It's time to accelerate India's education NGOs

Atma in partnership with the Canadian Government conducted training for community women to learn English and management skills to help them become more informed individuals. By helping women from low-income communities gain specific employable skills Atma increased their actual and perceived economic and social value, thereby equalizing their role in the family and community and further advancing their human rights and ability to participate in a democratic society.

Atma equipped 20 at risk young women with the required skills to become high quality community based teachers or librarians. This will help them to increase their household’s income and allow them to gain a leadership position in their families and communities. To do this Atma offered two teacher training packages that address India's most pressing learning issues: literacy and maths.

• Hippo Campus Growby Reading Model- 10 women to be trained

 Training in this program will allow women to run simple community based libraries or gain employment with local NGOs who are administering libraries.

• Zaya Lab Maths Tutorial Franchisees- 10 women to be trained

 The Zaya lab allows for students to receive education through technology based platforms in any environment.

• Additionally, all 20 women will  receive the following trainings:

 English Training, and

 Entrepreneurship Training: This will allow the women to gain the knowledge and skills required to start their own community based project, such as a library or tuition classes.

Outcomes Achieved through this training:

•      English Training: All the women will receive intensive 20 hours of professional training in English, which will helpto increase their confidence in speaking and increase their overall earning potential.

Outcome:  30 women received 26 hours of intensive English training from a specialised language trainer- Ms. Sunifa Gonsalvez. The training module was based on the Cambridge curriculum tailored to match the learning levels of the beneficiaries. Through her sessions, Ms. Gonsalvez worked with the girls to not only improve their spoken English skills but to also build their confidence. The training covered basics of grammar and vocabulary with an emphasis on public speaking through presentations and other speaking related activities. A comparative analysis of tests conducted before and after the training has revealed a considerable improvement in the learning levels of beneficiaries. The average test scores increased by 11% after the 1.5 months training.

Based on survey of beneficiaries:

o   100% of the beneficiaries feel an improvement in their English language skills

o   96% of the beneficiaries feel they are now able to communicate more confidently in English

o   16% of the beneficiaries have developed an increased interest in reading English books

“After attending this training, I have started speaking to everyone at home in English. I have also been able to tutor my younger brother to improve his English skills.” -Minaz Sadruddin

•      Entrepreneurship Training: This is a basic training session that will be conducted by specialized instructors. The course will help the women with basic marketing and financial management techniques.

Outcome:  Atma tailored its own module to suit the needs of the young women.  Beneficiaries were introduced to basic concepts like entrepreneurship, vision and mission, target markets, demand assessment, marketing, administration, budgeting, etc. During the training the girls were assessed on their skills and interests and were made aware of potential opportunities available to them. On the second day of training, they were required to develop their own business ideas and present a detailed business plan.

Based on written beneficiary feedback:

•         73% of the beneficiaries have felt an increase in their business knowledge and skills
•         30% of the beneficiaries have more clarity about career opportunities available to them.

“After this entrepreneurship training, I feel that anything is possible.”- Manju Vishwakarma

•      Teacher Training: Atma will be piloting two teacher training packages that address India’s most pressing learning issues: literacy and maths, and deliver essential high quality education to slum communities.

o      Maths Teaching (Zaya lab maths tutorial franchisees): Training will be provided for teachers in using technology enabled classrooms, including classroom set up, hardware use and software use. The training session will be two days long.

Outcome: The two day training was conducted as per the proposed schedule. The key components of this training were lesson planning, classroom management and use of technology in the classroom such as blended learning and rotational model. At the end of the training, the beneficaries were taken on a field trip to a school that uses Zaya lab kits in classrooms. As a result, they were able to observe how theory could be implemented in practice.

o      Community Library Management (Hippo Campus Growby Reading Model): Training will be provided on how to use the Growby Reading model, its tools and library set up. The Growby Reading program is easy to set up and follows book cataloguing systems. Training in this program will allow women to run simple community based libraries.

Outcome: Through this 3 day training, beneficiaries were introduced to the Hippo Campus Growby reading model and learnt how to catalogue and organise books as per difficulty levels; assess children's reading levels and conduct book based activities. On the last day of the course the trainer assessed each of the beneficiaries on  their ability to apply their learnings through a practical test followed by individual feedback sessions.

Based on written beneficiary feedback:

o   70% of the beneficiaries felt that they developed their professional skills as teachers

“I have always dreamt about being a teacher and after this course I feel I will be able to fulfill this dream.” - Gulafsha Shaikh

Links:

• Trainer Ruchi's experience working on the training project-Atma