Education India Project #7795

Provide pre-school access to 3000 kids in India

by Akshara Foundation

Provide pre-school access to 3000 kids in India

Project Report | Oct 12, 2015
The Way Forward for ECCE in state-run preschool centers.

By Asha Sharath | Coordinator, Donor Relations

Items from the ECE kit

For the last fifteen years, Akshara has been working to provide better pre-school access to under-privileged children between the age-group 3-6 years in the state of Karnataka, India. It set up independent balwadi centres and trained over 400 young women to run their own pre-school centres in slums of urban Bangalore. Over years, these centres were running well and each of these women was making $100 - $150 per month.

In 2007, Akshara, in the pursuit of working at the larger scale to reach more "pre-schoolers", started working with the state-run Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) program, which is the largest state-funded ECE program in the whole world. There are over 1.34 million state-run ECE centres in India catering to over 37 million children. Akshara wanted to reach out to these children. Akshara started a large-scale ECE implementation in over 2,500 centres across Bangalore, Dharwad and Malur in Karnataka, touching over 70,000 children each year. Akshara supported the state-run ECE centres by providing a well-compiled and researched ECE kit, training for teachers, monitoring and evaluation and activating the communities around these centres to demand for good quality pre-school education.

In the current academic year 2015-16 that began in June 2015, unfortunately Akshara is unable to work in the ECE centres due to bureaucratic reasons. Akshara will spend this year advocating the system the importance of civil society participation in improving ECE in India. As a start, Akshara organized a National Seminar on 'Early Childhood Education in Anganwadis - Partnerships & Opportunities' highlighting the need for quality early childhood learning in goverment-run Anganwadi (pre-school centres).

The seminar was inaugurated by Mrs. Umashree, Hon. Minister, Women and Child Welfare and Kannada & Culture, Government of Karnataka. On the dais was also some of the staff of ICDS- an Anganwadi teacher and other officials rubbing shoulders with the Minister and the Trustees of AF. The Minister in her inaugural speech seemed very open to a discussion regarding ways to implement effective ECE through the system.

This was followed by a very thorough talk by Prof Venita Kaul, (CECED, Ambedkar University, Delhi) on the importance of early years and the necessity for good quality preschool education.

Soon after, a panel discussion on the role of NGOs in partnering with the government followed. The panel discussion concluded with a consensus on enhancing collaboration between the Government and non-Government sector to realise the full potential of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy 2013, in the government run anganwadis.

Click here to view the entire seminar, in pictures.

We hope that through seminars and platforms like these, we can convince the Government to work with the civil society as a partner to improve ECE for our children.

Thank You for your continued support to our ECE program without which we couldn't have touched the lives of thousands of children. We will keep you updated on the progress of our activities.

Inauguration of the seminar

Talk by Prof. Venita Kaul

The panel members

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May 26, 2015
Mothers in the role of Assessors

By Asha Sharath | Coordinator Donor Relations

Every year, Akshara Foundation conducts a baseline and an endline assessment to track the progress in learning of the children in the Anganwadis. This year, the assessments were marked by a significant departure from the programme’s tradition. The norm is for anganwadi workers to do the assessments, often assisted by the Akshara’s Field Cordinators. This time Akshara invited mothers to carry them out. For an anganwadi, it was a striking new idea.

The involvement of mothers in an essential programme rite is a precursor to the deeper linkages the community can form with anganwadis. The team believes that if anganwadis have to lift themselves out of lethargy and inefficiency, people must take over the reins to some extent, at least make their presence felt, and above all, exert a ground-up demand for quality improvement.

During the assessments, mothers kept trickling in. 108 of them participated in the 140 Bangalore anganwadis in Akshara’s programme. The team did not expect even this turnout, considering the apathy towards anganwadis, known more for non-performance than anything else, and the general lack of awareness of what constitutes preschool education

The questionnaire is a paradigm the team had specially structured for anganwadi children. It has 52 indicators to test the children in the 2 – 4 age group and 62 for the 4 – 6 age group. Some of the mothers were not too literate and, even though it is not a complicated tool, they could not read, and in some cases when they could, they could not understand it. But the goodwill for the process was strong. When they were out of their depth they stood on the margins, watching with interest and taking it all in.

For the mother’s it was about getting an inch closer to their child’s education. They were surprised that their children were being asked such questions. They had no inkling of what preschool education is all about, that there is this universe of things their children have to know for their age, in keeping with developmental milestones. Buttoning and unbuttoning, for instance, walking in a straight line, pouring water into a jar without spilling, shapes, colours, letters.

