लोकसत्ता, पुणे | 29 डिसेंबर 2016
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Monday, December 12, 2016
Connecting the dots...
Over the years, we have come across many self-motivated individuals and groups that are contributing to the cause of education for underprivileged children in the society. Some of them are helping the children learn through classes conducted at community level, some are creating awareness among the parents about importance of education, while some are actually taking the children to nearby formal schools and trying to retain them there. Although all of them are determined and motivated, it is a fact that they are facing many challenges due to limited physical and knowledge resources.
Door Step School is trying to connect the dots by offering knowledge support to such volunteers and groups. As an organization with 25 years of presence in the field of education, Door Step School can provide training and monitoring support, guidance in preparing and using innovative teaching tools, insights on community-level issues, and methods of pulling in other resources.
If you are part of (or know about) any such volunteer groups working (or willing to work) for education of underprivileged children in their area, do connect with us. We would be happy to help for optimum utilization of volunteering resources towards the larger objective of ‘Education for All’…
Write to eccex@doorstepschool.org or call 986-000-8070 for more details.
Connecting The Dots...
Over the years, we have come across many self-motivated individuals and groups that are contributing to the cause of education for underprivileged children in the society. Some of them are helping the children learn through classes conducted at community level, some are creating awareness among the parents about importance of education, while some are actually taking the children to nearby formal schools and trying to retain them there. Although all of them are determined and motivated, it is a fact that they are facing many challenges due to limited physical and knowledge resources.
Door Step School is trying to connect the dots by offering knowledge support to such volunteers and groups. As an organization with 25 years of presence in the field of education, Door Step School can provide training and monitoring support, guidance in preparing and using innovative teaching tools, insights on community-level issues, and methods of pulling in other resources.
If you are part of (or know about) any such volunteer groups working (or willing to work) for education of underprivileged children in their area, do connect with us. We would be happy to help for optimum utilization of volunteering resources towards the larger objective of ‘Education for All’…
Write to eccex@doorstepschool.org or call 986-000-8070 for more details.
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Children's Day: Fun Fair in PMC Schools
A fun fair for children from all PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) schools in Kothrud area was organized on the occasion of Children's Day. Various fun activities like storytelling, streetplay, group songs, and dance, etc. were conducted at Samrat Ashok Vidyamandir in Karvenagar. Door Step School set up a stall of innovative teaching tools for learning mathematics. Children from various schools in Kothrud area visited the stall with lot of curiosity and enthusiasm. A group of children from Door Step School's Baal Gat performed a streetplay on topic of Child Rights, which was much appreciated by school teachers and government officials present at the function.
Friday, November 18, 2016
An Inspiring Story from Hyderabad
Bhanu Chander works as a STEM trainer for a Robotics company in Hyderabad. He and few of his friends wanted to help children in nearby slums get education. They visited the slums and interacted with parents and kids to understand reasons for children not attending schools. Apart from financial constraints, it was also observed that many parents did not know about local schools and their admission procedures. The volunteers approached a residential school and helped five children get admission. However, the children did not continue due to various reasons, fear and insecurity of the parents being major reasons. Accepting the failure of their first attempt, the volunteers then tried to get these children enrolled in nearby government schools. Most of the children belong to labourer families who have migrated from other states and cities to Hyderabad. Obviously, the children do not understand the local language - Telugu. The government school teachers informed volunteers that the children need to know at least basics of the Telugu language, if they want to attend the school.
Stuck in this situation, Bhanu started looking for help and came across Door Step School's programmes for migrant workers' children. In the month of October 2016, Bhanu wrote to us about his experience and plans about the children. His friends had already decided to start teaching the children on weekends, but they were clueless about how and where to start. During next one month, we had numerous interactions through e-mail, phone calls, and WhatsApp. We discussed various options like involving a local NGO from Hyderabad, conducting the study class in nearby school, building rapport with the parents, etc.
The volunteers have now started their weekend classes in the slum. They are introducing Telugu, English, and basics of Mathematics to the children between 5 and 14 years age group. Around 20-25 children attend these classes conducted by volunteers on Sarurdays and Sundays. They keep a track of what is being taught in each session, so that they can plan further sessions with same or different volunteers as per their availability. Door Step School has a reading skill development kit already prepared and being used for Marathi language. We are trying to replicate a similar teaching module for Telugu. We are also working out how English and numeracy skills can be taught to these children with help of simple teaching tools and workbooks.
The volunteers recently celebrated Children's Day in the slum. Parents have started responding positively and are happy to see their children learning something new every week. The volunteers are very much determined to bring these children into mainstream of education by start of next academic year. The Every Child Counts campaign was launched by Door Step School in 2011, with a vision of involving concerned citizens in education of out-of-school children, making it an organic and sustainable model of community development. Bhanu and his friends from Hyderabad are setting a wonderful example of how citizens can contribute towards the larger goal of 'Education For All'.
