Connecting Schools and Parents through Meetings

Involving parents in their child's education is a challenging task. The Every Child Counts (ECC) team organizes frequent meetings and programmes for parents, at communities and in schools. The objective is creating awareness among parents about education, explaining school admission process to them, and answering their queries and doubts about children and schools.

Initially, ECC team conducted these meetings only on community level. However, with increasing participation and support from school authorities, these meetings are now being conducted inside the schools. This helps parents in knowing the school environment where their children will be going every day and it also helps them interact with teachers directly.

In the Haveli Block of Pune District, ECC team is conducting meetings for parents at Zilla Parishad schools. The Block Education Officer Ms. Jyoti Parihar Madam is personally attending these meetings to interact with parents. She is trying to understand their challenges, whether they are getting proper support from school or not, and also if there are any other requirements. Recently these meetings were conducted at Bakori ZP school and Kesnand ZP School. The meeting at Kesnand school was also attended by Hon. Sarpanch of the village and members of school management committee.

This serves as a platform for the parents to express their experiences and challenges. After talking with the teachers and authorities like BEO, they seem to start feeling positive about school and the entire system. While sharing improvements observed in their children, they felt very excited. Some of them also felt guilty that they are not able to think for their children beyond basic needs due to their struggle for survival. They got very emotional while talking about their children and the help offered by ECC team and school teachers. This has also helped in sensitizing the school teachers about ground level situation and practical challenges before the parents.

The government officer and school teachers appreciated ECC team for their persistent efforts and systematic work. The parents are also thankful to the team for helping their children learn. This kind of experience is a moral booster for the entire team.

Few more meetings will be arranged in this month, to ensure positive turnout from parents and schools in the next academic year.

(Reported by Dattatray Vetal and team, Door Step School, Pune)

Fun Fair for Children and Parents

Children from migrant families are often seen left out of schools, mainly due to their frequently changing living conditions. We, at Door Step School, try to identify practical difficulties of this section in the society. Different solutions are offered to handle community-specific challenges. It takes considerable time to gain trust of the parents. But once it is achieved, the results are very satisfactory and motivating.

One of our projects focuses on parents' participation in their child's education. We have been working in Baner-Balewadi area with certain groups of migrant families. After repeated visits to their houses and rigorous follow-up meetings, we could convince and help most of the parents in sending their children to schools. But the job is not over just with school admissions. A bigger challenge is to retain the children in schools despite language differences, daily commuting issues, mixed responses from the schools, and such other barriers. We are happy with the results so far in case of these families from Baner-Balewadi area. We decided to arrange a gathering for these people as a follow-up meet on larger scale.

A fun-fair was thus organized on 15th of January 2017, at an open ground in Baner. A small stage was set up for children to dance and play. Door Step School team presented street play on importance of education. Basic sanitation points were discussed with parents and children under WASH activity. All the attendees enjoyed fun activities as well as special snacks items arranged at the fair.

Our team was very well supported by enthusiastic group of volunteers from Wipro, Hinjawadi. They helped us in conducting various activities for parents and children. Local Municipal Corporator Mr. Baburao Chandere and social worker Mr. Lahu Balwadkar helped us in arranging the venue. They visited the fun fair for inauguration.

Around 80 parents and 180 children attended the fun fair. These parents have come to Pune in search of employment, from remote villages in Maharashtra as well as other states like Bihar, Karnataka, and Chhattisgarh. They live around Baner, Balewadi, Pimple Nilakh areas and work on construction sites or other such places on daily wages. The team has been working with them since almost an year now. Most of the children have been enrolled in nearby government schools and all efforts are being taken to retain them there until the families migrate to another location within or outside the city.

(Reported by Harish Phadke, Door Step School)

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.

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'.

Even they want to go to school...

Let us help every child get education.

Call 986-000-8070 to report

out-of-school children in your area.

'Every Child Counts'

A citizens' campaign
to ensure every child gets its right of
free and compulsory education.

Let's Help Out-of-school Children Get Into Schools

Door Step School runs Every Child Counts campaign to ensure every child gets its Right to Education. We need volunteers across Pune city, for helping out-of-school children reach schools. Volunteers can participate in parents' awareness sessions, survey and admission process, arranging transport to and from schools, and follow-up with schools for regular attendance of enrolled children.

Areas that need immediate volunteer support are -

• Hadapsar
• Kondhawa
• Katraj
• Undri
• Pisoli
• Kharadi
• Chakan
• Khed Shivapur
• Pimple Saudagar, etc.

Call 986-000-8070 or write to volunteer@doorstepschool.org to join this campaign.

