door step school & asha for education, silicon valley...1. door step school – at a glance all...

May 2012

Door Step School-Pune

110, Parimal Anand Park, Aundh,

Pune 411 007

Phone: 91-20- 25898762/9766337431

E mail : [email protected]

Website : www.doorstepschool.org

Door Step School & Asha for Education, Silicon Valley

Report on

Direct Education Program

(Project Foundation)

April 2011 to March 2012

May 2012

DSS : Education Moves on to Every Doorstep

Contents

Executive summary .............................................................................................................................. 3

1. Door Step School – At a glance ................................................................................................. 4

2. “Project Foundation” at Door Step School ................................................................................ 5

3. Project Evaluation Metrics .......................................................................................................... 6


Executive summary

Door Step School would like to thank Asha for Education, Silicon Valley for sponsoring

our “Project Foundation” activities over the years.

“Project Foundation” is part of the Direct Education Programme of Door Step School

which addresses the needs of children in the age group of 6 to 14 who do not have access

to formal schools. DSS runs Educational Activity Centres (EAC) - Literacy classes and study

classes for these children, supported by Pre-Primary Classes (Balwadis) and Day Care

Centres.

This report presents details of the 10 Centers funded by Asha for Education, Silicon Valley

covering the period April 2011 to March 2012. These centers address the educational needs

of children at Construction sites and Urban Community slums. A total of 948 children were

reached through our Direct Education Program and over 300 children benefited through the

support activities (School transportation and Day Care Centres).

Girls Boys Total

Pre-Primary Classes (Balwadi) 214 229 443

EAC ( Literacy Classes) 98 115 213

Study Classes 116 72 188

Total 428 416 844

Children Availing Reading Room Facility 63 41 104

Direct Education Program

ProgrammeNo. of Children Enrolled

Children Enrolled in Day Care Centers* 144

Children Enrolled in schools 116

School Transportation Provided** 171

Children Going to School by themselves 48

*Average Number per month

**Maximum number - April 11 to March 12

Direct Education - Support Services


1. Door Step School – At a glance

All children deserve an education. An alarming number of India’s urban poor still remain

without an opportunity to receive formal education.

Door Step School (www.doorstepschool.org), an NGO working in Mumbai and Pune, has a

vision to be an instrumental force that brings development to these children.

Our mission at Door Step School is to bridge the divide between children who do not have

access to school and the formal education system which already exists. We use innovative

programs that facilitate in bringing education to the children and help them make the

transition to literacy and brighter future. Our key goal is primary education to all children

up to 14 years of age.

Our programs are divided in two main categories:

1. Direct education program - Project Foundation

Children of construction site labourers 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. The following programs are run in these facilities:

• Educational Activity Centers – (Literacy Classes)

• Pre-primary Education ( Balwadi)

• Study Classes ( for School Going Children)

To support these programs, we also run a Day Care Center for 0-3yrs children (Crèche) at

the construction sites. A transport facility is also provided to children who are enrolled in

mainstream schools. Details about all the services are given on our website.

2. School Intervention program – Project Grow With Books

Door Step School works with Municipal Schools to conduct 90 minute reading classes in the

primary schools. The main goal of this program is to enhance reading capabilities of the

children and to inculcate reading habits in the children.

3. DSS also runs 2 Community learning Centers, to cater to urban slum communities. A

Community Library, Reading Room Facility, Computer Classes and Science Laboratory

are run at these Centers. These Centers also serve as an umbrella for many other

extracurricular activities that are conducted by our Volunteers.

DSS has a dedicated Training Center. The training centre “Parivartan”, which was initiated

in October 2007, focuses on training new teachers to teach in the non-formal education

setting, this being the need of the organization as a part of Project Foundation. Refresher

trainings for all levels of the team are also part of the annual training calendar.


2. “Project Foundation” at Door Step School

The Direct Education Programme of Door Step School addresses the needs of children in

the age group of 6 to 14 who do not have access to formal schools.

Since its inception, Door Step School has seen a steady increase in the number of sites

covered and the number of children brought under its network.

Under Direct Education the following four programmes are conducted-

• Pre-Primary Education (Balwadi) –This programme is for preschoolers in the age group of 3 to 5 years.

• Educational Activity Centers -EAC (Literacy Classes) – This programme covers non-school going children in the age group of 6 to 14 years.

• Study Classes – This programme caters to school going children in the 1st and 2nd standard.

• School on Wheels - These are buses that serve as mobile classrooms to enable us to reach difficult areas or to collect children from smaller sites to one location. The School on Wheels is also useful to jump start classes at a site when facilities are being made ready.

We also have other Supporting Activities under our Direct Education Programme. The

following programmes are conducted-

• Day Care Centers (Crèche) – This programme caters to children in the age group of 0 to 3 years.

• School Transportation - It is an added service provided to bring children to municipal schools as well as collecting them from different construction sites to one location for conducting classes.

Currently Door Step School has its Direct Education Programme at 90+ construction and

urban community slums in Pune.

Over the years many funding agencies have been supported the “Project Foundation”

program at Door Step School and we thank ASHA FOR EDUCATION, SILICON VALLEY for

supporting this program during the period April 2011 to March 2012.