Inspiring Story of Volunteers from Hyderabad
Bhanu Chander works as a STEM trainer for a Robotics company in Hyderabad. He and few of his friends wanted to help children in nearby slums get education. They visited the slums and interacted with parents and kids to understand reasons for children not attending schools. Apart from financial constraints, it was also observed that many parents did not know about local schools and their admission procedures. The volunteers approached a residential school and helped five children get admission. However, the children did not continue due to various reasons, fear and insecurity of the parents being major reasons. Accepting the failure of their first attempt, the volunteers then tried to get these children enrolled in nearby government schools. Most of the children belong to labourer families who have migrated from other states and cities to Hyderabad. Obviously, the children do not understand the local language - Telugu. The government school teachers informed volunteers that the children need to know at least basics of the Telugu language, if they want to attend the school.
Stuck in this situation, Bhanu started looking for help and came across Door Step School's programmes for migrant workers' children. In the month of October 2016, Bhanu wrote to us about his experience and plans about the children. His friends had already decided to start teaching the children on weekends, but they were clueless about how and where to start. During next one month, we had numerous interactions through e-mail, phone calls, and WhatsApp. We discussed various options like involving a local NGO from Hyderabad, conducting the study class in nearby school, building rapport with the parents, etc.
The volunteers have now started their weekend classes in the slum. They are introducing Telugu, English, and basics of Mathematics to the children between 5 and 14 years age group. Around 20-25 children attend these classes conducted by volunteers on Sarurdays and Sundays. They keep a track of what is being taught in each session, so that they can plan further sessions with same or different volunteers as per their availability. Door Step School has a reading skill development kit already prepared and being used for Marathi language. We are trying to replicate a similar teaching module for Telugu. We are also working out how English and numeracy skills can be taught to these children with help of simple teaching tools and workbooks.
The volunteers recently celebrated Children's Day in the slum. Parents have started responding positively and are happy to see their children learning something new every week. The volunteers are very much determined to bring these children into mainstream of education by start of next academic year. The Every Child Counts campaign was launched by Door Step School in 2011, with a vision of involving concerned citizens in education of out-of-school children, making it an organic and sustainable model of community development. Bhanu and his friends from Hyderabad are setting a wonderful example of how citizens can contribute towards the larger goal of 'Education For All'.
Stuck in this situation, Bhanu started looking for help and came across Door Step School's programmes for migrant workers' children. In the month of October 2016, Bhanu wrote to us about his experience and plans about the children. His friends had already decided to start teaching the children on weekends, but they were clueless about how and where to start. During next one month, we had numerous interactions through e-mail, phone calls, and WhatsApp. We discussed various options like involving a local NGO from Hyderabad, conducting the study class in nearby school, building rapport with the parents, etc.
The volunteers have now started their weekend classes in the slum. They are introducing Telugu, English, and basics of Mathematics to the children between 5 and 14 years age group. Around 20-25 children attend these classes conducted by volunteers on Sarurdays and Sundays. They keep a track of what is being taught in each session, so that they can plan further sessions with same or different volunteers as per their availability. Door Step School has a reading skill development kit already prepared and being used for Marathi language. We are trying to replicate a similar teaching module for Telugu. We are also working out how English and numeracy skills can be taught to these children with help of simple teaching tools and workbooks.
The volunteers recently celebrated Children's Day in the slum. Parents have started responding positively and are happy to see their children learning something new every week. The volunteers are very much determined to bring these children into mainstream of education by start of next academic year. The Every Child Counts campaign was launched by Door Step School in 2011, with a vision of involving concerned citizens in education of out-of-school children, making it an organic and sustainable model of community development. Bhanu and his friends from Hyderabad are setting a wonderful example of how citizens can contribute towards the larger goal of 'Education For All'.
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Spreading the Light of Wisdom...
(Submitted by a well-wisher and supporter of Door Step School - Ms. Sayali Kulkarni)
"Diwali is the festival of light, and light signifies wisdom." - H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
The children and Staff of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Bal Mandir (SSRBM), Bavdhan, Pune believe that a festival is celebrated only when we can share the joy with people around us. We may make some delicious Diwali sweets but if we have no one to enjoy them with it is no celebration.
We at SSRBM Bavdhan decided to make beautiful Diwali lanterns to sell and raise money in order to make Diwali special for others.
The children, their teachers and other staff members put in their time and effort whilst the parents supported this wonderful project by buying these beautiful handmade lanterns.
We are very pleased to announce that raised amount will be using to buy books for the children of Primary ZP School, Abdagirewadi, Tal- Phaltan, Dist- Satara.
Most of the children of this school come from poor families where the father, mother & other members are working on daily wages.
We brought the books from the Door Step School NGO. Special thanks to Mandarji Shinde & team for great, quick support.
It was really great moment to see happy faces with big- eager eyes of lovely kids.
This way SSRBM, Bavdhan team were able to support not one but two best causes.
Happy Diwali to you all.
(Door Step School thanks Ms. Sayali Kulkarni and SSRBM team for spreading the light of wisdom among children from Abdagirewadi ZP School. We are happy to see the brightened faces of children enjoying our books and teaching aids.)
