of a few empowered Door Step School alumni supported by their ‘Sir’ and ‘Didi’, the coordinator in the community. Keeping the momentum going, building motivation of the group at large despite pressures of time and money has required a lot effort on their part.

There are currently 8 bal samuhas in communities with a total of 271 members.

Community Total Number Of Programmes*

Ganesh Murty Nagar 15 4

Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (Punarvasit) 100 12

Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (EXT) 28 16

Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar 73 20

Domestic Workers group 12 3

Shiv Shakti Nagar 25 6

Masjid Bunder 10 2

Night School Group** 8 2

Total 271





* The number of programs ( events, workshops, etc) that the groups were involved in

**The night school was a non formal education class for children had completed the level of Std. IV but wanted to continue attending class. This class was run for a couple of years but is now discontinued as the young people who were a part of it had too many other demands on their time.

Capacity building and leadership development remained a strong component. Meetings, workshops and camps, both in house and with other like minded organizations toward this end were planned though out the year. Some were dedicated to core aspects of self and group development like 1) a training camp at Malad where the main component was roles and responsibilities of group members and 2) an inter organisational workshop in Pune, where the focus was on planning.

Other sessions were on supportive topics like the citizens’ role in an election, filing an FIR, etc.

The groups were also involved in a variety of other activities.

Organising the Felicitation Program for students who ad successfully completed the SSC exam

Organising a Fun Fair for the community

Identifying and working with a group of children who would join the Door Step School balwadis

Running community libraries

Assisting with the community survey

Participating in a training for scripting and performing street plays

Participating in the World Literacy Day Rally in the communities and performing street plays to build awareness on the issue.

Participating in a workshop in Corporate Etiquette for those who are soon to enter the job market

Participating in a days workshop on Career guidance

Foot ball coaching and tournament

Participating in a Cricket Match

Participating in the Marathon

SCHOOL BUS SERVICE





Most of the children using the bus service were from 5 communities that Door Step School runs its educational programmes in. Twenty of them approached the Door Step School team in the Colaba Municipal School directly inquiring about the bus service.

The fee for the service was waived for twenty five children whose families were facing severe financial constraints. Another 2 children were given a fifty percent concession on the fees. So far 45%, i.e. Rs.36,945/- of the expected fee for the year has been received.

ENROLMENT IN MUNICIPAL SCHOOLS

In June 2006, 479 children were enrolled in BMC school by Door Step School in June 2006. Of these 56 children dropped out as they permanently moved to their native village. This reflects that nearly 87% of children have been sustained which is very encouraging.

In June 2007, Door Step School has enabled 495 children to be enrolled in formal schools. While 342 are from areas that Door Step School has been working in over the years, i.e. Wards A & B, and pavement communities in Ward C served by the School on Wheels, another 153 are from the 10 new communities in Ward E , where work began from June 2006 onwards.

Of these, 391 children were from the Balwadis. Though 519 children in the Balwadis aged 4+ years had been identified as eligible for admission in formal schools, but only 203 were enrolled (40 %) by Door Step School. This year the percentage of children, for this targeted group, being enrolled into formal school is substantially less. The main reasons for this are

1) Some of the pavement communities (P. D’mello road, Masjid Bunder, and Wadi Bunder in the balwadis were run have been relocated, in the months prior to the monsoon. They have been giving alternate accommodation in a complex of building in Mankhurd, a suburb in North East Mumbai, under the Slum Rehabilitation scheme.

2) About 50 children who were eligible for enrolment in formal school, in the A ward communities had not returned from their native place at the time of enrolment and are therefore likely to continue in the Balwadis.

3) Some of the children enlisted had not completed age for eligibility for school admission by June 2007. These children continue in the Balwadis.


Standard I II III IV V Total Shift M F M F M F M F M F M FMorning 20 16 13 8 12 8 5 - 4 3 54 35 89Afternoon 9 6 12 9 13 16 1 2 - - 35 33 68Total 29 22 25 17 25 24 6 2 4 3 89 68 157




Seventy five children from the Non Formal Education classes were also enrolled in formal school. Of these, 43 children are from classes in Ward A, 3 from the classes on the School on Wheels and 29 from Ward E.

Some of the children from the non formal education classes were given admission in higher standards -17 children went directly into Std. II, 13 into Std. III, 15 into Std. IV, and 3 into Std. V.

Door Step School teams in the communities also enabled 30 children from the communities (not attending Door Step School classes) they work in, to enroll their children into schools. Of these 9 were school dropouts who were helped to readmit themselves in school at the level they had dropped out at.

The number of children who were enrolled in BMC schools was the highest in Hindi medium (55%) followed by English 19% and Marathi 17%.

The first group of children from the Non Formal Education classes on the School On Wheels was in 2001. As these were all children who lived on the streets with their families the consequences of this exercise were greatly speculated on.

Number Of Children From The School On Wheels Enrolled In The Formal School

Year Of Admission

No. Of Children Enrolled

No. Of Children Sustained In Formal

School

Not Available

M F Total M F Total M F Total

2001 4 3 7 4 1 5 - 2 2

2002 2 5 7 1 3 4 1 2 3

2003 22 - 22 16 - 16 6 - 6

2004 19 19 38 17 14 31 2 5 7

2005 10 16 26 8 13 21 2 3 5

2006 26 12 38 18 8 26 8 4 12

2007 8 4 12 - - - - - -

Total 91 59 150 64 39 103 19 16 35

NB: The number of children shown in this table include those who were in Door Step School classes and other street children who were part of the community and were helped to enroll directly into formal school. These children continue to be given support through extra coaching and schooling essentials.





The result to date is a happy one, with 103 of them continuing school to date. Constant support and follow up has made this possible.

While talking of those who are taking their first steps into formal schooling it is of interest to note that over 150 children, from the communities of Ward A where Door Step School's impact is most felt, have successfully completed Class 10 since 1992.

THE SCHOOL ADOPTION PROJECT

Direct intervention in and collaboration with the municipal schools in the close vicinity of the communities where we work has been introduced since 1998. Educational excursions, workshops and competitions are spread over the school year, along with the ongoing library service, study classes and recreation activities. This intervention is aimed at facilitating the learning process as well as making the school a place the children want to be in, both of which in turn help to stem the drop out rate.

It is through this project that Door Step School provides intervention to formal schools under BMC. Colaba Municipal School was the first school where Door Step School started working. The success of this led Door Step School to adopt Janabai & Madhavrao Rokde Municipal School in the vicinity of the Masjid Bunder community in Ward B in December 2005.

Total Strength Of The Schools Covered Under The School Adoption Project ( SAP)

School Number of Students

Colaba Municipal School

Hindi No.1 ( Classes I – IV ) 522

Hindi No.2 ( Classes I – IV ) 546

Marathi No.1 ( Classes I – IV ) 611

Marathi No.2 ( Classes I – IV ) 504

English ( Classes I – IV ) 1128

Total 3311

Janabai Municipal School

Marathi ( Classes I – VII ) 572

Total 3883





In the Colaba Municipal School, Door Step School runs 3 Balwadis. Though, a balwadi was to be started in Janabai school too, this was not possible due to lack of classroom space. The balwadi run on the school premises helps the children adjust well for school when they are admitted in Std I in the consequent year. Also, attendance is better (a child's average attendance is 70%) in the balwadis run on school premises that those in the community, probably because it has more of a going to school feel to it.

Status Of Children In The Balwadis At Colaba Municipal School

3-4 years 4-5 years Total

M F M F

Children who continued from the previous year - - 19 13 32

New enrolments of june2006 16 14 32 27 89

Total 16 14 51 40 121

Of the 121 children shown in the table, 80 children were enrolled in formal school - 43 from the over 4 year olds and 37 from the under 4 year olds.

Some new activities were taken with the children such as listening to stories and songs on audio cassettes once a week, exercises through dance, colouring flags, using resource bags ( refer report on CLC) which had puzzles, doll houses, etc.,

As there was no teacher appointed by the BMC for primary classes in the English medium section Door Step School provided 8 full time teachers who took classes with 656 children from Std I – IV.

Providing academic support to children is crucial for their retention in school. Lack of guidance is often the main reason for children dropping out as the parents are unable to afford private coaching. Realizing this Door Step School conducts in the schools for children performing way below the expected level of the class they are studying in.