You can also attend the open meeting on every Saturday at 3:00 PM. Purpose of this meeting is to provide an open platform for the volunteers already working with Every Child Counts campaign, to share their experiences and ideas. Also, an orientation for new volunteers interested to join this campaign is conducted with help of ECC core team or other experienced volunteers. Status of survey, admission, and follow-up activities are reviewed and further plan of action is decided.

Meeting Location:
Door Step School,
3rd Floor, Dattakrupa Building,
Opposite Karishma Society,
Off Karve Road, Kothrud, Pune.

Please confirm your attendance on 986-000-8070.

Surveys, Parent Meetings, and School Enrollments

For several years, Door Step School has been working for education of children from migrant and marginalised communities in Pune. As a part of these efforts, the Every Child Counts (ECC) campaign was launched to ensure every child between the age of 6 and 14 years gets its right to free elementary education under Right to Education Act, 2009. While conducting the ECC campaign activities like survey and admissions, the role of parents in their children’s education was observed to be minimal. Hence another project called Parents' Participation in Child’s Education (PPCE) was started to increase awareness among parents. Through this project, we work with parents for a longer duration, educating and empowering them about various aspects of Right to Education Act and schooling of their children.

The month of May saw the surveys starting in full swing, to identify out-of-school children across the city. In the month of June, these surveys were followed by meetings with parents and enrollment of children in nearby PMC/PCMC/ZP schools.

By the month of June 2016, our Every Child Counts field team surveyed more than 1,000 locations (construction sites, brick kilns, temporary slums, etc.) across Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, and other fast-developing outer areas. Around 1,100 children were found in the survey, out of which 600 have now been enrolled in nearby government schools. About 50 volunteers from various corporates and institutes in Pune contributed close to 200 man-hours in the campaign activities. Similarly, 200 parents were interviewed under Parents' Participation project, with help of 20 volunteers.

The survey, parent meetings, and school admissions will continue in coming months and more volunteers are required for reaching out to more out-of-school children living in the city. Please share these updates with your contacts and help us get more volunteers for ECC and PPCE activities. Thanks!

गेल्या अनेक वर्षांपासून, पुण्यातील स्थलांतरित व वंचित कुटुंबांमधील मुलांच्या शिक्षणासाठी 'डोअर स्टेप स्कूल' काम करीत आहे. या प्रयत्नांचाच एक भाग म्हणून, शिक्षण हक्क कायदा २००९ (आर.टी.ई.) अंतर्गत ६ ते १४ वयोगटातील प्रत्येक मुला-मुलीस त्यांचा मोफत प्राथमिक शिक्षणाचा हक्क मिळवून देण्यासाठी 'एक एक मूल मोलाचे' (एव्हरी चाइल्ड काउंट्स - इसीसी) हे अभियान सुरु करण्यात आले. या अभियानांतर्गत शहरातील व शहराबाहेरील वस्त्यांचे सर्वेक्षण व त्यातून मिळणा-या शालाबाह्य मुलांचे शाळाप्रवेश करीत असताना, आपल्या मुलांच्या शिक्षणामधे या पालकांचा सहभाग अतिशय कमी असल्याचे दिसून आले. अशा पालकांचे शिक्षणाच्या महत्त्वाबद्दल प्रबोधन करण्याच्या उद्देशाने 'मुलांच्या शिक्षणात पालकांचा सहभाग' (पेरेंट्स पार्टिसिपेशन इन चाइल्ड्स एज्युकेशन - पीपीसीई) हा वेगळा प्रकल्प सुरु करण्यात आला. या प्रकल्पांतर्गत आम्ही पालकांसोबत दीर्घकाळ काम करुन त्यांना शिक्षणहक्क कायदा व आपल्या मुलांचे शालेय शिक्षण याबाबत सजग व सक्षम बनविण्याचा प्रयत्न करतो.

यंदाच्या मे महिन्यामधे शहरात व शहराभोवती नव्याने विकसित होणा-या सर्व भागांमधे मोठ्या प्रमाणावर शालाबाह्य मुलांच्या सर्वेक्षणाचे काम सुरु झाले. त्यापाठोपाठ जून महिन्यामधे, सर्वेक्षण केलेल्या ठिकाणी पालक सभा आयोजित करण्यात आल्या, तसेच मुलांना जवळच्या पुणे अथवा पिंपरी-चिंचवड महानगरपालिकेच्या किंवा जिल्हा परिषदेच्या शाळांमधे प्रवेश मिळवून देण्याचे काम करण्यात आले.

