Annual Project Report(English)1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015

Date 29-May-2015

Author Dr V Rukmini Rao and K Sumalatha with support from Gramya staff team Ramu, Lalitha, Student/Teacher Volunteers, Shanti, A Renuka, A Saritha, N Jyothi.

Project/ Programmatic Cooperation

Children at Risk Programme

Organization Gramya Resource Centre for Women

Country of implementation

India

Project Nr. 71-02-03-033

Period covered 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015

1 Progress Monitoring Protocol

Please provide monitoring data according to the Monitoring Protocol on both output and outcome level, on milestones (if any were defined), and other ‘issues’ that were agreed upon in the contract (e.g. finance, PMEL, governance).

Briefly comment on these data regarding progress and noticeable issues.

This year is the beginning of a significant turning point in Gramya’s efforts to promote girl child rights/child rights and start preparing the community to play an active part in demanding services to improve school education and protect child rights. Special efforts are made to orient the community, women and men to shed their gender bias and support girl child survival, development, protection and participation. We are making special efforts to inform and involve district education officials as well as other district officials to take forward the agenda of child rights. We have met with several successes but continue to face challenges due to poverty conditions in which the Lambadi community, backward caste and dalit community continue to live in. Another challenge is to orient government officials so that they do not see us as enemies when we point out the ground situation of non functioning schools or absent teachers.

The media is supportive of the work done by Gramya and reports our local activities. On the other hand, the general anti-NGO sentiment generated in the country is bound to impact our work. We maintain friendly relationship with the media and demand accountability and accurate reporting of our work.

A major change in the environment is the formation of Telangana state on June 1 st 2014. This led to disturbance in government functioning with the distribution of staff to the two states. The movement for separate Telangana created hard feelings among people from the two regions including government staff. The after effects continue to be felt even now since the cadre division is underway. With officials unsure of their postings, little work is being done. Though the teaching community is mainly local, the overall disturbance due to bunds and closures of government offices for several months affected all of us. However the situation is improving now.

This report will outline our achievements to date in relation to the monitoring indicators and will further discuss the process followed by Gramya to achieve our results.

MilestonesIndicator 1: March 31st 2015 87 primary, upper primary, high schools and residential hostels will be monitored to prevent child dropouts turning into child labor.

We have achieved our target of monitoring the 87 schools in the area.

We have monitored the 8 high schools and 7 residential hostels in the Chandampet mandal. We

have interacted with the schools and the children to discuss child rights and be available in case they wanted to report problems. In each of the schools we have provided our staff telephone numbers in case girls are being coerced into marriage. In addition, we have monitored 31 primary schools as a result of which we could identify dropout children. 72 children have been re-enrolled in schools and prevented from child labor. In total, 87 schools are monitored to date.

Due to drought conditions in the region, migration to other districts has increased. People who did not migrate earlier were forced to leave their farms due to lack of rainfall. Many of the families took their children in school along with them. Unfortunately, since the school administration did not want to acknowledge that children on their roles had migrated, we could not gather information. The children returned to school and have written their exams. Gramya is continuously working with the Child Protection Committees and urging them to ensure that all out of school children are enrolled in school. Our workshop details were reported in the local newspaper. In the current year, we will make special efforts to address the issue and take up discussions with school principals and the Mandal Education Officers. It may be noted that this is an ongoing process.

Chandampet mandal due to its location suffers neglect. Our ongoing efforts to alert the community to demand services and our interactions with the media have highlighted the problems in the area. Regular Newspaper reports are highlighting the problem of teacher absenteeism and other problems related to school functioning. The following media report is an example.

