Door Step School Mumbai & Pune Project Annual Report 2007-2008
Door Step School
Annual Report
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Door Step School-Mumbai
Jagannath Shankarsheth Municipal School Bldg.,
2nd floor, Room No 54/55, Nana Chowk ,
Grant Road, Mumbai -400 007
Phone:022 -23826343 Fax :23859203
E mail :
Door Step School-Pune
110, Parimal Anand Park, Aundh, Pune 411 007
Phone: 9520- 25898762/25432165
E mail :
do visit us on www.doorstepschool.org
Foreword
Often in our line of work successes are fewer than the frustrations we face. And then comes the strength to go on. This year it came from a rather unconventional young crusader- 9 year old Hiresh Limaya Valmiki.
When Hiresh was not in class, which was for the better part of the day, his untiring teacher knew where to find him. He would be scavenging around the community garbage heap. The metal and plastic scrap he gathered fetched him about Rs. 50 every day. He saw no reason to give up such a good source of income just to learn a few letters. His teacher’s perseverance though paid off when many months later as his interest grew, he not only became a regular in class but brought with him 8 more fellow scavengers. This year he successfully appeared for the Std II exam.
It is these stories that make the work we engage in matter. Statistics and numbers are meaningful but do little to convey the impact on lives.
Rajani Paranjpe & Bina Lashkari
President Director
Smt. Rajani Paranjpe receiving the award on the 26th of January 2008
Every year, Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha honors a woman social worker for her dedicated social work in social field or in educational field.This is done by awarding her a the “Baya Karve Puraskar”.This ‘Puraskar’ is being awarded since 1996-97.
We are happy to share with you that this year the Baya Karve Puraskar has been awarded to Mrs. Rajani Paranjpe, one of our founder member and current President, for her work in the educational field. Mrs. Paranjpe is an inspiration to the entire
Door Step School family
Content / Page No.MUMBAI PROJECT / 5-34
DOOR STEP SCHOOL
Mission, Vision, Goal, Core Values / 5
INTRODUCTION / 6
COMMUNITY BASED INTERVENTION
§ Balwadi (Preprimary )
§ Non Formal Education Classes
§ Study Classes
§ Community Learning Centre
§ Computer Centre
§ Bal Samuha
§ Bus Service / 7
10
13
16
18
19
21 / 6-22
ENROLMENT IN MUNICIPAL SCHOOLS / 23
SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP PROJECT / 24
TRAINING / 27
PROGRAMME AT COMMUNITY AND ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL / 31
FUTURE PLAN / 34
PUNE PROJECT / 37-67
INTRODUCTION / 37
JOURNEY TO EXPANSION / 37
DIRECT EDUCATION
§ Balwadi (Preprimary )
§ Study Classes
§ Non Formal Education Classes / 42
42
45 / 41-50
SUPPORTIVE ACTIVITIES / 51
PROJECT GROW WITH BOOKS
(Reading Classes and related activities) / 53
OTHER ACTIVITIES / 61
TRAINING CENTER ‘PARIVARTAN’ / 64
PUBLICATIONS / 65
ROLE OF VOLUNTEERS / 65
FUTURE PLANS / 66
APPENDIX 1: LIST OF PUBLICATION / 67
EXECUTIVE BODY MEMEBRS
ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY
THANKS TO
• Our Major Project Partners
• Our Other Supporters And Well Wishers
• Visitors
• Volunteers
BALANCESHEET / • / 68
68
69
70
71
71
72-75
INDEX
DOOR STEP SCHOOL – MUMBAI
ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008
Mission
All children deserve an education. An alarming number of India’s urban poor still remain without an opportunity to receive formal education.
Our mission at Door Step School is to bridge this divide, using innovative programmes that will bring education to these children and help them make the transition to literacy and a brighter future.