जून महिन्यापर्यंत आमच्या 'एव्हरी चाइल्ड काउंट्स' अभियानातील कार्यकर्त्यांनी पुणे, पिंपरी-चिंचवड, तसेच सभोवतालच्या भागातील (बांधकाम साईट, वीटभट्ट्या, तात्पुरत्या वस्त्या, अशा) सुमारे १,००० हून अधिक ठिकाणांचे सर्वेक्षण केले. या सर्वेक्षणात जवळपास १,१०० मुलांची माहिती गोळा करण्यात आली व आतापर्यंत त्यापैकी ६०० मुलांना जवळच्या सरकारी शाळांमधे प्रवेशही मिळवून देण्यात आला. पुण्यातील विविध कॉर्पोरेट कंपन्या व संस्थांमधील सुमारे ५० व्हॉलंटीयरनी इसीसीच्या निरनिराळ्या कामांमधे जवळपास २०० एकत्रित तासांएवढे योगदान दिले. त्याचप्रमाणे, पालक सहभाग प्रकल्पांतर्गत आणखी २० व्हॉलंटीयरच्या मदतीने २०० पालकांशी प्रत्यक्ष चर्चा करण्यात आली.

शालाबाह्य मुलांचे सर्वेक्षण, पालकांसोबत भेटी, आणि शाळाप्रवेशाची प्रक्रिया यापुढेही चालूच राहील. आपल्या आजूबाजूला राहणा-या आणखी शालाबाह्य मुलांपर्यंत पोहोचण्यासाठी अजून ब-याच व्हॉलंटीयरच्या सहभागाची आवश्यकता आहे. कृपया ही माहिती आपल्या संपर्कातील व्यक्तींना पाठविल्यास, इसीसी व पीपीसीई या प्रकल्पांसाठी व्हॉलंटीयर मिळविण्यात आम्हाला मदत होईल. धन्यवाद!

Positive Steps Towards Education...

Through Every Child Counts (ECC) campaign, we are trying to raise awareness about importance of education among parents belonging to migrant and marginalised communities in Pune. We are also helping their children get enrolled in nearby Government schools under provisions of Right To Education Act 2009. The ultimate objective of ECC campaign is to develop parents' interest and willingness in education of their children. During the process, we often have to convince parents as well as school teachers about enrolling the children, especially the migrant ones. But this year, we got a pleasant surprise to find school authorities actually participating in the admissions.

Last month, the ECC field team identified a temporary slum in Hinjawadi Phase-II area. Around 10 children of school-going age were found in survey, whose details were conveyed to the nearby Zilla Parishad school in Maan village, around 3 km away. The field team was preparing to take the children and their parents to this school for admissions, but the school Principal Gaikwad Sir himself offered to visit the slum and meet concerned parents. Gaikwad Sir accompanied ECC field team and spoke with the parents, boosting their confidence about schooling and education of their children.

All the children from this location have been enrolled to Gaikwad Sir's ZP school in Maan. The distance of 3 km was the next challenge because transport cost per child was estimated to be Rs.600/- per child per month, thanks to scarcity of transport vehicles on the route from this slum to ZP school. But the parents are now so motivated that they have offered to contribute as much as 50% of the transport cost which comes to around Rs.300/- per month.

This location in Hinjawadi Phase-II has given us an example of dual conversion - on parents' front as well as school front. We are happy to find this positive shift and hope to see more such conversions across the city in near future!

'एव्हरी चाइल्ड काउंट्स' (इसीसी) अभियानामधे आम्ही पुण्यातील स्थलांतरित कुटुंबांना भेटून त्यांच्या मुलांच्या शिक्षणाबद्दल जागृती करण्यासाठी प्रयत्नशील असतो. अशा कुटुंबांमधील मुलांना शिक्षणहक्क कायदा (आरटीई) नुसार जवळच्या सरकारी शाळेत प्रवेश मिळवून देण्यासाठी आम्ही मदत करतो. आपल्या मुलांच्या शिक्षणाबद्दल या पालकांच्या मनामधे आस्था व इच्छा निर्माण करणे, हे इसीसी अभियानाचे अंतिम उद्दीष्ट म्हणता येईल. त्यादृष्टीने पालकांचे प्रबोधन तर आम्ही करतोच, पण त्याचबरोबर ब-याचदा आम्हाला सरकारी शाळांच्या मुख्याध्यापक व शिक्षकांनाही या मुलांनी शाळेत येणे किती महत्त्वाचे आहे हे पटवून द्यावे लागते. विशेषतः स्थलांतरित कुटुंबांमधून आलेली मुले शाळेत शिकणा-या इतर मुलांप्रमाणे नियमित वर्षभर येतीलच याची खात्री नसल्याने त्यांना प्रवेश देण्यास शाळा फारशा उत्सुक नसतात, असा आमचा अनुभव आहे. पण यावर्षी एका शाळेच्या मुख्याध्यापकांनी स्थलांतरित मुलांच्या प्रवेशासाठी स्वतःच प्रयत्न केले, त्याचा उल्लेख इथे केलाच पाहिजे.