Eenadu Newspaper Friday 31st October 2014

The District Education Officer Mr Chandra Sekhar visited Chandampet Mandal and the Newspapers highlighted the problem of absent teachers

Namaste Telangana 20th October 2014

Campaign to prevent child labor conducted by Gramya – School age children should be back in school

Indicator 2With this funding, what percentage of qualified teachers teaching in schools where the partner intervenes. Target -10 in 2017

Due to the implementation of Right to Education (RTE) Act, the state government has withdrawn all teachers without qualification and only trained teachers are teaching in the schools. This has also had an unfortunate effect that some schools are short of teachers. Gramya has provided nine additional teachers with support from Aide-et-Action in 9 schools in this area. The teachers are provided training by Gramya and the services of Ms Mangala, a trained teacher from the

International School in Hyderabad has been providing the inputs. The government of Telangana is planning to undertake an exercise of rationalizing schools in the state. There is a plan to shut down schools with less than 19 children. In Chandampet mandal, 49 such schools have been identified. If this strategy is implemented, the poorer and smaller villages/Thandas will suffer the consequence. Civil Society Organizations are discussing how to tackle the emerging problem. Gramya plans to take up the issue with the local MLA.

Milestones – 2015 Indicator 2:100 adolescent girls enabled through education and skill development

Gramya made special efforts to reach out to all adolescent girls in schools and residential hostels in the Chandampet mandal. This was done in view of informal reports from the community that adolescent girls suffered health problems due to lack of menstrual hygiene. Through our outreach programme, we provided information on health, menstrual hygiene and child rights. We oriented the adolescent girls to report sexual harassment at school or within the family. We distributed booklets on the subject to all the schools. Our outreach has been extensive and we were able to reach out to 1852 girls. While this has been the first effort we will continue to keep in touch. Six girls residing at the bridge school are learning tailoring skills.

It is a challenge to help the girls to develop useful skills which will enable them to earn an income. We have provided life skills so that they can negotiate safe spaces at home as well as at school.

Case study:Name: Nenavath RevathiCaste: ST LambadaVillage: Kattakommu Thanda, Devarkonda Mandal

Revathi was enrolled in Gramya bridge school when her little sister was rescued by us. Her parents Suvvi and Balram had sold the baby. Revathi’s mother Suvvi was financially supported by Gramya as well as the District Administration. Suvvi has five daughters and one son who are all in school now. Revathi moved on from the bridge school to Chandampet residential hostel and completed class X. Her parents got her married secretly during the summer holidays. This was a child marriage since Revathi was only 15 years old. This matter was registered with the Police and by counselling the parents, husband and the in-laws it was agreed that Revathi would be allowed to study further. She is now continuing her studies and is completing Intermediate second year. Revathi’s husband and in-laws have agreed to educate her further. This case study highlights the difficulties, girls face in the region. The Child Marriage Act terms the marriage as illegal but does not make it null and void. This is supposed to protect the girls from abandonment. However the girls are placed in a very difficult situation. Due to Gramya intervention, we were able to bring Revathi back to College. It may be noted that Suvvi was supported by Gramya and all her children studied in the bridge school and are now continuing their education in the Government hostels. In spite of regular interaction with all of us, she was still under pressure to get her eldest daughter married early, since she has five daughters.

Update: Revathi is now enrolled in a vocational training programme to quality as an Office Assistant

Adolescent girls in the area face several problems. Due to poverty, they are not able to continue

their higher education. Parents usually support boys to go to university while the girls are expected to work at home or are married off as soon as they complete high school. At college, there are many cases where girls are trapped with declarations of love and face pregnancy and social censure. Gramya has been discussing this issue in colleges regularly. To bring about long term change, we have started working with MKR Government College with the women empowerment cell. This year we have already conducted two programmes on human rights and women and law.

Women's Rights are Human Rights at MKR College, Devarkonda

While adolescent girls continue to struggle for identity and justice within their families and society, they face an uphill task to assert their rights since they have no means to support themselves.

On 27th January 2015, Gramya provided training to girls enrolled in Anand Bharathi School, Secunderabad for children of domestic workers. Dr Suhasini, Board Member Gramya and Dr Rukmini Rao interacted with 14 adolescent girls in the school. Dr Suhasini provided inputs on health and hygiene and the need for consuming nutritious food. Rukmini Rao shared her life story and experiences of many rural girls who were struggling for education and a better life. The young students shared their life stories. They are planning to visit the Gramya Bridge School for an exchange programme.

