April 27, 2007
Project: Zero Class at Khadki Center of Sarvoday Parivar Trust.
Name of the organization: Sarvoday Parivar Trust
Date of establishment 1968
Location : Khadaki, Dharampur Taluka, Gujarat, India. 75 KMs from Valsad, Gujarat, 15 KMs from Pindval.
Description of area: Rural area among Hills & Forests. Very remote place. Even ST buses do not reach Khadki. No electricity is available. The school is on the banks of a River. Khadki is a very scenic & verdant place.
Contact person(s): Harvilasben, Kantibhai Shah, and Sujataben.
Address C/O Sarvoday Parivar Trust,
Pindval, Taluka Dharampur, District Valsad, Gujarat,
India, 396050
Phone number : No telephone wires.
Kantibhai Cell: +9194 2717 6711;
Ganeshbhai Cell: +9194 2746 8300;
Sujataben: +919825873338.
Pindval center has reported: The cell signals are available only sporadically, at two small sweet spots in the school. It is difficult to call us. You can send a message by calling Narendrabhai of the Rice Mill at Dharampur at +9198 2534 9161. He would write down a small message & send through ST bus driver to Pindval. Pindval, in turn, will send the message to Khadki. Do not expect reply for 1– 3 days. You will have to call Narendrabhai for the reply
Background/ History:
Sarvoday Parivar Trust (SPT) school is an approved project. ASHA has been supporting SPT since 1996.
SPT has been educating children in the Adivasi areas of Dharampur jungles on the border of Gujarat & Maharashtra in the villages of Pindval (since 1994) & Khadki.
SPT started a school in even remoter area of Khadaki in 2000. Sujataben, with a Master’s Degree from Baroda University has been leading the school at Khadaki.
Project Proposal: To operate Zero Classes or pre-primary schools for children of the surrounding 5 to 7 villages.
Budget: Recurring running expenses of Rs 83,000 per year.
Background: These villages are in extremely remote area. There is no electricity, no telephones, and very little communication with the world beyond the hills.
Very few, if any, of the adults would have gone to a high school. Most of the parents are illiterate. Parents are unable to teach even the elementary reading or writing to their children at home. The children do not receive any training in the basic preparation for joining a school.
Govt. has started or is aiding primary schools. However, the teachers in the Govt. financed schools rarely come to school. (Nicholas Kristoff of NY Times wrote a news story on this on April 24, 2007). The education in these schools is very poor.
The kids face another challenge when they go to the Govt. aided schools. At home they speak a spoken language, which has no script. It is called Konkani, but in fact, it is a mixture of mostly Gujarati, Marathi & a few words of Konkani. As the schools are in Gujarat, medium of instruction is Gujarati. Kids do not understand what teachers are saying. They need to be prepared for listening & understanding Gujarati before they join school in the First Grade.
Sujataben of SPT has therefore started in 2006 a new activity of “Zero Class”. They have appointed a local adult from each village, who invites young children to his / her home or some common community space. The kids learn to interact with each, learn some songs, and learn to hold pen & slate. They learn to listen & understand the teacher who would talk with them in Gujarati. This Zero class gives them an additional year of exposure to learning experience, before they go to the primary school. The teachers spend 4 to 5 hours per day with these children.
All this is done free of cost to the students.
They have received tremendous response from the community. . A total of 155 students have enrolled in the very first year of starting.
Zero Classes were opened in five villages as below:
Village / Nos. of StudentsKhadaki / 20
Madhuri / 35
Choura / 40
Kothaidri / 40
Tilatpada / 20
Total / 155
Sujataben was given funds by SPT from other donations received. As only Rs 50,000 ($1250) were available, Sujataben managed in that sum, by paying salary of only Rs 700 (($17) per month to the teachers. The supplies of only Rs 8000 ($195) could be purchased from the available funds.
For the year 2007-2008, more funds are required to increase the number of students as also buy Blackboards, slates, pens, teaching aides & for training teachers.
Budget for Zero Class Project:2006-07 / 2007-08
Item / Rs. / Rs.
Salary : / 42,000 / 67,200
Educational Material & Teachers Training cost / 8,000 / 15,800
Total / 50,000 / 83, 000
SPT, as a principle, does not accept Govt. aid due to bad experiences in the past.
Proposal: It is proposed to raise $ 2000 (Rs 83,000) for the coming school year. This will enable SPT to manage the ZERO class with adequate materials like notebooks, slate, pens teaching aids etc.
Timeline: The project has already started, with a very good response.
The funds are required at the earliest.
This is a recurring expense. It is proposed that ASHA make commitments for at least Three years.