"Diwali is the festival of light, and light signifies wisdom." - H.H. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
The children and Staff of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Bal Mandir (SSRBM), Bavdhan, Pune believe that a festival is celebrated only when we can share the joy with people around us. We may make some delicious Diwali sweets but if we have no one to enjoy them with it is no celebration.
We at SSRBM Bavdhan decided to make beautiful Diwali lanterns to sell and raise money in order to make Diwali special for others.
The children, their teachers and other staff members put in their time and effort whilst the parents supported this wonderful project by buying these beautiful handmade lanterns.
We are very pleased to announce that raised amount will be using to buy books for the children of Primary ZP School, Abdagirewadi, Tal- Phaltan, Dist- Satara.
Most of the children of this school come from poor families where the father, mother & other members are working on daily wages.
We brought the books from the Door Step School NGO. Special thanks to Mandarji Shinde & team for great, quick support.
It was really great moment to see happy faces with big- eager eyes of lovely kids.
This way SSRBM, Bavdhan team were able to support not one but two best causes.
Happy Diwali to you all.
(Door Step School thanks Ms. Sayali Kulkarni and SSRBM team for spreading the light of wisdom among children from Abdagirewadi ZP School. We are happy to see the brightened faces of children enjoying our books and teaching aids.)
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Teaching Alphabets...
Teaching alphabets is not an easy task. Under
the Grow With Books programme, Door Step School's Book-Fairies teach
children by using innovative methods. Most of the methods are play-based
and interactive. The objective is to create interest about alphabets
and to increase familarity of words. Children in this video are saying
aloud the words written on the floor as one of them moves from one word
to another...
Saturday, October 22, 2016
'जाणीव सामाजिक बांधिलकीची' - दै. सकाळ
'मॉन्ट व्हर्ट' कन्स्ट्रक्शन ग्रुपच्या बांधकाम साईट्सवर 'डोअर स्टेप स्कूल'तर्फे चालविल्या जाणा-या शैक्षणिक उपक्रमांबाबत शनिवार, २२ ऑक्टोबर २०१६ च्या दै. सकाळ पुरवणीत प्रसिद्ध झालेली माहिती.
Friday, October 21, 2016
Door Step School at Corporate Diwali Mela
It's festival season and several corpoates supporting Door Step School are organizing Diwali Mela (Fair) across Pune city. These are opportunities for the corporates to introduce NGOs they are supporting, to their employees. We are being invited to put up stalls at the Diwali Melas organized inside the corporate campus or at other locations around. Various gift articles and books are on display at the Door Step School stall. There are greeting cards, pen stands, and tea coasters with drawings of children printed on them. There are beautifully painted Panati (Diyas) for sale. But the best item on our stall is books published by Door Step School. These include workbooks and storybooks used for reading skill improvement programmes at government schools and educational activity centers on construction sites and slums across the city. The visitors to our stall get to know about the methods used to teach children from marginalized and migrant communities. The kids among visitors are attracted to teaching aids and word games specially designed by Door Step School. Overall, it is an opportunity to showcase our work and publications to new people. Through each such event, we gain more supporters for our work. We thank our corporate partners for giving us this opportunity!
(Photos: Door Step School Stall at Harbinger Diwali Mela 2016 in Pune)
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Education Makes The Difference!
Every day, thousands of people from several states and villages in India migrate to the city of Pune in search of employment. With the industrial and infrastructural development, Pune keeps attracting people with various backgrounds - from young to old, from unskilled labourers to skilled professionals. The visible differentiating factor among all the migrants is their education, which decides their volume of earning, standard of living, and social status in the city. Fortunately, it is possible to cross the levels by means of education.
The work of educating children from migrant labourer families starts with creating awareness among the parents. Parents' participation is considered to be crucial for education of any child. Door Step School conducts parent awareness activities at the labour habitats and tries persuading the parents to send their children to school. Since the migrant parents are not comfortable enough with the local environment themselves, they are further afraid of sending their children away for any reason. As a result, their children remain deprived of education for the duration they live here in the city. Most of the times due to limited social exposure, the parents cannot even imagine how education could have made a difference in their lives. Door Step School field team has a hard time convincing these parents and getting access to their children.
Our field team is often supported by volunteers from corporates and institutes. These are the educated people who spend their weekends on the ground, understanding the problems and queries of parents, informing them about importance of education and benefits under Right To Education (RTE) Act, and actually helping their children reach schools. In the Baner - Balewadi area, a group of volunteers from 3DPLM Software Solutions, Hinjawadi is helping Door Step School field team in connecting with the parents.
