Deepalaya - Enabling Self-Reliance

Aim

Universalization of education

Objective

• To promote and provide quality education at affordable costs to children and communities who are socially and economically deprived,
• That helps to bring out their latent talents, so that they not only acquire academic learning, but also vocational proficiency, personal character and societal values,
• To become self-reliant and responsible citizens.

Activities

• To establish and run a formal school for the children of Gole Kuan slum from classes LKG to VIII with a special focus on the girl child,
• To give non-formal education to children who are currently or permanently unable to attend classes of the formal school,
• To provide vocational training in various crafts and trades
• To mainstream differently abled children

Background

Gole Kuan is a slum in Okhla Industrial Area, Phase I. This slum exists around a well next to a temple and hence the name Gole Kuan. The well, now all dried up, was the only source of water for the poor people living in the slum. In the year 1990 Deepalaya started the Gole Kuan Project for the upliftment of the slum dwellers. The low literacy levels pointed to the urgent need of education amongst them. Deepalaya School at Gole Kuan was set up to meet this need. The formal school programme is a follow on to the Gole Kuan Project.

Target community

Majority of the people living in Gole Kuan are migrants who have come from various parts of North India in search of livelihood. Working as labourers or farmers, extreme poverty in their native villages in Bihar, Rajasthan and places as far as Nepal have pushed them to cities like Delhi in search of an occupation. Each community lives in clusters within the Gole Kuan slum. These clusters are referred to by the ethnic groups they represent such as Muslim Basti, Nepali Basti, Balmiki Basti, Bhojpuri Basti and Rajasthani Basti. A population of about 10,000 in around 3,500 houses in the slum, they celebrate their own festivals and live in harmony with each other. Many of them work as masons, petty show owners and factory workers. Some are even unemployed. The women, mostly illiterate are housewives. Some of them support family income by working in the factories or doing bead work and embroidery or working as domestic helps.

Rationale

The average monthly income of their families range from Rs.1,500/- to Rs. 2,500/-. On an average each family consists of 4 or 5 children apart from their parents. Low levels of income, was a hurdle in sending their children to school, for many parents. Most of the parents themselves were illiterate, while some were educated till second or fifth standard in their villages. Evidently they did not feel the need to educate their children. Deepalaya in its commitment to work for the needy realised that education was an important tool in helping them to work their way out of poverty. Deepalaya staff went about promoting awareness amongst them about the need for education. They relentlessly went door to door exhorting parents to send their children to school. Many parents did not want to send their children, especially girls, to schools located far away. Persistent advocacy measures, through house to house visits and through communication material garnered enough community support for Deepalaya to start a school in Gole Kuan.

Some children were attending the nearby MCD School but most of them were not happy with the education standards provided at such schools. Such children and many out of school children were brought within the fold of Deepalaya education.

Structure

During the early days Deepalaya faced stiff resistance from some members of the community, the police and administration in setting up the school. Also there was no existing structure within the slum that could be used as a school. It was with the support of the community that in 1999 a one room structure was built for running the school. Later the community donated some more rooms for the school. The formal school is now spread over ten small, fragmented and vacant building structures within the community area. The school also has four toilets. They now have reliable electricity connections. Providing adequate drinking water to the children remains a challenge.

School Activities

The formal school which runs classes from LKG (Lower Kindergarten) to Class VIII operates in two overlapping shifts from 7.50 AM to 2 PM and from 1.00 PM to 5.00 PM. This is because the school is unable to accommodate all the children enrolled in one shift due to paucity of space. The afternoon classes are for students from LKG to Class I. The medium of instruction is English and the school follows National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus in all its classes. The children study to acquire Certifications of Open Basic Education (OBE), conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), approved by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), Government of India in classes III, V and VIII. Besides the NIOS exams, the school conducts three terminal examinations over the year. The final examinations are conducted in the month of March. The children also undertake weekly tests to prepare themselves for the terminal examinations.

Currently, there are 310 students attending the school, who are taught by 14 teachers. A point to note is that a student teacher ratio of 22:1 in this school is a plus point that even most private schools are not able to provide. This ensures more scope for individual attention to the students. Of the 310 children studying in the school 128 are sponsored by corporates or individuals. The school starts at 7.50 a.m. with morning prayers, which is followed by Physical Training exercises (PT) complete with the school band.

The school has a well-equipped library with 565 books. In the year 2006 American Centre Library donated 364 books to the school. Many of these books which comprise of comics, stories and autobiographies cater to children from LKG to Class VIII. Reading these books, have opened a whole new world of knowledge for these young inquisitive minds. The school also tied up with Springdales School who send a mobile library to the slum every Monday to encourage good reading habits among children.

The children are also imparted computer training to keep up with modern times. The school has a computer lab which is also used for trainings amongst community members. The school also conducts regular health check ups for the students which includes dental and eye check ups.

The school conducts parent teacher meetings regularly every month which is well attended by about 90% of the parents. During these meetings, the progress of the children, are discussed with the parents with a view to enhance their academic performance. Apart from these meetings the teachers make regular house visits and also meet parents at school for any special needs of the child.

