Vikasana Rural Center for Education ANNUAL UPDATE 2014

Vikasana Rural Center for Education ANNUAL UPDATE 2014 Prema Grandhi Sept 17 th, 2014

Mission • To provide holistic and quality education to children of all ages from landless farmers of neighboring villages and migrated parents. • Objectives of the school are • Free Education • Giving holistic and quality education • Emphasis on Self Learning • Education for Peace • Bring an awareness of tree planting and maintaining ecological balance • Help students to choose the career after their education • Being a resources center for non-formal education

History • Vikasana was started in 1977 and being run by M. C. Malathi • Earlier it used to be located in Dodakallasandra off of Kanakapura road on the outskirts of Bangalore. The school used to own a two acre space there but the school decided to sell part of the land a year ago and got coaxed into selling the whole space. Now the school is located in Tataguni village 6 -7 kms further away from previous place, the space is provided for free by a well-wisher. • This school follows David Horsburgh’s teaching principles of learning through creative, activity based methods.

Location • Vikasana is based in the Tataguni village on the outskirts of Bangalore, Karnataka Bangalore Karnataka

General Update – what we did • Last year 7 children appeared for SSLC exam and passed out and joined college. Out of them 2 completed 7 th standard the previous year and completed 10 th and passed out • Saraswathi, a girl from Tataguni enrolled in 10 th Standard exam as a private candidate and the school helped her with Maths and English subjects • 8 new children were admitted, all from very problematic family background • Children travel using local bus on a student concession pass

General Update – school update • • Got a 11 year lease for Tataguni place for 11 years Gates and the inner compound walls were painted with distemper. • Children enhanced this by doing creative paintings using oil paints. • have panchayat water supply to the school. • built a septic tank. • now have a 24 hours watchman (Sangote) and this has minimized • breakages and trespassers during non-school hours to a large extent.

General Update – volunteers help. • • • Volunteers Hemanth (environment and nature) Arathi (Maths) and Deepa(art & craft) have continued to give their voluntary services Reshma is a trained counselor and extended her time in counseling the kids as well as teachers on sex education Yasmin from SFL took two science sessions and conducted experiments for the older children Samvartika from Ajim Premji Foundation did her internship, teaching social studies and English classes for children Veena, a ballet dance teacher taught kids some warm up exercises Vibha – 10 th standard student from Kumarans school came with a social work project and taught kathakali

General Update contd. • Workshops and courses teachers did – – – Nagaveni attended a session on Creative Leadership (addressed by Dr. Gururaj Karjagi) during the Adyapan Meeting at RV College. Two of our teachers attended a talk on “How to bring up children” by Dr. Gururaj Karjagi and Ram Mohan. Nagaveni completed B. Ed course successfully. • Celebrations and outings – – Independence Day – Children did pyramids, dance, songs and skits. Ganesha Festival – With full zeal and enthusiasm the kids made Ganesha and Gowri using clay. Few ex students (Suri, Bhanu, Harshitha and Venki) visited us during this time School birthday- On 12 th November few children and teachers stayed back in school. Christmas- the year ended with celebrating Christmas – –

Site visit - Observations • Shailesh did the site visit on Feb 1, 2014 (http: //www. ashanet. org/projectsnew/documents/283/Vikasana. Site. Visit. Feb 2014. pdf) 1) There are 30 children attending the school. Attendance is top-notch, and the children project confidence and seem to enjoy the learning experience and the time spent at the school. They learn both in Kannada and English. Children are encouraged to appear for the mainstream 10 th standard (grade) examinations and if they wish to, the school starts helping them with the preparations two years before the exams. Several children have done so and gone on to study further. 2) There are two teachers in addition to M C Malathi. One of them is a former student of hers, and the other from the local community. There also have a watchman from the local community to watch over the children and the premises. There is a part-time helper for kitchen, cleaning and miscellaneous tasks. A few part-time volunteers also help the school with various tasks. 3) Drinking water is brought to the school from a nearby community pump for daily consumption.