The parents are labourers who usually leave their homes for work before 9 o'clock in the morning. Keeping this in mind, the volunteers turn up as early as 8 AM, sacrificing their weekend plans on Saturdays and Sundays. They start observing activities of our field team for first few meetings, after which they begin participating by talking with the parents and explaining importance of education and benefits of RTE Act, etc. Brahmanand, Shitala Prasad, Namrata, and Bharat are regularly seen at the early morning parent meetings and activities with children. During one such meeting, one of the volunteers, Brahmanand came up with an apt comparison of migration. While talking with the labourers from North Indian states, he said, "Even I am a migrant like you who has come to this city for a job. We hail from the same North Indian states. The only difference between you and me is education. If you want your children to be as successful as I am, please send them to schools now!"
This emotional appeal touched a cord and we could see the changed response of parents in further meetings. The volunteers from 3DPLM Software Solutions have also participated in activities like arranging games for children at the vasti, helping the parents in school enrollment procedure, etc. Door Step School thanks all the volunteers for their concern and support. We are sure that the children and their parents are inspired by them and have understood how education can make a difference in their lives!
The work of educating children from migrant labourer families starts with creating awareness among the parents. Parents' participation is considered to be crucial for education of any child. Door Step School conducts parent awareness activities at the labour habitats and tries persuading the parents to send their children to school. Since the migrant parents are not comfortable enough with the local environment themselves, they are further afraid of sending their children away for any reason. As a result, their children remain deprived of education for the duration they live here in the city. Most of the times due to limited social exposure, the parents cannot even imagine how education could have made a difference in their lives. Door Step School field team has a hard time convincing these parents and getting access to their children.
Our field team is often supported by volunteers from corporates and institutes. These are the educated people who spend their weekends on the ground, understanding the problems and queries of parents, informing them about importance of education and benefits under Right To Education (RTE) Act, and actually helping their children reach schools. In the Baner - Balewadi area, a group of volunteers from 3DPLM Software Solutions, Hinjawadi is helping Door Step School field team in connecting with the parents.
The parents are labourers who usually leave their homes for work before 9 o'clock in the morning. Keeping this in mind, the volunteers turn up as early as 8 AM, sacrificing their weekend plans on Saturdays and Sundays. They start observing activities of our field team for first few meetings, after which they begin participating by talking with the parents and explaining importance of education and benefits of RTE Act, etc. Brahmanand, Shitala Prasad, Namrata, and Bharat are regularly seen at the early morning parent meetings and activities with children. During one such meeting, one of the volunteers, Brahmanand came up with an apt comparison of migration. While talking with the labourers from North Indian states, he said, "Even I am a migrant like you who has come to this city for a job. We hail from the same North Indian states. The only difference between you and me is education. If you want your children to be as successful as I am, please send them to schools now!"
This emotional appeal touched a cord and we could see the changed response of parents in further meetings. The volunteers from 3DPLM Software Solutions have also participated in activities like arranging games for children at the vasti, helping the parents in school enrollment procedure, etc. Door Step School thanks all the volunteers for their concern and support. We are sure that the children and their parents are inspired by them and have understood how education can make a difference in their lives!
Saturday, October 15, 2016
वाचन प्रेरणा दिन - २०१६
भारताचे माजी राष्ट्रपती 'भारतरत्न' डॉ. ए.पी.जे. अब्दुल कलाम यांचा जन्मदिवस (दि. १५ ऑक्टोबर) 'वाचन प्रेरणा दिन' म्हणून साजरा करण्यात येतो. या निमित्ताने यावर्षी पुणे व पिंपरी-चिंचवड येथील शाळांमधून विविध उपक्रमांचे आयोजन करण्यात आले. सर्व शाळांमधून मुलांनीच लिहिलेल्या 'डोअर स्टेप स्कूल'च्या 'वन पेज स्टोरी' उपक्रमातील गोष्टींचे सामूहिक वाचन घेण्यात आले. या उपक्रमात ज्या विद्यार्थ्यांच्या गोष्टींची निवड झाली होती त्या विद्यार्थ्यांचे 'वाचन प्रेरणा दिना'निमित्त आपापल्या शाळांमधे कौतुक करण्यात आले. मुलांना वाचण्यासाठी प्रेरक वातावरण निर्माण व्हावे म्हणून गोष्टीच्या पुस्तकांची वर्गांमधून मांडणी करण्यात आली होती. काही शाळांमधे विद्यार्थी व शिक्षकांनी एकत्र बसून पुस्तकांचे वाचन केले. मुलांनी 'वाचन प्रेरणा दिना'निमित्त विविध घोषवाक्ये तयार केली व म्हटली. वाचनाविषयी प्रेरणा देणारी भित्तीपत्रके शाळांमधे प्रदर्शित करण्यात आली. यावेळी डॉ. ए.पी.जे. अब्दुल कलाम यांच्या अल्पचरित्राचेही सामूहिक वाचन करण्यात आले. 'डोअर स्टेप स्कूल'च्या पुस्तक प-यांसोबतच शाळांचे मुख्याध्यापक, शिक्षक, पालक, तसेच सहाय्यक शिक्षणाधिकारी, मराठी साहित्य परिषदेचे पदाधिकारी, असे मान्यवरही या उपक्रमांमधे सहभागी झाले. मुलांमधे वाचनाविषयी गोडी निर्माण व्हावी या हेतुने आयोजित केलेल्या या 'वाचन प्रेरणा दिना'स सर्वच शाळांमधील विद्यार्थ्यांनी भरभरुन प्रतिसाद दिला.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Project Review Meetings at Door Step School
Over last 25 years, Door Step School has expanded reach of educational activities from hundreds to thousands of underprivileged children in Pune. The objective is to take education at the doorstep of children, hence the activity centers are spread across entire geography of the city and surrounding area. The teaching methods and teacher training model have almost been standardized over these years. However, close monitoring and periodic reviews play an important role in effective implementation of Door Step School programmes. The organization follows innovative tools of data collection and data analysis, for impact evaluation and corrective measures. Apart from monthly review meetings, Door Step School also conducts half-yearly project-wise presentations. The field team presents activities carried out through last six months. Achievements in learning levels against targets set at the beginning are reviewed, problems and special mentions are discussed, and the efforts of teachers and support staff are well appreciated. These review meetings are important for the entire team for knowledge sharing among people working in various areas and situations. All team members are excited to share their experiences and success stories. This is an opportunity for the organization to review and ensure all pieces of the programme are in place. This is also an opportunity for the field staff to showcase their work and gain motivation to keep working ahead!
