1 / 23

Natpurwa

Natpurwa. Asha-MIT/Boston Meeting April 6, 2008. History of the project. Natpurwa is a village about 10 kms away from Lalpur (where Sandeep started his work when he returned)

nituna
Download Presentation

Natpurwa

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Natpurwa Asha-MIT/Boston Meeting April 6, 2008

  2. History of the project • Natpurwa is a village about 10 kms away from Lalpur (where Sandeep started his work when he returned) • Guddu and Neelkamal, when they heard of Asha, came up to Sandeep and others and wanted to start something in their village • Wanted to give girls alternative options (there is a 300 year history of women who live in Natpurwa, that is from the Nat community, going into prostitution) • Started a school in Guddu’s house, a two room hut • 70-80 children • People from the community taught in the school • Others from the community got involved, like Chandralekha, Hans Raj, Durgesh, etc. • An Asha-MIT/Boston project since 2002

  3. Current Status • Natpurwa part of the RTI, NREGA, Right to Food activities in the area • The team has grown to 6-7 people • Guddu and Neelkamal focus on the RTI, NREGA and other related activities • Hans Raj, Uma, Durgesh, focus on schooling • Chandralekha focuses on community activities like women’s groups • Chandralekha got some publicity, and the group had a good relationship with the DM (District Magistrate) • Managed to get a government school built in Natpurwa • About 160-170 children attend that school • Two government teachers have been appointed, but one did not come because of the stigma associated with the village, other is busy with various government activities • Asha volunteers continue to teach the lower classes • A school activity has been started in the nearby village SukkuKhera

  4. Challenges • We seem to be a long way from providing a real alternative to girls • Women’s groups have not really gone anywhere • Women who don’t want to go into prostitution still do not have a choice • Several of the volunteers are related to Guddu/Neelkamal • Asha’s challenge: measuring and improving quality of education in the school

  5. Budget

  6. Request from Asha-SV for 07-08 • Total budget: Rs 363,600 ($9205, at Rs. 39.5/dollar) • Asha-MIT/Boston funds: $4500 • Request from Asha-SV: $4705 • Last year it was $3700 – this year exchange rate has changed a bit, and some honorariums have gone up • Asha-MIT/Boston approved the entire amount in its Fall 07 meeting, and sent its funds as the first installment. • Asha-SV’s funds would be the second installment

  7. Natpurwa Asha-MIT/Boston Meeting November 8, 2008

  8. Status of 2007-2008 • Based on conversations with Sandeep, Sirish, Neelkamal • Pawan of Asha NYC/NJ has become involved, helps in conversations with project team (he knows Hindi)

  9. Primary School • School: • 181 children (98 girls and 83 boys) • Taught by Durgesh, Sailesh, and a govt. appointed Siksha Mitra who comes about 7-8 times a month (rest of the time busy with various other govt. activities) • Midday meals happening properly, because of active RTI activity there is not much corruption • Books, school uniform provided as well • BSA does not seem happy with Asha teachers, but he should be shown DM letter allowing it

  10. Primary School • Issues: • Not much learning is happening because student/teacher ratio is so bad • Girls are not really doing anything after primary school, just stay home • Questions: (1) are the books Vallabh bhai arranged for being used? (2) how were Sailesh and Durgesh hired? • Appears that the team might not have the exposure to realize that a school is more than distribution of midday meals and uniforms • Next steps: • Fix the quality of education – hire more teachers, send them to training (training is happening for other teachers in the area, will happen for Natpurwa teachers too) • Intermediate college for girls is necessary – that should be our final goal – middle school, high school, college • What happened to the scholarship effort for girls? Can Chandralekha do a survey of parents whose daughters have stopped after primary school?

  11. Nearby Govt. Schools • Sikroriya: Srinivas has started teaching since July 2008 (also involved in other RTI activities) • Jagsiya: 205 children in school, only one Siksha Mitra, Rohitash has started teaching there

  12. Chapter Questions - 1 • What are the different classes and what is taught? • Classes 1 to 5 • Students taught Maths, English, Hindi, Social Studies, Science • Classes 1 and 2 in playful mode • Classes 3, 4, 5 also playful but more serious

  13. Chapter Questions - 2 • Breakdown of students: • Classes are divided into A, B, and C based on their learning level within the class • Helps teacher focus on students who need help • Students from group A help students in groups B and C in their free time • Out of 275 students 75 are in group A, 105 in group B, 95 in group C

  14. Chapter Questions - 3 • Attendance • Attendance register is maintained • 200-225 attend regularly • Currently (when we spoke in mid-October) attendance was down due to fever and cough

  15. Chapter Questions - 4 • How many tests are conducted annually? • 4 exams annually • Other quizzes regularly • Report cards • Report cards are maintained regularly and given to students at the end of the year • What happens after class V? • First batch of students will pass out of class V. Teachers will try to ensure that all of them enroll in junior high school nearby

  16. Chapter Questions - 5 • What are the challenges you face? • Villagers didn't want Asha teachers to teach in the school. Asha teacher had to overcome it • Issue of drunk people entering the school and using abusive language. • Sikhsa Adhikari had some issues initially with asha teachers teaching in the school. • Issue with Mid day Meal quality and corruption by Pradhan. • Class 4-5 boys are more interested in cricket instead of studies. Teachers have been communicating with their parents to change their mind.

  17. RTI work • Work for Sandila and Barawan block folks under NREGA • Public health hearing in Barawan: on sterlization, medicine availability, dog bite injections etc. After hearing some changes are observed in PHC functioning • In Sandila and Barawan on the 5-10th of each month ensure that ration is distributed and there is no black marketing (also ensure that the ration arrives in the store house by 23rd-30th of every month so that people get it on time

  18. RTI Work • Ration license Has been suspended for shops in 8 gram panchayats in these blocks • Education: Midday meals, uniforms, books, teacher’s activities • Dabang people grabbed land from 110 dalits in Jajupur, fighting to get land back, some have received papers • Compensation for people who lost homes in torrential rains • New work in Gondlamoo (third block they have added on, in Sitapur district)

  19. Good Points • A large number of children are coming to the school • Though they overshot the budget in traveling expenses they ended up adjusting somehow – we put our foot down and they accepted it

  20. General Issues • We didn’t make progress on having them have goals, but we are beginning the process • Neelkamal has shared his vision. Goal is awareness and empowerment. Final goal is an MLA from the people’s group they are a part of, who will work for them – good goal! • Hurdles to the goal are corruption, power nexus etc.

  21. General Issues • Chandralekha has not really done much with women. But there are no other women coming forward. It is only with a women that we can build connections with the women in the Nat community. • Thought for the chapter: Maybe we should temporarily drop short-term goals of trying to give the girls an alternative to prostitution • Maybe we should focus on education which will help in the long run (when we have the intermediate college) • Clearly finishing private school is not enough to provide alternatives • And we don’t have the organizational structure on the ground to help with reviving the local economy

  22. Accusations against the team • Accusations that they were involved in landgrabbing – Neelkamal, Jagdish (not funded by us) • Discussed in village and Asha meetings – Neelkamal exonerated, Jagdish expelled • It appears that Neelkamal and Guddu are benefiting from the contacts with the officials they are developing – know the rules well, can get things done, acquire land • Sandeep agrees that we should taper the honorarium going forward, but was not successful in doing that this year

  23. Budget

More Related