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Asha Seattle continued its endeavor of bringing education to the underprivileged, helping improve quality and access of education for all and played a critical role in bringing socio-economic changes in every society that we worked on in India. We continued to support close to 40 projects across India with a wide range and type of impact; from the remote area of Sundarban to street children in Mumbai Metro, from child home focused on approximate 100 kids to education resource center that are touching 100,000+ students across close to 1000 schools, from non-formal education to tuition centers to formal schools, from early childhood education to teacher’s training programs.

Our focus on learning continued. C. K. Ganguly from the Timbaktu Collective visited us and gave a talk on “Food sovereignty in the face of globalization of hunger” which was eye opening. Known educationist Amukta Mahapatra gave a talk on “Perils of Mass Education” which showed how to deliver education really effectively. We had two workshops this year capturing a variety of topics including Lokpal Bill.

Our new wing of Junior Asha continued to grow, actively participating in existing chapter events and adding new events of their own. This year they organized garage & book sales and 3 runners participated in the Seattle Marathon. They not only helped raise more donations than their target but also improved our outreach through strong partnership with Seattle Art Museum and other local organizations.

Team Asha saw its biggest year so far. Our Seattle To Portland (STP) program and Mt. Rainier climb had record participation. We had 35 bikers including 4 that finished the race in one day. Marathon program now focuses on Rock n Roll and Seattle Marathon making it a year round event

and had 43 total participants. We saw huge enrollment in our three 5Kruns that we organized to kick off the running training programs. Going forward, we are looking at bringing synergy between all Team Asha programs and build it into even bigger events.

We also saw fund raising in our signature Bollywood musical Allgorhythms cross $50K for the first time which was more than double the last record. Our Tamil music concert Geetanjali also saw record fund raising, at around $15K. Our Give Campaign didn’t see much change in results since last year. We introduced a new movie workshop this year to try out a new concept which was very well attended and we raised close to $4K. Famous artist, Mrs. Pande conducted Art workshop again this year for Asha with focus on kids. Our events were very well received and we had very good feedback across the board.

Even with the success of all our events, we are still in a stagnant state where our fund raising overall is not growing. It has kept us in a financial austerity mode, where we are not picking up any new projects and we don’t increase our funding to current projects even though that means decreasing funding given inflation rate in India. With the economy improving in USA and new emphasis on improving our outreach, we are optimistic that this year we will be able to get out of this situation and start funding new projects.

Looking forward, we are looking at the continued generous support of the northwest to help continue our endeavor. Our focus would be to partner with more like-minded organizations and bring awareness of our work to even broader segments of our society.

ANNUAL REPORT DECEMBER 2011for Education

Bringing hope through education

Asha-Seattle’s quarterly Newsletter

Greetings all!

Welcome to the annual report for 2011. In this issue, you will find a summary of each project that Asha Seattle supports with your help. It is an impressive list, and a testament to what we are able to accomplish together. Each project is sincerely making a difference in its community. This would not be possible without you – thank you.

Immediately below, you will find a summary of last year from our Chapter Coordinators. And, toward the end of this issue, you can find our financial update. Also included is a section for events. We hope you will join in the many events that Asha organizes and continue your full-fledged support of Asha for Education.

Asha Seattle Team

Chapter Update

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Adruta Children’s Home Bhubanaeshwar, Orissa

Adruta works with children in some of the poorest regions of Orissa. Many of these areas are impoverished, drought prone, and have seen high gender inequality. Established in 1998, Adruta Home in Bhubaneshwar is a model home for girl children. Here the kids not only get a safe environment, food, clothing, and education but also have several opportunities to excel in extra-curricular activities like music, dance and sports. While they home around 70 children, Asha Seattle supports all the expenses for 40 children. Asha has been supporting this project since 2006.

We are excited to see that Adruta was able to secure two acres of land at Keonjhar for a new children’s’ home last year. The land was purchased at a subsided rate of 55 lakhs and will go a long way towards easing current space limitations and high rental expenses.

Asha Seattle is also working with the community to raise awareness of Adruta Home. We may have a few volunteers from Olympia, Washington who will visit the home in May and impart music education.

Although Asha supports only the school in Bhubaneswar, their centers in Rayagada, Balangir, Puri, Angul and Keonjhar have also expanded significantly in the past few years and last year was no exception.

Amar Seva Sangam Aygudi, Tamil Nadu

Amar Seva Sangam was established by Mr. S. Ramakrishna, a quadriplegic, in 1981. In the year 1992, Mr. S. Sankara Raman, affected by Muscular Dystrophy and a Wheel Chair user, left his lucrative practice at Chennai, and joined Ramakrishnan with a dream to build a Valley for the physically challenged. Their vision is to make Amar Seva Sangam a model center catering to all the needs of the disabled. Amar Seva Sangam is located in Ayikudi, near Thenkasi, Tamilnadu. Amar Seva Sangam has several activities for the physically challenged population. Institutions based within the campus include a Children’s home where food, clothing, transportation, physiotherapy and medical attendance, mobility appliances and education (either in the Sangam’s Nursery / Middle Schools or in Schools outside the campus - for higher education) is

provided. In the campus, is also Sangamam school for special children, where special children are trained in daily living activities, behavioral science, self-care, learning capacity by familiarizing them with the reading / writing and speech as well as vocational skills. They are also given physiotherapy and provided with nutritious food besides their medical requirement. The Orthotics Center manufactures, repairs, and services calipers of not only the Samgam residents but for anyone who may approach the center with their specific needs. The Medical Testing Unit, which is the nerve centre, is well used by the families of the challenged persons, Spinal Cord Injured Post Acute Care etc. In addition, several programs are run to help the physically challenged population of all nearby villages. The donations collected from few donors and sent via Asha Seattle’s Asha Star project, at the request of the donors is being used towards Sangamam School for Special Children. This is utilized towards some portion of teachers’ salaries.

Amar Seva Sangam continues to operate effectively with donors support and has been continuously making improvements in their services that are offered to the disabled people in rural India. Sangamam School for special children, completed their 13th Annual Day Celebration this year, in January 2011. And, the school now has around 70 children in their day care center. Some of the key developments of Amar Seva Sangam include:

a) A music therapy center was inaugurated b) Started construction of REC-Amar Seva Sangam Training Centre for the physically challenged c) Special children from the Sangamam School participated in the cultural programs in the Saral Festival at Coutralam, which was organized by the Department of Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu. The students also participated in another cultural program as part of the fund raising event, which was applauded by the public.

Astha Delhi

ASTHA is a registered non-profit organization founded in 1993. The organization runs services, works in urban resettlement colonies, conducts research, provides information, and links action with policy concerns. Asha Seattle supports Astha’s community based efforts in

P R OJ E C T N OT E SProjects updates for the year 2011 are listed in alphabetical order. For more information about any project, please see: http://www.ashanet.org/projects/chapter-view.php?&a=29

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Girinagar,Kalkaji. It is one of the few centers that provide services to children with a range of multiple disabilities. For these children, who face many challenges, Astha’s task is to provide the services and opportunities they require to develop their abilities.

