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Academy for Working Children – Karkar Satellite, Ghaziabad

Sponsored by: - Asha Austin

Reporting Period: January to June, 2011

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Contents of the Report

� Project descriptions

� Children enrolled in the satellite

� Project activities

� Multi Grade Multi Level Status of Children

� Other activities with children

� Activities with parents

� Attachments ( Case stories, list of children enrolled in formal

education, pictures)

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Project description

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Name of the project

Academy for Working Children Ghaziabad

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Operation area Karkar Modal Village, Shahiabad Industrial Area, Ghaziabad, U.P

3 Head Master Mr. Dinesh Singh Raghav

4 Postal Address

V.M.P. School Karkar Modal Village, Sahibabad Industrial Area, Ghaziabad, UP.

5 Telephone fax e-mail

+91120-4151198, +919015307182 dineshraghavtcgd@gmail.com

6 Project’s idea and its reach

The Academy for Working Children provides basic education to poor and working children who are unable to enroll in formal schools. The children in AWC study in 1st to 3rd standard and get assistance to enroll in formal schools to continue their education.

7 Project Staff

1.Headmaster – Dinesh Singh Raghav 2.Teacher - Mohit Chauhan 3.Local teacher – Prabha Pandey

8 Background

There are many industries in Uttar Pradesh, which attract factory workers to migrate from places like Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Rajasthan. Many workers along with their families migrate to Sahibabad Industrial Area of Uttar Pradesh. In almost all the families, the parents are working in different factories while the children have become rag pickers, shoe shiners, workers in eateries or shepherds outside the township. Humana People to People India, after a survey, decided to take action and start Academy for Working Children in Ghaziabad. The Karker Satellite of Academy for Working Children Ghaziabad is located in the industrial area and supported by Asha Austin.

9 Partners in development

Asha Austin Humana People to People India

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Children enrolled in the satellite

S.No. Name Age (in years)

Been to school before

Origin

1 Vicky 8 No Bihar 2 Sunny 6 No Bangal 3 Neeraj 6 No Bihar 4 Suraj 8 No Bihar 5 Aniket 7 No Bihar 6 Vasanjeet 6 No Bangal 7 Rohit 6 No Bangal 8 Karan 6 No Bihar 9 Anuj 8 No Bihar 10 Kanchana 9 Yes Bihar 11 Seema 6 No Bihar 12 Naina 7 No UP 13 Suman 6 No UP 14 Monny 1 7 No UP 15 Mona 6 No UP 16 Doblew 6 No Bihar 17 Shivangi 7 Yes Bihar 18 Kanika 6 No Bihar 19 Monny 2 7 No UP 20 Dolly 6 No Bangal 21 Sangam 9 No Bihar 22 Cahandani 8 No Bihar 23 Namita 8 No Bangal 24 Satish 9 No Bihar 25 Ritik 9 No UP 26 Abhishek 10 No UP 27 Avinash 10 Yes UP 28 Karishma 8 No Bihar 29 Chotty 7 No UP 30 Vishal 6 No UP 31 Guddu 8 No UP 32 Chanchal 7 No UP 33 Annu 7 No UP

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34 Poonam 6 No UP 35 Kajal 1 7 No UP 36 Kajal 2 9 No Bihar 37 Rittu 10 Yes UP 38 Nashika 7 No Bihar 39 Lalita 8 No Bangal 40 Shoma 8 Yes Bangal 41 Gourav 7 No UP 42 Pooja 1 12 No Bihar 43 Parmita 13 Yes Bihar 44 Nisha 11 Yes Bihar 45 Juhi 12 Yes UP 46 Shweta 13 Yes Bihar 47 Rakesh 11 No Bihar 48 Bittu 11 No Bihar 49 Sunny 12 No UP 50 Doulat 13 No UP 51 Gunja 13 Yes UP 52 Jitendra 14 Yes UP 53 Pooja 2 13 No UP 54 Ramsagar 12 No Bihar

Project Activities

Background of the children: - In the Karkar Modal Satellite, most of the children are from migrant families coming from Bihar, West Bengal, Nepal and Uttar Pradesh. Most of the children from these families are not attending any school because of their poverty, parents’ lack of knowledge on importance of education and education falling down in their priority of survival. Secondly, if any family tries to enroll their child in a government school they are asked to provide birth certificate, residence proof, family card etc. that they do not have, and thus they are denied admission. As the fee in a private school is beyond their reach, the children do not go to school. The AWC therefore acts as a center of education for the poor, underprivileged and migrant families and their children, who are mobilized on importance of education, admitted and facilitated to enroll in government schools for formal education. Enrollment of children: - Every month new children are enrolled to maintain the planned number of students, as some of them drop out when their parents move to new locations for jobs or go to their respective homes. For this, every month the project makes a survey and contacts door-to-door to identify out of school children in the locality. During the survey, it is ensured that the families are staying for a long time and they are mobilized to send their wards in the AWC. The interested parents of eligible children are invited for a pre enrollment meeting where they are mobilized to send their children regularly and on time to the academy

