Bal Sanskar Kendras – Non Formal Education Centers- Brief Annual Report 2022-2023

Project Sponsored by:

“Tuurlijk” Foundation & “Gisela” Foundation

Brief Annual Report

Bal Sanskar Kendras: Non Formal Education Centers

 Submitted by Jeevantirth

2022-23

Project Director:- Deepti Raju

Project Coordinator: Laxmi Yadav, M.A., B.Ed.

Parents and children were told during the survey that classes in Baal Sanskar Kendra would start from June16th. BSKs were cleaned and  decorated with flowers to welcome the children on the 16^th June 2022.  We Tilaked all children on their forehead as a sign to ignite their knowledge center, brain and sweetened their mouths.

Modus Operandi: How The Program is Run?

Jeevantirth provides proper non formal education and value education through the help of “Bal Sanskar Kendra”s to the children residing in these slum areas. Appropriate space is hired in the vicinity of the areas; proper care is taken about light, ventilation, cleanliness and safety. Learning environment is created by decorating the place; NFE Teachers’ Trainings, Teaching Learning Materials, Activity Sheets, Art & Craft materials, Consumables are provided as per learning needs. Proper Supervision-Monitoring & Reporting-Documentation are also set in order. Celebrations, Festivals and Educational Tours are very much part of the educational process. 

Periodical Parents meetings are arranged in which every parents get an opportunity to interact with the teacher and also teacher with the parents of the students, so that it will enable the teacher or parents to know about their child from the teacher and also the teacher can build rapport with the parents, to create awareness to the parents about the education and also some basic rights and values to them. To bring some changes in the society, by creating a brotherhood and peaceful environment in that less privileged areas.

What Problem Does The Project Seek To Address And How?

The target group of the project is the children living in the slums who are vulnerable to number of problem and we believe that quality education is that only tool to bring them out of the vicious cycle of poverty. Our concern is that these children should not be deprived of the right to quality education, which we try to provide by support and guidance in achieving their dreams. Since most of the slum dwellers are migrants, they live under constant of resettlement and consequences. They are driven by the philosophy of survival which equally affects the Psychology of the children. Under such circumstances, there is a high risk that the children will drop out or would not take serious note of the value of education in their lives. As their Parents are mostly illiterate it further exaggerates the situation.

This project aims at bringing those children to the mainstream and helps them to continue their studies with the right understanding and greater purpose in life. The best part of the project is that we recruit our Facilitators from the community itself which helps us to connect to the people with ease and maintain trust and confidence in the work we do. As mentioned above, we do not substitute formal education; we indeed assist the system by motivating the children to continue with their studies by developing interests in them through our unique activity-based learning. We maintain register for each centre and keep constant check on the regularity of the students, in cases of absenteeism without intimation; home visit is made to understand the cause and take immediate remedial measures are taken.

Total Number of Students

School Type	Boys	Girls	Total
Municipal Schools	154	294	294
Private Schools	135	124	259
Total	289	264
Grand Total	553

Focus on Lower Primary: Standards 1st to 5th (Age 6 to 10 years)
Standard Total NFE Centers		I	II	III	IV	V	Total	Total B&G
12	Boys	49	41	59	54	86	289	553
	Girls	50	43	52	46	73	264

Planning and Preparation

Once NFE Centers started detailed planning was done as how the classes should be conducted, what will be the content/curriculum, how frequent Training & Material Development activities will be done and on what subjects, what will be the Reporting & Documentation process  and Time Table is designed accordingly. It does include detail of classroom activities. T.L.M. required, exposure visits, training and workshop and celebration of major programs/ events of the year.

Brief Information About Trainings, Workshops & Seminars In The Year

BALMITRA TRAININGS: 30 Trainings in a year.

BSK Meetings: 27, with Project Directors, Trustees and Project Coordinator.

Brief note of the Important Trainings

Training Topic: Self Development of Workers –  Capacity building Training

Project Introduction, Aspired Society, Context Analysis, SWOT Analyses. Concept of Integral Education (Four Pillars of Education: Learning to       Learn, Learning to Do, Learning to Live Together and Learning to Be). Journey of Self Analysis to Self-Actualization.   Values: Personal & Work       Related. Basics of Education: Why do we learn?, How do we learn?, What are the Learning Obstacles? (Internal & External). Why pre-       primary education is necessary? Six dimensions of development: Physical, Mental, Linguistic, Creative, Emotional and Social       development. Project based Learning. Importance of Process Document.

Generally every alternate Saturdays we do Material Development & Training or Reporting, Documentation & Planning for the next two weeks. That helped us a lot to give quality education.

Use of TLM (Teaching-Learining Material)

Conventional way of teaching with the black board has certain limitations. Therefore, to make teaching learning process more effective and result oriented, we emphasize more on interaction and activity-based learning. Bal Mitras/ Non Formal Education Facilitators need to extensively utilize the available resources to support specific learning objectives/outcomes. They make necessary TLMs according to the needs of the syllabus and the topic to be discussed.