Rukmini gave a lecture at the Vignan Jyothi Institute of Management, Hyderabad on 19th and 20th

December 2014 on “Promoting an entrepreneurial ecosystem in India”. The lecture was to motivate students to take up activities in the social sector. More than 200 girls and boys attended the lecture.

On February 9th, 2015, Rukmini reached out to 1500 young women at Keys College, Secunderabad. While she was the Chief Guest, she used the opportunity to promote One Billion Rising Campaign to prevent violence against women. She also stressed the need to reach out to deprived community in our society.

Indicator 3:

Target 10 schools to improve their functioning together with their SMCs and teachersBy regular contact with School Management Committees (SMCs) in the area, we have set up a SMC forum in Chandampet Mandal. In Bugga Thanda, Gramya volunteer who earlier worked in the school has taken over as the President of the SMC. He was able to organize improvement of infrastructure by building a compound wall for the school as well as toilets. This is a notable achievement. In other schools we found that SMC members voice was not heard by the school Principal. The school Principals often claimed that SMC members were not interested in supporting the school. The forum was organized since we found that SMC members could not take very effective action at the village level. The forum in collaboration with SMC members will survey the status of schools once again to take up issues with the district administration in June-July 2015.

Formation of SMC Forum for Chandampet Mandal on November 30th 2014

A SMC forum has also been set up in Devarkonda Mandal in 2014-15. Gramya proposes to work with the forum in the coming year.

To improve the quality of reading and writing in school, Gramya has promoted reading clubs in 6 residential hostels and 7 upper primary schools 7 high schools. (List of schools available with Gramya). 1600 girls and boys are participating in the programme. Teacher from the respective schools identified that children were not referring to books on science subjects. They felt this was a hindrance to further learning. To begin with, Gramya staff are organizing the clubs and ensuring that children spend some time reading the books available in the school library. 80 clubs are formed. Indicator 5Number of child labor identified and rescued and back in school. Target – 285This year we have already mainstreamed 98 girls who were rescued in the previous year. In addition, 72 children who were identified through the government survey are now back in school. This year Gramya decided not to enrol younger children (unless in very difficult circumstances) in the bridge school. 52 most vulnerable girls identified by us are now in the school. 13 young women who were earlier child labor are continuing in colleges. Two girls studying teacher training have

requested enrolment at the bridge school and they will continue college education at the HRD college. Total children back in school by December: 237.

At the end of January, we found that there were several families from Bihar who were questioned by the Police in Devarkonda. These families had migrated to Devarthpalli village to work on a poultry farm. We discovered 11 boys and 6 girls who were out of school. These children could not be enrolled in regular school because they spoke only Hindi. As a stop gap arrangement, Gramya has provided a teacher to continue their education at their homes (informal school). A total of 17 children are receiving education bringing the number of children in school to 254.

In addition, one boy is studying with us. Sachin’s family had migrated to a brick-kiln in Chandampet from Mehaboob Nagar district. While the parents were working making bricks, Sachin was sent to work in the agriculture fields picking cotton earning Rs 75 a day. He was identified by Gramya staff and is enrolled with us. Since he came to us in the middle of the school year, we will coach him and enrol him in a government hostel at the beginning of the school year in June 2015.

“I love my school”

“My name is Sachin, and I am 12 yrs old. I lived in Thimmapur village and I am studying in the 4th class. I was brought to the bridge school since I was just playing around. I love my school, as it has a good playground and also many colourful story books to read in the library. I am learning poems, songs and arithmetic in my school.” Sachin and Jyothi in the Bridge School

Sachin’s elder sister, aged 17 yrs goes to work along with her parents. Sachin and his younger sister, Jyothi both are now enrolled in the bridge school. Sachin is in 4th class and Jyothi in 1st class. Last month, Sachin’s father Mr Mariyanna, visited the school and said, “my children are happily studying in the school and are looking very healthy”.

