Improved Care and Protection of Girl Children

Introduction

SBT Mobile School continues to provide education to children residing in marginalised areas of Delhi and serves the purpose of a learning centre of Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT). The main objective of the School is to directly meet the educational needs of marginalised populations with low access to school education. The School has been functioning from December 2011. Equipped by age appropriate learning materials and run by a skilled team of social workers and teachers, So far, the School has covered six different spots in north east areas of NCT of Delhi. SBT Mobile School team has strived to prepare and link underprivileged children to formal schooling

SBT Mobile school team works towards meeting the educational needs of children from impoverished communities and inculcate moral values, basic etiquettes and good habits pertaining to sanitation and hygiene among them. The children and their families often report that the two hours spent at the Mobile School help children to learn important lessons of life including, respect for elders, discipline and above all benefits of education

Progress Update of Mobile School
Cumulative achievement of SBT Mobile School after combining the outreach at three spots
Total Outreach: 200
New Enrolment: 7
Average Daily Attendance: 155- 160
New School Admissions : 25
Parents Meeting during the Reporting Period: 3 times
School visit on children issues: 3 times
School Visits for admissions: 5 times
Health Checkup – 738 times
Health Checkups: 1010 times

Overview of Activities
The details on various activities conducted at the SBT Mobile School have been presented below.

Regular classes: Two hour classes are being conducted at all the three spots regularly. The school-going children attend their schools and come to Mobile School spots for additional help and assistance in studies. A distinguishing feature of Mobile School classes is the use of activity-based learning to facilitate strong conceptual learning among children. The non formal education kit is given to the children for systematic learning and monitored by teachers. 

Academic Progress: All school going children appeared for their final examination in March 2017, and their results and educational feedback with school report cards are received and they are promoted to next classes. There are 5 children from different classes from 2nd to 5th who secured position in their classes, marks ranging from 97% to
75%. As majority of them are first generation learner, they have to struggle at their home setting too. The continuous efforts of mobile school teachers / staff make it possible for their regularity in school. But the overall progress of children and their enthusiasm to attend school indicate positive

Parents meeting: As a follow-up to school meetings the Mobile School team organised three parents meetings, one at each spot to motivate parents to send their children school daily on time in neat and clean school uniforms. In addition, significance of maintaining personal hygiene among children was also stressed upon. The team reiterated the importance of education and role of SBT Mobile School in preparing children for admission in regular schools and encouraged parents to make most out of the resources and support provided by the SBT Mobile School.

Outing: Children from the SBT Mobile School went to Delhi Zoo and National Museum as local outing. It was one day outing program to keep children in a different environment they live in and learn discipline, cleanliness and group work etc.

Health checkups: In order to minimize the incidence of infectious diseases specifically chicken pox and dangue, the SBT doctor regularly visited the SBT Mobile School spots and conducted a thorough primary health check up of all the children and provided medicines in case of need. As per
the planned schedule the doctor visited Children visited National Museum, Delhi each spot once in a week. In addition, children were explained how cleanliness is directly affected to their health and their well being during the session that followed by cleanliness drive.

Spot Cleanliness Drive: During summer vacation the session importance of cleanliness conducted with children from Usmanpur spot and Shastri Park spot. The session was followed by the cleaning of the study and its surrounding areas with the help of children. The elders of the community were also conveyed to maintain cleanliness and use dustbins for throwing waste materials.

Teacher’s Workshop – The teachers of the mobile school attended the teacher’s training workshop organized by SBT on classroom etiquette and parenting.

School Bus: The front mirror of the mobile school bus had broken. It was approached to the company and by using the insurance facility, the glass was replaced.

Future Plan
In the next quarter, the CHI-SBT Mobile School team will continue doing new admissions to children in formal schools. It will try to enroll the maximum number of children in formal school. Simultaneously, the school going children will also be covered who need regular assistance to continue education.

The following key activities have been conducted by the project team.

1. Referral Sessions: These sessions are being conducted with the children who need regular counselling and face psychological difficulties and clinical symptoms. The appointed mental health team member conducts detailed clinical assessments and if specific problems are found then the case is discussed in the core group meeting for a clear diagnosis. Following this management plans are made and discussed with the concerned staff members. These plans are being implemented by the combined efforts of the team comprising a psychiatrist, psychologist and social workers.

To improve the quality of referral sessions a trainings programmes were organised for the mental health team on management of trauma, assessment of children with autism, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. These exercises helped the staff members in understanding how to identify any atypical behaviour of the child and refer him/her to the counsellor at the earliest.

1. Psycho Social Counselling: The sessions are being conducted for children through informal discussions and problem solving. The key issues dealt in this quarter were drug abuse, relationship issues, and anger management.
2. Group Sessions are being regularly organised to address psycho social issues. These session have been conducted in groups of eight to 10 children. Group work is used to address issues like mental health needs, confidence issues, self-regulation and other day to day concerns. The format of the session is generally exploratory and the focus of the sessions is on the efforts made and the processes involved by children while conducting any exercise and not the end result. The session boost children’s collaborative learning and boost their self-confidence.
3. Enrolling Children with Special needs in Specialized Institutions: The children with learning disabilities have been enrolled in special schools. Five children with learning disability are going to an institute called Orkids for special education classes.
4. Extending In-House Academic and Psychological Support: The teachers and the counsellors are working in tandem for early screening of children with learning difficulties and also to prepare an individual education plan for each child as per their strengths and difficulties. This has helped in improvement of children’s intellectual performance.

Child Development Units (CDUs): The units provide children with neuro-developmental difficulties, a safe, nurturing environment and aim at early screening of mental health problems followed by carefully planned interventions. This was set up in September 2015. At present the CDU is covering seven boys with Autism Spectrum, physical disabilityandattention deficit hyperactive Disorder. Various workshops were conducted with the staff and adolescent children of DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) children home to sensitise them about the neuro developmental difficulties and how they can contribute to CDU activities.

IMPACT

Children with disabilities are also being sensitised and trained about various life skills from time to time which has helped them to adapt well in the outside world.

The mental health team took an initiative to train the coordinators about crisis management, child development, adolescent issues and managing them. The training sessions improved the team’s capacities to address a plethora psychological problems.

Delhi school of communication also conducted a workshop on mass communication with the children above 16 years of age and gave them information about the mass communication.

 The project has enhanced psychological well-being of children in the intervention areas and has improved their access to education and counselling facilities. The project has also resulted in streamlining of career counselling programme. The use of a variety of aptitude tests helped the team and children to find the right career and education options compatible with their personality, interests and skills.

Success Story

Sachin was found by Salaam Baalak Trust staff member in 2014. Once he was brought to one of the shelter homes the team tried to gather his background information but in the process they came to know that he showed signs of intellectual deficits. The counsellors assessed him and took him for therapy sessions to the psychiatrist. The therapy sessions resulted in significant improvements in child’s overall behaviour and communication capacities. The child was previously very quiet and non-responsive and could not follow instructions but over a period to time he became more responsive and interacted with the staff members through play activities.