This year Astha made a major change to its running model. Astha now wants to focus on the Right To Education (RTE) bill’s inclusion of disabled children into mainstream schools. The project worked on facilitation of inclusion of its children in the mainstream schools using all provisions under RTE, and ensuring quality education so that the children are retained in the mainstream system. For each child that they were supporting in their class based model, Astha made a detailed assessment in all aspects of the child’s life to find out the enablers and barriers for the child at the family, community and school levels, for inclusion in the system. The project then worked on overcoming these barriers to get the children into the government school of their convenience.

Avehi Abacus Mumbai, Maharastra

The Avehi Public Charitable (Educational) Trust has worked towards promoting audio-visual modes of communication and alternative media for widening horizons, for raising the level of education and social awareness; for promoting values of equality, social justice, gender sensitivity, secularism, communal harmony and human rights.

Avehi initiated the Abacus project in 1990 which aims at strengthening the quality and content of education imparted to children in age groups of approximately 9 to 14 years. The project has developed a three-year enrichment curriculum package - Sangati, comprising of a series of 6 teaching-learning kits with interlinked themes for the Vth to VIIth std classes. Asha Seattle has partnered with this project starting in the year 2000 (when the teaching materials were still being designed) through to the complete roll out, nine years later across all nine hundred and five Mumbai Municipal Schools reaching more than 5000 teachers and 200,000 children. The curriculum is also used in many well-known private schools and in non-formal education centers.

Over the years the project has established linkages with national and state level institutions like the NCERT, Maharashtra Parthmik Shikhsan Parishad and MSCERT. The Environmental studies textbook and workbook for Std. III to Std. V of NCERT not only have parts of Sangati but also reflect the Sangati pedagogy.

Avehi-Abacus Project has developed a foundation course for trainee teachers studying the course in Diploma in Teacher Education (DTEd) called Manthan (The churning)

comprising 50 learning sessions spread over two years. The course for first year is completely translated to Marathi and the second year work is still under progress. It has been granted permission by the Maharashtra State Council for Educational Research and Training for field testing of the module in Panvel DIET (District Institute of Educational Training) and four colleges have been identified. The organization has also been proactively involved in the campaign for Equal, Quality Education for all since the last five years. They have been campaigning to change RTE Act to replace it with a new one in the framework of ‘Common School System based on Neighborhood Schools’ in consonance with the principles of equality and social justice enshrined in the Constitution of India.

Betsy Elizabeth Trust Creche Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu

The Betsy Elizabeth Trust (BET) runs crèches for children under 5 years of age. Situated in Tamil Nadu, the school rescues children who are neglected, left on the street to fend for themselves, and brings them to a safe place which provides shelter, 3 meals per day, education by trained teachers, health care and lots of affection. Asha has funded the Grace Kids’ Centre (GKC), which is the biggest crèche run by the Betsy Elizabeth Trust, since 2006. In 2008, Asha helped fund a permanent building for GKC.

This year, 26 kids graduated from GKC. About 75% of the graduates continue their studies and go to a neighboring school. The crèche helps instill the importance of education in both the kids and the parents. This improves chances of them joining a school rather than join their parents to work as child laborers and remain illiterate for life. About half of the kids come from Sri Lankan refugee families. GKC was badly in need of an extra room to be able to give enough class room space for the 50 kids. Asha had funded the initial GKC building in 2008. Due to recent funding shortages, Asha could not fund the request for the extra classroom. Fortunately, a fundraiser event (held aptly on 9/11/2011) by a different group of donors, helped raise enough funds to support a temporary tin sheet classroom.

BET runs a sewing center to employ and provide vocational training to village ladies. They make tote bags, yoga mats, etc which are distributed mostly outside India to raise funds. This year they took over making uniforms for the crèche kids, which helped reduce the cost of uniforms.

BET added a new Creche in Poraiyar, in response to a request by the village elders. The Creche is located in a Tsunami affected village, where most people are fishermen.

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Bharati Trust – Senchiamma School Senjiagaram, Tamil Nadu

This school, which was started in 2004 provides pre -primary education for children along with mid-day meals. There are around 40 children who are studying in this school, and we mainly support their pre-primary education through Montessori system and healthy meals for them. Most of the children here are under 5 years old. Once they “graduate” from this school, they go on to the public schools to continue their education.

Currently, the school has a tin roof and it gets very hot during the summer months. Last year (Sept. 2011) we organized a fund raiser in Redmond targeted specifically to replace the tin roof with a concrete roof. This fund raiser was a 3 day film making workshop for high school children followed by a showcase and dinner event. We raised around $4000 during that fund raiser. We have not disbursed this money to the school yet. We have to work on that and get an estimate from them with itemized details and cost for the new roof. Also, the number of children in the school keeps increasing along with the costs necessary to sustain them (due to inflation), but the amount that we send every year is still almost the same. They also need new materials. The ones that they currently use are from when the school was started in 2004 and most of the materials are worn out and some are torn.

Bhoomiheen Sewa Samiti Aao, Banda district, Uttar Pradesh

Bhoomiheen Sewa Samiti is a voluntary service society committed to the task of national reconstruction. The society runs a school with aims to provide quality education and skills to children of the landless and extremely poor kids of the Banda District in UP state of India. Asha Seattle supports part of the running cost of the school which has three parts: a non-formal and innovative primary school (including a school readiness program), a formal but innovative middle school, and a vocational high school.

In 2010-2011 school year about 325 children attended the school (177 boys & 147 girls) with only 4 children dropping out (mostly due to family reasons). Overall academics have improved in the high school level with a girl getting 72% marks in English which is quite an achievement.

In agriculture, Mushroom Production was successful and it’ll soon be included in the vocational training program. The vocational education program that started just a few years back, have now stabilized and the students are taking it seriously. IT has been recently inspected by National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). The inspectors have

recommended recognition/accreditation. When the Head Office grants accreditation, the school will acquire equivalence with an ITI (Industrial Training Institute).

Center for Learning Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Center For Learning (CFL) is an alternative education school serving a mix of underprivileged children (60%, sponsored through donations) and fee paying children (40%). The sponsored children are generally children of migrant laborers who live in the area. The school also works hard to attract and retain girls, especially in the higher grades. CFL strives to provide an alternative education to children with an emphasis on education rather than rote learning and aims to develop self confidence and a passion for continued learning in their students.

The Center for Learning organization is in its 29th year and continues to provide a great service to the community. The school is running well with good enrollment figures and a high degree of engagement from students. In keeping with the alternative education theme, the students have many outside the classroom activities including an out of city trip for older children, a day trip for younger children, academic day, Independence day celebrations, sleepovers at the school, etc. The school also continues to provide a nutritious midday meal for its students. There are substantial challenges to overcome for CFL, especially with the Right to Education bill that affects all small, alternative schools in the nation. Teacher retention and the ability to raise funds is also a challenge.

Champa Mahila Society Projects Sundarban, West Bengal

Champa Mahila Society was established in 1984 in the Basanti area of Sunderban in West Bengal. Basanti is ecologically a part of the delta between the Hooghly River and the Bay of Bengal. Approximately 95 percent of the total population depends on agricultural activities for their livelihood in this monocrop area.

The group aims at creating a self-reliant community and develops a feeling of cooperation with focus on women’s groups. Currently, they work in education (for younger and older children), health (both preventive and curative), SHG promoting micro-credit, kitchen garden and animal husbandry. They also run a hospital.