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Door Step School Vehicles
Door Step School runs various programmes for education of underprivileged children in and around Pune city. These include Educational Activity Centers run at construction sites and mobile classrooms used in temporary slums. All the children covered under Door Step School programmes are encouraged and helped to attend nearby government schools for formal education. Apart from creating awareness about education among parents and enrolling children in schools, Door Step School also provides school transport facility wherever possible. At present, five vehicles (vans and bus) are used for ferrying children to and from schools across Pune. Four School-on-Wheels buses reach out to around 400 children every day, offering education at their doorstep. Along with the teachers and escorts, our drivers (fondly called Kaka) play an important role in both school transport and mobile classroom programmes.
We express our gratitude towards our vehicles and entire transport team (driver Kaka's) on the occasion of Dasara (Vijaya Dashami) Pooja. We are happy and proud to see everyone in the team equally concerned about and aligned towards the organizational goal of 'Education for All'.
We express our gratitude towards our vehicles and entire transport team (driver Kaka's) on the occasion of Dasara (Vijaya Dashami) Pooja. We are happy and proud to see everyone in the team equally concerned about and aligned towards the organizational goal of 'Education for All'.
Wednesday, October 5, 2016
New School-on-Wheels for Door Step School
As a part of efforts to educate out-of-school children living in temporary slums and labour habitats on construction sites, Door Step School runs School-on-Wheels programme which is a bus converted into a mobile classroom. Sometimes, even setting up a temporary shelter as a classroom is not possible at locations where children live. The School-on-Wheels bus provides space for DSS teachers to conduct educational activities at such locations. The bus is modified to accomodate 20 to 25 children at a time. It is equipped with a blackboard, learning charts, mini-library of books and toys, etc. The bus covers 3 to 4 locations in a day, conducting sessions of around two to two and half hour duration. Focus of the programme is to make the children - often first generation learners - familiar with a learning environment. These children are eventually enrolled in nearby government schools for formal education. The sessions in School-on-Wheels bus support the education of both school-going and out-of-school children.
A recent addition to DSS School-on-Wheels programme is the bus donated by Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd. Mr. Amit Sharma, MD - TCE officially inaugurated the School-on-Wheels bus and also visited one of the temporary slum class at Baner, along with several other management and staff members of TCE. Door Step School appreciates the concern and support by TCE, which is going to help education of many children across Pune in coming times. Thank you!
A recent addition to DSS School-on-Wheels programme is the bus donated by Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd. Mr. Amit Sharma, MD - TCE officially inaugurated the School-on-Wheels bus and also visited one of the temporary slum class at Baner, along with several other management and staff members of TCE. Door Step School appreciates the concern and support by TCE, which is going to help education of many children across Pune in coming times. Thank you!
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Every Child Counts – Bengaluru Pilot
Every Child Counts – Bengaluru Pilot
Bengaluru continues to see significant construction activity. A vast majority of these construction workers are migrant labourers. Education of their children poses a challenge. Only a small percentage of the children of migrant labourers attend school, the rest remains out of school because of various reasons, they need to stay at home to take care of the younger siblings, or schools are inaccessible or simply they can’t cope up with schools having stayed out of school for prolonged time.
Though various NGO’s and government have been working to address this problem, it is a work in progress, any help is usually welcome.
It is with that premise, this initiative originated, asking the question:
“How can an ordinary citizen in Bengaluru contribute to the cause of the education of the migrant labourer?”
That question brought together a team of a set of likeminded people, with a desire to contribute something to cause of the education of the children of migrant labourers. The first lead to finding the answer was the “Every Child Counts Citizen Campaign” or ECC. Inspired by the successful journey of ECC Pune, which has been working for the last five years with a similar objective, the team aligned to the goals and methodology set down by that campaign.