Indicator 3With this funding how many cases of joint actions to support Education for All. Target 23 in 2017Gramya continues its efforts to work with different sections of society to ensure education for all. In 12 cases, individual SMC members have identified out of school children and helped us to enrol them back in school. In 50 villages, we have collaborated closely with Self Help Groups (SHGs), Panchayat Ward Members, SMCs and Child Protection Committee (CPC) members. We will continue to work with individual schools and up to date we have worked with 46 schools.

In February 2015, Gramya staff attended a workshop conducted by ICCO/MVF. This gave

orientation to staff and allowed them to compare strategies used by Gramya and MVF.

2 What went well and what didn’t

Write a reflective analysis of one or two examples of cases that went very well

Gramya has successfully set up Child Protection Committees in 25 villages of Chandampet mandal and 25 villages of Devarkonda Mandal. This has been possible due to the close relationship with SHG groups and by motivating Anganwadi workers to join the committees. The village Sarpanchs in many cases as well as ward members have joined the committees. After Gramya initiated this process in 2013, we started consolidating the work in 2014. The district has appointed a Child Protection Officer as per the new legislation. Gramya has established a good rapport with the Child Protection Officer who joined us to celebrate Child Rights Day on October 27 2014.

Celebrating Child Rights Day

Right to Left: Child Protection Officer, Assistant Project Director, ICDS, Executive Director, Pilupu Organization and Mandal Education Officer

Success stories from Child Protection CommitteesThe Child Protection Committees in Kattakommu Thanda and Mosanagadda Thanda have internalized the notion of Child Rights. The members of the committee have been alert and brought information to Gramya of the sale of girl babies in the two villages. Gramya was able to intervene immediately and demand return of the babies. Police help was sought. Both the babies were returned to the families. While Nenavath Sunitha and her husband refused to take responsibility for the child and handed it over to the government crèche, Kousalya and Swamy from Mosangadda Thanda decided to take care of their daughter. We feel that this is a significant development. The community has internalized the notion of being child protectors.

Celebrating International Women’s Day Working with District NGOs to promote child rights

And a reflective analysis of a case that turned out to be less successful or even a failureWe had identified 7 working girls from Building Thanda, Chinta Chettu Thanda, Mallepally and Gowrikunta Thanda. The girls were from the ST Lambadi community and were working as agriculture labor picking cotton. While the parents agreed to send their children due to our persuasion, the children aged between 10 and 11 years could not adjust to be in the bridge school. They were with us for 2 weeks and were extremely distressed. For the moment we have sent them back home and are in the process of persuading them to come back again. Four out of seven children were taken back by their parents because they felt enormous loss of income. We will track these children and bring them back to school as early as possible.

A major planned activity “Seasonal Hostels” could not be carried out. This was to identify children in school who are migrating along with their families for two to six months in a year to neighbouring districts. In the past, several attempts were made in the state of AP to identify migrating children and keep them in seasonal hostels. Two years ago, NGOs across the state had worked together but due to several problems the state government has not paid the NGOs for the work done. Now the government refuses to acknowledge that children from school are migrating for long periods. At the local level, we had identified such children and sent them into government hostels in Polyanaik Thanda as reported earlier. However, this year the district administration as well as School Principals are refusing to acknowledge the problem. We could not convince the schools or community members to keep their children back. One of the reasons for this is also short staffing in Gramya. In spite of our best efforts, we could not find appropriate local staff this year. However, we plan to take up this interventions (preventing migration of children) next year with adequate planning. We are reviewing our strategies to strengthen our interventions within the community.

3 Lessons learned

Please reflect on the most important lessons learned in the reporting period.Staff members meet once a month to discuss the work they have carried out and how to improve

effectiveness as well as outreach. We find that community members become active only when the staff develop very close relationships and understanding of the situation. This is a slow process. This year staff members have undergone several trainings on issues related to Right to work, Right to Education and Right to Information. They need further support to learn mobilization skills, ability to interact with community leaders, talk to the press and deal with government officials with confidence.