There are various projects all supported by Asha: • Non Formal Education (NFE)

Early Childhood Education centers

• Sarada Balika Bidyala (SBB) Girls school

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• Surendra Smriti Bidyaniketan (SSB) Amlamethi School

• Boys’ Home

• Girls’ Home

• Special Children

• Health Clinic

• Self-Help Groups

• Youth Groups

Here is an update for 2011:

• Out of 1200 students, 380 new students were admitted in the new school year in NFE (Early child education).

• In the health Clinic, doctor visits 4 times a month and stays for 2 days each visit. There are nurses and ayas to take care of patients.

• Cancer detection for women has been introduced.

• Schools are running well.

• CMS continues to encourage families for more involvement.

• Parents’ support has been increasing over the years – with labor and material for construction and also to supply vegetables/rice for midday meals.

• Girls leaving the school for getting married or for providing financial support to their families continues to be an issue.

• Regular training of teachers is done to improve the quality of education.

• There are now 130 children in the boys’ home.

• There is a home to accommodate boys and girls with disabilities (mainly orthopedic).

• Properly equipped hostels with ramps to ensure accessibility for all.

• Many are getting Govt. jobs through handicap quota.

Delhi Govt 20% school reservation clause Delhi

The objective of the clause is to enroll children from Economically Weaker Section (EWS) into schools which received land at subsidized rates. The project is generating and utilizing funds for the implementation of the 10% reservation clause (earlier 20%).The Delhi Government stipulated that private schools, who obtained land at a very nominal rate, have to enroll children from Economically Weaker Section (EWS) of the society into these schools. 10% of seats, therefore, should be reserved for these

children. Asha Seattle supports this project as this enables usage of a provision within the law leading to a systemic correction, even of the mindsets of the fee paying parents, bringing in social harmony.

This project was not funded in 2011. One of the major challenges in the project was the lack of volunteer coordination between Asha - Seattle, which funded the project, Asha -Delhi, which managed the project, and Pardarshita which executed the project.

In addition, with Right To Education (RTE) becoming a law starting 2010, all children between age 6 to 14 will get free education. RTE will replace all Delhi laws, related to education, which this project was trying to publicize and implement.

Given the above, and the fact that the chapter is short of funds, Asha Seattle has decided to not fund the project going forward.

Door Step School (Pune) Project Foundation Pune, Maharashtra

Children of construction site laborers do not go to school for various reasons. Door Step School sets up temporary education facility with the help of the builders at the construction site.

DSS runs the following activities: 1. Educational Activity Centers – (Literacy Classes)

2. Pre-primary Education (Balwadi)

3. Study Classes for school going children

4. School Transportation (bring children to municipal schools as well as collecting them from different construction sites to one location)

5. Day Care Centers (Crèche) – (Age group of 0 to 3 years)

Asha Seattle supports 2 centers, Rangehills and Pashankar Vitbhatti, by providing program expenses for teaching materials, management and teacher salaries, and other administrative expenses.

Each One Teach One – EOTO New Sion, Maharashtra

Each One Teach One is a parent organization that focuses on afterschool and one-on-one tutoring programs. In 1999, EOTO reached out the New Sion Municipal School in Mumbai to help New Sion’s 5 special needs children. Since then, EOTO has established a great presence in New Sion and is currently working with 45 special needs children. These children range in disabilities of hyperactivity, hearing impairment to autism.

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EOTO is shaping the lives of children by giving them the full individual care they need and deserve. They are concentrating on teaching and encouraging children with disabilities to interact with others, to learn new skills and to be in an environment where they are safe and well treated.

Currently, Asha Seattle is EOTO’s main financial contributor for the New Sion children. We would like your continued help in providing these children with an education in basic math, English and science. Asha Seattle would like to continue funding the school’s computer equipment which the children use as an interactive teaching aid and a new medium for playing games.

EOTO had another successful year with a total of 45 children enrolled. The children just had a group picnic where they take a field trip outside of the classroom to play and explore.

The building is being repaired by the Municipal Corporation, which should yield great changes for EOTO.

The teaching curriculum and teachers remain the same.

Fellowship - Ravi Aluganti Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh

Ravi Aluganti is an Asha fellow working with government schools in Madanapalle mandal of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh. His focus is to provide some quality learning experience for the children of these schools who otherwise go through a very mundane routine. He also runs a mobile library to provide access to printed material beyond text books to improve the reading abilities of the children.

Asha Seattle supports the full program (fellowship, mobile library and related expenses)

Ravi continued with his program focusing on learning activities that are related to the life around the child, and on national and international events during the year. He attended Asha Fellows meet in January and was visited by Elisabeth from Om Prakash Foundation in April, a teacher and four students from Pacific Ridge School in July, Meenakshi/Madavaraj from Puvidham and Suresh from Comet media in December.

Gandhi Kasturibhai Village Development Society (GKVDS) Chengam Taluk, Tamil Nadu

Gandhi Kasturibhai Village Development Society (GKVDS) has a mission of rehabilitating dropout children of the deprived sections of the society (small farmers, landless laborers, dalits and people with disabilities). The

organization provides non-formal education, vocational training and health care to children in 5 villages of Chengam Taluk, Tiruvannamalai District in Tamil Nadu. Asha Seattle has been supporting this project since 2007.

This year 180 children are enrolled in the program receiving non formal education and vocational training. The staff includes a project coordinator experienced in non-formal education, six instructors and a tailoring teacher. This year we are helping the top students by paying 50% of the cost of tailoring machines, which they will use after school to earn a living. They also conducted a health camp to educate children about health care and hygiene.

GRAVIS - Water, health and education for women and children of Thar Jodhpur, villages in Osian block, Rajasthan

The organization works on various projects including water security, health camps, Women Self Help group, and education for kids in the Thar Desert of western Rajasthan. To provide the most benefits to these communities; GRAVIS organizes rural reconstruction projects that encourage self empowerment. The organization currently works in 850 rural communities throughout five districts of western Rajasthan.

With the funds provided by Asha, GRAVIS has expanded its influence to include new villages in Jodhpur District.

Purpose/Goals of GRAVIS:

1. Organize women through formation of Self Help Groups

2. Ensure water security in project villages by construction of water storage tanks

3. Improve health conditions of women and children through health education and provision of health services

4. Spread literacy among children with a special focus on girl children

Recent activities of GRAVIS include:

• Completed construction of 10 taankas.

• 1 vocational training of SHG

• 1 capacity building training of SHG

• 6 Medical camps in all 6 intervention villages

This year, the area received sufficient amount of rain for agriculture and other domestic purposes. As people were busy with working in the fields, GRAVIS decided to postpone rest of the activities like training. Activities planned for FY 2011-12 will be implemented as per planned schedule.

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India Sponsorship Committee Pune, Maharashtra

ISC has these main components:

Vidyadeep - Education support classes and rotating library

Sabala - Gender education and sensitization

Saksham - Development of vocational skills

VECD - Very Early Childhood Development

Asha Seattle has been a key partner for ISC - Pune since 2008. In 2011, we have seen impressive improvement in grades for those students who attend support classes arranged by ISC (Vidyadeep). Workshops and training on gender sensitization have helped a lot of kids. These programs have been so effective that we have seen cases where students who learnt here, have themselves taken a stand in families and schools, whenever they saw gender bias. They have themselves become “agents of change”, which is probably the best metric for success for ISC’s efforts. ISC started Very Early Childhood Development program in 2011. Under this program, they have been conducting workshops for pregnant and new mothers, as well mothers of young children. They provide information about nutritional food, sanskar and early education. These programs have been received very well; a lot of mothers have participated and acknowledged the benefits. Looking at their impressive progress, Asha - Seattle agreed to continue funding for ISC this year.

