GIFT THE GIFT OF EDUCATION TO AN UNDER-SERVED GIRL

Access to skill training – economic opportunities for women

 Empowering community specially women, adolescent girls through Gyantantra Digital Dost – Literacy India`s Holistic software which is multimedia based covers a curriculum for primary education) and Vocational Training like computer Education (CCC, a certified course), Tailoring, weaving as Vocation to provide employability and sustainable livelihood opportunity.

About Village – Jawar , Tehsil- Monoharthana , District: Jhalawar, Rajasthan

 Overview:  Jawar is small village located in Manohar Thana Tehsil of Jhalawar district, Rajasthan with total 410 families residing. The Jawar village has population of 2246 of which 1107 are males while 1139 are females as per Population Census 2011.  The village population having Schedule Caste (SC) 12% while Schedule Tribe (ST) were 5 % of total population in Jawar village. In Jawar village out of total population, 1213 were engaged in work activities. 90 % of workers Main Work (Employment or Earning more than 6 Months) while 17.56 % were involved in Marginal activity providing livelihood for less than 6 months. Of 1213 workers engaged in Main Work, 460 were cultivators (owner or co-owner) while 380 were Agricultural labourer. 

Most of the villages under Manoharthana Talukas are small and having employment issues. Most of the population engaged in marginalized work. Sadla and Manoharthana are two areas also in Rajasthan in Jhalwar district. These two areas are different in natural vegetation compared to desert lands of other parts of Rajasthan. It has substantially greener land . The area is historically rich and also blessed with monsoon rains. It is located on the borders of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, considerably 3 Km distance from Madhya Pradesh. The nearest Railway station is Kota which is at a distance of 200 KM from Manoharthana. The taluka head quarter of Manoharthana is in the old fort of Bhil King. The taluka has four main gates till date and total habitation build-up within the fort area.

The analysis showed that this area is suffering from scope of higher education, the nearest college is about 50km away. The lack of access and opportunities for livelihoods forced the inhabitants for migration. Male folks are dependent on agriculture, however it is seasonal. Few are engaged into tobacco manufacturing. Few families are weavers but they cannot run weaving as they failed to compete with modern system. Women are basically engaged into domestic chores.

 Realizing the need for development, Literacy India started its operation to offer convenience of education and also provision of sustainable livelihoods through proper training. General analysis and observations show that there are hidden talents for stitching and tailoring in this village and nearby villages, just a proper training to make them skilled is required. Women are also interested to take part in stitching & tailoring programme to support their families.

 Choices for earning a decent living. 

Literacy India did the baseline survey to start the vocational training project to create sustainable livelihood and income generation program.  The baseline analysis showed that the lack of access and opportunities for livelihoods forced the inhabitants for migration in search of work. Male folks are dependent on agriculture, however it is seasonal. Women are basically engaged into domestic chores. Realizing the need for development, Literacy India started its operation to offer convenient education and also provision of sustainable livelihoods through proper training. General analysis and observation shows that there is always hidden talent for stitching and tailoring in this village and nearby villages as well, just a proper training to make them skilled is all it required. Women are also interested to take part in stitching & tailoring programme to support their families. Typical an average student of Stitching saves close to Rs.500/- a month if they stitch their own clothes and also take orders from the community, working from home without any overhead cost, the woman beneficiary can earn close to Rs 1500 to Rs 2000/ a month which can help a house hold in a rural surroundings a great deal.

 Literacy India Learning Centre Jawar , Sadla & Manoharthana

Literacy India learning center consists of ICT based Digital learning for children, Karigari Vocational Training of Tailoring & Stitching, Weaving for community both men and women, Computer Learning  courses for youth, Proving Agriculture techniques for both men and women farmers. The centralized objective of the program is to provide Education for Children and Livelihood Skill training for the community, so that they are able to earn sustainable livelihood. 

A quick glance of activities undertaken during Period 

• Survey and identification of beneficiaries
• Assessment of skill for beneficiaries
• Set up with equipment’s and required particulars to initiate the project
• Human resource- recruitment of trainers
• Regular ongoing training for every centers
• Regular centre visit and review meetings
• Need assessment of community
• Skill mapping of beneficiaries

 Impact of the project:

• Out of 24 enrolled women 22 attended the classes regularly
• 6 have started working actively in the community.
• They are able to earn 1000-1500 per month and it decent amount for rural area.
• Knowledge and skill upgrade among the trainees.
• 24 children enrolled under GDD (Digital Education) for two batches at Sadla.
• Children achieved successfully academic level.
• Block development officer has permitted to work in the Govt. school directly to reach more children and increase impact.