Vision
To be an instrumental force that brings development to children
Goal
Primary education for all children up to 14 years of age
Core Values
• Respect for the community and children
• Focus on development
• Maintain high Quality standards
• Participation of all stakeholders in the development process
• Empathy towards those less privileged
• Integrity and Openness in all activities undertaken
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INTRODUCTION
At Door Step School, the year 2007-08, we moved into our second year of Organisational Development. In 2006-07, the efforts had begun in partnership with Avalon Consulting and with Dasra. This year, we devoted even more time to thinking and rethinking our targets and the resources we would need to achieve them. It has been a great learning exercise, bringing even more of a professional touch to our work. It was the first time that we looked at planned growth and all that would go into achieving it, which would involve a good deal of recruiting. We hope to begin implementation of this in 2009, once we have most of the resources in place.
While we struggled with what will be, our team in the field worked hard to ensure that all projects were on track. Some developments like the MCGM’s Slum Rehabilitation drive affected the targets we had set for this year, but we look on that as a change for the better for the families that benefited.
Position of Door Step School Community Based Classes
In Mumbai & Pune 2007-08
In Mumbai * / In PuneType of Class / No. of units / Boys / Girls / Total / No. of units / Boys / Girls / Total
BALWADI / 37 / 588 / 666 / 1254 / 47 / 832 / 872 / 1704
N F E / 36 / 343 / 532 / 875 / 64 / 754 / 924 / 1678
STUDY CLASS / 49 / 634 / 504 / 1138 / 37 / 360 / 338 / 698
Total :7347 / 112 / 1565 / 1702 / 3267 / 148 / 1946 / 2134 / 4080
NB: Approximately another 22,000 children are covered through direct intervention in corporation schools in both cities.
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BALWADI
Distribution of Children Attending Door Step School Balwadi
Ward / Balwadi / Units / Boys / Girls / TotalA / Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (Punarvasit) / 4 / 57 / 59 / 116
Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar (Main) / 2 / 43 / 35 / 78
Babasaheb Ambedkar Nagar – Ext / 2 / 36 / 37 / 73
Colaba Municipal School / 3 / 52 / 53 / 105
Ganesh Murti Nagar / 2 / 36 / 28 / 64
Garib Janata Nagar / 1 / 5 / 23 / 28
Mahatma Phule Nagar-Nariman Point / 1 / 10 / 14 / 24
Shivshakti Nagar / 1 / 23 / 20 / 43
B / Masjid Bunder- B Ward / 3 / 38 / 48 / 86
School On Wheels –II Wadi Bunder / 1 / 17 / 15 / 32
E / Boat Hard Street / 1 / 19 / 20 / 39
Darga Galli / 1 / 16 / 15 / 31
Hariyana Gate / 1 / 14 / 14 / 28
Hey Bunder / 1 / 15 / 14 / 29
Kawla Bunder / 1 / 23 / 22 / 45
Kolsa Bunder / 1 / 9 / 9 / 18
Lakadi Bunder / 1 / 17 / 13 / 30
MOD / 1 / 20 / 17 / 37
New Tank Bunder / 4 / 69 / 91 / 160
Pardhiwada / 1 / 15 / 32 / 47
Powder Bunder / 1 / 11 / 19 / 30
Reti Bunder / 1 / 17 / 22 / 39
School On Wheels -II Reay Road / 2 / 26 / 46 / 72
Grand Total / 37 / 588 / 666 / 1254
Door Step School’s efforts to identify and enroll preschoolers in the balwadi programmes continued this year.
The basic objective remained that of preparing the children using a variety of language and math readiness activities. Efforts at creating a conducive learning environment and an inducement to continue towards formal schooling were also sustained.
In an effort of provide an age appropriate intervention the children whose ages were recorded as 4years or more were placed in the Sr. Group and the younger ones in the Jr. group. However, when it was time to enroll them in school in June, many were refused admission on the grounds that they were too young. Discussions with our team revealed that the age given by the parents at the time of registration was not accurate. To prevent this situation from recurring we are trying to identify a simple way of determining if a child has completed 4 years of age.