The lack of educated youth in the villages to act as volunteers or staff, hinders the development of the programme. Most educated youth are leaving villages to migrate to Hyderabad city.

While Gramya has been working in the area for a long time, our visibility has increased considerably this year due to conscious efforts to report problems in the area and all the ongoing work implemented through our programmes. This has created goodwill among the community and press which widely reports our activities. The other side of the coin is that local government officials feel that we are strong critiques and are reluctant to acknowledge ground problems.

As mentioned earlier, the new State Government has plans to close down schools which have less than 19 children. This is likely to impact the most disadvantaged Lambadi Thandas in remote locations negatively. This is being done under the banner of rationalization. It is reported that 219 schools are due for closure in Nalgonda District. We hope the SMCs will be able to struggle to ensure that this does not take place. We feel strongly the need for a state level forum.

Staff Review Meeting

.The need for good education is felt widely in the community. The poor functioning of government schools has led to a demand for private school. Seventeen private schools are running in Chandampet and Devarkonda mandals. Many of the schools are backed by government teachers and staff from education department. This has led to a new problem. Parents send their sons to private schools and daughters to under resourced government schools. In addition, when they cannot afford to pay the fee the children suffer because they are punished. This once again results in dropouts. The RTE providing 25% free seats in class I is

not being followed. We feel local research studies may help to understand the situation better.

Adolescent working girls continue to be the most vulnerable since they have few avenues to learn skills. We are continuing our discussions with the community to find ways to empower girls. These girls who are 14+ are likely to be another generation of women at risk. We need to find ways to make them literate through short courses since RTE Law does not apply to them.

The year ended on a good note with our work recognized by “The Week” magazine. Rukmini was recognized as “Woman of the Year”. A second recognition followed “L'Oreal, Paris Femina Women Awards 2015” for Social Impact.

OD Process

The first step in the OD process was taken with the staff members reflecting on the values promoted by Gramya. The exercise was facilitated by two consultants Mohan Krishna and Surendra Nath from Wassan. They volunteered their services. As per the agreement, additional case studies are provided. The report of the process is provided below:

An Organizational Development journey with GramyaReport by Mohan Krishna and Surendra Nath

Gramya comprises of a group of 7 women development activists who along with women community leaders receive support from a network of activists and organizations to promote women's rights, child rights and farmer rights in Telangana state focus on Nalgonda and Khammam Districts.Gramya has an office at Hyderabad and a field centre in Nalgonda District at Devarakonda.

Nalgondaarea is semi-arid with extremely under-developed resources. Gramya largely works for community living in lambada tribal hamlets of Chandampet and Devarkondamandals of Nalgonda district. The farmers here risk growing cotton (cash crop) get into in a debt trap and are forced to migrate for half the year putting at risk their children's education and health, this despite the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme that guarantees 100 days of employment per family.

The Gramyateam at Nalgondaworks onsecuring the rights of women and girls, especially to confront violence at the household and community levelwhile addressing female infanticide and the sale of girl babies. In addition, Gramya seeks to improvethe livelihoods of women and their families through access to credit through self-help initiatives.

At a larger level Gramya works on strengthening healthcare systems to ensure women's reproductive rights and engage with the state for proper enforcement of various programs, schemes, policies and legislations

Introduction Mr. Mohan Krishna of WASSAN was requested by Dr. RukminiRao of Gramyato understand and identify key internal change interventions that would help Gramya. To begin with a visit was made to the Gramya Field Centre at Deverakonda bya team of Mohan Krishna, RukminiGaru, Sumalatha and Surendra of WASSAN to interact with key staff of Gramya working with the Devarakonda Centre on 7th February 2015.

The meeting was for a full day with the Gramya Team comprising of 13 staff members. This is a report of the proceedings of the one day meeting along with recommendations and suggested further steps. Step I: Introductions The participants were given the following guiding questions to introduce themselves: 1. Name / No. of years in Gramya2. 1 thing unique about Gramya

3. What do we want to happen at the end of the day?

The questions were to introduce themselves, share their own perceptionabout GRAMYA as an organization and expectations they have from the meeting.