Site visit - Concerns 1) Current school premises have been offered for use free of charge by a well-wisher. However there is no official agreement, so it is unclear how long the arrangement will last. 2) Staircase needs repairs badly (this was pointed out by the school itself). RTE compliance also requires a separate toilet for boys & girls, so either a new one needs to be built, or the second one (for staff use) needs to be assigned for use by girls. Given the school does not own the premises or have an official long-term lease, it’s not clear how it can make the much needed infrastructural improvements. 3) There is no playground on school premises. An adjacent empty parcel of land belonging to the nearby temple is currently used as a playground. However, the villagers seem to dump trash on it, requiring periodic cleaning. When I visited, there was some plastic trash scattered around the borders. 4) M C Malathi has not been keeping very good health lately and suffers from arthritis. At present there is no backup to take care of administrative tasks beyond the daily running of the school. 5) School needs to apply for its own FCRA certificate, instead of being dependent on Neel Baugh Trust.

Site visit Conclusion: Vikasana is doing an excellent job educating the 30 or so children from the nearby communities, even with the limited resources it currently has. The children hold the school and the teachers in high regard, and love to come to learn in spite of needing to catch a bus to the new premises. The teaching methodology is very effective; the children look happy, exude confidence and can be seen learning on their own and with their peers without supervision or coercion. Recommend the school be supported fully for their operating needs, but also recommend that the chapter discuss the concerns raised with the school in detail.

Budget 2014 Vikasana Rural Center 2 Senior Teachers Rs. 8, 000. 00 (each) 1 Junior Teacher Rs. 4, 000. 00 Helper and watchman Rs. 8, 000. 00 Maintenance (stationary, books, Xerox) Rs. 2000 – 3000 Total per month Total per year Rs. 30000. 00 – 31000 Rs. 3, 66, 000

Finances • • Request from Asha Seattle for the year 2014 : INR 3, 66, 000 Asha Seattle sent INR 77, 043 for 2013 on 4/8/2014 Sent INR 74080 for 2012 on 4/8/2014 Sent INR 71232 in Nov 2011 This year the request is for the amount is INR 366, 000.

Process Checks Item Status Approved Budget $3000 Approval Type Recurring Amount(s) disbursed last fiscal year INR 77, 043 Amount Utilized by the project last fiscal year n/a Last Site Visit Feb 2014 Site Visit done by Shailesh Vaishnavi Site visit report http: //www. ashanet. org/projectsnew/documents/283/Vikasana. Site. Visit. Feb 2014. pdf Current Primary Steward Rohit Pagariya <rohitpagariya@yahoo. co. in> Current Secondary Stewards None Status of the web page updated Status of the yahoo databases Deprecated

Budget 2012 -2013 Vikasana Rural Center Teacher (Malathi) Rs. 9, 000. 00 Teacher (Nagaveni) Rs. 7, 000. 00 Teacher Rs. 400. 00 Helper Rs. 4000. 00 Maintenance Rs. 2500. 00 Electricity Rs. 500. 00 Total per month Total per year Rs. 27000. 00 Rs. 324000 http: //www. ashanet. org/projects-new/documents/192/Budger_2013 -14. pdf

History : Budget (2011 -2012) Vikasana Rural Center Teacher Rs. 8, 000. 00 Helper Rs. 5, 500. 00 Food Rs. 1000. 00 Material Rs. 1000. 00 Miscellaneous Rs. 500. 00 Total per month Rs. 22, 500. 00 Total per year Rs. 2, 70, 000

History : Budget (2010 -2011) Vikasana Rural Center Malathi Rs. 8, 000. 00 Nagaveni Rs. 5, 000. 00 Teacher Rs. 3, 000. 00 Helper Rs. 3, 000. 00 Electricity Rs. 1000. 00 Maintenance Rs. 1000. 00 Total per month Rs. 21, 000. 00 Total per year Rs. 2, 52, 000

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