Education is the basic requirement for human development. With education, employment opportunities are broadened and income levels are increased. The development of an individual and the progress of a nation depend on education. To achieve the ambition of educating each individual, the initiative began with focusing on the urgent need of elementary education for the age group of five to fourteen years. Despite being a fundamental right, the figures are abysmal as we see the young future of our nation out of the mainstream education. Promoting the fundamental right of education to all. The proposal of mobile schools aims at taking the education to the un-reached. Considering the targets set under the Millennium Development Goals this has turned out to be an innovative mechanism to disseminate primary education to children in the marginalized communities.
Introduction
Through this initiative XXXXXXXX intends to reach out to vulnerable children who are out of school in 2 areas of Delhi, India mainstream them in formal schools, enhance their life skills, build capacities of parents and community awareness for protecting and promoting children’s rights.
Area 1- Sadar Bazaar (Dry Fruits & Spice Market).
It is a big wholesale spice, pulses and dry fruits market located in old Delhi area. The target population hails from Bihar and most of them are first generation learners. These families and their children don’t have basic amenities like safe drinking water and toilet facilities. There is a railway track near the Mithai pul where these migrated people have made their little temporary huts. Most people we work with in this area are making their living by doing labor work in the market and few of them by selling spice, pulses and dry fruits by putting small shops on the pavements. Children with their peers and mothers go to the market to pick leftover after the markets get closed. They clean this leftover and put on sale on weekend and earn some money to survive Butterflies through its various inventions could enroll the children in to formal schools.
Families of these children are earning between Rs. 1000 pm to Rs 6000 per month.
Area2- Okhla Mandi (Vegetable Market)
Okhla Mandi is a big whole sale vegetable and fruit market located in south Delhi. Children worked in the vegetable market like loading and unloading the vegetables from the trucks and some them are engaged in picking of the vegetables, cleaning the selling by putting road side stalls. Some of them are working on monthly salary at fruits and juice shops. Some children live in the market itself while majority comes from the nearby slum area.
The mobile education team of implementing agency had also helped the community to enroll children into formal schools under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.
Average income of these children’s family is between Rs. 70 to 200 per day.
The children would access quality education/life skill and continue their formal schooling. The community members and parents would be part of School Management Committee (SMC). As a result we would have sensitive, responsive parents and school authorities and an effective system of school management.
Awareness activities in the community would inform people about children’s rights and child protection and about various governmental schemes for children.
Project Objectives:
- Reach out to vulnerable children who are out of school mainstream them in formal schools, enhance their life skills.
- Build capacities of parents and community awareness for protecting and promoting children’s rights.
Project Detail: Strategies and Activities
Implementing NGO would like to reach out to all children in 2 locations/ contact areas of Delhi viz. Okhla Mandi (a vegetable market) and Sadar Bazaar (Dry fruits & spice market). Presently we reach out to 117 children in Okhla Mandi and 101children in Sadar Bazaar areas. We would like to reach out to at least 95% children in the universe of these areas as indicated by the baseline survey done in June- July 2013, i.e. 299 children in Okhla Mandi and 200 children in Sadar Bazaar.
Mainstreaming
With our engagement with the children, we could enroll 80% of them in formal schools, i.e. 239 children in Okhla Mandi and 160 children in Sadar Bazaar. The additional staff and teaching-learning infrastructure would help us to reach out to all children in these two locations. Presently due to lack of teachers and infrastructure we have restricted our numbers. We hope within 5 years, all school going age children in these two locations will be regularly attending schools.
Adding Value to Education
The mobile schools equipped with technology based tools, education software would enable the educators to make education more interesting and meaningful. Various audio-visuals would be used to impart lessons on academic subjects and life skills education. The mobile schools are equipped with computers. The rationale behind it is to motivate children to become computer literate but a pre requisite to it is that the child will have to continue schooling. Usage of audio-visual generated lessons creates an interest in a child to learn more about the subject. The mobile school will also have a well-equipped library to encourage reading habit among children. As part of our learning sessions with children we do have story reading sessions. Some of these stories are then enacted in the community. NGO is also trying to revive the tradition of storytelling we had in our country prior to the advent of cinema, television and internet.
School Management Committee
As part of Right to Education (RTE) Act which makes it mandatory that every school should have a school management committee and that 50% of the members should be from the poorer classes. We would work with the community and school to motivate that parents from the locality are members of the SMC. This will ensure retention levels of children and also encourage parents to pay more attention to academic achievements of their children.
Community Participation
To strengthen the community linkages in our program we organize meetings with parents and different stakeholders. Over the period the parents have acted as strong opinion makers in school enrolment, encouraging participation of girls in different development activities done by organization. The capacities of the parents are enhanced so that they are able to facilitate admission of their children in school and participate actively in the school management committees (SMCs).
Awareness Generation on Child Rights and Child Protection
Organization is committed to bringing about a positive attitudinal change of adults with regard to the situation of children vis-à-vis child rights and child protection in its intervention areas. Some of the initiatives in this direction are awareness sessions in the community, establishment of Child Social Protection Committees (CSPCs) and Child Rights Club in Schools. We would like to have awareness and sensitization session on specific issues related to children that falls within the ambit of child protection.
The mobile schools would be put to good effect in conducting these sessions. Specific sessions in the evening would be held at couple of locations for dealing with issues like substance abuse.