Jagriti Bal Vikas Samiti Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh

This is a donor specific project in the sense that we do not have a specific annual budget from Asha Seattle. We raise funds specifically for this project through a set of donors and whatever is raised is sent to them. Asha DC also sends funds to this project annually.

We are supporting a school called Swami Vivekanand Vidyalaya at Lodhar near Kanpur, UP. The school is for migrant workers who come from MP, West Bengal, Bihar & Orissa. They work primarily in construction. They do not understand the importance of education and are not able to educate their children because both parents go to work on the construction site and the elder children end up taking care of the younger ones. This project was started by students and professors of IIT Kanpur several years back and has made a big difference to the education of the children of these migrant laborers.

Their teaching methods are different from normal schools - they are more hands on and experiential. They have science experiments and workshops as well as creative writing, model making, drawing, etc. The children are

encouraged to make their own magazines. The children regularly win local competitions and also take part in an annual Science Mela.

The school continues to run well. The annual events are a success and the children continue to win various local competitions this year as well.

The schools are affiliated with NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) currently. With the RTE (Right to Education) coming into play, it is expected that NIOS will be discontinued soon. Before this happens, they would like to be affiliated with CBSE and are raising funds and resources towards the registration with CBSE.

They are thinking about more sustainable models for the school. To be fully sustainable, they would have to collect Rs. 365 from each child each month, which will not work for this community. They are currently collecting Rs. 40 to Rs. 80 from each boy child.

Other than that, there are no major challenges right now. They are in the process of registering with Microsoft India for the Indian Giving Campaign so that they could raise more funds locally as well.

Janseva Mandal and Jeevan Vidya Nandurbar, Maharashtra

Janseva Mandal and Jeevan Vidya are boarding facilities for adivasi boys and girls, respectively, that belong to the tribal belt between Gujarat and Maharashtra. These children come from villages that do not have schools and travel to far off places for education. Janseva and Jeevan Vidya provides these children with boarding facilities including food, academic assistance and in some cases also teaches them vocational skills. Asha has been supporting the food and boarding expenses for 60 boys and girls since 2008.

Until Asha started supporting Janseva Mandal and Jeevan Vidya, there was no steady source of income to fund the boarding facilities. Since 2008 with Asha’s support they have been able to free up funds for other developmental activities such as building better infrastructure for children, providing them better food and also funding a few academic programs to supplement the school curriculum. As such, Asha’s funds go entirely towards buying the basic groceries, fuel for cooking and funding the cook and other contingent staff for running the facility. Over the past 3 years Janseva Mandal constructed a study hall, bought new furniture, installed solar heaters, acquired around 35 computers and hired a teacher and started supplemental Math and English classes. Our continued support has allowed both facilities to focus their energies towards improving the students’ experience rather than worry about raising funds to meet operational expenses.

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Jeevan Gnanodaya Charitable Trust Chengelpet, Tamil Nadu

Jeevan Gnanodaya School for the Deaf is a wing of the Jeevan Gnanodaya Charitable Trust. It has been functioning in Chengalpattu since 1989. The school shelters and educates speech and hearing impaired kids from poor, rural backgrounds. When children are admitted their hearing level is determined and they are given the hearing aid equipment that matches their needs. They are provided special speech therapy classes in addition to the regular curriculum. The school has also started an ITI for hearing-impaired children where they will acquire technical and industry-based skills such as sitting, turning, carpentry etc. Some vocational skills like chalk making are also being imparted to the children. All the facilities provided by the school are free, including food and lodging.

Asha Seattle is supporting the project since 2002 and funding the non-technical teacher’s salary for the school. Other chapters of Asha, including, Austin, UIUC, Atlanta provide funding for teaching materials and medicines, teachers salary, and food expenses.

Jeevan Gnanodaya School continued to operate as usual in 2011, with some key accomplishments to be called out as follows: 1. More students taking the ITI exam this year (9) of them 2. 13 students took the 10th grade with 100% pass rate. 3. 6 trained teachers were also recruited with a 2 year

contract. Trained teachers has been a shortfall in this school.

This year, a lot of progress has been made in the Marraige Hall construction which is supposed to be the long term source of funds for this charitable organization. Based on a discussion with Mr. Devarajan in a November 2011 and also during the December 2011 site visit, it is evident that the project is coming to its end and hopefully will start

fetching income to the trust. Although initial period of 2 years or so will be towards repayment of loan this would prove to be a long term asset for the trust for funding the school.

Based on the site visit report by one of the parents (Shanthi Ravikumar) of one of the project stewards, (Charanya), the school is operating as per expectations. Hopefully we continue to see that the student / teacher ratio improves and the financial situation for the school improves as well in the years to come.

Karnataka Welfare Association for the Deaf - Shastri School Bengaluru, Karnataka

Shastri School for the Hearing Impaired Children is located outside the city of Bengaluru. It was established in March 1994, by a group of social workers from Rajajinagar who established the Karnataka Welfare Association for the Deaf. Starting with just 20 children, the school currently has over 100 orphans who live and learn in the school. Through the “Support A Child Program” with Asha for Education, sponsors are paired up with a child from Shastri School and by providing a donation of $20/month help cover the child’s food, boarding, and educational expenses.

The school has several new primary students who have enrolled this year, all of whom now have sponsors. In addition, in the past year, there have been 5 students who have graduated and found work opportunities in the local community. The school arranges for vocational training programs to help prepare them for jobs like typists and secretarial positions, tailor assistants, and teacher aids.

Shastri School also organizes field trips for the children to learn outside the school environment like going to the Bangalore Zoo or visiting a museum to learn about art and history. The school also makes special arrangements on holidays. The children recently celebrated Children’s Day and Diwali. On these holidays, the children participate in dances and perform skits and the school gets specially catered meals for the children and faculty.

Communication with the school continues to be a struggle. While the school does have a computer, the faculty is not yet comfortable using the internet for email and web search. We hope to organize a training program for them and also have internet access set up in the school.

MICDA - Mother India Community Development Association Vidyut- Sadasivapuram, Chitoor District, Andhra Pradesh

The MICDA project involves rehabilitating over 180 Class at Jeevan Gnanodaya

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poor formerly landless farmers. Nearly 800 acres of land has been developed and allotted to the farmers, and a habitation developed. A school for the children of these families was built with Asha support and has been functioning with Asha Seattle support for several years now. Approximately 80 students study here at any given time. Asha-Seattle currently supports the school with all its expenses. The school has performed outstandingly and students (who are all first generation learners) have passed out with flying colors.

The school has been temporarily closed for this academic year due to administrative issues and the requirement for teacher certification by the state government. As a temporary measure the children have been admitted to neighboring government schools (that are poorly functioning). The school is expected to be fully functional by the next academic year (May 2012). The request from the organization is to support some recurring expenses (electricity, phone) for the year which we have approved.

Muskaan Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

In 1997, Muskaan started out as an effort to provide meaningful education to 20 children from deprived backgrounds in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Muskaan officially registered with the government nine months later in December of 1998. It is now supporting more than 600 children and their families.