In 06-07, 14 study classes were run in English, Marathi and Hindi in Colaba Municipal School for 308 children studying in the three different mediums. Similarly 6 Study classes are in operation at Janabai Municipal School where 105 children out of 260 children enrolled in class I-IV are attending. Statistics show, that of the children on roll in the study class, 40% of the children continue attending the study class year after year. They obviously need ongoing attention to help them cope with academics. They are in fact, the most vulnerable and most likely to drop out if not given the necessary help.

Distribution of Students Attending Study classes under the School Adoption Project





School Medium No. of classes Boys Girls Total

Colaba Mun.Sch. English 8 101 73 174

Hindi - Marathi 6 58 76 134

Total 14 159 149 308

Janabai Mun.Sch Marathi 6 56 49 105

Total 20 215 198 413

Performance in the Colaba Municipal School ((Marathi section) showed improvement as by the end of the year, most of the students of Std III & IV achieved the levels expected of them. Students of the lower classes need to improve substantially and more focus is being given by teachers to help them progress fast. The Hindi section was not too satisfactory in all the classes while English section showed better results especially the students of Std. IV.

From the study classes in the Janabai School, 40% of children could reach the levels expected of them in Language and Math.

The co curricular activities taken for beneficiaries of the Study Class were-

Language with the use of various concepts Various games for demonstrating correct use of grammar Collage/ drawing Encouraging expression, (verbal and written) through participation in

interesting activities like making of bhel and sandwiches, putting together a collage ,etc.

The extra curricular activities taken for beneficiaries of the Study Class were

Festival Celebrations Educational Trip Workshops Competition

The response to the study classes was encouraging from both the schools as well as the parents. The schools have expressed the need to continue these classes in the coming years also.

In Colaba School 40 workshops related to language, math, and value education was conducted for all classes, in the English medium section, by which 2793 children benefited. The inputs of a resource person who addressed cleanliness within the classroom as a part of his value education workshop was very effective. The science workshops were conducted for class III and above. Similarly 48 workshops





in reading, maths and science were held where 1745 students of the Hindi & Marathi sections participated.

A local resource person offered his services to teach a variety of handicrafts like tie and dye and block printing to a group of girls from Stds. VI and VII They made wrapping papers and a variety of table napkins using these methods..

An intern from Arizona University who was doing her Masters in Public Health was placed with Door Step School for 6 weeks. She prepared modules and took sessions with groups of parents and children from the school and communities. She took sessions on AIDS awareness with the adolescent group of children which consisted of 55 Girls and 52 boys of the English Medium section of the school .

This was further complemented by the efforts of the students of Social work placed with Door Step School. They took the same group of girls for a poster exhibition on AIDS awareness and prevention at the AMDEC centre at Bombay Central.

As a pre Diwali treat on October 12,2006, a group of 20 volunteers from ICICI Securities interacted with 125 children from Stds. VI and VII. Together they decorated Diyas and made greeting cards. The children enjoyed the activity and the special attention they got from the volunteers who joined them.

At Janabai School 25 workshops related to science, math and language for students of Std I-VII were held. The objective behind organizing workshops was to illustrate / demonstrate selected relevant concepts from different subjects in the formal school syllabus, making them come alive for the students. An average of 50 to 60 children attended each workshop. The teachers of the school liked the activities taken up and expressed their feedback, e.g. " We treat maths as a subject but you have made it an interesting learning experience." There were requests from the teachers to keep such activities in continuance.

There were 3 major competitions organized during this year at Colaba School.. They were the Drawing competition for all classes, Quiz for 50 selected children of Std. IV and the Elocution competition for 34 selected children from Stds. III to VI. The Elocution competition had an added component of a Debate on whether children should work. Two teams of 5 members each from Std. VII had prepared themselves for the topic. It was an issue so close to their hearts that they became very emotional about it.

In both schools, 3 children’s committees were formed for each shift and each school with a committee taking responsibility for one of the following areas - discipline, cleanliness and recreation activities. About 100 children were involved in the committees in the Colaba Municipal School and 50 in the Janabai School ( the Janabai School had one additional committee, i.e. to look after the library activity). Of these 50% of the children were really active and took initiative. Members of the cleanliness committee placed boxes in the classrooms to collect pencil shavings, crumpled paper etc. This helped the classes to remain clean. Children were asked to go for hair cuts in order to look neat in the class, not wear





flashy accessories in class as it did not go with the school uniform and so on. It was interesting to see that other children accept their authority with ease.

Some extra curricular activities were organized for these children. Ten of them participated in a leadership training camp. And 26 of them attended a workshop to promote English speaking facilitated by Sujaya Foundation for children of various NGOs. They also got to visit the fire brigade station outside their school to get oriented to the working of the system.

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Educational Visits

In Colaba School 750 children between standards I-VII were taken to Kamla Nehru Park, Rani Bag, Parle Factory and Tikuji – ni-wadi. The children who got the opportunity to visit Tikuji ni wadi were ecstatic and made the best of this opportunity. For many, these were the first outings in their lives. Besides the planned visits, taking the other opportunities that came up was that a group of 27 children visited the naval ship INS Vikrant, A group of sponsored children, Nanhi Kalis, visited the Coconut Grove on an invitation from NWWA.

In Janabai School, 19 Educational visits were organized for 527 children of Stds. I to VII. Students from 19 classes of Marathi and 12 classes of other language mediums benefitted. The venues of the visits were Nehru Planetarium, Nehru Science Center, Tikuji-Ni-Wadi, Kamla Nehru Park and Rani Baug. The objective behind educational visit was fulfilled as children thoroughly enjoyed them and were regular in school. Children expressed their feelings by drawing pictures and writing articles on return from their visit. Some children went on a picnic to Mazgaon Garden . For them the picnic / visit was like a dream come true, one which they would remember for life.

Feedback Of Children

"This is first chance for us to see the wonderful place. I only see this place on TV but I feel I never get such opportunity to visit this place. Because of Door Step School my ream came true. " – Pooja Gupta, Std VII, Colaba Municipal School

"As we rarely have the money for entertaining ourselves, we do not go anywhere. The visit to the Vikrant was so exciting and they took such good care of us. They also gave us a very good lunch" -Kavita Chauhan, Std. IV, Colaba Municipal School

Feedback Of BMC Teachers

"I thank Door Step School for giving a chance to our children to see such a wonderful park " Ms. Tilaka , Std VII teacher Colaba Municipal School

The library service remained an integral part of the School Adoption Project in Colaba and Janabai schools, Each class got to have the library period about 20 times in the year. 1600 and 500 books were available for circulation respectively.





These sessions have led to children themselves taking the initiative to come and read books, distribute the same among the students. Some children tell stories to other children, at times with action so that the story comes alive for all their friends, thus motivating more children to read and enjoy it for themselves. Later, two parents were given the responsibility of looking after the library which they did by coming regularly twice a week.

Reading promotion activities were given more emphasis this year in Colaba school. The object was to take children out of the text book context and familiarize them with the language. These included correct pronunciation, simple grammar, songs and poetry. Children were encouraged to come forward and talk to their class and read aloud. The children came regularly as they found the class interesting and beneficial to them. It was encouraging that BMC teachers of Std. IV and V requested sessions for their students so that they too could get the benefits.

Three hundred children from Std. 3-7 of the Colaba school got to watch an entertainment program in August '06 performed by the stars of the TV show Boogie Woogie in the school hall. Needless to say, the children were thrilled to meet their favourite stars.

Republic day was celebrated on 25th January '07 at Colaba School Hall. The students of Stds III-VII put up a cultural program on the theme of patriotism which was appreciated by the audience comprising 400 children and the teachers of the school.

The senior students of the English Medium school were very keen on a cricket match with the I Sec-ICICI Securities corporate s volunteers the match was held at the Oval Maidan in March '07. Thanks to the cooperation of the I Sec team The match was possible once again this year. Winners were given a token gift. Prizes were also given to the best bowler and batsman, and the Man of the Match.

Teachers deputed by Door Step School for the are regularly given inputs in pedagogy through in-service trainings in areas such as Language, Math, & Science, and in making teaching learning material.