The goals and the plan to achieve the goals began to take shape. The short term goal was to pilot an ECC Clone in one location of Bengaluru. Haralur road, which borders the HSR layout, Hosur Road and Sarjapur Road, which has been witnessing a boom in construction activities was selected as the pilot location. Enrolling the out of school around two government schools of Haralur road thus became the primary objective of the campaign.
The campaign adopted the same structure ECC Pune had laid out.
As the citizen volunteers were not part of any NGO, the team choose to stick to the name of original – Every Child Counts – Bengaluru Pilot.
Given that the citizen volunteers had minimal experience in such surveys, the team approached for help, ECC Pune, Azim Premji Foundation and Gubbachi, all experts in this area.
Experts from ECC Pune were more than willing to share not just their experience, but also the toolkit required for the campaign. Gubbachi assured that if in case it emerged that there is a significant number of out of school children in Haralur road, they could potentially be the partnering NGO in the campaign.
Thus after an orientation session held attended by 11 citizen volunteers, the campaign kick started. The citizen volunteers surveyed the Haralur area for 4 consecutive Sundays. Open source Android apps for surveying were also made available. The volunteers met with parents or relatives of children of the labourers.
The volunteers were received mostly warmly by the people. Their apprehensions would often ease out after a few minutes of conversation. Knowledge of local language became crucial to the success as majority of the people surveyed were from North Karnataka. Knowledge of Hindi, Telegu became useful too. The clusters surveyed ranged from decently organised labour camps by the big builders, to unhygienic chaotic shanties. Sunday 12.00 became the standard time for surveying the locations, as the team found the parents of the children being available on site for conversation.
Most of the parents were willing to send their children to school, provided some of the concerns were met. This included -
The initial survey was led by volunteers with prior experience. The apprehension that whether novice citizen volunteers would scale to their level dissolved in the second week, where the first timers did a wonderful job of initiating and carrying on conversations with the labourers. Though the number of volunteers dropped, the volunteers from the same locality continued the survey till it covered the target area.
With 52 children identified in approximately 1 square kilometre, the first phase of the campaign achieved what it set out to achieve, a handful of volunteers completing the survey of the locality, identifying children in the age group of 6-10. The labourers found were mostly from north Karnataka, and the rest from West Bengal.
The campaign has now moved on to the next phase, evolve a plan of action along with Gubbachi. The data thus collected have been handed over to NGO Gubbachi. Therefore the campaign stands at a crucial phase, where without any funding, it has to solve problems such as setting up a bridge school, arrange for transportation, etc. The positive response from Gubbachi has kept the hopes of the team high so far. The team hopes that in the coming weeks, it will be able to address most of these challenges.
- Reported by Ranjit A Pillai, ECC - Bengaluru
Bengaluru continues to see significant construction activity. A vast majority of these construction workers are migrant labourers. Education of their children poses a challenge. Only a small percentage of the children of migrant labourers attend school, the rest remains out of school because of various reasons, they need to stay at home to take care of the younger siblings, or schools are inaccessible or simply they can’t cope up with schools having stayed out of school for prolonged time.
Though various NGO’s and government have been working to address this problem, it is a work in progress, any help is usually welcome.
It is with that premise, this initiative originated, asking the question:
“How can an ordinary citizen in Bengaluru contribute to the cause of the education of the migrant labourer?”
That question brought together a team of a set of likeminded people, with a desire to contribute something to cause of the education of the children of migrant labourers. The first lead to finding the answer was the “Every Child Counts Citizen Campaign” or ECC. Inspired by the successful journey of ECC Pune, which has been working for the last five years with a similar objective, the team aligned to the goals and methodology set down by that campaign.
The goals and the plan to achieve the goals began to take shape. The short term goal was to pilot an ECC Clone in one location of Bengaluru. Haralur road, which borders the HSR layout, Hosur Road and Sarjapur Road, which has been witnessing a boom in construction activities was selected as the pilot location. Enrolling the out of school around two government schools of Haralur road thus became the primary objective of the campaign.
The campaign adopted the same structure ECC Pune had laid out.
- Citizen would survey the locality, identify out of school children between the age of 6 and 10, and collect the details.
- Citizen would engage an NGO and with their help, use the data collected to chalk out a practical plan to enrol the children identified to the government schools. The best case would be NGO selected would have funding to set up bridge schools in that locality.
- NGO with the citizen execute that plan – enrol children directly to schools, set up bridging facility for the ones who cannot be enrolled.
As the citizen volunteers were not part of any NGO, the team choose to stick to the name of original – Every Child Counts – Bengaluru Pilot.
Given that the citizen volunteers had minimal experience in such surveys, the team approached for help, ECC Pune, Azim Premji Foundation and Gubbachi, all experts in this area.