गेल्या महिन्यात 'इसीसी'च्या कार्यकर्त्यांनी हिंजवडी फेज-टू भागात एक स्थलांतरितांची वस्ती शोधून काढली. शाळेत जाण्याच्या वयाची साधारण दहाएक मुले या वस्तीच्या सर्वेक्षणात आढळून आली. या मुलांची संपूर्ण माहिती मिळवून ती जवळच्या माण गावातील जिल्हा परिषद शाळेस कळविण्यात आली. 'इसीसी'च्या कार्यपद्धतीनुसार, शाळाप्रवेशासाठी संबंधित मुलांना व त्यांच्या पालकांना शाळेत घेऊन जाण्याची तयारी कार्यकर्त्यांनी सुरु केली. परंतु, आश्चर्य म्हणजे या शाळेचे मुख्याध्यापक श्री. गायकवाड सर यांनी स्वतःहून या वस्तीला भेट देण्याची इच्छा व्यक्त केली. गायकवाड सरांनी 'इसीसी'च्या कार्यकर्त्यांसोबत संबंधित ठिकाणी जाऊन स्थलांतरित पालकांची भेट घेतली, ज्यामुळे आपल्या मुलांच्या शिक्षणाबद्दल या पालकांचा विश्वास दुणावला.

या सर्व मुलांना गायकवाड सरांच्या माण येथील जिल्हा परिषद शाळेत दाखल करण्यात आले आहे. हिंजवडी फेज-टू हा भाग नव्याने विकसित होत असल्याने व बहुतांश भाग औद्योगिक असल्याने ही 'जवळची' शाळा सुमारे तीन किलोमीटर अंतरावर आहे. आता रोज तीन किलोमीटर मुलांना शाळेत घेऊन जाणे व परत आणणे, हे आमच्यासमोरील पुढील आव्हान होते. या वस्तीपासून माणपर्यंतच्या मार्गावर वाहतुकीची खास सोय नसल्याने, या मुलांसाठी स्वतंत्र सोय करण्याचा मासिक खर्च प्रत्येकी सुमारे रु.६००/- इतका आहे. पण आता या वस्तीतील पालकांना शिक्षणाचे महत्त्व पटले असून, आपल्या मुलांना शाळेत पाठविण्याची त्यांची खूपच इच्छा असल्याने, किमान ५०% म्हणजे मासिक रु.३००/- इतका वाहतूक खर्चातील वाटा उचलण्याची तयारी त्यांनी दाखविली आहे.

हिंजवडी फेज-टू मधील या वस्तीमधे आम्हाला दोन प्रकारचे परिवर्तन दिसून आले - पालकांच्या मनोवृत्तीत आणि शाळेच्या वर्तणुकीतही. हा सकारात्मक बदल आमच्यासाठी आनंददायी तर आहेच, पण आता शहराच्या इतर भागांमधेही लवकरच असे परिवर्तन दिसून येईल अशी आम्हाला आशा वाटू लागली आहे.

How Illiterate Parents Contribute in Children's Education...

Mukesh Nishad, son of Mantoora and Tejau Nishad, was born in Pune at Kailas, currently living in Mauli Garden, Dhanori. He is the youngest of four siblings. His parents are illiterate, but the father can sign and knows the numbers. The family has moved to Pune from Bimitrajila in Chhatisgarh and is living here since last 10 years. Their oldest daughter has never been to school, but younger daughter is living in native village with relatives and studying in 10th standard. Their older son has been dropped out from school after 7th standard.

With no motivation for education and no other child going to school in Pune, parents did not think by themselves about Mukesh’s education. Mukesh was 6 years old when Door Step School surveyed the labour camp on construction site under the Every Child Counts campaign. With help of DSS field staff, Mukesh’s parents enrolled him in school. Initially Mukesh did not speak Hindi or Marathi. He used to communicate in their native language with his family. After starting the school, he learned other language very fast. Now he answers in Hindi and Marathi fluently. He looks confident while talking in Marathi.

Parents are also involved in Mukesh’s education. They have been living in this particular area since last 5 years only because his school is very near from here and because they seriously want him to study. His mother told us that she wants him to complete his education and get a respectable job so that he would not have to do physical labour like his parents. She hopes that education will help him earn more and lead a better life. Mukesh’s father always attends the parents’ meetings at school. He also attended the cultural programme at school and liked it. The parents ensure that Mukesh studies well at home as well.