Out of the 13 members from Gramya who participated in the meeting 8 are less than 1 year experience in Gramya, 3 are more than 1 and less than 5 years, 2 are more than 5 and below 10 years. The diversity therefore in terms of experience is more. There were 2 men among the group.

Predominantly the participants answered that the role and the uniqueness of Gramya is to protect the Girl Child and provide them support to grow. The collective expectation of the participants was to

learn new perspectives and develop better understanding of their own work.

Step II: UNDERSTANDING GRAMYA: Who is where in GRAMYAUsing the Metaphor of the Human Body to understand GramyaThe participants were divided into 2 groups. Both groups were given the exercise with the following instructions: 1. Draw the shape of a Human Body 2. Divide it into 3 sections

a. Head to Neck (Section 1) b. Neck to Navel

(Section 2)c. Navel to Feet

(Section 3) 3. In each section name about 3 / 4 parts 4. Name the function of each of these parts in each section and who performs these functions in GramyaThe exercise was to understand from the perception of the participants “Who is Where in the organization” and “Who performs or identifies with which role” in Gramya.

The groups presented the results of the exercise given below with the remarks by the facilitator. Section Group 1

(Team of Junior Members)

Group 2(Team of Senior Members)

Remarks by Facilitator

Head to Neck Rukmini (Brain) Ramu (Eyes) PeddaPillalu-School

Supervisors

Rukmini (Brain) Suma (Eyes) Kasamma and Madhavi

(Ears) Ramu, Chiiti and Anjali

(Mouth)

The two groups perceived their roles differently and in some cases there are common points. Both are valuable to understand from a diversity What is differently perceived: Role of the supervisors and children in Gramya is

articulated by the Junior team and not mentioned by the senior team

Rukmini and Suma are seen in the role of the Brain and Heart resplyby the junior team while Rukmini is seen as both the Brain and heart by the senior team

What is commonly perceived: Rukmini is seen as the brain by both groups – a

decision making and direction giving function in Gramya

Lakshmamma and Keli as the feet for support and movement of Gramya

Neck to Navel Suma (Heart) Sponsors Madhavi, Anjaneyulu Chitti

Rukmini (heart) Government,

Campaigns, Other Organisations,

Ramu, Suma

Navel to Feet Lakshmamma, Keli ChinnaPillalu -

School Children Village People

Lakshmamma, Keli

Group 1 Presentation Group 2 Presentation

Step III: UNDERSTANDING GRAMYAValues The participants were first given the task of identifying the core values of Gramya through an exercise. In this exercise the participants were made into three groups. Each group was asked to remember one incident over the past one year where there was a major sense of achievement and one incident where there was a conflict situation. The participants were asked to remember the experience and discuss it in the group moderated by one person within the group. The groups facilitated by the moderator were to share with up to 3 different values they could identify that were either upheld by Gramya or not upheld by Gramya during the course of these experiences.

The groups presented at the plenary and the complete list of values based on experience is as follows:1. Women and Men are equal2. Maintaining equality3. Team Work4. Transparency5. Democratic Right6. Participation

As a continuation to this exercise the groups were asked to draw the metaphor of a tree and write down 4 core values of Gramya that are minimum, common to all and non-negotiable in Gramya as the roots. Any word does not any meaning unless it is seen in practice for if values are practiced then the values exist otherwise they do not and there must me a coherence between the word and the practice.

The groups were then asked to name for each value 3 / 4 things that is practiced in Gramya in connection with that value. For example, punctuality would have a connection with accountability as a core value.

The groups worked on the “Gramya Value Tree” and presented it at the plenary.

The participants were later as homework asked to put it all together make one Common Gramyatreefrom among the results of the three groups.