At Colaba School, trainings in Language focused on teachers' self image and ways of expressing oneself, language skills, in building confidence in speaking English through various interactive exercises, effective classroom interventions and teaching language, making and using teaching aids to teach language such as puppets. In Math, the training focused on teaching Multiplication.

In Janabai school, trainings were given on i) how to conduct a library period, ii)making and using puppets as a teaching aid and iii) on teaching language and math. Ongoing follow ups of training given were organized by inviting resource persons. Teaching material related to class level, such as worksheet, reading books, 'akshar' pieces and number pieces, was provided to each teacher.

Educational Sponsorship





Educational sponsorship offered to about 200 children was continued in this year. This included the 150 girls supported by the K. C. Mahindra Trust as Nanhi Kali, 9 Children supported by the Ammada Trust , 4 children H. T. Parekh Scholarship instituted by BCPT, and a few other well wishers

BEYOND THE 3’RS

In a community where 15 years ago very few went to school and even fewer went beyond Std. IV, completing SSC successfully is reason to celebrate. To commend those who have persevered against many odds to stay within the school system and complete their schooling Door Step School felicitated the 25…. Youth who had begun their education through the organisation. The felicitation program was held on August 10 and was attended by about 300 children and a few parents.

In October, the children got the opportunity to be a part of the live audience for the finals of Little Champ, a very popular children's musical program on Zee TV. It was a very novel experience for them but as it stretched out for too long the children got rather restless towards the end.


To mark International Literacy Day on September 8th, the children took part in a rally that wove its way through the communities creating awareness of the need for education and encouraging parents to put their children in school. Besides the slogan calling usually associated with such rallies they stopped at predetermined points along their route and performed street plays

The children from the study classes (243 children) and the non formal education classes (196 children) came together on October 13th at the Vikas Udyan at Cuff Parade to celebrate Diwali. They took part in a Fancy dress competition where the whole class helped to think of a character and then dress one of the classmates using coloured paper, streamers and news paper. Each character got a minute to come up before the audience and play her / his part and the audience had to guess who it was.




On November 14, Children’s Day, the students of the study classes attended a puppet show that was put up by the students of the Non formal education Classes. This program was arranged at the amphitheatre at the Colaba Woods.

Sports day was held at the Kohli Stadium on December 20 th for students of ward A and at the BPT grounds on Dec 29th for students of ward B and E. It was attended by about 600 children on the first day and 350 children on the second day. The sense of freedom they experienced at being able to run in such a wide open space was exhilarating. Every one wanted prizes and some of the children came to tell their “didis” that if the were given another chance to run they would try very hard and make sure they take home a prize.

On February 17, the children attended a funfair organized in the community jointly by the members of the Bal Samuha and the students of College of Social Work placed with Door Step School for field work. About 650 children from Door Step School's non formal education and study classes enjoyed the games. Out of the 8 different games that were being played, each participant could choose 6. All the children were given refreshments after the finished with the games and left for home.

Taking advantage of the audio visual presentation and exhibition, Bombay Bonanza in February and March 07 at the Chhatrapati Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya a visit for first arranged for the teachers of the community based classes and then for a group of 25 children from the class at Mantralaya. The exhibition was a sort of pictorial history of the city, and a shocking revelation for many as where one expected to see built up areas e.g. the Churchgate station and its surroundings, what one saw was the Arabian Sea. They also visited an exhibition of old coins in the adjacent room. The next day their teacher brought them some old "nani"s (coins) which she had at home to show the children and let them handle the coins which the children did with great awe.

A science exhibition organized for all classes of Door Step School on March 9 was a highlight during this quarter. The teacher had prepared the experiments being





demonstrated with the children from their classes (both Non Formal Education and study classes) and it explained by a team of students who had been trained by the teacher. The experiments covered a gamut of simple science concepts like magnets, physical and chemical change, density, transparent and opaque, etc.

On March 21 and 22, a Bal Jatra was organized at the CPRA garden. IT was a fun way of observing the students of the non formal education classes demonstrate their literacy and numeracy skills and recording that as the end of year performance. Only 12 children from the School on Wheels came for the Bal Jatra, once again because of the fear of the round ups.

PLAN India's Fund Raising Event on April 6, 2007 created quite a stir in the communities. There was a high level of anxious anticipation, their children were to perform for the stars. The troupe of 54 children who had been trained by Shiamak Davar's troupe spent a very exciting day - one that almost did not end. Not only did they get to perform for the stars and with the stars, but they were most excited when their favourites - Salman, Sohail and Soha- came to meet them and talk to them. Some of us were very concerned that he children did not get their dinner on time and that it would be really late before they reached home (some parents had been calling up to find out), but the kids had the time of their life and mundane things like meals and getting home were not of consequence for that day.

The health component came to be emphasized this year. The need for this was felt the most for the children of the Ward E communities and for the street children. In late August - early September 06, arrangements were made with the Pediatric OPD of the G T Hospital for a check up and treatment. The children were also shown their way around and oriented to the procedures of registering. Thirty five children took advantage of this. The Team attending to the children formed a good rapport with them and the children who needed to go back for treatment were very comfort able about it.


Two football match and one cricket match were organized with the RABO India Finance Ltd volunteers during the year. The children had really enjoyed and looking forward for such match.



The Niramaya Foundation was invited to talk to the Balwadi teachers about their health care programme for preschoolers, which was introduced in one community. In the coming year it may be taken up in more communities that Door Step School is working in.

The offer of the services of a pediatrician deputed by the Rajastani Mahila Mandal to children attending Door Step School balwadi in Ward E was also discussed and finalized. The pediatrician made weekly visits to the community for 2-3 months.

STAFF DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

Training For Staff

Adding to the ongoing training inputs given to the teaching staff of the organization, we are always on the look out to offer them the services of experts in the field. Some very interesting training opportunities were offered to our teachers in this year.

A set of educational games and toys was put together in consultation with Mr. Devendra Desai of Toy Foundation. One such set was provided for each centre. He then took a training session on October 31st with our staff on the various ways they can be used and what can be achieved through their use.

Mr. Arun Mavalankar of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education who has been training our teachers took a workshop on "Word Problems" in Math with one group of teachers and on multiplication with another.

Teachers of both study classes and non formal education classes had received training in making and use of puppets as a medium from Kattha Babu, they in turn trained the children to put up a show on November 14th. They used the puppets made by them for the show. Building stories with the help of these puppets was demonstrated by the resource person which was of great benefit to them in classes with children. Using puppets to create stories, analyzing pictures and how to interpret information given in a picture was done.

A workshop was organized for the teachers at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education on December 13th. A visit to the centre had been organized about 4 years ago and was very educative for the teachers. It caused them to ask questions and to look beyond the method at experiments they took with the

children. It was on a request from them that this workshop was organized once again. The content of this workshop was related to the content of the Std. II & IV syllabus. The inputs given to them and the experiments they got to observe there will enhance their capacity to take similar activities with their classes and to prepare their children for the Science Exhibition that is scheduled for February 28th.

It began with a 2 day training in January conducted by educationist Ms. Varsha Sahasrabuddhe. Door Step School had invited to take the training on best practices in a classroom. This was attended by all the coordinators involved and a third day was devoted solely to the coordinators and the impact they can make in the class room.

Coordinators also joined the teachers in this training and had an additional day with the trainer. The focus of that day was on the coordinators role in promoting effective classroom intervention.

This was followed up by a 2 day study tour to Pune. For the teachers this included a visit to the Aksharnandan school with whom the above mentioned resource person is involved, Khelghar- a community based initiative, a study class project in the community at Kasarwadi supported by Forbes Marshal and Door Step School own projects in Pune.

Another visit the teachers benefited from was that to a formal school in Goregaon, the Dosibai Jeejibbai Prathmik Shala, that has incorporated some effective teaching practices. They have an annual "dukan" day where children set up shop and transact business as one would in a market. After participating in the event the children were encouraged to write about the experience. The teachers found this a very innovative idea and plan to incorporate it in the next academic year.

A series of 3 workshops organised by REACH India as part of the Learning Classroom Series, in February, April and June, was attended by a mix of teachers and coordinators. The workshop was conducted very effectively by educationist Ms. Jayashree Oza. The focus of the workshops 1)was the insight into how we, especially children, learn; 2) Curriculum designing and lesson planning; 3) Assessment.