This family is a motivational example for other non-Marathi parents who are worried about the language barrier in their children’s education. Mukesh’s case proves how smart kids are at this age and how sooner they get adapted to the surroundings than the adults. Hence, difference in languages cannot be an excuse to keep children away from education.

Helpline to report out-of-school children started – Sakal Times

Helpline to report out-of-school children started
ST Correspondent | Sunday, 15 May 2016

Pune: Door Step School (DSS), a Non-Governmental Organisation, has started a campaign called Every Child Counts (ECC) to find out-of-school children. The ECC campaign has launched a helpline number, which will help them locate out-of-school children. Any concerned citizen can report out-of-school children found in his/her area on the helpline number 986-000-8070 .

DSS is creating awareness among parents and helping students get enrolled in nearby government (Corporation or Zilla Parishad) schools. This campaign was launched in November 2011, under which DSS has enrolled more than 8,000 students up till now from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

Any citizen can participate in this campaign from their own area of residence or work, at their own convenient time. The helpline number is expected to help in finding out out-of-school children across the city, expediting their admission process.

[Source: http://www.sakaaltimes.com/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsId=5515674776725003022&SectionId=5171561142064258099&SectionName=Pune&NewsTitle=Helpline%20to%20report%20out-of-school%20children%20started]

Lighting The Fire of Education...

Gangaram lives at the construction site of Sai Vatika in Dhanori. He is in the 6th standard.  His family migrated from Andhra Pradesh to Pune in 2012 and was enrolled in a school with the help of Door Step School. His parents work at the construction site from 9am till 6pm and earn Rs.500 a day. Gangaram’s father says that they enrolled him in a school as he would have no work to do at the construction site. His mother also explains that they had earlier enrolled him in a school at their village where he was learning Telugu. His father hopes that Gangaram will make use of his education and do something for the family. Before going to school he was like a typhoon, jokes his father, but now he studies and is occupied. His school timing is from 7am till 12pm. He loves going to school and never misses it. He even spoke a bit about his family in English. His parents attend the parent teacher meetings to discuss about their son's progress. His family has decided to work nearby only so that he can attend school regularly. Unfortunately, Gangaram’s sisters have not been enrolled in school, but they ensure that Gangaram studies at home. He wants to become an engineer when he grows up.

The Every Child Counts programme started by Door Step School has encouraged many more children like these to start studying and has brought a significant change in their lives. It is inspiring to listen to their innocent and ambitious plans and know that the future of this country rests on these spirited minds. After all, it is rightly said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

गंगाराम धानोरीतल्या साई वाटिका कन्स्ट्रक्शन साईटवर राहतो. सध्या तो सहावीत शिकतोय. २०१२ साली तो आपल्या आईवडिलांसोबत आंध्र प्रदेशातून पुण्यामधे आला आणि 'डोअर स्टेप स्कूल'च्या मदतीनं त्याला जवळच्या शाळेत प्रवेशही मिळाला. त्याचे आई आणि वडील दोघेही सकाळी ९ वाजल्यापासून संध्याकाळी ६ वाजेपर्यंत बांधकाम साईटवर मजुरी करतात. गंगारामचे वडील म्हणतात की, बांधकाम साईटवर काम करण्याइतका गंगाराम मोठा नव्हता, म्हणूनच त्याला शाळेत घातला. त्याची आई म्हणते की, गावाकडं असताना तो शाळेत जात होता आणि तिकडं तेलुगु शिकत होता. गंगारामला मिळणा-या शिक्षणाचा तो काहीतरी चांगला उपयोग करुन घेईल आणि आपल्या कुटुंबाला हातभार लावेल, अशी आशा त्याच्या वडिलांना वाटते. शाळेत घालण्यापूर्वी गंगाराम म्हणजे एक वादळ होतं, असं त्याचे वडील गमतीने म्हणतात, पण आता तो अभ्यासात गुंतलाय आणि शांत झालाय, असंही ते सांगतात. त्याची शाळा सकाळी ७ ते दुपारी १२ वाजेपर्यंत असते. त्याला शाळेत जाणं फार आवडतं आणि तो कधीही शाळा चुकवत नाही. गंगाराम आता स्वतःबद्दल आणि स्वतःच्या कुटुंबाबद्दल थोडं-थोडं इंग्रजीतूनही बोलू शकतो. आपल्या मुलाच्या प्रगतीबद्दल शिक्षकांशी चर्चा करण्यासाठी गंगारामचे पालक शाळेतल्या पॅरेन्ट-टीचर मीटिंगलाही नियमित जातात. वारंवार शाळा बदलाव्या लागून त्याच्या शिक्षणात खंड पडू नये म्हणून गंगारामच्या पालकांनी एकाच ठिकाणी राहून जवळपासच काम शोधायचं ठरवलं आहे. गंगारामच्या बहिणी अजून शाळेत जात नाहीत, पण गंगारामला घरीदेखील अभ्यास करता यावा यासाठी त्या शक्य ती मदत करतात. गंगारामला खूप-खूप शिकून मोठ्ठा इंजिनियर व्हायचंय.