 Outcomes and Impact

•  Community bonding established
• Community response increased leading to mobilization
• Changes in awareness, knowledge, skills observed
• Increase in the number of people reached (directly & indirectly)
• Changes in behaviour & community capacity
• promotion 

 Way Forward

• Planning and execution for advance training of skilled beneficiaries 
• Women’s financial literacy workshops are planned for next  quarters
• Motivating more Grown up Girls into Livelihood opportunity programs
• Facilitating women, to start own business in entrepreneurship model through which the community get benefited. 
• Assisting beneficiaries into revenue generation activities.
• Providing more access and Job orientation exposure. Survey for new beneficiaries to continue the project activities

 Overall Impact of project:

• For the beneficiaries
• Better employability & mobility
•  Higher productivity, wages and less exploitation
•  Identity, improved social status & Pride
•  Easier to get loans for self-employment from various financial Institutions

 For the organization

• Improved Quality & Productivity
•  Less downtime
• Compliance with Quality Assurance systems
•  Availability of skilled workforce helps in getting work done

  Stories of support:

  Name: Savitri  ( Name changed)  Age: 40        Location : Jawar Rajasthan

Savitri is a 40 year old women and lives with her family in Jawar. She left the school due to poor financial condition of the family. She has a sharp mind and quick learning skill. She joined Literacy India learning center in March   2015 now she has completed her 5 month course and simultaneously started work at home.  She is able to stich variety of cloths and shopping bags also after completion of training is willing to start small shop at home. She has started the process and have potential to start home based business.

 Name: Aarti (Name changed) Age: 12 Class IV

Aarti Kamari, age 12 belongs to small village of Sadla, Rajasthan, her father is driver and mother is house wife. Aarti enrolled in Gyantantra Digital Dost Programme in February 2015.  As per Pre-Assessment her math was average, she able to do three digit addition with carry, but she has problem in subtraction although she not able to read and write two letter word in English, not able to read paragraph properly.  After completion of program, she was able to read language Hindi with fluency

Aarti is fast learner, energetic and very dynamic in class, she is currently going to Govt. school in Grade IV and side by side she also taking Gyantantra class, Literacy India empowered her and now feel confident. After attending six month Gyantantra Digital Class, she can recite and easily read and write the English small sentences. In future she aspires to be teacher to help other to rise and shine.

Links:

• Literacy India Project Nandini

Form Garbage sorting to Gyantantra Digital Dost Learning in schools...

“From garbage sorting to create an environment where the children would concentrate in the academic course - is a long journey for us & Literacy India. However, it is true joining hand with Literacy India make the journey easier as the Digital Learning Course of Gyantantra is a complete package that helps to facilitate an environment which at first makes a connection with computer operation and then with the academic course through play and games” -Teacher-In- Charge Mr. Ajay Choudhary of Sastri Shiksha Sadan School Winner of Karmaveer Bronze Medal from Apeejay Surrinder Group Kolkata

 About Project Gyantantra Digital Dost Learning at Sastri Shiksha Sadan (Belgachia Kolkata, West Bengal)

Children at Belgachia:  Children in this area are basically rag-picker’s and engaged into the profession of sorting out the garbage. Earlier the children were unwilling to come to school. The Government Primary school, however, school use to have very low attendance during summer, autumn & spring; as the children used to engage themselves in garbage sorting activities. However in monsoon and winter the children came to the school. Against this backdrop, Literacy India along with the Primary Government School teachers started the journey to re-track the children in the educational mode on a regular basis through Gyantantra- Digital learning tools. The effort of teachers especially the teacher-in-charge, staff and volunteers group of Literacy India was remarkable as the enrolment drive this year exceeded around 500 Students.

 Activities undertaken during the last year (2014-15)

• Survey and child tracking had been undertaken
• Parent-Teachers along and literacy India’s volunteers group meetings were held regularly
• In order to support the children and their family – free health check-up along with OPD was being organized twice on a monthly basis
• Regular evaluation and assessment of students is being undertaken
• Regular Volunteering actives from the corporates is being organized
• School bags for students were distributed in the beginning of the session.
• Regular classes were going on in the school and time table for the same has been prepared accordingly.