An effort has been made since to disseminate what the team that attended the workshop gained with the larger group and also to incorporate aspects of it into Door Step School’s way of working.

The Door Step School team met with the staff of the Colaba Municipal School (Hind Medium) on February 14 to discuss the forthcoming exam, its schedule and necessary arrangements. Also the curriculum completed in the last term and what the children had to be prepared for was discussed. Some very encouraging the school shared with the Door Step School team was that in the coming year if the number of children in the class went over 50, the class would be divided in 2 and similarly for every group of 500 children a supervisory team of head and deputy head would be allocated.

“Best of Waste” training on making puppets from waste materials was held in May 2007 by CERE where teachers learnt to turn left over materials into productive ones.

TRAINING & CONSULTANCY

In turn, the Door Step School curriculum development team look forward to sharing their expertise with others in the field. In this year they undertook the training of teachers working with Shelter Don Bosco’s educational project and with teachers of Aasara.

With the teachers of Shelter Don Bosco, the training was taken in phase from the month of June to December, at first for 3 days at a stretch and there after a day at a time. There was a mixed group of 41 teachers. The focus was on planning for a class and then on activities that enable dissemination in a class. Some inputs were also given to the coordinators group.

With the Aasara team it was a three day training on using creative activities to teach language and math.

NETWORKING

At the start of the year, Door Step School was invited by the Institute of Local Self Governance to be a part of a team of 4 NGOs who had experience in working with the the BMC schools and Education Department to help design a public partnership model of intervention at school level.

And later to be on a 6 member Core Committee that will represent NGOs working with BMC schools in designing and facilitating the implementation of the School Adoption Projects.

Participated in film making competition organized by Genesis where 101 movie makers were to make films on 101 NGOs in 101 hours. Participants ranged from the professionals to the absolute amateurs. A very enthusiastic team of first year BMMs was matched with Door Step School. Though the film didn’t take away any awards, it was most creditable that they were able to complete and submit it on time. Many of the teams were unable to meet the dead line.

Arranged a meeting for parents of Ward E communities with representatives of the Rajasthani Mahila Mandal to work out the feasibility of enrolling children from the communities in Ward E to their English medium school at Grant Road. They took a meeting with the parents in the community to gauge the community’s level of interest. Though parents showed interest they were unwilling to make a commitment on the fees that they would have to pay, more so the expenses of the daily travel to and from the school. Though the entire package was being subsidized, the parents would still be required to pay about Rs. 300 per month. After discussing various options and the cost involved, it was decided that this idea of bringing the children all the way to the RMM school would have to be shelved.

Networking with Magic Bus on the sports component 3team of 40 children and with Jan Shikshan Sansthan on the vocational training component continued in this year.

Door Step School was selected for a year long Organizational Development exercise with Dasra, an NGO consultancy. The exercise is being supported by one of our funders.

At an organisational level- Mumbai and Pune- Door Step School is working with management consultancy firm, Avalon, for putting in place expansion plans.

Networking areas of health and training have been reported in their respective sections.

EXPERIENCES IN WARD E

The Pardhiwada community is occupying land recently taken over by Reliance. They have been receiving eviction notices every now and then which were so far considered routine and non threatening. However the threat is very real now. They are to move out by December 15th; no action has been taken yet but the community thinks it is imminent.

The Pardhiwada community which has been threatened with eviction has so far not had to make any moves and the families continue to reside there and Door Step School continues to conduct classes there. This community has not had the opportunity of benefiting from such an intervention before and it is not just the children’s education that we are concerned about, there is the aspect of parents sensitivity to their children. It is an area that we have just begun addressing and circumstances being what they are, it will be some time before we make a dent. We spent the first 3 months getting to know the community, conducting the survey, identifying place for our community based classes, teachers to take class and actually initiating classes. Though the process during this period was used more for establishing ourselves and building familiarity. Even during this process the Door Step School team seems to have made an impact on the children as a change is observed in the way interact with the teacher and with each other when in class.Unfortunately though, the children of the study class and the non formal education classes still needed a lot of follow up to bring them to class.

A happy change in this was seen with the introduction of educational visits in December. There was so much excitement in the community over the week that busloads of children were seen leaving the community and returning with an even higher level of exhilaration some hours later. After a visit to the planetarium a child reported to his parents that he had been to the sky. How long these unprecedented outings will have such an effect on the children’s attendance is yet to be seen.

Another change, very small but very significant is seen among the parents of the Pardhiwada where, as a norm. children are sent out to beg and / or sell Limboo-Mirchi. It required a lot of dialogue and a lot of motivation to bring about as small a change as this, but now the parents do not push the children to go beg when they should be attending class.

A gradual change is also noticeable in the teachers themselves. In fact, this emerged from an informal discussion with the teachers themselves. They revealed that they initially found it somewhat difficult to adhere to the discipline required of them as team members of Door Step School, especially in terms of punctuality and the records they are required to keep. Much improvement is still required but they have realized the value of these in their work and are more open to learning.

Mr. Rowland Angerer, Ms. B. Dengle and Ms. A. Kirloskar from Plan India visited Ward E on November 14th 2006.

Not really an interview but more of an interaction is what took place on Nov 14 when a group of women from the community were invited to meet the Plan India representatives visiting us. The women spoke of why they had come to Mumbai, some 25 years ago, some more recent, and would under no circumstance think of returning to their place of origin permanently. Many of them said that back home they would not be able to send their children to schools. They also said that despite the congestion and the many problems they faced in Mumbai, the greater opportunities that the family had here was a deciding factor.

When encouraged to talk of the problems faced they mentioned lack / inadequacy of electricity and water. They also spoke of health problem relating it more to the source of water than the waste disposal problem. They seem to have accepted the filth around them as inevitable. On asked if they would participate in a movement for waste segregation and disposal that would help to great extent in keeping the community clean and in turn improve their health status, they showed interest.

On the night of May the12th, 2007, 40 families dwelling in the Pardhiwada community, lost their home and belongings. Most of them were away on a “yatra” (pilgrimage) and did not even know it till they returned a couple of days later. The homes had not had electricity for three days and people were using candles and kerosene lamps. One such candle lost its balance and being mid summer, it did not take long for the fire to spread and envelope all the homes there. It took an hour for the fire brigade to reach the site by which time the fire had devastated the homes and nothing could be saved. Twenty five children from Door Step School classes live in this community. Fortunately there were no fatalities nor physical injuries.

For the next 2 days meals were provided by Door Step School and some other well wishers. Arrangements were also made for clothes and other immediate necessities.

EXPERIENCES WITH CLASSES ON BRITISH GAS WORK SITES

At the persistent request of British Gas, Door Step School undertook a project with children of on site workers, all migrants, who work in the city in the period between October and May. The area where workers were laying pipes was in Thane, so for the first time Door Step School ventured into the Eastern Suburbs almost on the outskirt of the city. As the project was initiated rather late in the academic year, it was active for only one month from March 30th to April 30th and may at best be looked on as an experiment. During this period class was actually held for 20 days and 32 children, of which 15 children are between 3-5 yrs of age & 17 children are between 6-9 yrs of age, were on register for that period. The children were brought together at one spot from the 4 areas where the labour camp was situated.

Children From The 4 Labour Camps Attending The Classes

Location Male Female TotalVartak Nagar 6 1 7

Lokmanya Nagar 6 3 9Bramhand 3 8 11Kunjani 4 1 5Total 19 13 32

The project that was planned for a 2 month period incorporating extra curricular activities and a component of health and safety awareness had to be terminated within a month as the group shifted location and some returned to their native place.

Due to classroom being away from the children’s home, building relations with the community was difficult. Also as the teacher was dependent on the transport service offered by the company to drop and fetch the children and therefore the time the children spent with the teacher was determined by it. On 5 days when there was no bus service, class could not be conducted. Yet another problem faced was that tit was difficult to set up the classroom and the essentials that go with it because of the location.

Despite the very short span, the health component was initiated. A check up and immediate treatment were undertaken. The safety component which was to be addressed with the parents was not introduced as there was barely anytime to spend with them.

This 2 month experience can at best be considered a learning experience for both Door Step School and British Gas.

CONCLUSION

A young adult who has been with Door Step School for about 2 years, spending 1 ½ to 2 hrs per day at the centre, emerges as a confident, self-reliant individual. These children are more vocal, able to express themselves clearly and are aware of their environment. They have been in the limelight while participating in street plays, variety entertainment programmes and rallies.

