The proposed project is an initiative to provide quality education to children living in slums of proposed project area though a mobile school. Realizing that many families living in the slums are migrants, and therefore cannot register children in formal school, we propose a project is to start a school on wheels. We aim to deliver holistic education to the children who have never been to school and also to school drop outs. The school on wheel will help in developing necessary social, cognitive and academic skills in the children. Along with the academic curriculum, the proposal also plan to have arts, crafts, dance, drama, games and other co-curricular activities in the bus, to help in the overall development of the children.
Problem Statement
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, Nelson Mandela. No words can better explain the importance of education in today’s world. Education is a fundamental human right and is vital for both personal and societal growth. Education plays a pivotal role in laying down a strong foundation for both personal and socio-economic development of the nation.
Over the years, several efforts have been made to increase primary and secondary education and enhancing the literacy rate. Significant changes have been observed across education parameters. As per the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2012, 96.5% of all rural children between the ages of 6-14 were enrolled in school. Another report in 2013 stated that there were 229 million students enrolled in different accredited urban and rural schools of India, from Class I to XII, representing an increase of 2.3 million students over 2002 total enrolment.
Our government has invested heavily for education reach to the poorest of poor, and in this regard, The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), was enacted on 4 August 2009. Several schemes are also being implemented to increase the literacy rates throughout the country. Despite several programmes and social schemes, the problem of lack of education is persistent amongst the marginalised communities. Various surveys reveal that only half of the children living in slums are registered in school. Also the school dropout ratio is significantly higher in slum areas. Studies conducted in slums of various cities point towards some common factors that hinder the ability of children in slums to attend schools. Some of these factors are:
-
- Large family size
- Poor parental education background
- Unstable occupation of parents
- Migration
- Language problems
- Low family incomes
- Harassment in schools by peers
Also as most of the slums have poor living conditions and are unhealthy, children are susceptible to various diseases like malaria, jaundice, dysentery, tuberculosis, asthma, respiratory infection which further affects their studies. There is therefore a need to invest towards improving access of these children to quality education.
Concept of School on Wheels
The proposed project is XYZs initiative to provide quality education to children living in slums of Delhi though a mobile school. Realising that many families living in the slums are migrants, and therefore cannot register children in formal school, we propose to start a school on wheels. We aim to deliver holistic education to the children who have never been to school and also to school drop outs.
The school will have basic amenities required for conducting classes, this includes table, chair, black board, books, and other stationery. The mobile school will help in developing necessary social, cognitive and academic skills in the children. Along with the academic curriculum, we also plan to have arts, crafts, dance, drama, games and other co-curricular activities in the bus, to help in the overall development of the children.
The main reason for starting a mobile school is to enable us to reach areas where there are no schools in the vicinity, and to reach children who live close to construction sites. With a mobile school we will be catering to the needs of three slums by scheduling classes in morning, afternoon and evening to suit the children, this will not be possible if we start a stationary centre.
As our main purpose is to mainstream children to formal schools, we shall move to another locality, once the children are enrolled in schools. This mobility is achieved through a mobile school.
With a mobile centre we shall raise awareness in the community at large, without having to spend any funds on awareness generation.
Proposed Project
Project Goal:
The project aims to ensure quality education to the deprived urban children in Delhi through a participatory and responsive community action.
Project Objectives:
-
- To enhance awareness of parents in target locations on importance of education.
- To develop Child friendly education system and motivate 100 children (6-14 yrs) towards formal education system.
- To provide mentoring support to 50 children registered in schools, so as to improve their academic performance.
Project beneficiaries:
The project will directly benefit 150 children of which 100 will be enrolled in the mobile school and 50 will be provided mentoring support to help them in school studies. The entire group of children belong to marginalised families living in the slums.
Project Location:
The project will be implemented in three slums of Delhi. With 1.8 million people living in the slums Delhi has the second largest slum Population in India. Most slum dwellers are either unemployed or daily wage workers who cannot afford basic necessities of life and therefore most children do not attend formal schools.
The three slums identified for the project implementation are:
-
- Madanpur Khadar: Located about a kilometre away from the Sarita Vihar Metro Station, is a resettlement colony on the outskirts of Delhi.
- Sangam Vihar: Sangam Vihar is a slum colony, is one of the biggest slums in India. The area has no water supply and also lacks basic infrastructure.
- Seemapuri Slums: Seemapuri has a large area covered with garbage dump, having open drains and sewage Nallahs (canals). The residents here are mostly labour class.