Jeevan Shiksha Pahel is the community education program that provides education to the children of slums. Muskaan now works extensively with 9 basti communities. Community programs within the basti’s include savings groups, income generation, and health care initiatives.

Muskaan had been trying to provide education as a full time course and has registered Jeevan Shiksha Pahel as a private school from this academic year. Clay work, puppet making, creative uses of wastes, dance and yoga activities have been done time to time in a planned manner. To

enhance the scientific temperament in school children they planned presentations on certain science concepts and phenomenon and also took the children for educational visits and some time for fun in Science Center Manav Sangrahalaya and regional science museum. They have started a regular activity of children’s parents coming to the school and do some activities. While some share their experiences and stories of childhood and fiction, some demonstrate their skills. They also get involved in the library activities. They come to the center and listen to stories being read and they read the stories if they are able to read.

In addition to the morning exercises, meditation exercises were started in the evening for the holistic development of the kids. Weekly activities were organized by the team members of Muskaan to enable children to learn various skills – weaving of mats using old cloth, making paper bags, puppetry and other things. Plays and music were also regularly done.

Last year, Muskaan purchased land through loans and personal donations so that they can construct their own space, which will include a central teaching space and hostel for girls! One of the significant developments this year has been paying off 80% of the loan and the construction of the building will start sometime soon.

Project WHY New Delhi

Project Why is a New Delhi based non-profit organization engaged in education support and life skill enhancement of slum children and their families. Project Why creates an enabling environment to help underprivileged children and youth access a better future.

Asha Seattle supports about 50% of their annual budget - this covers all centers and programs related to education.

As usual, programs are successful at Project Why - many kids graduate at top of class, getting good scores in public exams; attendance is good but some kids go to private schools and drop out of Project Why after the early prep level. After higher secondary education, many children take up computer courses at Project Why for 6 months full time (started recently) and land jobs that pay Rs.10K per month.

2011 was tough year, mostly spent on scrambling for funding. With funding drying up elsewhere, Project Why is increasingly reliant on Asha Seattle funding. 2012 is shaping to be tougher as well - funding is tight in Europe (the other major source) and Asha Seattle will likely be 75% of their reduced budget for 2012. Project Why is now consolidating into 4 main centers from the 13 centers they had earlier, still with ~800 students. They are closing centers and reducing staff to reduce expenses.Children at Muskaan

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Rishi Valley School (RVS) Rural Education Center Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh

In an arid and rural region of south Andhra Pradesh, the Rishi Valley Rural Education Center was set up and is now meeting the primary education needs of the children in 15 villages. It is a multi-level, single teacher, single room approach in to achieving literacy. Discovering that the available textbooks and materials, with examples often originating from an entirely different urban world, lacked context for rural students, the Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources (RIVER) designed entirely new content, relevant to rural students, and innovated to address their other needs as well. Because students often missed some school seasonally, when their families pulled them out to help with farm work, the “school in a box” created ladders of cards that students can work through at their own pace, and easily make up missed school. The teacher is as much a facilitator as an instructor, guiding the students through their materials, and helping them in their activities.

Children are fed nutritious meals at the school. The program has been highly successful with a very low dropout rate and this curriculum has been adopted by many other schools and translated into various languages for use in other states, and is even being adapted to the Oromo language for use in Southern Ethiopia. The school is also associated with a rural health center and conservation program. Asha is helping to support the surprisingly small budget of this project, and enabling the Rishi Valley Education Center to do more in the local community.

Key highlights:

Around 460 students from 12 Satellite Schools, 200 ex-students and 500 parents and local people attended the annual REC sports meet and participated eagerly in several track and field events on this three day occasion.

English materials for Class 1 & 2 have been designed and printed. They have been sent to our Satellite Schools for use and obtaining feedback. Materials in Telugu and Hindi have been revised, and handwritten drafts of early readers (short story books) have been created.

A ‘Mothers’ Committee tour’ was organized for the mothers to visit Tamil Nadu in December where mothers and teachers visited some Primary Schools and interacted with local communities.

A three-day Telugu workshop was conducted by Mr. M.Nageswar Rao from Enadu Journalism Newspaper.

6th and 7th grade students participated in this workshop with great enthusiasm. They wrote poems, stories and

essays. Students also interviewed key personnel and documented about Rishi Valley School. A book was made with all the contributions from the children.

Several ex-students participated in the sports events, cultural programs like folk puppet shows, dramas and traditional dance performances organized by Rishi Valley Education Center, including a play, “Paramananda Shishula katha.”

A new Ultrasound Machine was acquired by the health center

Dr’s Kartik and Kamakshi along with Dr Roger Evans and Dr Srikanth from Melbourne University received a grant for a long term case control study on Hypertension in the rural population.

Rural Development Trust Tiruporur, TamilNadu

The school aims to wean children away from construction labor jobs and juvenile delinquency by providing them with formal education opportunities. To this end, it serves as a bridge school, enabling children to study through classes 1-8. Schools are currently being run in thirteen suburban construction zones around Chennai where there is a large migrant population.

Asha provides complete funding for the project. The school started in 2006 with Asha support and has seen many batches of students pass out of 8th grade with SSA certificate. Many of them have enrolled in further schooling in their native villages using the SSA certificate.

Recognizing the great work that RDT has been delivering over the last few years, the govt. of Tamil Nadu has donated one of the old school buildings to this project. RDT has rallied local support for funds to renovate the school building and Lion’s club of Chennai has donated all the construction materials. The school is now renovated and habitable and serves as one of the main centers for the school. A recent site visit has validated this. Day to day functioning of the school is going on well although some difficulties were noted. - More laborers have expressed interest to enroll their children in the school, which does not fit into the current budget. - The teacher’s pay scale is low and they expressed difficulty in funding their commute to the school as the transportation fares have hiked.

We are working to rally local support for extra funding in terms donation of books, clothes, old computers etc. (Any help from Asha Chennai will come in handy)

There is a plan to use volunteer support (College students)

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for additional classes during weekends to bridge the gap between qualifications of the teachers and real world scenarios.

Sikshana Bengaluru, Karnataka

Sikshana is all about improving the quality of education in the state-run schools so as to provide an opportunity for children from the lower strata of the society to raise their living standards. In the process, they expect to make a dent on the negative image of the Public school system. The exercise is also aimed at developing a sustainable model which lends itself to replication at higher levels.

Asha has supported this project for several years, and it has been well managed. We just completed a site visit to Sikshana in December 2011.

An excerpt from the site visit: “This trip to the school was indeed a rewarding experience and I sincerely thank Prasanna and his Sikshana team for coordinating this site visit. Kudos to Prasanna and the Sikshana team for all they are doing.”

Sumavanam Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh

The objective of Sumavanam is to provide quality education to children from economically backward neighboring villages.

Asha has been supporting this project since 1997. Initially, Asha Cleveland chapter supported this project, followed by Arizona chapter. Asha Seattle started funding this project in 2001.

History: Neel Bagh trust in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) runs Sumavanam village school. This school was started in 1974 by David and Nicholas Horsburgh, eminent educators who have written text books for grade schools.

Mr.T.M.Narasimhan a former scientist of National Aerospace Laboratory, India, and Usha (Teacher at Neel Bagh Trust) are the founders of this school.

