By Saath Team | SAATH
CHILD FRIENDLY SPACE PROGRESS REPORT
(July – September, 2013)
SAATH CHARITABLE TRUST
SAATH is a non-government organization registered as a Public Charitable Trust in Gujarat, India. In Gujarati the word SAATH means, “Together, Co-operation, a Collective or Support.” SAATH’s one-stop, integrated services reach over 4,00,000 individuals in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Since 1989, SAATH has facilitated participatory process that improves the quality of life for the urban and rural poor. SAATH caters to multiple needs of the poor by providing them with one-stop centres, through which they have access to services such as health, education, employment, micro finance and affordable housing. SAATH engages institutions, corporate and individuals throughout the world as partners and supporters for the integrated development of India.
CHILD FRIENDLY SPACES
SAATH designed Child-Friendly Spaces- a unique, 4-hour non-formal education course with an aim to later enrol the children of construction labourers in formal education. With a steady influx of migrating families to urban settlements and poor quality of education, creating alternative education spaces for quality education has become important.
OBJECTIVE OF THE PROGRAMME
The main and objective of this programme is to reach the children of labourers and help them gain formal education eventually and there after making them skilled and self sufficient. Children from the slums, child labourers as well as children of labourers on construction sites all require a strong base in education and access to quality education. Dropouts from school need to be continuously counselled and encouraged to go back to school. The education programs designed at Saath recognize this need and aims to bridge this gap.
IMPACT
Currently, there are 7 Child Friendly Space centres; 4 in the slums of Ahmedabad and 3 on construction sites. Through our CFS centres, we have enrolled more than 2,000 child labourers and children of labourers in our CFS classes.
QUARTERLY STATUS OF CFS (JULY – SEPTEMBER)
For overall development of a child during July to September, 2013 various activities were conducted at 7 child friendly centres. Following are the brief description of kind of activities conducted at various centres. During the period the CFS programme received donation of books, pencils, erasers and various other study materials. Hence, each of the children at the 7 different centres were given a school kit comprising of the basic education material.
Fatewadi
In the Fatehwadi (Juhapura) Center, the children read and wrote different stories in Gujarati and learned some basic Gujarati songs. In English the kids learned the alphabets, numbers from 1 to 20 and names of the days. In Mathematics they learned to count numbers with the help of pictures and also basic examples of multiplications.
Festivals of Ramazan Idd, Rakshabandhan, Janmasthmi were celebrated along with the Independence Day on which the kids learned the National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’. The children drew pictures of various aspects of nature and the utensils used at home. Along with education they were provided nutritious fruits and snacks. For the physical development of kids various interactive games were also played.
In the month of July the children were taken to Gandhinagar for a movie by Aproch – Riverside school and in August a painting competition was held for children by one of our corporate partners. On the 17th of August a parents meeting was organised at the centre in which 20 parents were present who were given information about the importance of education and child care. The parents were also given information about the procedure for enrolling the children in school and were asked to contact the centre teacher if they faced any difficulties regarding admission of children in schools.
Khodiyar Nagar – 1
In the Behrampura (Khodiyarnagar) CFS, kids were taught to read and write basic alphabets of Hindi, Gujarati and basic Hindi Grammar along with it. Some new kids were enrolled in the centre and they were taught the basic alphabets, numbers and simple addition – subtraction examples from the beginning. The kids also learned with the help of various educational toys. Through different interactive games the kids learned about different colours and also how the combination of two or more colours will form a new different colour. The children were asked to draw various pictures of their own choice and colouring them appropriately in which children drew pictures of trees, houses, peacock, flower, elephant etc. The children also learned about domestic animals and their various uses. They were given information regarding different seasons of the year.
The festivals of Rakshabandhan and Janmasthmi were celebrated at the centre. On 15th August – Independence Day the children were taken to a nearby garden where they did various activities. In the month of July, due to Aamas month the children learned about it and also were given Farari meal that is usually taken during Aamas period. The kids were also taken to Gandhinagar for a film screening by Aproach – Riverside school on of our partners.