'डोअर स्टेप स्कूल'चे 'एव्हरी चाइल्ड काउंट्स' अभियान गंगारामसारख्या अनेक मुलांना शालेय शिक्षणाच्या मुख्य प्रवाहात आणण्यासाठी प्रयत्न करते. या मुलांच्या निरागस महत्त्वाकांक्षा आणि फ्युचर प्लॅन्स ऐकणं फार मजेशीर तर असतंच, पण तीच पुढचं काम करण्याची प्रेरणा असते. म्हणतात ना, "शिक्षण म्हणजे एका बादलीतून दुस-या बादलीत पाणी ओतणं नाही, तर शिक्षण म्हणजे एका ज्योतीनं दुसरी ज्योत पेटवणं!"

Volunteers for Out-of-School Children Survey

Call for Volunteers to help in Survey of Out-of-School Children in Pune:

During the month of May, we will visit slums and temporary shelters in various areas across Pune city, to find out if there are any children between 6 and 14 years who need help in getting enrolled in nearby government schools.

Volunteers can help in collecting children's information, talking with the parents, explaining benefits under Right To Education Act, etc.

Date, time, and locations can be decided based on availability of volunteers.

Contact 986-000-8070 for details or confirmation.

Encouraging experiences

During survey of construction sites in Pune, ECC volunteers and field-staff came across some positive responses that were encouraging

1. Builder awareness and involvement
At a construction site in Lohegaon - Dhanori area, the builder T.T. Gholap has set up a site school for children of construction workers. A teacher has been appointed to look after children when their parents are engaged in daily labour. The teacher has taken efforts in equipping the site class with educational charts, art and craft materials, to make the children feel welcomed.

2. Connecting with children
One of the ECC field staff was denied entry on Anshul Eva construction site in Bavdhan. The watchman refused to let her in without the builder’s permission. An 11-12 year old girl saw her at the gate and offered help. She told the watchman that she was her teacher and requested him to let her in. This girl had shifted to this site from Pebbles-2 construction site in Bavdhan, from where she was enrolled in school last year by ECC field staff. She likes going to school and has requested ECC to help her in getting admission to 5th standard this year.

3. Parent awareness and readiness 
ECC field staff found 5-6 labour families and their children on Chintamani Pushkardeep construction site in Warje. One of the parents mentioned that their children attended Door Step School’s site class on their earlier site in Bopodi. They even had the ‘My Book’ issued to all DSS students, which contains information of children such as date of birth, school name, teacher name, etc. The parents were happy to meet another DSS representative and expressed their willingness to send both of their children to nearby school in Warje.

During survey of Warje highway area, ECC field staff visited Woods Royale construction site near Chandani Chowk. While talking to the labourers about RTE and school admissions of their children, one of the parents named Sitaram Rajak left the work he was doing and went to his house in the labour camp. When he was back, he had his daughter’s age certificate with him. He presented the certificate to ECC staff, pointing at his daughter’s date of birth. He told that the girl is turning six and he wants her to be enrolled in a nearby school. He had arranged the age certificate for admission purpose only.

(Submitted by Sangita Kakade and Gauri Katkar of Door Step School)

"Children of migrant workers not counted in out-of-school survey" - Indian Express, July 20, 2015

While the recent survey carried out by the state education department states that there are 1,683 out-of-school children in Pune and 1,699 in the district, according to the Every Child Counts (ECC) - a citizens' campaign run by Door Step School, the children of migrant workers may not have been counted in the survey. Indian Express Newspaper published a report about efforts taken through ECC campaign for finding and enrolling out-of-school children in Pune and surrounding area. Full story at - http://epaper.indianexpress.com/546713/Indian-Express-Pune/20-July-2015#page/21/1

(Click on image to read)

Preparatory Camps in Hinjewadi

"Preparatory Camps" are conducted by Door Step School to help children get interested in "school", a concept they have never seen or experienced. These camps are conducted in temporary shelters set up closer to the communities. The teachers gather children from huts and shacks, and keep them engaged for two to three hours a day. Since these camps are run for very short time (during May and June, till the schools reopen for next academic year), very few educational tools are available for children. Most of the activities involve singing, story telling, and interactive games. These Preparatory Camps are also used to set up a dialogue with parents in the community and to create awareness about importance of education and provisions of Right To Education Act.