Asha Seattle funds teacher, watchman and helper salaries along with food and materials to maintain the school. Over the years, they were able to arrest dropout rates by making children enjoy learning. This is done by providing a unique environment of co-operation, self and peer supported learning, along with crafts and hands on learning tools for lifelong support.

Updates: Due to water harvesting there is now a much greener

environment there and a lot more trees and birds, and snakes in the area. Children are getting familiar with these.

Children did a survey of the village to know their neighbors, number of streets and traffic lights etc.

Many teachers from other schools come visit Sumavanam to learn about teaching materials and methodologies

An old student who is working with Dell came back to learn handicrafts and teaches at local school in spare time

Apart from academics, children also involve in handicrafts

SUPPORT Mumbai, Maharashtra

Society for Undertaking Poor People for Rehabilitation

The project objective is to have a long term process comprising of detoxification, rehabilitation and provision of vocational skills with a view to mainstreaming addicted youth back into the society, as productive citizens. SUPPORT imparts skills to the youth taking into consideration their minimal education / literacy. Their training activities include carpentry, welding, screen printing, catering and housekeeping - which Asha Seattle funds.

The “FLUTE” [Freedom, Listening, Understanding, Transformation, Enjoyment] methodology is continuously implemented with children and youth and significant changes have been observed. The Vocational Training program is a residential program, where the youth stay and pursue vocational and skills training courses. It enables them to equip themselves in order to secure employment in the future.

2011 marked the completion of 25 years since inception of SUPPORT.

The rehabilitation centre was shifted this year from the

Children doing Rangoli at Sumavanam

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temporary transitional building back to the renovated building supplied by BMC. SUPPORT has further enhanced its medical center due to the needs of the children/addicts who bring with them chronic health conditions and atypical personalities resulting from long term drug use.

In 2011, SUPPORT organized and managed 6 detoxification treatment batches which benefited 81 new children/youth Total number of children taken into rehab program : 115 School admissions : 70 Undergoing Rehabilitation program: 23 Peer Educators Training :06 Transfer to Vocational Training program : 02 Runaway : 02 Handover / Repatriation through SUPPORT : 03 Directly handed over to parents / NGO through CWC :09

The Covenant Center for Development - Balavihar Bangalore, Karnataka

Balavihar provides English language training and holistic education for urban poor children. It provides libraries, English language training and a variety of non-formal educational activities for children of urban, poor and lower middle class families. The project conducts weekly classes in three government schools and three poorly equipped private schools. The English training classes are focused on teaching government school children to read, recite, converse and build vocabulary. Over the years the classes have helped children read their English textbooks comfortably. The non-formal learning activities are aimed at providing holistic education. Specific resource persons conduct sessions in Yoga, theater, drawing, craft, story-telling, clay and needle art, games and puzzles and Emotional Freedom Technique. The children are also taken out on trips to forests, parks and hills to experience nature and educate them about the environment. Lastly the project also provides small libraries located either in the school or neighborhoods the children reside in. The library has helped the children cultivate a reading habit. As the schools participating in the project lack human and financial resources for anything other than teaching the academic curriculum, Balavihar’s programs have been the key to enriching the educational experience of the children. The children enjoy the activities of the program and the teachers, school staff and parents have supported and appreciated the efforts. Asha’s support provides funds for the library books, the salaries of the principal coordinators, teachers, resource persons and volunteers.

The project has added many new activities and training classes in 2011. In one of the government schools, math training was provided in addition to English training. Eight

students that attended the classes secured first class in their SSLC (10th grade) exams in both English and Math. In another government school, the project added a new session to conduct simple learning activities for preschool children (anganwadi). Students from two private schools were taken on a field trip to an environment educational center at Kaigal, AP. In summer camps, children learned to make shopping bags, photo frames and calendars. Children of one of the private schools created a newsletter to report the activities of the project and narrate the student’s experience to teachers and parents. The newsletter and a detailed annual report of Balavihar’s activities are available at the project’s website. Lastly, Asha volunteers from Bangalore conducted a visit at the end of year. They’ve been very impressed by the quality of the work done by the project, the impact on the children and the dedication of the project coordinators, teachers and staff. They have recommended increasing Asha’s support as the project has been operating on a minimal budget for many years.

Tomorrows Foundation (Community Education & Empowerment Program) Kolkata,West Bengal

After implementing the community based education centers for last 5 years, last year Tomorrow’s Foundation thought that it is the right time to let the community choose their own procedures on how to run the centers according to the specific community needs of the locality. As per the function of the centers, the name of the Project was changed to Community Education & Empowerment Programme (CEEP). The community will run their own centers along with the community teachers. According to the need, the community has to choose their respective centers such as Balwadi centre, Bridge Course, coaching support centre, Adult education center, Vocational training center and Open School out-reach centre. The centers will also provide cultural support, health awareness support and information support to the community.

Asha supports 8 out of 14 centers. Some updates:

The total number of students enrolled in CEEP as of November 2011 is 293.

The total number of students mainstreamed in April 2011 is 194.

Self help group formed at 4 centers - 2 at Tangra and 2 at Kalighat area. Meetings with the mothers for SHGs are going on in all the centers (12 meetings).

The ‘Swabalamban Project’ (vocational training on stitching) supported by Reliance Communication Ltd is going on under CEEP programme at Kalighat. Adolescent girls and

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mothers (total 22) are the primary beneficiaries of the project.

Under ‘Hole in the Wall’ programme (self learning computer programme) computers are installed at CEEP Purbachal Yubak Kendar, Bandhudal and at New Shanti Sangha.

Charaibeti Project’ (Special Education on Wheel) and CEEP jointly organized various training programmes on behavior mortification and communication for the disable children at the CEEP centers. Pedagogy on learning, motivation, basic teaching skills are taught. Seven (7) teachers training program, were held on pre-math’s skill, pre-language skill, reading skill, elementary Maths training.

Rabindra Jayanti, Children’s Day were celebrated at different centers. The children participated in music, dance, drama and drawing competitions.

Total health support was provided to 341 children.

The Hemophilia Society, Bangalore Bangalore, Karnataka

The Hemophilia Society Bangalore is a self-help group which was started in 1992 to spread the awareness of hemophilia. In addition to this, it aims to help hemophiliacs by making hemophilia treatment affordable, funding their education, providing microcredit, etc. The Hemophilia Society, Bangalore is a chapter of the Hemophilia Federation of India.

2011 is the second year that Asha Seattle has funded the project. It marks a milestone as the project transitions from the initial phase where we gauge the partner and the project to the phase where we work with them on specific objectives / goals. During 2011, Asha Seattle supported the salary of the physiotherapist and the medicine, education and miscellaneous expenses of 9 individuals. A site visit was also performed, in November 2011, during which all the individuals being supported were present.

Going forward, some structural changes are planned to the project. Discussions are ongoing to convert the money individuals will receive to scholarships where applicable. The goal is to make the children who receive these scholarships feel good about their achievement and motivate them to attain and keep up the minimum education goals to qualify for the scholarship.

