Rupa, pictured here, is a sixteen-year-old girl who has benefitted from the activities offered by the project. In the picture she holds a certificate of participation in a science exhibition. Her family includes herself, her parents, and her younger brother and sister. Her father is a daily labourer and her mother works as a domestic help. Due to lack of opportunities after Cyclone Phailin in 2013, they had to relocate to the city in search of a livelihood. Rupa was forced to discontinue her education to take care of her younger siblings who are in the 4th and 6th standards respectively and support her mother in household chores.
The project team met Shikha, Rupa’s younger sister when conducting a survey in her community, later Shikha was supported through remedial education support, and she also passed out with good grades. After being part of the centre for nearly two years, Shikha requested for some support for her sister Rupa, who was studying in Standard 8 when they left the village. However, Rupa was reluctant to return to school to study with children who are much younger than her. Rupa was offered help to re-join school, however upon voicing her hesitation, she was instead offered to attend the remedial classes first, which she accepted.
After few months, Rupa had increased interested and requested for support for her enrollment in Class 9. The Project team visited the High School near her slum, as suggested by the Principal, the team members together with Rupa approached Board of Secondary Education directly. After continuous persuasion her admission procedures were completed. She completed her Class 9th successfully and is now preparing for her board exams for March 2017.
“I learnt a lot from other girls who are studying with me, I dress up neatly and I tend my hair properly too. In the past I was not very tidy about it” Rupa explains. “Staying back at my house, I could have never been able to interact so well, or know of few things like computers. I have a feeling that I can do something and after completing my 10th exam, I can enrol myself in learning skills and will earn on my own to support my parents.” She then poses for a picture.
Ruchika Social Service Organisation has been supporting 979 of these children studying in Class 6, Class 7 and Class 8 through 40 remedial centres. The organisation ensures 100% enrolment of children in school. The children who have difficulty in coping in schools are identified and provided remedial education support through improving their competencies and peer support. This year, all the children performed very well in the annual exams.
Making the kind of commitment it takes to ensure 95% retention of children in school and supporting them in improving their academic proficiency is only possible if support from special individuals and foundations are received, however, in the last quarter the project had not received any resources. These funds are used for paying costs for teaching materials, teacher’s salary and setting up libraries. We request our previous donors to support the project generously and assist us in reaching out to more children like Rupa living in the slums of Bhubaneswar.
In response to the growing rate of drop outs from the formal school system Ruchika started Remedial Education program in 2009. Presently it reaches out to 3500 children with 105 primary and 67 elementary remedial education centers spread across 105 slums of Bhubaneswar. Paul Hamlyn Foundation supports the organization to operate in 10 slums with 10 Primary Remedial and 10 Elementary Remedial Centers.
Remedial Education
Remedial education is designed to bring students who are lagging behind up to the level of achievement realized by their peers. There are a number of reasons why a student might need remedial education which are given as follows.
Hence remedial education is imparted to the needy students keeping in view of their deficiency in the core subjects. Individual attention is paid to the students to identify the deficiency and plans are made to empower the child to acquire necessary knowledge in that subject.
Enrolment
During this period attempts were made to enroll the students in government schools and at the remedial education centers. The list of Remedial centers and enrolment of students in the centre by the end of March 2016 is 444.
a) Activities with the Community
Activities with the Children
Outputs and Outcomes
Outputs
Outcome
In a country where about 50% of children in the age group of 6-14 do not attend school and where half the girls fail to enroll, and those who do are likely to drop out by the age of 12, education is seen as an important tool towards the realization of rights of all children.
There are 81.5 1akh out of school children in the country, according to figures reported by the Minister for Human Resources Development on 24 August 2011. While there are no reliable estimates for each category of excluded children, experience of educators, activists and governments highlights that the numbers could run into several hundred millions. But the large categories of excluded children included in this note face several common barriers in most parts of the country, such as child workers, street children or disabled children
About 10,000 children in Bhubaneswar alone, remain out of school in a country where elementary education is a constitutionally guaranteed right.” We believe that street children matter, and that every child has the right to fulfill their potential.
Ruchika’s Street to School programmes around the world recognize that every child living or working on the street has a right to fulfill their potential. The initiative was started in 1985 when the India’s first platform school was started in Bhubaneswar by Mrs. Inderjit Khurana. The credo was “if the child cannot come to the school then the school must go to the child”. In the campaign thousands of children were motivated and put into the school.