Proposed Activities:
-
- Situation Analysis: To understand the existing issues in the area, a situation analysis will be carried out. This will be a combination of data collection from primary and secondary sources, interviews, questionnaire survey and then analysis of the data. This exercise will help us in identifying both the challenges and the resources necessary for coping with the problems. Following activities will be undertaken to gather information:
- Focus Group Discussions
- Questionnaire Survey
- Household Survey
- Structured Interviews
- Situation Analysis: To understand the existing issues in the area, a situation analysis will be carried out. This will be a combination of data collection from primary and secondary sources, interviews, questionnaire survey and then analysis of the data. This exercise will help us in identifying both the challenges and the resources necessary for coping with the problems. Following activities will be undertaken to gather information:
To fill in data gaps, secondary data collection will be done to gather information from various government departments, policy documents, data, gazetteers and reports. The data collected through the community needs assessment and the secondary sources will be analyzed to enhance the understanding of the problems, gaps and constraints, existing in the project site.
-
- Awareness Generation: To achieve success in the project, it is necessary to make the community members aware about the importance of education and the project. Awareness generation will be carried out through the following:
- Distribution of Pamphlets
- Street Play
- Movie screening
- Awareness Generation: To achieve success in the project, it is necessary to make the community members aware about the importance of education and the project. Awareness generation will be carried out through the following:
Once the community members our aware, they will be motivated to send their children to schools.
-
- Identification of 100 children from three slums: 100 children will be identified in three localities to be registered in our mobile school. Preference will be given to children who have never been to school and school drop outs. A weekly schedule will be planned with the help of the identified children and parents. The mobile school will visit each area at a pre-decided time and therefore, it is necessary to have an arrangement that it suitable for children and their parents.
- Activities in Bus: The mobile school will have various activities to help in the all round development of the children.
- Basic Literacy Classes: Main purpose of these classes will be to impart the 3 Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) skills to the children. Children friendly curriculum will be developed so as to ensure that children remain motivated and interested to attend the classes. As the project aims to link children to formal schools, course material will be in line with the government guidelines and the course curricula of neighbouring schools.
- Mentoring Classes: Many students need extra support in their studies, and as their parents cannot afford tuitions, we will be providing them with supplementary classes. To support children who are registered with school, special tutoring classes will be held in the evening. These classes will be for duration of two hours, where doubts and queries will be resolved by our expert teachers.
- Computer Classes: In today’s world technological knowledge is a must, and most formal schools have a computer lab. To provide computer knowledge to these kids, our mobile school will have a computer, where children basic computer skills.
- Arts and Recreational activities: Along with basic education, arts and craft classes will also be held on a weekly basis. This will ensure children’s interest in the school and will also learn new skills.
- Library: To inculcate reading and writing skills, we will also have a library in the bus with a collection of books and toys. Every Saturday, the class will be converted to a library where children can read and also play with toys.
- Movies: Documentary and children movies will be screened once a month in the bus.
- Educational Visits: A bi- annual trip will be organised for the students to zoo and a museum. This will not only serve as a recreational trip but will also help them to gain knowledge about animals and our history.
Expected Outcomes
-
- Increased awareness among the community on importance of education and government schemes on education.
- Enhanced learning of the 100 children enrolled in the school on wheels.
- Linkages developed with nearby schools and parents are motivated to send children to formal schools.
- 25 children are mainstreamed in formal schools.
- Supplementary support provided to 50 children to help them excel in school.
Project Staff
-
- Project Manager: One Project manager will be hired who will be responsible for managing the project. He/ She will be responsible for developing linkages with schools, Organising Awareness Campaigns and administration of mobile school.
- Community Mobiliser: A community mobiliser will be hired who shall be responsible for conducting the survey and mobilising the community to attend the awareness camps etc.
- Teachers: Three teachers for teaching English, Science and Mathematics will be hired.
- Driver and helper: One driver and helper will also be hired.
Risk Management
The following factors may affect the project implementation:
-
- Parents may be reluctant to send their children to the mobile school.
- Schools in the nearby areas may not be willing to accept children from the slums.
- Traffic may hinder movement of the bus and thus impact the timing of the school.
To ensure that the above mentioned above factors do not have any adverse impact on the project progress, we have developed suitable strategies to tackle these.
To ensure participation and support from parents, the initial community assessment will help. Based on the information so collected, we will plan the street plays, to influence the people and motivate them to send children to school.
To gather support from nearby schools, we shall invite the teachers from the schools to interact with the children. This will help them understand that the children living in slums are as efficient and intelligent as their peers in schools.
To reduce traffic hindrance, we will plan the school hours, when there is minimum traffic on roads. Also, alternate routes with less traffic with less traffic will be explored.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring and Evaluation are an important activity of any project to achieve success. Our project team will provide regular feedback in form of monthly reports. Also the monthly tests of the children will indicate how well they are learning. Documentation of activities and results will be done throughout the duration of the project. Also a parents meeting will be held every six months to ensure that parents keep sending their children to the school. Evaluation will be conducted at the end of the project duration by external evaluators.
Sustainability
As the project helps to raise awareness on importance of education and also motivates children to send their children to schools, the project will yield long lasting impacts.
Once the children learn the basics, they would like to learn more and would be motivated to attend a formal school.
Even though we will be working with 150 children, improvement in their literacy rates will also encourage other children to attend school.