Uthnau Rampurhat, West Bengal

The Uthnau project started in 1996 and runs pre-primary and early childhood schools in several villages in the area, focused on basic literacy. Most of the children speak Santhali at home and have unique challenges in mastering

the state syllabus where the medium of instruction is Bengali. Each center is run by one teacher, adopting learning curriculum designed by Mr. Dhiren Bhaski, a known Santhali educationalist. The school also provides vocational training in the fields of arts and crafts. Asha Seattle has supported this project since 2003 with earlier support from Asha Silicon Valley. With this support, Uthnau has served hundreds of children in pre-school education centers and in its supplementary education center-cum-coaching centers for dropouts, primary and post-primary students.

This year in Uthnau, a new group of volunteers from Jadavpur University and Calcutta University have started designing an alternative curriculum for the students that takes the unique cultural background of the students into account in tackling the formal education curriculum, something that earlier attempts to extend the curriculum did not take into account. A second initiative is that Mauj Orah, the gathering place for children of working parents, is being transformed into an Education Resource Center for the whole community with equal access to all study material as well as other reference and resources. Another interesting development is that Gogo Gaonta, the committee that started for mothers of children who attend Mauj Orah, has become a more general women’s community to increase security and development of the village. Steps to reduce alcoholism and domestic violence, develop a grain bank, provide evening coaching in basic literacy and arithmetic, are some of the key achievements of this committee in this expanded scope.

V-Excel Chennai, Tamil Nadu

“V-Excel works with developmentally challenged children in a holistic fashion, addressing not just their academics at school, but also independence skills and age appropriate psychological development. Broadly, the work is done through various initiatives like Kaleidoscope Learning Center, Bridges Learning Academy, Vocational Training Unit and Early Intervention program.

The cost of educating developmentally challenged children is high due to low teacher to student ratio. As a result, many children from lower and lower middle class families cannot afford the care. Asha provides scholarships to support children who would not be able to attend the school otherwise.

Vigyan Ashram Pabal, Maharashtra

Asha supports the one year residential Diploma in Basic Rural Technology (DBRT) course offered by Vigyan

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Ashram(VA), and part of the Introduction to Basic Technology (IBT) which is an effort for dissemination and replication of DBRT. For DBRT, the salary cost of staff, food expenses (residential program) and material expenses for practicals are supported by Asha. For IBT, Asha is supporting salary of the core staff at Pabal. Other organizations are supporting IBT’s replication efforts.

Through Asha’s support, VA has trained 61 DBRT students in 2010-11. The training areas included Poultry, Electric appliances, Welding and Fabrication, Civil construction, Home and Health, Computer (Basic & Networking), Fab-camp, Basic agriculture and Dome construction. The students came from Maharashtra, Jharkhand, U.P., Gujarat and Karnataka. 36 out of 52 students passed DBRT examination. All students got placement with alumni and industries. This batch earned Rs.66,685/‐ during the course, by giving various community services.

DBRT students participated in the science exhibition in GMRT (Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope) ‐ Khodad on 28th Feb. They displayed different science projects made in ashram viz. jig for sky lantern, pentagraph, moisture sensor, continuity tester, admin device for school teachers etc.

Also 19 out of 23 IBT instructors passed examination conducted by National Institute of Open Schooling. This is one of the big steps in improving quality of IBT program in schools.

The SSC board (Secondary School Certificate exam Board of Maharashtra) is revising the syllabus of the IBT program it offers in the formal schools. IBT teachers, IBT instructor and field officers from Vigyan Ashram participated in the brainstorming meeting for the revised syllabus. This year, 44 schools appeared for 10th examination. IBT team guided them in preparation and also coordinated with SSC board for suggesting examiners in remote locations.

A one month program on basic skills was started on 15th March with 9 Students ( 4 from Tamil Nadu, 4 from Maharashtra and 1 from Karnataka). These students are getting training in Bachelors of Philosophy to become priest in church. VA designed the program to give them basic skills to make them handyman to solve local problems.

VA submitted patents for some of the technologies developed by the DBRT students.

VA organized STARs (Skill Training for Advancement of Rural societies) forum conference in Jan 2011. Its report is published on their blog. The 2nd conference is scheduled on 26th and 27th December.

VA executive director Yogesh Kulkarni traveled to Beijing, China from 17th – 25th Aug at the invitation of WISER-U (World-Wide Interaction for Science Education and

Research in University) forum. Yogesh participated as a jury member in the competition for the students’ technical projects in the field of education, healthcare and development. He also gave talk at TEDx conference on ‘Rural Development through Education system’. VA received first prize in the world wide development project competition organized by GKN Sinter metal (UK). The award is 100,000 pounds. They are using the amount to upgrade workshop/electric - electronic section etc. The new workshop will increase the intake capacity of students and it will be equipped with modern tools as per the present industry standards. Besides that, they are also developing multimedia content for the courses through the fund. This is a onetime capital grant received for the project. They are expecting the work will be finished by June end and workshops will be available for use for coming batch. VA is trying to increase its outreach through various avenues mentioned above. In addition to its main website, it is also making its presence in internet more relevant through targeted websites and blogs that are updated frequently.

Vikasana Bridge School for Child Labor Rehabilitation Tarikere, Bhadravati, Shimoga District, Karnataka

Asha Seattle along with Asha UFlorida has been supporting Vikasana’s Child Labor Rehabilitation Centre, a bridge school program catering to the needs of child laborers in Tarikere and Bhadravathi taluks of Chikmagalore and Shimoga districts, since 2006. The project supports the educational, health care and lodging needs of 25-35 kids every year and facilitates them to join mainstream education. Apart from supporting the activities of the bridge school, Asha Seattle and Asha UFlorida have initiated an effort to make the program self sustained. Through the Work an Hour (WAH) program, Asha has provided partial funding to acquire land and practice organic farming. Vikasana has initiated the land development activities and have proposed to produce rice and vegetables for catering to the nutritional needs of the children. Additionally, it proposes to produce mangos, bananas and coconuts as cash crops to support the financial needs of the bridge school activities. Along with cash crops Vikasana also plans to cultivate Kaatla and Ragu fish within the acquired land to cater to the nutritional and financial needs of the children of bridge school.

The bridge school has continued rehabilitation of children (school drop outs & child laborers) and mainstreamed them to formal education. Similar to previous years, Vikasana has indulged in activities for children, which include (i) Medical checkup camps (ii) Parents meeting and interaction (iii) Celebration of national and local festivals

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(iv) Cultural programs (v) Summer vacation camps (vi) Computer coaching and English classes. As a long time steward for this project, Sharan Asundi, a volunteer with Asha UFlorida, visited the project in July 2011. It was observed and noted that the funds being disbursed by Asha are being used effectively and efficiently. The children being supported are attending mainstream schools on a regular basis and their shelter & nutritional needs are being well served through these funds. The organic farming initiative to sustain the bridge school was observed to be progressing and to an extent serving the nutritional needs of the underprivileged children along with the supporting staff. With continued support from Asha Seattle and UFlorida, this project could serve as an example for sustaining projects supported by Asha.

Vikasana Rural Center for Education Bangalore, Karnataka

Vikasana was started under the inspiration of David Horsburgh’s philosophy of learning. The basic philosophy is that anyone at any level could learn what one was interested in. There was no competition or comparison - a child could learn at his pace.