Experts from ECC Pune were more than willing to share not just their experience, but also the toolkit required for the campaign. Gubbachi assured that if in case it emerged that there is a significant number of out of school children in Haralur road, they could potentially be the partnering NGO in the campaign.
Thus after an orientation session held attended by 11 citizen volunteers, the campaign kick started. The citizen volunteers surveyed the Haralur area for 4 consecutive Sundays. Open source Android apps for surveying were also made available. The volunteers met with parents or relatives of children of the labourers.
The volunteers were received mostly warmly by the people. Their apprehensions would often ease out after a few minutes of conversation. Knowledge of local language became crucial to the success as majority of the people surveyed were from North Karnataka. Knowledge of Hindi, Telegu became useful too. The clusters surveyed ranged from decently organised labour camps by the big builders, to unhygienic chaotic shanties. Sunday 12.00 became the standard time for surveying the locations, as the team found the parents of the children being available on site for conversation.
Most of the parents were willing to send their children to school, provided some of the concerns were met. This included -
- a safe transport to the school,
- a day care for their younger sibling,
- mitigating unsafe conditions in the schools.
The initial survey was led by volunteers with prior experience. The apprehension that whether novice citizen volunteers would scale to their level dissolved in the second week, where the first timers did a wonderful job of initiating and carrying on conversations with the labourers. Though the number of volunteers dropped, the volunteers from the same locality continued the survey till it covered the target area.
With 52 children identified in approximately 1 square kilometre, the first phase of the campaign achieved what it set out to achieve, a handful of volunteers completing the survey of the locality, identifying children in the age group of 6-10. The labourers found were mostly from north Karnataka, and the rest from West Bengal.
The campaign has now moved on to the next phase, evolve a plan of action along with Gubbachi. The data thus collected have been handed over to NGO Gubbachi. Therefore the campaign stands at a crucial phase, where without any funding, it has to solve problems such as setting up a bridge school, arrange for transportation, etc. The positive response from Gubbachi has kept the hopes of the team high so far. The team hopes that in the coming weeks, it will be able to address most of these challenges.
- Reported by Ranjit A Pillai, ECC - Bengaluru
Every Child Counts – Bengaluru Pilot
Every Child Counts – Bengaluru Pilot
Bengaluru continues to see significant construction activity. A vast majority of these construction workers are migrant labourers. Education of their children poses a challenge. Only a small percentage of the children of migrant labourers attend school, the rest remains out of school because of various reasons, they need to stay at home to take care of the younger siblings, or schools are inaccessible or simply they can’t cope up with schools having stayed out of school for prolonged time.
Though various NGO’s and government have been working to address this problem, it is a work in progress, any help is usually welcome.
It is with that premise, this initiative originated, asking the question:
“How can an ordinary citizen in Bengaluru contribute to the cause of the education of the migrant labourer?”
That question brought together a team of a set of likeminded people, with a desire to contribute something to cause of the education of the children of migrant labourers. The first lead to finding the answer was the “Every Child Counts Citizen Campaign” or ECC. Inspired by the successful journey of ECC Pune, which has been working for the last five years with a similar objective, the team aligned to the goals and methodology set down by that campaign.
The goals and the plan to achieve the goals began to take shape. The short term goal was to pilot an ECC Clone in one location of Bengaluru. Haralur road, which borders the HSR layout, Hosur Road and Sarjapur Road, which has been witnessing a boom in construction activities was selected as the pilot location. Enrolling the out of school around two government schools of Haralur road thus became the primary objective of the campaign.
The campaign adopted the same structure ECC Pune had laid out.
As the citizen volunteers were not part of any NGO, the team choose to stick to the name of original – Every Child Counts – Bengaluru Pilot.
Given that the citizen volunteers had minimal experience in such surveys, the team approached for help, ECC Pune, Azim Premji Foundation and Gubbachi, all experts in this area.
Experts from ECC Pune were more than willing to share not just their experience, but also the toolkit required for the campaign. Gubbachi assured that if in case it emerged that there is a significant number of out of school children in Haralur road, they could potentially be the partnering NGO in the campaign.
Thus after an orientation session held attended by 11 citizen volunteers, the campaign kick started. The citizen volunteers surveyed the Haralur area for 4 consecutive Sundays. Open source Android apps for surveying were also made available. The volunteers met with parents or relatives of children of the labourers.
The volunteers were received mostly warmly by the people. Their apprehensions would often ease out after a few minutes of conversation. Knowledge of local language became crucial to the success as majority of the people surveyed were from North Karnataka. Knowledge of Hindi, Telegu became useful too. The clusters surveyed ranged from decently organised labour camps by the big builders, to unhygienic chaotic shanties. Sunday 12.00 became the standard time for surveying the locations, as the team found the parents of the children being available on site for conversation.
Most of the parents were willing to send their children to school, provided some of the concerns were met. This included -
The initial survey was led by volunteers with prior experience. The apprehension that whether novice citizen volunteers would scale to their level dissolved in the second week, where the first timers did a wonderful job of initiating and carrying on conversations with the labourers. Though the number of volunteers dropped, the volunteers from the same locality continued the survey till it covered the target area.