This year, volunteers from Wipro helped ECC in setting up Preparatory Camps at construction sites in Hinjewadi, Pune. The sites are Xion, Opus, and Beverley Hills.

Bhumkar Vasti Survey by Udaan Volunteers

Volunteers from Udaan-Pune visited construction sites in Bhumkar Vasti area of Hinjewadi. Huge constructions - residential, commercial, and industrial - are coming up in this side of the city. Almost all of these construction sites host large labour camps, where labourer families live with their children.

 

The volunteers found 15 children who are of school-going age but are not going to school.

The details of children have been collected and admission process will start soon.

Thank you Udaan-Pune, for taking these children forward on path of progress!

Preparatory Camps

During survey of 6 to 8 years old children under Every Child Counts campaign, volunteers and field staff come across communities living in highly fragile environments. All elder members in the family are out earning, while children of very young age are often left to fend for themselves. There is even ignorance towards health and hygiene of the children, let alone their education. The children of all ages are seen loitering or picking rags.

At such communities, "Preparatory Camps" are conducted by Door Step School. The objective is to help children get interested in "school", a concept they have never seen or experienced. These camps are conducted in temporary shelters set up closer to the communities. The teachers gather children from huts and shacks, and keep them engaged for two to three hours a day. Since these camps are run for very short time (during May and June, till the schools reopen for next academic year), very few educational tools are available for children. Most of the activities involve singing, story telling, and interactive games. These Preparatory Camps are also used to set up a dialogue with parents in the community and to create awareness about importance of education and provisions of Right To Education Act.

Last year, 20 such camps were conducted in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, and on the outskirts, reaching out to around 500 children.

ECC in GIAN EduJesuit Editorial

Here is an excerpt from article published on edujesuit, the communication and participation tool of the Right to a Quality Education of the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network (GIAN) -

"...There are several simple strategies which have been tried successfully by other organisations, for example: Every Child Counts (ECC), launched initially by Doorstep School in Pune, is a campaign which inspired him (Trevor Miranda, SJ, Core group representative for India and Nepal  in the GIAN for the Right to Education) with its simplicity and capacity to create change at a low cost. It involves essentially taking the time to find, encourage and inspire children to enrol, utilising the right of every child of 6 years (whether included in the census or not) to receive an education. The method of action is a detailed Survey of parishes and schools to identify children of 6-8 years, Enrolment of the children in the nearest municipal school, and then Follow-up with both the children and the school to ensure regular attendance, with organisation of out of school activities continuing during holidays to instil the importance of continuous education to both students and parents. There are challenges involved of course, there are difficulties involved in making the campaign systematic and consistent, locating out of school children, ensuring availability of places in municipal schools, providing transport etc… however there are ways to overcome this; through the successful implementation of ideas such as this, and through the avocation of the rights of children to a quality education to policy makers."

Read full article at - http://edujesuit.org/education-goal-2025

Survey & Parent Awareness by Udaan-Pune

UDAAN Pune is Pune chapter of informal employee group of Geometric Ltd and 3DPLM. Udaan volunteers have been working with Every Child Counts campaign for last couple of years now. Last year they conducted survey of children living in labour camps on construction sites near Hinjewadi and enrolled them in nearby ZP school. (Read the story here.)

This year again Udaan volunteers stepped in to help out-of-school children in Hinjewadi-Wakad area reach schools. The volunteers visited labour camps on construction sites and spoke with labourers about education of their children. Details of children were collected for the purpose of school admissions.

The volunteers even arranged street-play to demonstrate importance of education and benefits of Right To Education act. 

The labourer parents were surprised to see these highly educated youngsters 'wasting' their weekend time just to ensure every child from the camp attends school.

 

The parents provided all necessary details of their children and showed interest in sending their children to schools.

 

The Every Child Counts campaign will continue till we ensure every child reaches school.

Thanks to volunteer groups like Udaan that we feel confident of achieving this goal soon!

Changing the way we see and perceive things...

"For us earlier a construction site was just another upcoming building. We never realised how many lives are related to it when it is being constructed. But now whenever we pass by a site, our eyes tend to see the children that are wasting their time there rather than going to school. This work has changed the way we see and perceive things. The Right to Education Act is by far the best step by the Government of India."