3. Project Evaluation Metrics The following metrics were collected and analysed for evaluating the impact of the program

and necessary interventions.

1. Each child should be able to read simple sentences with composite letters in 120 days.

Which could be further split into the following: learning letters in 50 days, learning

Matras in 40 days and eventually composite letters in 30 days. In other words, after 120

days the child should be able to read the newspaper.

As part of our process of measuring child’s Progress we categorise them into 4 levels

and track the levels reached based on the no of days attending.

EAC ( Literacy Classes) – Learning Levels

EAC - Levels of Learning

Levels / Attendance 1 to 25 26 to 50 51 to 90 91 to 120 above 121 Total

Learning alphabets 111 28 8 4 4 155

Alphabets completed 21 11 8 2 1 43

Matras completed 2 1 0 0 1 4

Composite Letter 5 3 3 0 0 11

Total 139 43 19 6 6 213

Note: The yellow cells indicate “Expected levels”.

9% of children are below the Expected levels of learning in our Literacy (EAC)

Classes. These are children who need more time to learn.

(It has been researched that 10% of children in general are below expected levels of

learning)

Below

Expected, 20,

9%

As Expected,

147, 69%

Above

Expected, 46,

22%


Study Classes – Learning Levels

Study Classes - Levels of Learning

Levels / Attendance 1 to 25 26 to 50 51 to 90 91 to 120 above 121 Grand Total

Learning alphabets 17 10 3 2 5 37

Alphabets completed 14 8 20 13 20 75

Matras completed 1 0 1 3 6 11

Composite Letter 6 5 4 6 44 65

Grand Total 38 23 28 24 75 188

Note: The yellow cells indicate “Expected levels”.

26% of children attending Study classes are below the expected levels.

The reasons are the following:

We enrol the children in Government schools so that they get an opportunity to go to a

formal school and if they move any other place they can continue their education. For

studies they depend on our classes because these children are migrant and many of them

do not know the local language and there is no one at home can help them in their studies.

The study classes are their only support mechanism for these children.

Since the Government School in Kondhwa area are at a distance from the Construction

sites, transport has been arranged to take the children to school. Since the transportation

has to cover all the sites, children at some sites need to leave early and they spend less time

at our study classes which are held in the mornings before school hours. The duration of the

study class reduced from two and half hour to one and half hour for these children. We are

seeing an impact of this on the progress of the child.

Below

Expected, 49,

26%

As Expected,

94, 50%

Above

Expected, 45,

24%


2. Enrol 100% children of the community/construction site in DSS Educational

Center.

98% of children at the sites were enrolled in DSS Centres against a goal of 100%.

2% of the children at our sites do not attend either mainstream schools or our classes due to

reasons stated in the table above.

Since children are older ( mostly 10 years and above), it is difficult t to convince them to sit in

one place and concentrate on learning process. Their parents are also not very willing and

therefore it becomes all the more difficult to convince the child. It is easier to convince

younger children and their parents.

S.No Name of the Centre

Total No of

Children at

Site/

Community

Total No of

Children

Enrolled in

DSS Centre/

Mainstream

Schools

% of

Children

Enrolled in

DSS Centre/

Mainstream

Schools

Total

Children

Not Enrolled

Reasons for Non Enrolment

1 DRDO 127 127 100.00% NA

This is a community location and

difficult to quantify the No of

Children in surrounding areas

2 Eisha Pearl 129 129 100.00% 0

3 Kumar Siddhachal 54 51 94.44% 3

Children are 11yrs and above and

they collect scrap and sell it for

money. Their parents are also not

showing any interest.

4 Kumar Surabhi 36 36 100.00% 0

5 Palm Grove 62 62 100.00% 0

6 R Euphoria 144 142 98.61% 2

Both the children are 10 yrs and

above and they are not interested

in studies, they are always together

and wander in the community.

7 Range Hills Study 113 113 100.00% NA

This is a community location and

difficult to quantify the No of

Children in surrounding areas

8 Skyline 73 71 97.26% 2

Both the children go along with

their parents to their work place.

Their mothers are house maids.

9 Sobha Carnation 90 88 97.78% 2

One is girl and she goes along with

her mother at work place. Another

child is a 12 yrs old boy he also goes

to work place along with his father

and helps him.

10 Sunflower 67 64 95.52% 3

Parents go for work to another site

therefore they take the children

along with them.

Total 895 883 98.66% 12


3. Try to enrol 80% of children of our educational center between age group of 6 to

12 years in government schools

Of the 401 children who joined the Literacy (EAC) classes and Study Centres at the sites

and were of school going age (6+ years). We usually enrol children in the month of June.

This year, we could only enrol them in end of July as funding for transport was

unavailable until then. Meanwhile 35 children migrated between April 2011 and July

2011. 130 children attended our centres only for a month and were therefore not

considered for Enrolment.

Of the 236 children available for Enrolment and eligible, 80% are enrolled and 7% are

children who joined after Jan 2012 and will be enrolled in June 2012 if they continue at

the site.