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to get proper education. The meeting takes place in 1st week of every month and the children are enrolled. Teaching methods: - The children are taught by the new Activity Based Learning (ABL) method called Multi Grade Multi Level. The ABL method does not have grade system and the children work together to accomplish the tasks of grade 1 to 3. The whole curriculum is divided in milestones with task cards guiding the children through the education. ABL has four subjects: Hindi, Mathematics, English, and Environment. There are five major elements: 1) mile stones 2) ladder 3) logos 4) kits and 5) groups. All children study by a system of cards and they do not need to carry any books. Each subject is symbolized by a symbol like animals for Hindi, birds for Mathematics, electronic things for English, flowers & fruits for the Environment. Before a child starts, the teacher takes a test by help of evaluation cards to know the child’s status. Thus, accordingly the child is placed in a group. The children study in groups according to their capacity, they learn through the cards. When they fully understand one card, they take a new card. All the children enjoy learning by the ABL method. The status of children as per MGML is tabulated below:

Mile

Stones Hindi Mathematics Environment English

1 9 12 20 11

2 0 8 5 5

3 20 7 7 13

4 3 0 3 15

5 3 6 3 5

6 2 0 0 2

7 2 5 4 0

8 1 4 2 0

9 0 3 4 0

10 0 4 0 0

11 4 3 1 3

12 4 2 0

13 0 2

14 0 3

15 5

16 0

17 0

18 1

Formal Education: - The academy provides basic education from 1st to 3rd standard after which the children are enrolled in government schools for formal education. The student has

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to pass a test before enrollment and the affidavits for their age and residence proof are facilitated by the academy. During the current session, the academy enrolled 11 children.

Others activities with children Sports & culture program: - The Project has organized 6 sports program during the reported period. The programs are necessary to make a lively and entertaining environment at the learning centers, which helps to provide them a platform to bring out their instinctive talents and to maintain their interest in the AWC to continue their education. In the sports events, in-house or inter satellite competitions are organized where children participate in different events like frog race, ring race, banana race, spoon race, biscuits race, 100 meter race and 50 meter race, kho-kho, tug of war, badminton, musical chair game, kabaddi, etc. In the cultural programs, the children present Hindi and English poems, jokes, stories, songs, dance and drama. We organized quiz competition and theatre play where the winners received prizes. Life skills training: - During the 6 months, the project organized 6 life skill trainings for children on importance of education, health & hygiene and good habits and manners. The life skill trainings are important for the children living in slum as they are exposed to an environment and habits, which can make them vulnerable to keep fit and healthy in daily life. They learn about the importance of clean surroundings, while referring to the cleaning action at the AWC every morning by the teachers and children, and to keep fit by doing daily exercise. During the trainings, emphasis is given on personal hygiene. The teachers made an action on cutting nails, washing hands with soap, and the children who came without a bath were bathed. Cleaning action: - Having a clean surrounding for education is necessary. Therefore, every day, the teacher and the students clean the classrooms and the surrounding area of the Academy. This way, the students understand how to maintain clean surroundings and keep their houses clean. This is a good way to teach children little by little about importance of cleaning, so that they can be healthy. Art competition: - The project is organizing monthly art competitions to develop the creative education of children and bring out their hidden talent. During the competitions, the children made different art forms including greeting cards, photo frames and landscapes and presented them to their teachers and friends. The selected best posters made by the children were displayed in the classroom walls for the visitors to see. Health checkup camps: During the reported period, the project organized two health checkup camps where 97 children got proper health checkup. It was found that 53 (58%) children were suffering from illnesses like anemia, worms, eye flue, cold & cough, allergic, fever, loose motion and vomiting. Free medicines were given to ill children and their parents were called to share the health report and were oriented on how to take care of their children and give them medicines in time as per the Doctor’s prescription. Exposure Visits: - The project organized an exposure visits for the children to acquaint them with knowledge beyond their regular life. In the visit to historical and amusement places 35 children travelled to Delhi with the teachers and saw the famous Bangla Sahib Gurdwara where they offered prayer for a bright future. After enjoying the moments in the Gurdwara the