They work together to compile a newsletter in which they state their views and observations. They keep themselves aware of current events by reading newspapers and magazines (circulated by Door Step School library). It is in these youngsters that Door Step School sees the impact of its work.

There is still a long way to go before all children in the community can be reached out to and set on the path to a more fruitful future.

DOOR STEP SCHOOL – PUNE

ANNUAL REPORT 2006-2007

INTRODUCTION

In the life of an organization every year brings some changes, planned or otherwise, which indicate growth and progress. Following the same rule, we have also been changing through the years and in every Annual Report we have something new to highlight.

Even as we remained steadfast on our mission of bringing education to marginalized children, we have been growing and changing all throughout in terms of the range and scope of programme offered. However, the growth so far was a natural process. This year, for the first time in the last 15 odd years, we formed a separate Steering Committee for Pune and we sought professional help for preparing a perspective plan for the organization’s growth in the coming years. (The plan is in the making and we will talk about it in details in the next Annual Report).

Last year we talked about the launch of ‘Project Foundation, indicating our priority to work with construction labours’ children extensively and in more organized manner. This year, without really planning for it we have extended our Reading Classes to 20 PCMC (Pimpari Chinchwad Municipal Corporation) eg at signals. This group although small in number, is dealt with separately, because they are different in many ways from the above-mentioned groups.

The Report is divided in seven parts:

Education and Related Activities Vachan Sanskar Prakalpa or Reading Classes and Related Activities Study Centres Training, Evaluation and Monitoring Volunteers and their Contribution Future Plans Appendix 1 (with detailed statistics)

EDUCATION AND RELATED ACTIVITIES

Table 1: Activities At A GlanceType Activity Locations Children ClassesEducationalActivities

Balwadis 43 1054 47NFE (Literacy Classes) 50 1155 51School on Wheels (classes held in bus)

02 39 4

Study Classes in Communities/on Construction Sites

29 590 21

LibraryRelatedActivities

Reading Classes (for std I to IV with 321 Classes) 47 schools 15631 28Lending Libraries (in schools) for stds 5th to 7th 62 2013 12Lending Libraries in Communities 5 283 6Reference Libraries (Study Centres) 6 540 6

Supportive Activities

Computer Classes 28 341 03School Transport Service - 270 18L9 - 579 36School Admissions - 226 23Appeared for External Examinations 109 23Publications 1 Story book without composite

letter words; 3 Issues of Chorus, a quarterly Newsletter

Training Teachers 123 teachers; 53 days in totalBook-Fairies 55 Book-Fairies; 10 days in total

Table 2: Last Four Years’ Educational ActivitiesYEAR 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07Slum Sites 9 5 6 7Construction Sites 8 16 32 50Pavement Dwellers 2 1 1 1Road Construction Sites 2 0 0 0Total No. of Locations 19 22 39 58Number of Balwadis 5 10 19 43Number of Study Classes 18 14 18 29NFE Classes /Centres 14 21 37 50No. of Child Care Centres

13

Total No. of Classes 37 45 74 135

No. of Locations Closed 2 (14%)

2(9%)

3(8%)

8(14%)

Number of Classes Closed

5 (13%)

6 (13%)

6(8%)

14(11%)

Number of Children Enrolled

1144 1190 2426 2799

Number of Children Retained

691 (61%) 670 (56%) 1144(47%)

1399(50%)

Table 2 clearly brings out the following points.The number of locations covered has gone up by over three times from the year 2003-04 to 2006-07. (In the year 2003 we covered 19 locations as against the 58 of

the current year. The increase in the number of locations was sudden in the year 2005-06 due to the launch of ‘ Project Foundation’ which marked our new emphasis on children of construction labour). The increase in the number of locations during last year is not as spectacular but is steady and on the growing path. Any further expansion now will take more effort and time because the base has broadened considerably. Number of children covered, however, has not gone up in the same proportion. The number of locations has tripled but the number of children covered is a little over two and a half times only. (From 1144 in 2003-2004 to 2860 in the reporting year).

Number of class units has gone up by four times resulting in smaller class units. This year the average class size was 23. Thus, although the class size has become smaller than the previous years, it is still a little over the ideal class size of 20.

The percentage of retention has in fact gone down as the focus on construction sites has intensified. It is more or less 50 percent of the total enrolment. However, while working with construction labours’ children, it becomes very difficult to deal with the problem of dropouts, due to the uncertainty of the duration of stay as well as the timing of moving out from a given location. We are yet struggling to find an effective solution to this problem.

Some locations needed to be closed during the year for the same reason. The rate of such closures has varied from eight to 14 percent during the past four years. Due to the same reason of uncertainty of labours’ movement from one place to another, this factor has also remained beyond our control. Hence we see no pattern in its ups and downs.

The increase in the number of locations with no proportionate increase in the number of children, and increase in the number of classes resulting in smaller class-units, needs some explanation. When the ‘Project Foundation’ was launched, we had to make a decision as to how we would expand. We decided to select an area and cover it fully before entering another area. For example, if we began work in Aundh area then we covered all the construction sites in that area first and then moved on to Pashan or Hinjawadi etc. There were a few other alternatives before us, such as go by the size of the labour camp and number of children therein, or go by the willingness, or readiness of a builder to support the activity on his construction site; or the stage at which the construction was at the time of our entry on that location. All these considerations are important and we do use them to prioritise or to aid the selection of a site if and when necessary. But our main criteria are the areas in which we have decided to work. This year we have worked in Aundh, Baner, Pashan and Sus Road area and have almost covered all possible sites in and around these areas and now are ready to move further. It is only when the site has no labour camp, or when the labour camp is mostly populated by male workers who come here leaving their families behind at their villages, or when a builder is positively against any such activity on his premises or when some other organisation is working on the site, we cannot commence our activities on that site. We do not reject sites because the number of children is small or because the construction is in its last stages. Under both such circumstances, we try to take children to another location where already a class is running and a few more children can easily be absorbed there. We make transport arrangements for such children and work with them for as long as possible. If we cannot do any thing else, we can at least get their age- certificates done.

We have a centre called Limbjai Mandir where we collect children from six to eight locations along Baner Road. The centre is running very well for more than four

years and although there is a considerable turn over of children, the centre is running in full capacity.

Due to the priority given to cover an area completely and also the policy of not letting go off even a single child, we see the growth in number of locations and less than proportionate increase in the number of children. The increase in the number of classes is partly due to the reasons mentioned above and can partly be attributed to our new strategy of separating pre-primary age group from the older children as far as possible. This is done mainly keeping older children’s interest in mind. The childcare facility is also provided on more centres this year than ever before. The younger children distract the older ones and hence learning does not take place, as it should. This year our entire focus was on imparting literacy skills in as much a short time as possible. We took the following measures for achieving this goal.

Divided the syllabus in modules. The first module consisted of literacy skills. The initial focus was fully on imparting literacy skills. The expected level of literacy to be achieved was to be able to read without difficulty from books with composite letter words. This we have seen can be achieved in 100 days if a child attends fairly regularly during this period.

If a child was with us for a longer period of time, a module for imparting simple numeric and arithmetic skills was developed and added to the course curriculum.

The child was simultaneously prepared for the yearly external examination held by the Pune Municipal Corporation in the month of April.The use of appropriate teaching methods and aids was systematized and ensured through introductory tad on going training. The training also emphasized on daily planning of every activity in details, which was to be displayed in the classroom and teaching in groups according to the levels of learning. A teacher carried a set of teaching aids for literacy and numeric skills, prepared by her during the initial training period.

Teachers and supervisors were encouraged to think of innovative teaching methods to be used in classes. This had a very good effect in creating enthusiasm in the staff. At the annual review meet teachers presented nearly 50 different ways and methods they used for teaching or for improving attendance.

The classes were held for six hours a day instead of three as before. This was important from two points of view. It is a kind of requirement of construction site work, as it is important from the safety point of view that children are engaged and looked after throughout the day. From the point of view of education, longer hours are important, particularly because this group is not going to stay with us for very long. So we decided to make best of the time they were with us by educating them for more time.