- Students from Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies, Pune sharing their experience with Every Child Counts campaign, as part of their Service Learning Program

"We all supposed to complete 60 hours of Service by working for an NGO. The work can be of any type like teaching the students, doing some of the NGO’s Account work or conducting some survey in behalf of the NGO. So when the Doorstep School members came to our college we had no clue of the work which was to be done. But after they explained everything to us and what all tasks were supposed to be performed. All the interested students were asked to form a group of 10. So we all formed a group accordingly. Mr. Mandar Shinde was guiding us from the side of the NGO. We all were to report directly to him and tell him about the problems we faced during our work.

So then we had got instructions from Sir during our orientation. As per Mandar Shinde Sir’s instructions we had to get the names of the construction sites located in the area which was allotted to us. Since our group had got Kalyani Nagar as the area, it was difficult to find construction sites as it was an already developed area. But after thorough search through each and every lane in the area and on the internet, we were able to find approximately 12-13 construction sites, which were operational.

Next thing we know is that we went collecting names of the children who stay at the constructions sites with their parents. These children, during their early ages tend to just play in one corner of the construction site, but as the years go by they tend to help their parents at the construction sites, thus indulging themselves into child labour eventually just to earn the extra rupee.

As we visited the sites we saw different scenarios. The construction of underpass from New Airport Road to Kalyani Nagar had only men working. There we no females and no sign of kid at that particular site. The Trump Tower which is just down the road, a construction under Donald Trump Construction and Panchshil Contractors made sure that there were no females involved in the constructions as it was a huge construction and lots of manual labour was involved. There were similar cases in almost all constructions where only men were hired.

In 1 or 2 sites, the labour contractors only kept non-child bearing married couples. Regarding this the labour incharge had to say that, they do this to keep full productivity. Having children on site, female workers will have constant vigilance over their child and not work to the maximum extent and also having a child at the site is sort of a risk. At the riverside road construction that is Vithalrao Vandekar Road there were 2 children who were staying at a makeshift home provided by the contractors.

This particular family was originally from a village in Karnataka. The children were aged 5 and 3 respectively. On asking the parents about sending their child to the school, the mother was partially convinced about sending her child to school. The father of the child was very adamant about not sending his son to school. We took turns in trying to convince this particular parent and went to him for about 3-4 times. But he was not ready to change his mind. There was a bit of language barrier between him and us as he was only speaking Kannada and some broken Hindi so we had no idea what he was wanting to convey to us. We could only understand that he will send his child to school once they were back to their native village. After talking to Mandar sir regarding the problem, he told us that the child needed to be 6 years of age. Since the child was only 5 years old we did not pursue it further. Since these was the only child in the area we concluded the work."

[Note: Although the Right To Education Act covers children from 6 to 14 years of age, younger children (between 3.5 and 6 years) can be enrolled in Balwadi section, if available at the school. However, it is practically impossible to expect the child to attend school at so early age without full consent and support of its parents. Hence, the ECC campaign focuses more on children in 6 years and above age group.]

"The overall experience of the group was very good. Staying together everyone learnt a lot from one another. The weakness of one was covered by the strength of another. While one had the skill to talk other had the power to keep the conversation running. While one would collect the name of the site, the other would go collect the names of the children in that particular site if any. Then together go to convince the parents. Our group had people from Ambala, Hisar, Kanpur, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Raipur and Surat which contributed in getting appropriate information. Being from so many linguistic differences we could talk our way into the construction sites, and get the required information.

The 2 children that we saw at the site were playing in a very unhygienic environment while their mother was working at a distance. Playing amidst concrete and mud, the child had no idea how harmful it is to play near these things. Whenever the child broke into tears for certain reason, the mother was not there always to tend to him. And whenever she went near him, she used the same dirty hands to wipe his face which were used to carry a load of bricks or concrete, thus showing a lack of education among these people. According to them, education is a very costly affair. They are still not aware of the Right to Education Policy which allows free education to their child. They think the same future for their child which is doing manual labour, while they can send them to school and see them surpassing their knowledge and earning more money than them.

For us earlier a construction site was just another upcoming building. We never realised how many lives are related to it when it is being constructed. But now whenever we pass by a site, our eyes tend to see the children that are wasting their time there rather than going to school. This work has changed the way we see and perceive things. The Right to Education Act is by far the best step by the Government of India.

The lack of knowledge about the locally spoken language which is Marathi proved to be bit of setback for us, since the site incharges were mainly Marathi speaking folks, but it was overcome since these people also had the knowledge about the national language.

Some sites incharges were co-operative with us and also helped us to get the particular information but some were quite arrogant by nature and had to be dealt with utmost efficiency. There were certain sites which were shut when our group members go to collect the information so a lot of extra trips had to be made for this purpose also.

This whole thing made us aware how the world works. It doesn’t revolve around us, we cannot get all the work done in the easy way. You have to strive to do work which will make a difference in the society in general and to the person in particular."