Some of the students from the Muslim community also go to Madrasas on Fridays where they learn Arabic and also learn about their religion.

The other education projects run in Gole Kuan include Non-Formal Education, Adult Education, Remedial Education, Special Education and Girl Child project. Sponsorships are also part of the formal education programme of Gole Kuan. Education of girl students is especially encouraged in the formal school as their fees have been reduced to Rs. 50 per month. Also 7 Social Enterpreneurs work with the community to enroll more and more children.

Teaching methodology

Coming from a marginalised section of society, these children do not get any help from home, with their studies. The teachers work very hard to make them learn as much as possible in school. They use creative Teaching Learning Methodologies (TLMs) such as charts, cue cards etc. to make learning fun filled. Some of the TLMs used are the ones developed under the Reach India programme, another significant and successful project of Deepalaya.

Library books are read out to the children so that they develop their reading skills. Teaching focuses on developing the three R’s i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic. Children are encouraged to develop their interest in science by developing various science projects.

Combining practical training with theoretical learning to assist teaching, children are taken to various educational trips and parks to learn about environment and historical sites to improve their understanding of our culture and heritage. They have already been taken for picnics to Dolls Musuem, Qutab Minar, Children’s Park in Delhi, Taj Mahal in Agra. More such educational trips are being planned. The school promotes latent talent development of children through extra curricular activities that include sports, debates, art and craft, music, dance, drama and painting.

Teachers’ skills are also improved regularly as Deepalaya sends them for various teacher training programmes.

Awards

The school constantly encourages children to perform well and sustain their interest in going to school. Awards are given to students who are good performers, come neatly to school and have good attendance record. Many children show a lot of talent in dancing as well as drawing. The school takes a lot of initiative in taking these children at inter-school competitions and has won several prizes too. The school conducts various competitions from time to time to encourage students.

Life Beyond School

The months of May and June mean a summer break for most children. Deepalaya students work very hard and utilise this time to gain skills outside the formal curriculum. Developing latent talent of the children is part of the Deepalaya’s approach towards holistic education. Teachers at the school organise extra-curricular classes such as music, art, drama and sewing. Extra classes in regular subjects are also held for weak students during these months.

Children also enjoy the different festivals that are celebrated in the school with much enthusiasm.

Deepalaya encourages its students in training under well-known artists. Towards this end Deepalaya sends 10 of its students to train under classical dancer Sonal Mansingh. The students have developed confidence and learnt various dance forms such as Odissi and Kathak under her.

A volunteer who visits the school daily teaches English conversation skills to the children.

Challenges

Drop outs - One of the challenges that the school faces is high drop out rates among students. This is because most of the students are migrants who go back to their villages during harvest season. Many do not return to the slum. Some return after a long gap and that leads to some of the children loosing a year or more of studies. Deepalaya however does its best in motivating the parents to continue the studies of their children.

Expenses - The annual educational expenses for a child are relatively high. Some of the children in this school are sponsored by corporates or individuals. However the sponsorship amount merely supports the child’s education. The remaining money is being given by Deepalaya. Deepalaya encourages parents to pay at least a minimal fee for their wards so that they learn to appreciate and care for their child’s education. The fees include expenses incurred on a child’s health check-ups as well.

Civic amenities – The community has to deal with many civic problems such as lack of adequate water supply, poor sanitation and lack of proper waste disposal system. There are huge garbage dumps within the slum.

Funding Agencies

Some of our major funding partners who have supported this project are Oriflame and Mentor Graphics.

Gole Kuan also runs various other projects such as Vocational Training Centre; Disability Unit; Computer Training Unit, Health, and formation of Self Help Groups and other Community Organisations.

Milestones

• In 1999, when Deepalaya decided to establish a school in Gole Kuan, there was some amount of resistance from the community. They cited reasons such as fees being beyond their means and non-recognition of the school as an issue for not sending their children to school. Deepalaya mobilised these communities through surveys, door-to-door campaigns and promotional material that educating children, especially girls was extremely important for their own welfare. Adult education classes were started to encourage the community following which many started sending their children to school. To this date Deepalaya teachers work within the community exhorting the parents to send their children to school. Those community members who are able to bring in large numbers of children to school are rewarded with gifts. Community members also supported Deepalaya when we faced resistance from the police and administration in setting up the school.

• Another significant achievement for the project was ownership by the community of the education programme when they donated 6 rooms for running the school within the community.

• The project expanded to include disadvantaged groups such as differently abled and those from minority communities deprived of education.

• Computer classes were started in 2006 to prepare the students on the latest technologies in education.

Over time significant changes have been observed in the community ever since Deepalaya has been in touch with the lives of the people of Gole Kuan. Community awareness about the education of the girl child has increased significantly. The average age of girls getting married young has risen from about 16 to 19 now. Deepalaya encourages these girls to take up vocational training provided within the school and improve their chances of earning a livelihood. Standards of primary education too have improved as more and more out of school children have been brought within the education fold