With all these changes we could see some good results. However, before looking at the attendance and the performance results let us have a look at some tables giving us a summarized picture of the scope of Balwadis, NFE Classes and Study Classes conducted at different locations.

Table 3: Number Of Centres And Children By Programme And LocationProgra-mme

No. of Locations

No. of Centres

No. of Children Enrolled

No. of Children Retaine

Rate of Retentio

n

Average Class Size

d %

In Slums

Balwadis 3 4 80 72 90% 20-18Study classes 6 16 336 233 72% 20-14NFE 3 4 102 54 53% 25-14Childcare Centres 1 1 14 4 29% 14-4Total 532 363 64%Balwadis 40 41 960 468 49% 23-11Study Classes 11 13 243 124 50% 19- 10NFE *47 *46 1049 433 41% 23-10Childcare Centres 13 13 151 105 66% 12-8Total 47 113 2403 1130 47%

School on

WheelsStudy Classes 3 2 34 14 41%

Total 3 2 34 14 41% 17-7On

Pavement

Balwadis & NFE 1 1 18 7 39% 14-6Total 1 1 18 7 39%

Grand Total 57 133 2951 1439 51%

The pavement children are shown separately because they are different from other children in many ways. We have been working with this group for the last six years. These children have a very short attention span; they are more irregular than other children we are dealing with. Since parents stay on pavements, they are not used to living in closed places such as a room or a closed shed. Compared to other children, these children are smarter in handling money and can walk in heavy traffic with great skill and confidence. However, basic concepts of cleanliness and personal grooming are totally missing. On the contrary, parents encourage them to be untidy and dirty because then they can attract more attention and sympathy. These children are almost the primary breadwinners of their families. And this is really the main difference between them and other children. In fact the labourers working on road construction sites are also pavement or roadside dwellers for that matter. However, their children are different from those whose parents live on pavements and send their children for begging as a means of livelihood. We had a tough time working with this group. This year for the first time we were successful in convincing parents of some six children to enrol them in school.

Table no.3 shows that in the year 2006-07 we covered a total of 57 locations, six slums, 47 construction sites (including a road construction site) and a pavement settlement. Out of these 54 locations, eight construction sites were closed at different points during the year. Thus by the end of the year we continued working on 46 sites with 39 Balwadis, 29 study classes and 45 NFE (113 Classes in all). The longest period we worked on a site is five years. This does not mean that the children remained with us for five years. Most of the children moved out and were replaced by a new group of children. However, some children did continue. Their progress is as given below. The shortest we worked was for a little over three months. On an average a site continues for a year and a half or so.

DRDO- The site on which we have worked for the longest period of time DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization) labour camp is the

site on which we are working from 2002. We started our work here in School on Wheels and under a tree. In 2003 we were successful in getting permission to build a shed for running

classes. Today there are three small sheds to conduct classes. We provided school transport for 40+ ? children on a regular basis. During the first year of school admissions, our teachers had to stay with

children during the school hours and be present in the classrooms. This helped settle the children in new routine

are studying in ? Were among the 1st 8 ranks for two consecutive years.

Performance:

Level Report Of NFE Classes: June 2006 To March 2007

Attendance

Level

Learning Alphabets

%

Complete Alphabets

%

Complete Matras

%

Complete Composite Letter

%N=

1 to 100 59 23 12 6415

100+ 9 28 28 35 68

Level Report Of NFE Classes: June 2006 To March 2007

Attendance

Level

Learning Alphabets%

Complete Alphabets%

Complete Matras%

Complete CompositeLetter%

N=

1 to 25 41 45 10 4 24626 to 50 28 20 30 22 9751 to 75 19 25 39 17 4876 to 100 13 25 25 37 24Total 415

SUPPORTIVE SERVICES

School Transport :Making provision for school transport for children of 1st and 2nd standards is an essential supportive service particularly in Pune because of the heavy and undisciplined traffic in the city. During the year we provided this service to children of following locations. We used our own vehicles and also have hired auto rickshaws for this work. Transport was needed for reaching children to school as well as for collecting children from different construction sites to one location for conducting classes. This became necessary when the number of children on a given location/s was rather small and when there was another class running in the vicinity. It became necessary to take children from one location to another when the response from a builder or site supervisor was not forthcoming and the concerned persons did not make even a small shed or a safe place available to conduct classes.

Table 4 gives the details of the transport activity during the year

Table 4: School Transport

Activity No. of Children

From To Kms. Covered

Vehicles Used

Reaching Children to

Schools

80 DRDO Pashan to Gora Kumbhar School

4 School on Wheels

5 LamanTanda Pashan to Ankur Ferguson College Rd.

21 Auto Rickshaw

Garden City to PMC School 6 Auto Rickshaw6 Pune University to PMC

School3 Auto Rickshaw

39 Range Hills to School 3 School on Wheels130 37

Collecting Children for

Classes105 Along Baner Rd. to Limbajai

Mandir28 Maruti Van

11 Anand Park to Golvalkar School

2 School on Wheels

61 From P W D to Golvalkar School for NFE Classes & Balwadis (twice) Auto for 1 time

10 School on Wheels

18 3 Auto Rickshaw

6From Pune University to CID Quarters (Modern College) for two months.

2 Maruti Van

201 45

Child Care Facility (CCF) Although we always wanted to have this facility at our centres we could never really provide it due to the constraints of space. If there is a younger sibling to look after, it is not possible for the older child to attend formal school. Therefore, it is a must for any non-formal education facility to allow younger children to accompany their brothers or sisters in the classroom. We have been doing it ever since we have conducted NFE Classes.

However, when we started working on construction sites we became more time-conscious. The construction labour families move from one location to another more often than those in slum settlements. While working with this group we have to assume that the children are going to move out in three-four months and therefore we have to impart to them as many literacy skills as possible during that period of time. If there are young children around in the classroom they cause a distraction not only to their siblings but also to everybody in the classroom. Hence it was important that we made a separate arrangement for the young ones. And we did so, whenever a separate place was available and whenever this was not possible, we engaged a helper who will take care of the children separately in one corner of the same room.

It will be interesting to note here that the task of separating the younger child from the older one is not as easy as it looks. The children are not at all willing to give the responsibility of the younger kids in their custody to any one else. They are scared that if anything happens to the child they will be held responsible and punished by their parents or guardians. (Many times the older girl or boy who takes care of the young ones is a nephew/niece who is brought to the city specially to look after the small children of the host family. These children are paid a small weekly allowance for the work they do). It is also important to note here that to get a helper to look after the young children is more difficult than to get a teacher for Balwadi or NFE class. This year we had covered children from --- locations under this facility.

Age CertificatesMost of the children do not have birth certificates with them. In the absence of birth certificate an age certificate is considered valid for entry in school. PMC has also relaxed the rules about the need for producing birth/age certificate at the time of entry in school. According to the current regulations, parents can produce this document after the child is enrolled in school. However, since the document is required at a later stage, we prefer to get the age certificate done of almost every child above six (and without the original birth certificate) whether or not the child is ready for immediate school admission. The parents carry the original and we keep a copy of the document with us. This year nearly 600 children were helped to obtain their age certificates.

School AdmissionsWe believe in mainstreaming of education for the children as far as possible. So our first effort is towards enrolling them in PMC schools. Then we help them in their studies through Study Classes and whenever necessary, we provide the school transport facility. This year we admitted 226 children in schools.

External Examinations The PMC conducts external examinations for 1st to 7thstds annually. We have always been sending our children for these examinations. Lately in addition to these, separate examinations are held for children studying under the Mahatma Phule Shikshan Hami Yojana. This year children appeared for MPSH Yojana and appeared for PMC examinations. Most of these children appeared for the 1 st std. examinations.

Mahatma Phule Shikshan Hami Yojana

20 NFE classes under this Government scheme 365 children were covered. 97 Appeared for external examinations

1. All have passed with good grades. 2. All were admitted to school in the 2nd and 3rd stds according

to the level they achieved. 3. Most of them are attending our Study Classes4. Most of them are using the school transport provided by us.

Children of the class held at DRDO got first prize in group-dance competition organized by PMC for children attending classes under MPSH yojana.