Step IV: Trust Walk – Understanding Leadership building in Gramya

The exercise was carried out to understand the importance and significance of being a leader and to demonstrate leadership in order to sustain the work of Gramya in the long-term.

The participants were made into pairs. One partner from each pair was blindfolded and the person who is not blindfolded was supposed to lead the person who is blindfolded for approx.5 mins. This was reversed and the other partner was blindfolded and made to do the same.

After the exercise the group was asked how they felt in two aspects – when leading and when being led. Some of the responses presented and the processing of it is shared below: Fear to walk without knowing the path – Therefore how much Vision is important for a leader and leadership Fear in taking responsibilities on knowing paths along with them – Therefore leadership is about taking responsibilities not just having

power Over Confidence in support partner– Lack of trust in support partner - As a leader it is important to build trust in each other and in order to build trust it is important for a leader

to have and to inculcate 3 basic ingredients in Gramya – Demonstrate concern for each other and for its stakeholders, Maintain integrity and demonstrate results consistently in coherence with its values and objectives.

Constraints on obstacles in walk – As a leader to be aware of the pitfalls that occur constantly in carrying out the vision

The OD exercise helped to cement relationships among the staff members and created a strong team

spirit. This exercise will be taken forward in the coming months with the Board Members.

Additional Case Studies

Chilkuri Namitha on the Way to School

Namitha is from Thimmapuram Village, Chandampet Mandal. Her parents Lingamma and Lingaiah are from dalit community considered to be untouchables in the village. They are extremely poor and do not own any land or productive asset. They were living in a hut and are now in the process of building a house with support from government funds. The house is half built since they have to first invest the money in the house which is reimbursed by the government. This is a long process. To increase their income and find adequate work, the family migrates to Guntur annually in search of work. Both Lingamma and Lingaiah work on cotton and chilli farms picking cotton and chilli. They spend four to five months every year in Guntur living in difficult conditions on the fields where they work.

The parents discriminate between the son and daughter. The son is enrolled in a private school where fee has to be paid. While they are willing to do this, they were unwilling to give the same opportunity to their daughter Namitha. Namitha was enrolled in the government day school and was forced to accompany the parents when they migrated to Guntur. She was out of school for several months in a year and due to this, her learning was also limited. She was extremely hurt that her brother went to school while she was out of school. Namitha is talented and excellent at drawing.

Gramya volunteer, Kashamma identified Namitha as a drop out. She persuaded the parents to bring Namitha and enrol her in the bridge school. Namitha came to the bridge school in October 2014 and was extremely shy. After coaching at the bridge school, she was enrolled in the government day school at Devarkonda. In 2015 March, she completed Class V. Gramya teachers provided additional coaching to Namitha and helped her to write an entrance exam to join the Government Residential Hostel.

Namitha has passed her exams and will now join class VI when the new school year begins in June 2015. This will ensure that her education and other living expenses will be taken care off till she completes class X. Her life will not be disrupted if her parents migrate for work. She can look forward to continuing her higher education in future. In her own words, “I am very happy that I came to the bridge school. Now that I have passed my hostel entrance exams, I can continue to be in school just like my brother. I want to become a teacher when I grow up.” Namitha’s life is transformed with this new opportunity. Renuka, an athlete and potential protector of the Law

Renuka with her Trophies

Renuka comes from a dalit family. She is from Pasamvari Gudem village, Gurrampodu mandal, Nalgonda district. She is the youngest in the family and has three elder brothers and two sisters. The family of eight members lived together as a joint family in one room with a tin roof. Though the family had two acres of land these were sold away to marry off her two sisters. Renuka was put out to work as a bonded labor taking care of goats. When she was a little older, her two sisters and the family migrated and took Renuka out of school. The family migrated to Aadhram to pick cotton. Renuka was not sent to school by her parents due to gender discrimination in the family and as a child she herself was not interested in going to school. However when the family insisted that she should work in a cotton mill, she refused. At this time, Prema Latha, studying in Gramya Bridge School identified Renuka and brought her to the bridge school 8 years ago.