The center timings are from 8:30 am to 5 pm and it provides accommodation and supper to students. In the morning, the children are entrusted with duties like caring for the trees and cleaning the rooms, the surroundings, providing drinking water etc. Then the children assemble to attend singing. They sing songs in many languages such as Kannada, English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, French, German and Italian. Later they do Yoga specially designed for children. Academic classes and handicrafts finish at 5 pm. The children who are interested in taking the government level exams at the 7th standard and S.S.L.C level are given the necessary help by way of coaching and enrolling them as private candidates in a govt. school. Those who do not wish to sit for such exams are encouraged to develop their talents.

Asha Seattle has been funding this project since 2001. Asha Seattle primarily funds the salaries for teachers and cook and assistant who are employed at the center.

Report of Vikasana from June 2010 to April 2011

Children and resources1. Five new children joined the school. Four children

for junior group and one for the middle group. Two construction children also joined and their presence was on and off. During the second term they left the school. Two homeschooling children also joined. Their presence was on and off.

2. Bhargavi (Banu) passed 10th std in 2nd class. She is

doing her P.U.C in arts.

3. This year, five children appeared for the 7th std examination through the Shradhanjali Integrated school. Three of them got first class and two passed in 2nd class.

4. ISKCON food continued this year too. All the children and animals were well fed. Thanks to Shyamala Madhavan for sponsoring.

5. Gangamma who was helping us left this year since she was not able to keep herself well. Her two children also left since she was not accompanying them.

6. Eshwari who was assisting younger kids left us.

Volunteers1. Gayathri, initially started to come twice a week. Later on

she changed to once a week. She taught English and Mathematics through storytelling, theater and hands on activities, for the middle group. Afternoons, through project work, she taught social studies to the senior group.

2. Sarang continued to give her service this year too. She worked with the middle group on project work on various topics. Some of the topics chosen were “Human body”, “Solar System”, “Our country”, “Electricity” etc.

3. Sumathi akka came twice a week. She taught 7th standard children. Her focus was to give continuous tests and prepare them to face he examinations.

4. Prema came once a week. She took Hindi and English for 10th standard children.

5. Prabha, a trainee of Vishaka came and did clay modeling with children during the first term.

VisitorsThis year, quite a few visitors visited us.

1. A group of teachers from Paltan, Sita School and other schools visited us. They stayed a night and they had discussion with akka and observed the classes.

2. Another group from Akshar Nandan in Madhya Pradesh had come.

3. Adithi and seventeen children from Genie kids had come. They were interested to see the buildings and they wanted to take some advice and suggestions to know how children can also be involved in construction or building work.

4. Chitra Nandan, an artist visited us. She taught art classes for older and junior most children.

5. Prakash and their director from Chitradurga had come.

6. Ravindra and team had visited us.

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7. From Gurukula school, the directors visited us to take advice from akka.

8. Suguna and team visited us.

9. Vandana from Goa visited us and stayed for two days.

10. A group from Switzerland had come. Their intention is to save mother earth. They showed us a film about how animal life and environment is polluted and affected when we throw plastics and other wastes into the environment. They divided the children into four groups and asked them to collect the waste outside. Then they were asked to draw pictures about how they can save the planet.

Outings and exposure

1. Five children accompanied by Madhavraj had been to a palm leaf weaving workshop at the Valley School. Few women from Kanyakumari had come and they facilitated the workshop. The children who attended the workshop came back and taught the whole school. Some of the techniques were used while setting up the stage for the theater play that we put up (described later). We also used these techniques for the new year greeting cards that we made.

2. The 7th std children were taken to A.P.D. There, they visited the school and saw different training centers and the plant nursery on the campus.

3. Sarang took the middle school children to Chitrakala Parishad during the art mela.

4. The senior children and the middle school children were taken to the HPPT school in Shivajinagar to watch the school play. It was put up by Vishakha and the 4th std children of that school.

5. One of the alums of Vikasana, Govinda had arranged an excursion for children this year. About 45 people including the current students and many alumni of Vikasana had been to Jog falls, Murudeshwara, Sigudhoor, Kollur, Sirisi, Idagunji, in a bus.

6. A group of children were taken to Center for Learning (near Magadi) to watch the “Magic Show” performed by the children of that school.

7. All of us – teachers, volunteers and the children went to see Vishakha s art workshop. Some of the children went in cars, some in a bus and some on bicycles.

8. This year, the teachers attended the teachers conference held at The Valley School.

9. The teachers also attended the alternative network meeting at Siddilingi in Tamilnadu.

10. We also attended a workshop conducted by Sita Anand on early childhood education. It was conducted at the Creative School run by Jayashree Janardhan Ashok.

11. Malathi akka was awarded the Gargi award by N.M.K.R.V college.

12. During the end of the year, with Gayathri s help, the children watched some good movies like “Sound of Music”, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Charlotte’s Web” and “My Neighbor Totoro”.

Celebrations

1. Ganesha festival was celebrated with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm. The children made Ganesha out of clay. They wove the mantapa which gave a different and beautiful look.

2. Independence day was also celebrated. Children drew the map of India and filled it up with flowers. The middle school children put up a play which they themselves wrote and directed.

3. Various games were arranged for children s day. They had a lot of fun.

4. This year, Vishakha, a resource person directed a play (Simolanghana) with all the children of Vikasana.

a. The play written by Farid Z Uddin Akthar on birds was chosen. Malathi akka translated the play to Kannada. Children were exposed to different drama exercises like body movement, loosening of body and voice modulation.

b. The children were exposed to many art materials as part of the art projects done for the play. They made birds with clay, cloth, collage, painting, drawing, sketching and many more. They made mobile fish and birds. They wrote many stories and poems on birds.

c. For this play, there was a lot of hard work from children, volunteers and teachers for four months. Gayathri took responsibility of the costumes. She really did a good job. Sarang did all the shopping and provided whatever other help she could like taking care of the lighting etc.

d. Many people were invited for the play – parents, friends, schools etc. Since the crowd was large, we had to do two shows. The children put up a grand performance on both the days.

Animal friends

1. Kaju died because he had some liver problem. It was a great relief for him since he was suffering from ear and

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skin problems. But we miss him a lot. He was a very loving and understanding dog.

2. Minni, another dog also passed away due to old age. She also had some skin problems.

3. Kikik, a duckling was rescued from the traffic on the road and brought to Vikasana. She was with us for only a few days. Without his knowledge, a child stepped on Kikik and we lost her. She was such a sweet heart.

4. Now a puppy, Kari Mayi lives at Vikasana. She is a sweet little one.

5. MeeMee, a kitten also lives with us at Vikasana.

6. There are a lot of monkeys on the campus. Akka always feeds them. During school hours, they come whenever children eat and try and take their share. It is a joy to watch their activities.

7. We do spot some snakes in the campus once in a while when all is quiet.

8. Sometimes a hare visits us on the campus

9. There are also a lot of birds on the campus.

Art created by children at Vikasana Rural Center for Education

2011 was a comparatively stable year for the Seattle chapter financially. Though we did not grow significantly, we were able to maintain and even slightly increase our revenue with your continued support. However, we are still not in a position to take up any new project or increase funding amount for our projects. We are confident that 2012 will see that the trend in revenue increase continue and we will be able to provide our partners much needed inflationary increase in their funding.

Events, past and future

Jan 31 Asha Seattle climbing team info session

Feb 26 5K run/walk/bike

March 4 pre-Geetanjali auditions for kids

April 7 Geetanjali Tamil Music Concert