Extension Programmes at NFE Centres.Since we have most of our NFE classes on construction sites, average duration of our work at any given centre is rather short. It is therefore neither possible nor necessary to have facilities like community or Reference Library at every location we work at. However, there are a couple of locations where we have been working for some time now and the children whom we have enrolled in schools are studying in 3rd, 4th or 5th standards. These children need facilities like a reference or a community library and we do respond to their needs.

In the year 2006-7 we had reference libraries at three such locations; LamanTanda, D.R.D.O and Lara construction site which was in fact a new site. But the room that was given to us to use, as a classroom here was really good and the number of children on site were not as many. We could therefore get children from the surrounding slum communities to attend our Study Classes. Children from these communities were already studying in schools and needed supportive services such as a reference library.

A total of 93 children from these three centres used the facility. Out of these 93 children, 44 were from communities surrounding Lara. The figures indicate the need for facilities like these for school going children of neo-literate families.

At Laman Tanda and Lara we made provisions for a community library. A total of 172 children from these two locations made use of this facility as well.

We usually have these two programmes under the umbrella of Study Centres. We will talk about the Study Centres a little later, but the figures quoted here are for the separate programmes, which we have at our NFE Centres.

Studying at ‘Quest’ (a science laboratory)“Quest’ is a laboratory for school children opened and run by Mrs. Malati Kelkar. Children from private schools on payment use the facility. However Mrs. Kelkar

welcomes and encourages Door Step School children to attend Quest free of charge, make simple experiments and learn basic principals of science. Since our schools are not equipped with laboratories children from Municipal Corporation schools never get to do experiments themselves. Quest gives them good opportunity to see for themselves what they study in books.

The children who are taken to Quest sessions are normally eight to 12 year olds. They are either attending regular schools or NFE classes. The school going children are mainly from Ernst & Young study Centre off Senapati Bapat Road, and from the NFE centres in the vicinity of Quest laboratory. During the year nearly 60 children from E&Y Study Centre, and 25 children from NFE classes attended Quest once a week. On an average every child got about 20 turns of the Quest experience. Here they learnt different things related to their syllabus.

Our children even participated in the exhibition organised by Quest for parents and others to see what children have learnt. We are very proud to note here that our children could stand side by with children from private schools and show and explain how and why of an experiment they had developed. (Can insert a photograph here.)VACHAN SANSKAR PRAKLAPA (PROJECT: GROW WITH BOOKS)Reading Classes and Related Activities

Reading ClassesReading Classes is one of our unique initiatives directed towards improving the reading skills of the children in Municipal schools. We launched this programme in 1999 in 10 schools. In the year 2006-7 we have expanded our programme to 47 schools of PMC and PCMC, covering nearly 16,000 children of 1st to 4th stds. (27 of these schools are from Pune and 20 from Pimpari –Chinchwad.) We have three funding partners who support this programme.

What are Reading Classes?The concept of Reading Classes is relatively new and needs some explanation. The Reading Classes are for the primary school children with the principal goal of improving their reading skills. Let us look at the salient features of the Reading Class Programme which has developed into a very structured and goal oriented activity taking root in schools and more importantly, it is creating a reading culture and desire to read in the minds of the children. The most convincing example of the silent change is the request made by the 5 th std. children that we start Reading Classes for them as well. Although taking Reading Classes in the same pattern was not necessary for these children, we acknowledge their need for reading books and started lending libraries for 5th to 7th stds children. We give books to all those who want to take them home to read. The books are exchanged every week. This activity is also taking root and growing in popularity. This year we worked in 14 schools whereas next year, we are planning to work in 20 schools in Pune and if possible in about 10 schools of PCMC.

The Reading Classes are designed for children studying in primary schools .The Reading Classes are included in a school’s timetable and hence are a part of a school programme.

Although the regular teachers are present during the RC sessions, the main responsibility of conducting the class is that of Book-Fairies who are the grass-root level functionaries of the Reading Class Programme.

The duration of the Reading Class period varies, depending on the school authorities. The minimum time we get for this activity is 60 minutes, per week, per class.

There are two Book-Fairies per class. The Book-Fairies distribute books for reading in the classroom to all children

according to their level of reading ability. In addition, a Book-Fairy goes to every child and makes him/her read aloud

five to 10 lines without disturbing others, at every session. Some part of the class time is used for other language development

activities such as singing simple songs and poems, story telling, age appropriate word games, solving crossword puzzles etc.

We lend books for reading at home. We seek children’s participation in all the activities and 3rd and 4th std.

children even help in distribution and collection of books, keeping records every session.

In addition, she takes reading practice of every child by making him read aloud, without disturbing others, at five to 10 lines, every session.

Some part of the class time is used for other language development activities such as singing simple songs and poems, story telling, age appropriate word games, solving crossword puzzles etc.

We give books to take home. We seek children’s participation in all the activities and 3rd and 4th std.

children even help in distribution and collection of books, keeping records etc.

BooksWhile conducting Reading Classes, selection of appropriate books is an important task. Since we are dealing with primary school age group, all the books should make interesting reading for children between six to 10. Since their reading skills are at different levels, the books also have to be graded accordingly. The font has to be bold and big, language needs to be simple with words from everyday use, stories have to be interesting and short, quality of paper and printing has to be good and the books have to be reasonably priced and low in cost. If colourful illustrations are added, it is a bonus. However, since our objective is to give reading practice, the books have to have sufficient scope for practicing reading. Otherwise there are some very well illustrated colourful books but each page carries only a sentence or two. Such books are good for initial stages to create an interest in reading but are not adequate for practicing reading. We have written here all these points in details because our experience shows that such books are not easily available in the market and are rather short in supply.

We divide the children in four groups according to their reading ability. The division is based on the Reading Ability Test results. (We administer this test twice a year, in the beginning and at the end of an academic year. The test is designed by us to identify the level of reading ability achieved.) The following table is based on the results of the test given in July 2006 and it shows the availability of number and variety of books for every group.

Table 5: Number and Variety of Books per Group

Level of Reading Skills Children Level Appropriate Books Titles

Learning to read alphabets 548 (6%) Learning aids are used NA

Learning to read Matras 2209 (23) 9978 (41%) 36*Read books without Composite Letter Words 2146 (22) 2777 (11%) 19*Read books with Composite Letter Words 4799 (49) 11682 (48%) 2023

(98%)Total *9,702 (100) 24,437(100) 2074

No. of 2nd to 4th std. children who were given RAT (Reading Ability Test) we allocate a day for every class to administer the RAT. All the children who are present on that day are given the test. Children of 1st std. are not included in the test given at the beginning of the year).

Out of the 36 titles available for learning to read Matras, eight are published by DSS. Similarly out of the 19 titles without composite letters words, 12 are published by DSS.

About 6% of the children in stds. 2nd, 3rd, & 4th are in the category ‘learning to read alphabets’. It means that these children have not yet completed learning of alphabets. (Children in the1st std, i.e.3956 in number, is not included here, even though they have completed at least one full year of schooling). There is hardly any reading material available for this group. We normally use the charts, work sheets and other such teaching, learning aids for this group. Since we go to a class only once a week and since we do not assume the role of a teacher, we do not teach new alphabets but we help to reinforce the learning that has already taken place in the classroom. In addition to the use of learning aids, we also take group songs, nursery rhymes, tell stories, give colours and drawing books to children to colour pictures etc. All these and more such activities help children develop their language and finger eye coordination and other such skills.

The second group is (22%) of those children who have completed alphabets but who have yet to complete Matras. The nature of the Devnagari script is such that without learning the Matras it is difficult to read even a small passage. This group again requires special reading material which is graded and which introduces Matras step by step. (Although over 50% of these children are from the 2nd

standard, almost equal number of children who are yet to know all Matras are from 3rd and 4th standards as well.). In fact, in every standard there are children who are struggling with alphabets and Matras and are yet to learn composite letter words. According to the prescribed textbooks for the 1st std, it is necessary to finish all alphabets, Matras and a few composite letter words by the end of the first year. But in reality this does not happen. A sizeable number of children lag behind. And because of inadequate reading skills, they lag behind in other subjects as well.

As we can see from the table, availability of reading material to the first two groups is very limited. We can see the titles available for these groups, are really very few. In other words, the variety of reading material available for these groups is extremely limited. This lacunae needs to be filled in as soon as possible.