Renuka was a quick learner when she applied her mind. Within two years, she was able to complete her class VII syllabus and passed her exams. Gramya helped her to get admission into the Kasturbha Residential School, Narayanpur to continue high school. After completing high school, she returned home and was not allowed to continue her studies. Her mother sent her out to do daily wage work and she was earning Rs 50 a day. The family discriminates against girls and they are continuing to educate their sons.

When Renuka was at home, she was bitten by a Snake and became very sick. Fortunately she recovered and was working as a daily wage earner. However she was keen to continue her education and sought help from Sumalatha, Coordinator, Gramya. Sumalatha visited her home and counseled her mother and brothers and encouraged them to allow her to study. She completed her Intermediate education with difficulty and failed her English exams. Gramya arranged for her to have English coaching and now she has completed her Intermediate and is now studying Commerce (Bcom III Year).

Renuka is an excellent sports woman and has won many prizes in athletics. She is training to be a boxer and her wish is to become a Constable. From being an illiterate Coolie, Renuka is on her way to becoming a citizen aware of her rights. She is supportive of anyone who needs help.

Testimonial from Director

This year 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015, “Children at Risk Programme” has seen many successes and challenges. We are happy to report that we had planned for five panchayats to become child labor free. We have achieved this in four panchayats. When the school year begins in June, we will once again campaign to ensure that all children in the community go back to school and we achieve our planned results this year.

To ensure implementation of Right to Education and recognizing the government as a duty bearer, we have encouraged community members to send their children to government schools. Though our bridge school has a capacity to house 100 children, we were successful in limiting this number to 55 and enrolling most children in their village school. Children from extremely vulnerable families came to us.

We had planned to work with 100 adolescent girls to give them life skills. We were able to reach out to 1852 adolescent girls in 20 government schools in the area. They were provided training on menstrual hygiene, child rights and how to seek help in case of sexual harassment or push to child marriage. We successfully stopped a child marriage in Chitriyala village. We could not reach out to all the out of school adolescent girls. These are girls in the age group of 14 to 16 who already earn their livelihoods through wage labor. We are exploring possibilities to provide basic literacy to such girls.

Gramya has successfully set up 25 Child Rights Committees of community members. The committees comprise women leaders from Self Help Groups, elected men and women panchayat leaders, traditional elders and youth groups. These groups support Gramya to identify out of school children specially girls, girl babies at risk of sale or infanticide and adolescents at risk of child marriage. We are happy to note that Gramya’s role is transforming. We are facilitating the community increasingly to understand child rights issues and to treat children as citizens with Right to Life, Right to Development and Right to Participate in decision-making regarding their lives.

School Management Committees set up by the government were mostly non functional. Gramya is supporting the community by enabling the committees to act. We realized that at the village level, it was extremely difficult to take on school administration and demand accountability from teachers. This year we have set up mandal level school management committees who plan to review the status of their schools (in line with Right to Education) and take up the matter with District Administration.

While there has been significant progress at the community level, the overall work is under threat. The state government of Telangana is planning to “rationalize” schools ie shut down small schools. This will jeopardize education for the poorest since well off families send their children to private schools where a bus will pick them up. The national government/cabinet has decided to change the anti child labor laws by allowing family labor. Once this happens, children will become vulnerable. They may be enrolled in school but actually at work. Gramya as part of Civil Society has started campaigning against the negative changes at the local and state level.

Gramya has started working with young men in several colleges in Devarkonda. We hope youth involvement will bring about positive change for the area. We would like to thank ICCO Cooperation and all the individual donors who have made our work possible.

Dr V Rukmini Rao

Photo Gallery

Children Enjoying in bridge school Gayathri A Shirisha, Nandini Nursery 1st

Child Protect Committee member taking pledge to protect girl child

MS Hymavathi, Gramya volunteer trains Children play games in Polepally Government School

Children building Number Grid Children From Bridge School displaying drawing in Child Rights Convention in Hyderabad

Children Dancing in Government School Identifying Child Labor in the village