Achievements of the program:

• Total of 500 students have been enrolled in the school in the year 2015.
• 250 students have appeared for the Pre-test and groups have been created.
• 130 School Bags were distributed among the children whose parents were very poor and were below the poverty line.
• Literacy India nominated Teacher- In – Charge’s name for Apeejay Karmayuga Competition for award winning for remarkable Volunteering. Teacher- In- Charge’s name and his work has been selected by Jury for Bronze medal with felicitation. 
• Medical check-ups held  twice in a month for all students
• Monthly assessment of students conducted
• Parent- teachers meeting were held
• Corporate, Business Schools, Media personnel are doing regular volunteering here in Sastri Shiksha Sadan School.

 Overall Impact of the program:

Impact on Community:

• Community has become conscious about sending the children to the school.
• Few parents are still in the garbage collection and sorting out profession- however, they are sending the children to school regularly
• Parents are happy also to see the performance of the children in the school.

Impact on Children:

• Children have become tech-savvy and learning has become faster 
• The learning through games and play involves the children into the program
• Spelling and construction of sentence forming  had developed sizeable number the children
• Children love to practice Math and English that ultimately improves the qualitative performance among children.

Impact on Behavioural change:

• A lot of change has been observed in the behaviour of the students. Earlier it was observed that the children have the tendency to run away from schools, even if there was mid-day meal provision. However, once the Digital Learning class started the tendency of runway has shown a decline. 
• The school premise use to be dirty and unfit for classes, the children did not know about cleaning of the room- they use to throw the paper, pencil, chalk or tiffin waste. At present, with exposure visits and peer learning from other school students, LI students have started using Paper Dustbin Box in the school. They learned making these boxes from the Literacy India’s Volunteering work of Art& Craft workshop.
• School Captains are chosen from each class who are responsible to look after the school premise as well as the behavior to greet the visitors and teachers, observation of various memorable days and so on.

Challenges faced in our Interventions

• Still there are absenteeism among the children as the parents suddenly changed their work sites
• As these students are the first generation learners & most of the cases both parents are working, it was found that often that a) children are absent during exam due to  exam phobia b) children  lie to their parents about schools

Special achievement:

•  Apeejay Surrinder Group, India has created India’s first and pioneering initiative, Apeejay India Volunteer Awards, to celebrate and reward Indians who volunteer, Corporates who promote employee volunteering and NGOs who engage Individuals who want to volunteer for social causes.
•  Teacher-In- Charge Mr. Ajay Chaudhary of Sastri Shiksha Sadan Supported by Literacy India School under Gyantantra digital Dost project won Karmaveer Bronze Medal from Apeejay Surrinder Group, Kolkata for implementation of ICT innovation in school & increase children attendance. Mr. Chaudhary nomination has been recommended by Literacy India project team.

Stories of change:

Goutam Das (name changed) is staying at Lalgate area in the railway yard of Liluah Station which is near to garbage dumping station. He is in class IV at present. Earlier, he used to sort out   garbage. He is at 11 years old. In the year 2014 he was tracked by the LI field staff and was mainstreamed in the Sastri Shiksha Sadan School in digital learning classes. He managed to cope up with fast track academic course. Last year it was found that he will be able to be admitted to class IV easily. He is very good at Math- he can count so fast- that no one can imagine. He lovesto fly kites. At this moment, he is aspires to be a footballer in future.

Sanskriti Shaw & Jyoti Shaw (name changed) are two sisters who are in the above picture. Sanskriti loves to do Gyantantra in computer while her sister was shy and afraid of operating the laptop. Both of them are regular in school, however, one of them is an introvert. Sanskriti, is the one who regularly brings her sister to the school and pushes her to participate in the digital literacy program. Both of them are studying in class IV. They have two brothers who are in class VIII.  Sanskriti loves English while Jyoti loves Hindi. Sanskriti is willing to join in better school so that she can learn & speak English. Both Jyoti and Sanskriti were aim to be a teacher in future.

 Khushi Gupta (name changed) is 10 years old. She is in class IV. She has three brothers and two sisters. Khusi’s father is engaged in casting factory and mother is working as domestic helper in neighbouring area. Khushi, is not very regular as she has to manage the household work. The constant interaction with her mother confirmed her regular attendance in school. She is very good in Hindi and Math. She is aspiring for CID in near future as ACP Pradyuman is her Hero. She loves watching Children CID in TV. One day in near future while she will be adult she will definitely meet ACP Pradyuman.

Links:

• Empowering minds