Most of the families that send their children to anganwadis come from under-privileged backgrounds. The mothers are mostly daily wage workers and are un-educated. But they really want to educate their children. Through this exercise, the mothers understood what their children should focus on even if they can’t help them out very much. They will atleast now participate by tracking what their children are learning in the anganwadis and how they are progressing.

This is the first step towards a positive change, involving mothers into education!

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Jan 23, 2015
Anganwadi Profile - Bangalore

By Asha Sharath | Coordinator, Donor Relations

In the current academic year 2014-15, Akshara Foundation developed a set of 30 indicators to measure the status of the anganwadis where its preschool programme is being implemented. The tool aligns with some of the quality parameters specified by the National Curriculum Framework. Some are infrastructure related indicators, some are enablers. In July 2014 Akshara collected data on a host of factors, which included the infrastructure situation and student enrolment. All 140 anganwadis in which Akshara works in Bangalore across 24 ICDS Circles in 6 Projects were assessed. ICDS is the Integrated Child Development Services which functions under the Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), Government of India, and manages anganwadis.

This is a one-time assessment, a record that the DWCD can make use of. At Akshara it will go into the Karnataka Learning Partnership’s database on anganwadis and schools. Teams will also deploy this powerful tool in ways that can spur constructive action - as leverage with the community and with Bal VikasSamithi (BVS) members in particular, who are the community caretakers of anganwadis.

Presented below is a quick profile of the Bangalore anganwadis:

Physical Condition

77% of the anganwadis have their own building.
35% lacked the space to function effectively.
46.4% lacked outdoor facilities for children.

Basic Amenities

60% of the anganwadis have access to clean bathrooms with water facilities.
79.3% have clean and safe drinking water facilities.
Nearly 62% have a designated place for washing hands.
30% of the anganwadis do not have seating facilities for the children.

Hygiene Conditions

88.6% of the anganwadis maintain standards of cleanliness.
67% have dustbins to dispose of waste.

Food Hygiene

43% of the anganwadis do not have sufficient space to store food.
85.7% have clean food storage rooms.
All the anganwadis keep cooked food covered properly. The cooks maintain standards of hygiene and cleanliness.

Children with Special Needs

13.5% of the children are children with special needs.
70.7% of the anganwadis do not have any infrastructure for children with special needs.

Preschool Teaching-Learning Materials

27.1% of the anganwadis do not have sufficient learning and play materials for the children.
Though 69.3% of the anganwadis have sufficient indoor learning materials, nearly 28% of the children do not use them.
71.4% of the anganwadis have a blackboard in class, of which 48% are beyond reach.
81.4% do not have teaching-learning inscriptions on the walls as government learning centres often do.

Community Involvement

88.6% of the anganwadis have functioning Bal VikasSamithis. Only 47.9% of the Samithis function effectively.
29.3% of the anganwadis have active Friends of Anganwadis, support groups of mothers.

Student Enrolment

Enrolment in the 140 anganwadis in Bangalore (girls and boys) – 3433.
Girls enrolled – 1794.
Boys enrolled – 1639.
Girls and boys present on the day of the survey – 2503.
Girls present on the day of the survey – 1318.
Boys present on the day of the survey – 1185.
Girls and boys absent on the day of the survey – 930 (27%).
Girls absent on the day of the survey – 476 (26.5%).
Boys absent on the day of the survey – 380 (23.1%).

To Sum Up

Seen together, this represents a positive scene. Most of the anganwadis surveyed are not deficit-ridden though there are shortfalls that could be addressed in all of them. Much attention has gone into infrastructure, hygiene and cleanliness. A remarkable statistic is that 60% of the anganwadis have access to clean bathrooms with water facilities and 79.3% have safe, clean drinking water. Community pressure could more forcefully be exerted if the Bal VikasSamithis were more efficient. 88.6% of the anganwadis have constituted the Samithis, with only 47.9% of them functioning effectively.

What then are the deficiencies that drag the anganwadis down? In 69.3% of the centres there are indoor learning materials. The trouble spot – 28% of the children do not use any of them. There is no outdoor play area in most of the centres. While enrolment stands at 3433 in the 140 anganwadis, 930 children were absent on the day of the survey. Absenteeism seems rampant. And preschool education may be taking a back seat with no scientific underpinning to teaching-learning and poor methods of curriculum delivery.

We hope that these statistics will help Akshara and other organizations working in the space of pre-school anganwadis, fill the necessary gaps to provide better learning in these centres, through a child friendly atmosphere.

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