With 52 children identified in approximately 1 square kilometre, the first phase of the campaign achieved what it set out to achieve, a handful of volunteers completing the survey of the locality, identifying children in the age group of 6-10. The labourers found were mostly from north Karnataka, and the rest from West Bengal.
The campaign has now moved on to the next phase, evolve a plan of action along with Gubbachi. The data thus collected have been handed over to NGO Gubbachi. Therefore the campaign stands at a crucial phase, where without any funding, it has to solve problems such as setting up a bridge school, arrange for transportation, etc. The positive response from Gubbachi has kept the hopes of the team high so far. The team hopes that in the coming weeks, it will be able to address most of these challenges.
- Reported by Ranjit A Pillai, ECC - Bengaluru
Bengaluru continues to see significant construction activity. A vast majority of these construction workers are migrant labourers. Education of their children poses a challenge. Only a small percentage of the children of migrant labourers attend school, the rest remains out of school because of various reasons, they need to stay at home to take care of the younger siblings, or schools are inaccessible or simply they can’t cope up with schools having stayed out of school for prolonged time.
Though various NGO’s and government have been working to address this problem, it is a work in progress, any help is usually welcome.
It is with that premise, this initiative originated, asking the question:
“How can an ordinary citizen in Bengaluru contribute to the cause of the education of the migrant labourer?”
That question brought together a team of a set of likeminded people, with a desire to contribute something to cause of the education of the children of migrant labourers. The first lead to finding the answer was the “Every Child Counts Citizen Campaign” or ECC. Inspired by the successful journey of ECC Pune, which has been working for the last five years with a similar objective, the team aligned to the goals and methodology set down by that campaign.
The goals and the plan to achieve the goals began to take shape. The short term goal was to pilot an ECC Clone in one location of Bengaluru. Haralur road, which borders the HSR layout, Hosur Road and Sarjapur Road, which has been witnessing a boom in construction activities was selected as the pilot location. Enrolling the out of school around two government schools of Haralur road thus became the primary objective of the campaign.
The campaign adopted the same structure ECC Pune had laid out.
- Citizen would survey the locality, identify out of school children between the age of 6 and 10, and collect the details.
- Citizen would engage an NGO and with their help, use the data collected to chalk out a practical plan to enrol the children identified to the government schools. The best case would be NGO selected would have funding to set up bridge schools in that locality.
- NGO with the citizen execute that plan – enrol children directly to schools, set up bridging facility for the ones who cannot be enrolled.
As the citizen volunteers were not part of any NGO, the team choose to stick to the name of original – Every Child Counts – Bengaluru Pilot.
Given that the citizen volunteers had minimal experience in such surveys, the team approached for help, ECC Pune, Azim Premji Foundation and Gubbachi, all experts in this area.
Experts from ECC Pune were more than willing to share not just their experience, but also the toolkit required for the campaign. Gubbachi assured that if in case it emerged that there is a significant number of out of school children in Haralur road, they could potentially be the partnering NGO in the campaign.
Thus after an orientation session held attended by 11 citizen volunteers, the campaign kick started. The citizen volunteers surveyed the Haralur area for 4 consecutive Sundays. Open source Android apps for surveying were also made available. The volunteers met with parents or relatives of children of the labourers.
The volunteers were received mostly warmly by the people. Their apprehensions would often ease out after a few minutes of conversation. Knowledge of local language became crucial to the success as majority of the people surveyed were from North Karnataka. Knowledge of Hindi, Telegu became useful too. The clusters surveyed ranged from decently organised labour camps by the big builders, to unhygienic chaotic shanties. Sunday 12.00 became the standard time for surveying the locations, as the team found the parents of the children being available on site for conversation.
Most of the parents were willing to send their children to school, provided some of the concerns were met. This included -
- a safe transport to the school,
- a day care for their younger sibling,
- mitigating unsafe conditions in the schools.
The initial survey was led by volunteers with prior experience. The apprehension that whether novice citizen volunteers would scale to their level dissolved in the second week, where the first timers did a wonderful job of initiating and carrying on conversations with the labourers. Though the number of volunteers dropped, the volunteers from the same locality continued the survey till it covered the target area.
With 52 children identified in approximately 1 square kilometre, the first phase of the campaign achieved what it set out to achieve, a handful of volunteers completing the survey of the locality, identifying children in the age group of 6-10. The labourers found were mostly from north Karnataka, and the rest from West Bengal.
The campaign has now moved on to the next phase, evolve a plan of action along with Gubbachi. The data thus collected have been handed over to NGO Gubbachi. Therefore the campaign stands at a crucial phase, where without any funding, it has to solve problems such as setting up a bridge school, arrange for transportation, etc. The positive response from Gubbachi has kept the hopes of the team high so far. The team hopes that in the coming weeks, it will be able to address most of these challenges.
- Reported by Ranjit A Pillai, ECC - Bengaluru
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