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children visited the famous Red Fort (Lal Quila) and were informed about its historical background. The children later visited the National Museum, New Delhi, where they saw beautiful art collection of Indian and foreign origin and artifacts like jewelry, decorative arts, pots, guns etc. The visit was informative and entertaining and the children were very excited and happy for it. Open Sunday programs: - The ‘Open Sunday’ has been an educative and entertaining program to develop intimacy with the community, children and their parents. This year so far we have organized 2 Open Sundays where different programs were organized. 400 children participated in the programs from all learning centers along with 300 people from community. During the programs children presented a drama on child abuse and poverty besides songs and dances. Games were organized and contested by children from 3 learning centers that included spoon race, blind search, bag game, hitting the pot, quiz competition, banana game and musical chair. All enjoyed the program and the winners received prizes. Republic Day Celebration: - The project celebrated Republic Day at the AWC together with the VMP School. The program started with flag hoisting and singing of the national anthem. We invited Mr. Prem Chand Bharti, Nigam Parsad in Ghaziabad to hoist the national flag. The children from the academy and VMP School presented poems in Hindi and English, songs in Hindi and Bhojpuri, jokes and dance as well. The people from the surrounding community were also present at the program. It was a very nice program and the parents were happy to see the performance of their children. Holi Festival: - The project celebrated the festival of Holi with great fervor and galore together with the children of the academy. The children were explained about the festival, its importance as the ritual is symbolic of victory of good over evil, and has its root in the legend of demon king Hiranyakashyap who wished to end his blessed son, Prahlad's, life with the help of his sister, Holika, who burnt in the fire and no harm occurred to Prahlad. Since then the day is celebrated in victory of good over bad. The children were explained that Holi also celebrates the arrival of spring, a season of joy and hope and marks the beginning of the New Year as per the Hindu calendar and spreads brotherhood and goodwill among all the people of the community.

Activities with parents

Parents’ teacher meeting: - Parents’ Teacher Meetings are important essence of our Project, as it is through these meetings we mobilize the parents for the regular attendance of the children. Apart from this discussion, we also give basic information about health and hygiene, different diseases, family planning and the importance of education. During the reported period, the project organized 6 such meetings. Slum development meeting: - The community and slum development meetings were organized every month at the project and the members were given orientations on water & sanitation, how to improve living conditions, basic knowledge on HIV/AIDS, Health & Hygiene. During the meetings, issues to clean the surrounding areas and education for all the slum children are thoroughly discussed as a result many families start keeping their surroundings clean and send the children regularly to the study center.

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Visit to family: - The project takes every initiative to develop a good environment and relations with the community and the parents and for this the teachers meet with the parents twice in a week to know about their well-being and encourage them to actively participate in development activities and keep them updated with new developments.

Case stories

Hi, I am Parmita Kumari and I am 13 years old. We are six members in my family including parents, 3 brothers and a sister. My father’s name is Mahesh Prashad and my mother is Suda Devi. We belong to a poor family from Bihar. My family came to Ghaziabad in 2007 to find work for survival. My father is working in a Paints Company as a security supervisor and my mother is working in company as a labor. I wanted to study when I saw children going to school but my family was not able to bear the education expenses. One-day a teacher from AWC visited my home and told about AWC to my parents. He convinced them and I joined AWC in 2009. Now I am studying in 4th standard in a government school. It was because of my determination and sincere guidance and efforts from my AWC teachers that I can pursue my education. I am greateful to my AWC teachers to provide me this opportunity. In future my ambition is to become a doctor. Hi, I am Nisha Kumari from Hardoi in UP. My family migrated to Gaziabad in search of work. Coming from a poor family I saw my dream of getting education fulfilled in the AWC, which I joined in 2006. Today I am studying in grade 4 in government school and this became possible only because of my basic education and encouragement I received in AWC. I will always remain thankful to my teachers from AWC from the deepest of my heart. I want to become a teacher in future.

List of children in mainstream education

S. No.

Children Name

Father's Name Native State

School Class Age

1 Sweta Shyam Shrivastav Bihar Nagar Nigam Vivek Vihar 5th 12 2 Namita Niranjan Bengal Nagar Nigam Vivek Vihar 4th 13 3 Sachin Satyapal UP Nagar Nigam Vivek Vihar 4th 12 4 Shishupal Mahesh Prashad Bihar VMP School Karkar 4th 10 5 Sourabh Omkar Nath UP Nagar Nigam Vivek Vihar 3rd 11 6 Naina Shyam UP SRB Public School Karkar 4th 10 7 Abhinash Shyam UP VMP School Karkar 5th 13 8 Bittu Kanta Prashad Bihar Nagar Nigam Vivek Vihar 4th 10 9 Aarti Om Prakash Bihar Nagar Nigam Vivek Vihar 3rd 9 10 Babby Ramesh Bihar Nagar Nigam Vivek Vihar 2nd 10 11 Anuj Mahendra Bihar VMP School Karkar 2nd 8

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Photos

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