13% of Children could not be enrolled due to the following reasons:

• Some children had just turned 6 yrs during the year and parents were unwilling to

send them away from the site to mainstream schools.

• Children who were older ( 10 and above) yrs old , mainly girls and parents did not

want to send to school

Migrated in July

2011, 35, 9%

Children

attending only

for 1 month,

130, 32%

Available for

Enrollement,

236, 59%

Enrolled in

2010 and

continued, 72,

31%

Enrolled in

2011, 116, 49%

Joined sites in

Jan 12-will be

Enrolled in Jun

2012, 17, 7%

Not Enrolled

due to issues,

31, 13%


• Some parents who live at other sites, but work at the DSS sites prefer to drop and

pickup children from the DSS site as it is difficult to co-ordinate their work timings

with the school bus timings.

• Older children with very young siblings (infants) to look after .

• Children are already enrolled in schools in village; hence parents did not agree to enrol them again. Their parents informed that they would appear for exams at their native places and therefore preferred to have them study at our Literacy classes.

• Children not in good health and parents therefore unwilling to send them to school away from site.

4. Educating Balwadi children of different things, for example, awareness and

importance of water, vegetable, fruits, animals, birds, seasons. Also teaching

alphabets and number to children of the age group 4-5 years.

We have a Project Based Teaching Method for Pre-Primary Children (Balwadi Children).

One Topic is chosen every month and all aspects of that topic are covered. For E.g. Our

helpers: we create a model in class related to that topic and put up charts and words related

to that topic in the class to create an “Environment” in the class . Then we discuss the topic,

conduct different activities like craft, drawing, songs and stories related to the topic.

Sometimes children perform in the class.

The experience through all sense organs gives them long lasting understanding of the

subject and also help them to relate the topic with their daily life. The children develop their

vocabulary and also learn concepts of numbers.

The topics covered each Month and the concepts taught are listed in Annexure-A.

5. Special Initiatives at each centre.

The following special initiatives were started at the centres:

S.No Initiative Centre(s) Impact

1

Conducted WASH Program support

from Kirloskar Foundation.

( Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)

Palm Grove, R-

Euphoria, Sobha

Carnation,

Sunflower

Children have developed good

hygienic habits. They ensure

clean hands before eating and

also teach their parents and

siblings to follow these

practices.

2

Participation of parents in Enrolment

drive (Maximum children of age group

6 to 14 to be enrolled in the

Government school. )

Kumar Surabhi

Whenever new child joins the

site, the children of the class

talk to his/her parents and

take that child to the school).

The school going habit is

created among the children

and they are able to even

influence other parents and

children to send their wards to

school.


Performance of the children

has been appreciated by the

School Teacher. The DSS

Teacher had a large role to

play in this transformation.

3

Evening classes were started on School

on Wheels Bus with the help of a

Volunteer.

Range Hills Study

Children of 5th

to 9th

Standards

needed help with their studies.

Since there was no electricity

at the community , the classes

were conducted on the

“School on Wheels bus”.

This initiative helped address

the need of these children.

4

We have started English classes for 3rd

Std and above with the help of a

volunteer

Skyline

Children are showing good

progress on learning the

language and their academic

performance in the subject has

improved.

5

School is located far away from Site.

Only older children were going to

school due to crowded and unsafe road

conditions in the area. With Special

efforts from our side, parents agreed

to partially fund the School

transportation and School Transport

facilities were started from Jan 2012.

Kumar Siddhachal

Younger children( 6+ ys) who

were attending our site

schools are now going to the

Municipal school.

6. Special Mentions

We enrolled Aslam Sayyad in school 3yrs back and now he is in studying in 5th standard wants to

continue his education. He is a regular and sincere child also he takes the initiative to help other

children in their studies.

Bablu is also a gifted child. We enrolled him in school and this year he appeared in 3rd

std and

performed well in evaluation. He has been selected for ‘Vidya Niketan school.’ (Vidya Niketan school

selects academically good children and gives them scholarship)

Mahak Sheik is studying in 3rd

std in an Urdu Medium school and she was attending our Sky line

center’s Engilsh classes conducted by a Volunteer. She performed well in her school and Teachers of

the Government school appreciated her and gave her an Award for her good performance in the

subject.


Photographs of the children at various centres are included in Annexure – B.

- END -

Yashoda, a young girl on the site just would not come to school. The teacher tried many times to bring

her to the class. Recently, a new family has shifted nearby whose children attend school regularly. After

going home they discuss all that they did in school. This aroused Yashoda's curiosity and she came to

school one day. She enjoyed it so much that now she is regular to class.

Abhishek Harne is student of Std 3, his grandmother had expired therefore he was going to his

hometown. While leaving for his village he wrote a note to the teacher and requested another student

to give to the teacher.

Aslam a student of the 5th student was going to his village for ten days. His parents came to the class to

inform the teacher and confirmed that they will come back in a short time. It shows that children give

importance to studies and our classes.

Sunil Shetti, Akash Bhandari , Sanket Bhagat, Rajeshri Kohli of DRDO site were awarded prizes in their

school for performing well in a reading competition at their School.

door step school & asha for education, silicon valley...1. door step school – at a glance all...

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