Ward wise Distribution of Children in Balwadis (2007-08)
3-4 yrs. / Sr.
Over 4 yrs. / Grand Total
M / F / Total / M / F / Total
A / 16 / 157 / 154 / 311 / 105 / 115 / 220 / 531
B / 4 / 34 / 29 / 63 / 21 / 34 / 55 / 118
E / 17 / 163 / 188 / 351 / 108 / 146 / 254 / 605
Total / 37 / 354 / 371 / 725 / 234 / 295 / 529 / 1254
58% / 42%
Total of 41 balwadis had been planned for the year, of which 3 in Ward A and 1 in Ward B could not be started.
At the end of year, 317 children from the Sr. Group and 96 children from the Jr. group have been enrolled in formal school. Given that 127 out of the 317 in the Sr. group have discontinued during the year, the predominant reason being moving out of the community, expected 80% of this group have been enrolled in school. Forty eight percent of the children will continue with the balwadi in the coming year.
The attendance of students in the balwadi is most regular, when compared to other Door Step School’s community based programmes
Activities that were introduced last year for the Jr. and Sr. groups were continued and some new ones were introduced. Some of the new techniques / activities are:
• Pairing of words to recall new words better.
• Wearing “ghungroos” on their ankles was a great way to get a feel of rhythm and music through the melodious sound the children could create with the bells.
• Teachers made soft balls made out of old socks and rags. They are safer than plastic balls, as they do not hurt and also can be provided in larger numbers.
• Building blocks made by stuffing small cartons with old raddi paper and wrapping them with brightly coloured paper.After the wrapping started coming of the children indulged their curiosity by opening the boxes and pulling out the stuffing to see what was hidden inside.
A rather innovative teacher invited a vegetable vendor to her class for a lesson on vegetables. A great way of using the multi sensory approach as the children held the vegetables in their had as they learned their name. At the end they even got the chance of taking the vegetables back home.
Story telling, always a favorite, came specially alive when one of the children brought a rabbit to school while the story of the “Hare and the Tortoise” was being enacted.
Children were also given the opportunity of playing with sand, aiming balls into baskets, balancing on bricks, all of which helped to channel physical energy and increased their coordination capabilities.
Material prepared by Galli Galli Sim Sim, the Indian version of Sesame Street was introduced into the balwadis this year. The material is very attractive and child friendly. There are story boards, flash charts, games, worksheets and a bioscope. The material has been devised with great thought and focuses on language development and on delivering appropriate value based messages to preschoolers.
Door Step School also collaborated with Niramaya, who work on the health component of preschoolers.
The Christmas celebration was the big event for the balwadi kids. It was held on 20 December 2007 at the Colaba Woods for the communities in ward A and on 27th December, 2007 at Tata Garden for the communities in E ward. This year the event had been planned in a manner that allowed every child to be a participant. This was greatly appreciated by the parents, who voiced the feeling that there should be more such occasions in the year. The program involved music & movement, and needed a lot of practice and coordination and each teacher accompanied her own group of children to ensure smooth transition from one movement to another.
Children at each location were taken for two or threeeducational visits. They visited the Cooperage Garden where the horses were a great draw, the Mazgaon Garden and the Kamala Nehru Park at Malabar Hill. Some parents accompanied the groups where the number of children were large and were a great help in taking care of the children, who had a rollicking time in the fresh air and open surroundings.
This year also saw some very successful parent meetings. A wide variety of topics came under discussion, such as fees, attendance, hygiene, plans for forthcoming festivals and outings. A very positive feed back from the parents was that the children attending the balwadis were more alert, observant and vocal in their interactions with their families and the community.
A look at the Sr. group’s performance at the end of the year, shows that in wards A & B, where the program is well established as are the classes, 47% of this group have accomplished between 75 -100% of the expected level. In ward E, the performance is on par in verbal language skills and recognition of numbers but in recognition of letters of the alphabet, only about 20% of them have achieved this level.