Even in late the campaign was recognized by the Government of Odisha. The government has made it a government campaign and have started sending the street children into the school as per RTE. Following actions have been initiated by the government with our guidance.
This program has been replicated by other states of India who have started this kind of initiatives in their states.
By the government estimate, out of 200 million children in the age group of 6 to 14 in India, around 59 million do not attend school. Of the rest, who are currently in school, four out of every 10 children beginning to attend school will drop out before completing their primary school education. In addition, various studies of children's learning achievement indicates that the situation is actually grim. Recent community based surveys done in 28 cities and eight rural districts in the country find that not more than 30 per cent of school children in the age group 6 to 14, in an educationally advanced state like Maharashtra, can read simple text fluently or do basic arithmetic sums.
Ruchika, supported by PHF, MSDF & TMF works for creating an enabling environment in the slum communities and in schools to fire up the light of education in each child. Towards this end, training teachers in sound and creative pedagogy, providing appropriate teaching aids, improving infrastructure facilities, starting libraries, community mobilization, forming and educationg peoples groups to demand quality education, sensitizing the education service providers as well as literacy promotion are our priority.
We cannot ignore the limitations imposed by the realities of our systems nor do we aim to. Instead of creating parallel structures, Ruchika supplements and works in synergy with existing Government and other initiatives in providing education to all. Remedial Education is imparted to those who lag behind and to low achievers to enable him/her to join in the achievers club.
Ruchika Social Service Organisation has been running varieties of education programs for street and slum children for last 30 years and has adopted a holistic approach in imparting education. Presently it runs 95 Primary and 60 Elementary Remedial Education Centres in the slums of Bhubaneswar and gradually phasing out from the slums.
Activities with the Community
Activities with Children
Activities with Schools
The teachers maintain good rapport with the govt. school teachers. Whenever they are allowed, they demonstrate in the school with innovative methods. The school teachers are helped to conduct co-curricular activities. The test results of the students are shared with the government school teachers.
School Management Committees have been constituted in all the nearby schools. Our teachers and supervisory staff are meeting the members of SMCs and educating them about the RTE, explaining them various provisions laid down in the RTE and how these provisions can be realized for the children.
Outputs
7. All the records of the project are in place.
8. Teaching learning materials including first aid kit have been supplied to the centers as per need.
Outcome
Thanks:
We sincerely express our heartfelt gratitude to our supporters for their magnanimous gesture towards the children living in oppressed and deprived of their minimum basic right to go to school.
Sulata a girl of age 10, loves to sing song and learning has been out of school due to her socio economic ground. The parents of Sulata are daily workers and travel to the Bhubaneswar, Capital of Odisha in search of work. Like the numerous migrant they got a shed in a slum viz. Maa Patadevi Basti. Their poor economic condition and illiteracy dive them not to send Sulata to the school and engage her in house hold work and take care of her Youngers. Her parents think the cost of education is more and in absence of them during daily labour work , she has to fulfill the responsibility of her young brother and sister.
During frequent visit and survey by the organization peers in the slum area, one of our Cluster Educator found this case. The first time counseling to the parents and child – Sulata for send her to the school gone in vanish. On next visit by the Head Educator with the Cluster Educator of Education programme brings a success, the child Sulata agreed to go to school but her parents not agreed. After continuous counseling to parents of Sulata and explaining about the Right To Education Act, benefits of girls education and all type of support by the organization to make the education free of cost with remedial education they agreed.
The child Sulata has been admitted to the nearby Government formal school in Class IV and requested to the school teachers for keep a close eye to the child for hurdle less, pleasant education. She is also provided free remedial education/ support classes after the schooling hours by the Ruchika Remedial Education Program. The regular follow up by the Cluster Educator result in continuous schooling of Sulata. In the words of Sulata - “I am reading in Chakeishiani Upper Primary school. My school is big and beautiful, where I learn & play independently with my friends so I am proud of it. I never stop my study”
Like Sulata, every year the organization mainstreamed thousands of out of school marginalized children and fulfill the aim of Right To Education for every child in the age 6-14 years. The sponsors and supporters are request to spend their valuable sources to support more to such causes.
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