Giving Books Home to Read (2nd to 4th stds.)As a part of the Reading Class activity, we encourage children who have completed learning alphabets and Matras, to take books home to read. Although it is optional, more than 80% of the children do take books home to read. On an average each child takes about five to six books in the year. When children take books home other family members and sometimes neighbours also feel interested in reading those books. This according to us is a bonus.

This year more than 3000 children from 21 schools in Pune, participated in the activity (The new schools are yet to start the home-lending of books.)

Library for 5th to 7th stds.The Reading Classes are organised for the 1st to 4th std. children only. Library for 5th

to 7th std. children is an offshoot of the Reading Classes. We have started the library for this group on their demand. This again is a school-based activity through which we make books available to children of 5th to 7th stds. as well. The books are issued out once a week and the membership is voluntary. We started the activity in the year 2002. Initially we tried to keep the membership fee Rs. 5 /- per moth, per child. However, after the initial few months the members started dropping out and finally the activity had to be closed down. Later in 2004 we again started giving books home but this time without any fees. Now for the last three years the programme is growing steadily and last year we covered 15 schools under this programme. Here also we covered more than 3,000 children and on an average, in a year, each child has taken four to five books for home reading.The only problem that we face while giving books home is the loss of books.

Record of Books Lost During The Year

Type of BookActivity Elementary

Without Composite

letter Words

With Composite

letter words

Total

Reading Classes: classroom activity 52 19 60 131Reading Classes: home-lending (2nd to 4th stds ) Na 1 155 156Library (5th to 7th stds) Na 2 357 359Total 52 22 572 646

Total no. of books 24437.

The Table answers one of the FAQs in relation to libraries. We often worry about the books lost and damaged and that results into not starting the activity. There is no denying of the fact that the chances of losing books are high when we give books home to read. It is also very clear that the children from higher standards are more prone to not returning the books or to losing them. If we compare the number of books lost to the number of readers, we find that even at its highest rate, we lost a book after every 10 readers or so. Last year this proportion was a book after every eight readers. So there is an improvement this year. And this is not for nothing. We have made efforts to reduce the rate of losing books. For example, we involved the children as well the teachers in collection of books, we talked to the children about the importance of returning books on time etc. These and other such measures are showing results and we will keep on trying to reduce the rate of losing books.

STUDY CENTRES

We run two Study Centres or Abhyasikas, one at Dattawadi near Mhatre Bridge (2002) and another at Senapati Bapat Road (2004). Study Centres have a range of programmes shown in Table 6. As can be seen from the table, Reference Libraries and particularly computer classes are unique to Study Centres.

Table 6: Range of Activities and Coverage through Study Centres

Activity No. of Children No. of locations from

Reference Libraries 445 7Computer Classes 269 10Study Classes 156 10Children’s (story books) library 112 6NFE 44 3Balwadi 40 3Volunteers/ volunteer groups 15+ 4

Reference LibrariesThe beginning of this programme was made in Wadarwadi, in the year 2000 (our first Study Centre, although we had not named it such and which we gradually closed down for external reasons. The process of closure is almost complete now, because this year we only conducted Computer Classes at this Centre and treated them as an extension to Dattawadi Study Centre).

The reference Libraries programme is conceived only as a facility to children who are already attending school but who do not have sufficient space at home to study or /and who do not have access to books such as dictionaries, Atlas, sets of question papers or guides etc. So at a Reference Library we provide the space to study and the books to refer to and it is not a place where we teach but it is manned with a person who can help the children in their studies or solve their difficulties whenever necessary. As we can see from Table a Reference Library is the most popular of the activities held at our Study Centres. Children of all age groups use the facility and although it is not really meant for the primary school children we see that children of this age group are the single largest group (126 out of 445) of its users.

The Reference Library is also a place where the volunteers’ contribution is welcome and possible. Because here the volunteers can teach English, Science, Mathematics to the children who are already in school and need all the possible inputs to improve their studies. We do not keep regular tutors for these children but we do encourage the volunteers to come and teach and interact with the children.

The children do benefit with volunteer interaction and their horizons widen. They also benefit through regular studies and their results show it. This year over 80% of

the 59 children who were regular members of the Reference Library passed the SSC examination.

Computer Classes This year we had computer classes at three locations; Dattawadi, Wadarwadi and Shivaji Housing Society off Senapati Bapat Road. (As mentioned earlier classes at Wadarwadi were treated as an extension of Dattawadi Study Centre.) A little over 250 students were covered. Since we give a computer per student, the students are divided in small groups. We used 18 computers and class size depended on the number of computers at a given centre. The children are taught according to the syllabus, which starts with paint and covers MS Word, Excel, Power Point and use of Internet. Here also, we find children of all age groups making use of this facility but the majority are between 10 and 15.

At Dattawadi we run special vacation classes for children who have appeared for SSC and are waiting for the results to come out. For these classes we charge a nominal fee of Rs. 400/- for the complete course, which is covered in three months. Response to these classes is also good and many completed the course this year.

Children’s Lending Library Community Libraries for children is our one of the four of our programmes that we started with. However, as the years passed this programme somehow appears to be neglected or not getting enough attention as other programmes are introduced and growing. The membership of this library is voluntary and we have not made any special efforts for its growth. Hence the number of children covered under this programme is relatively low. There is much scope to widen its coverage but our efforts are apparently lacking. Also, since we have Reading Classes in the PMC schools in the vicinity of Dattawadi most of the children get library books through Reading Classes. This could be another reason for the apparently low coverage.

TRAINING, MONITORING AND EVALUATION

As we are expanding, our training needs are also increasing. We have well-developed training courses tailored to our needs. Training for NFE teachers is different from that for Book-Fairies. Also, training for grass root level workers is different from that of a supervisory staff. As the number of staff is increasing, training takes a considerable amount of our time and energy and a need for separate training unit is felt very strongly. Hence to start a Training Centre of our own is an important part of our future plan.

Currently, we are managing with our own resources and our own staff mostly does the training.

When we looked at our training schedule of last year, we see that the teachers’ as well Book Fairies’ training was taken fairly regularly and most of the teachers/ Book-Fairies got training for at least 15 and eight days respectively. (Book-Fairies require less number of training days.) However, training of supervisory staff did not take place as intensively as needed. In fact, Coordinators, both new and old Coordinators were recruited and asked to start work without adequate orientation. Many Coordinators have expressed their discomfort on not being trained or even

oriented properly for the job they were supposed to do. We have taken note of this lacuna and will make up for it in the coming year.

Monitoring and evaluation of children’s performance is a regular activity and was carried out accordingly. Evaluation of the staff performance also was done this year. We used to do it earlier, but somehow it got dropped out during the course of time. This year we picked it up again. The staff evaluation process is participatory. Everyone is supposed to fill in a form, which is for self-evaluation, and then discuss it with the team in charge of evaluations. Since no benefits are attached to good performance the process is more for self-introspection and improvement.

VOLUNTEERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION

Volunteering is a growing passion of the day. We see the increase in the number of volunteers and the requests for volunteering. The sources from which the volunteers come are also varied. The nature of work they do and the duration for which they work with us also has a great variation.

Last year we had volunteers from two different organizations; Gapguru from Briton and Sangam, world Centre for Girl Guide. Normally volunteers coming from both these sources are foreigners and stay with us for couple of months. Most of them like to work with children and hence they are placed in one of the Study Centres, where there are children whom they can teach English and take craft and other activities with them. Some of them work in the office also and help us in streamlining office procedure and other such matters. We also get local volunteers from the corporate sector. There are some retired teachers, particularly women who are interested in volunteering and again help our children in studies.

This year a group of volunteers has helped us on a regular basis and for a prolonged period of time. They trained our staff in basic computer skills and they developed software for our Grow with Books Project. Both these activities have proved extremely useful and the group has developed a bond with the organization.

In fact, all the activities volunteers do for us cannot be listed here. The contribution of volunteers in terms of what they do for us is certainly valuable and we feel grateful for their contribution. But the most important benefit is something that we, meaning our staff and our children get through the interaction which we have with them, through the exposure we get because they come and work with us is of tremendous value which cannot be measured or expressed in words.

FUTURE PLANS

-There is a plan for expansion and accordingly preparation of a perspective plan for the coming five years is in process.

-Start a Training Centre

annual report 06-07 – draft · web viewa drawing competition was organized at the time...

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