Khodiyar Nagar – 2
It is one of our newest centres recently opened in the month of June. During the period of three months with the help of charts the kids learned about various symbols of the nation. Also, the kids learned basic alphabets, grammar and numbers of three languages Hindi, Gujarati and English. They learned about drawing, storytelling and prayers. The children also celebrated the festival of Rakshbandhan and a flag hosting was done on 15th August – Independence Day.
SW Park – Naroda
In SW Park Naroda, older kids were taught about the basic Gujarati grammar, reading and writing of sentences/paragraphs and tables from 1 to 11 to read/ write and learn by heart. Younger kids were taught basic alphabets, numbers and identifying the missing numbers from a sequence. All the kids together were also taught Basic English and Hindi alphabets and numbers and doing addition/subtraction.
The children learned about the names of the month, days of a week and about various seasons that are experienced in a year. They learned to identify different colours, counting of numbers with the help of various games. Several outdoor games were also played such as volley ball and football.
The children were taught about various parts of the body and their functions. They learned about names of the various birds and their voices, names of fruits and their specific tastes. The children were taught how to draw the national flag and crafts activities were also done in which children made paper boats.
SW Park - Vasna
At SW Park Vasna Center, during the 3 month period the kids learned the basic alphabets and numbers of Hindi, Gujartai and English language. Moreover, Kids were given balanced diet that can lead to their physical and mental development. Various songs and stories based on moral were also told.
15th August – Independence Day was celebrated in which the kids learned the National Anthem of India.
Devnandan Supreme – Vastral
Kids were taught English alphabets. The kids learned about numbers, and doing examples of simple addition and subtraction. Also they were taught drawing and different words. The kids played various indoor and outdoor games.
The kids at the centre were given a balanced diet so as to support their physical and mental growth. On the 15th August – Independence Day was celebrated, where the kids sang the National Anthem and were given information about flag hosting.
Umang Lamba
In Umang Lamba, kids were taught basic alphabets and numbers. The kids were also taught to speak and write different words. Also as the centre got new toys in July, various games were played with them to increase the counting abilities of the children. Also the teacher visited various educational facilities in the area such as nearby government run pre-schools and met the local education correspondent of the government to learn about the situation of children of the locality and what could be done to improve the current situation.
In August, the centre was shifted to a new construction site. Due to festival of Rakshabandhan, while there were not enough children at the construction site as the workers had gone to their native villages for the festival but the number if children are expected to increase till Diwali. In the new centre as the kids were coming for the first time they were taught various children songs and children learned through various games. They learned to count with the help of games and about the names of different birds. The kids were given information about the festivals of Rakshbandhan and Janmasthmi and the Independence Day – 15th August on which chocolates were distributed among the kids. Also, 1 parents meeting was organised.
CHALLENGES
STATUS OF CFS
Child Friendly Spaces- Status in September 13
Sr. No. Name of the Centre No. of Children
Boy Girl Total
1 Fatehwadi 12 23 35
2 Behrampura- Khodiyarnagar 1 11 21 32
3 Behrampura- Khodiyarnagar 2 10 12 22
4 Naroda- Swaminarayan park 23 21 44
5 Lambha- Umang Lambha 10 16 26
6 Shahwadi- Swaminarayan park 10 6 16
7 Vastral- Devnandan Supremus 15 24 39
Total 91 123 214
Child Friendly Spaces (July 13 - September 13)
Newly Enrolled Children Children enrolled to School
Sr. No. Name of the Centre Jul.13 Aug.13 Sep.13 Total Jul.13 Aug.13 Sep.13 Total
1 Fatehwadi 5 - 12 17 1 3 - 4
2 Behrampura- Khodiyarnagar 1 8 2 3 13 - - - -
3 Behrampura- Khodiyarnagar 2 - - 2 2 - 4 - 4
4 Naroda- Swaminarayan park 7 4 15 26 1 - - 1
5 Lambha- Umang Lambha 1 16 10 27 - - - -
6 Shahwadi- Swaminarayan park 15 6 6 27 - - - -
7 Vastral- Devnandan Supremus - 8 9 17 - - - -
Total 36 36 57 &n
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