Some of the frequently used TLM in our centers are listed below:

Sr. No.	Teaching Learning Material	Sr. No.	Teaching Learning Material
1.	Dice	2.	Dominos
3.	Manka [Pearl ]	4.	Poster
5.	Number line	6.	Currency
7.	Sentence card	8.	Ice cream stick
9.	Cereals and beans	10.	Rangometri
11.	Animals and Birds name chart	12.	Shapes Card
13.	Picture Card	14.	Tangible things
15.	Story chart	16.	Number card
17.	Stamp color	18.	Sound picture
19.	News Paper	20.	Match stick
21.	Ink, turmeric, Kanku	22.	Dots paper
23.	Colouring paper	24.	Water and things
25.	Flash card	26.	Different type Charts  of VaGaLe
27.	Dictionary	28.	Clay
29.	Poster of national symbols	30.	Sentence strips
31.	Tangible things	32.	Magnets

List Of Classroom Activity Conducted

April 22	May 22	June 22
Thumb Printing Drawing and game with dice Complete the picture with a pair of dots Origami – Dog and Watch Memory power game Game of Tangram	Balloon Activity Word chain  Cap with news paper Sticky work Making Toy with Clay Origami- Fish and photo frame Game- Music chair	Draw favorite picture and fill the colour Craft Work – Tree Game with Matchstick Origami Rabbit Design from pencil shells
July 22	August 22	September 22
Drawing Paper Boat Thumb Printing Paper Cap	Rakhi Making Paper Cup Flag Best out of Waste Matli (Clay Pot) Decoration	Paper Wallet, Paper House Louts Jalebi
October 22	November 22	December 22
Diya Painting Rangoli Competition Card Making Group Meal	Origami – Frog Home Rabbit Game Kho- Kho Origami – Bird, Rat	Different animals were made from Leaves Origami – Paper Box Draw pictures using different numbers and alphabets
January 23	February 23	March 23
Butterfly Kite making Kite decoration Paper Finger Rin Draw the National Flag	Origami – frog Origami – umbrella Origami – Fish	Pichkari Craft Work Paper Fish Paper Fan

Home Visits

All the Baal Mitras went to the area and visited the parents. Our Baal Mitras also visit homes of the students as and when required. For instance:

• To build rapport.
• To enquire about irregularity of the students.
• To counsel the families so that they understand the value of education and render due support.
•  To discuss with the parents whether child is progressing or not.

Month wise Number of Home Visits done by 11 BaalMitras.

Bal Mitras	Total Visits
	Apr.	May	June	July	Aug.	Sep.	Oct.	Nov.	Dec.	Jan. 23	Feb.	March	Total
Total: 11	92	110	112	252	147	153	140	141	136	133	105	87	1,608

Action on Right to Education Act

As per RTE Act, Privet Schools must give admission to the under-privileged children up to 25% in first standard so that they are not deprived to quality education in private schools because of financial constraints. Every year we support parents in filling the online forms and avail that facility.

Immediately after the survey, the online form of RTE came out and all the Baal Mitras in all the areas prepared the list of children. All the teachers filled 130 forms in total. Altogether 60 Children were admitting under RTE Act in the area with our support.

Half Yearly Parents’ Meetings

Parents’ meetings are very essential and to be held periodically. We conduct parents’ meeting three times in a year for good growth and development of the children. The purpose of our parents’ meetings is to establish a strong relationship and trust. By meeting we know their problems. Parents and teachers may cooperate in the overall development of the child.

Sr.  No.	Date	No. of Meetings	Main Agenda	No .of Parents Attended
1.	22/08/22 to 26/08/22	10	Student’s Registration; Student’s Growth; Health, Hygiene and Cleanliness; Regularity.	120
2.	01/03/23 to 07/05/23	5	RTE Act; Parent’s Review about Children; About Exam Preparation.	215

Supervision and Monitoring

For effective implementation and quality education we do unplanned supervision and monitoring frequently, at least twice a month. We call supervisors as /BaalMitra Sahayak’ meaning supporter of non-formal facilitator. Observations are noted and discussed in the group meetings.

Programs/Celebrations & Events

“Allstudy and no play make Jack a dull boy”, Therefore, the children are motivated to participate in different programs and events organized through Jeevantirth or any other individuals or institutions. It enables them to gain new experiences and exposure of learning, thinking innovatively, actively participating and getting knowledge from all the aspects through various activity events conducted.

Brief Notes on the Few Programs:

Sr. No.	Program/Event	Date	Participants	Program Details
1	Indroda Park Visit	08/07/22	45	Green City Festival at GIR Foundation. Dinosaur & Fossil Park, Botanical Garden, Zoo, Deer Park, Snake House etc. Also visited Sarita Udhyan: Amusement Park
2	Medical Camp	14/07/22	1,000	25th Jeevantirth Foundation day celebration. All community Medical Cap
3	Garba Festival	23/07/22	100 Girls	Garba is a traditional dance form, it was celebrated at our VTC.
4	Independence Day	15/08/22	500 Children	Flag Hosting, National Anthem singing, Rally with Awareness Program,
5	Janmashtmi	18/08/22	425 Children	Lord Krishna’s Birthday Celebration with cultural program

Base-Line, Mid-Line, End-Line Assessments

Total No of Subject – 5

Total Marks –100

Grade – A – 51 to 100 (Best

Grade – B – 34 to 50 (Fair enough)

Grade – C – 1 to 33 (Need Improvement)

Sr. No.	Assessment	Month Date	Students Appeared	Grades			Remarks
				A	B	C	Performance improved, more children shifted to higher grades. There are some children experiencing learning difficulties and we are working on them.
1	Base-Line	August  22	453	144	178	131	The RamaPirNo Tekro, one of the biggest slum of Ahmadabad is undergoing big challenge of the Slum-Redevelopment Process. Many houses are demolished, parents have shifted to new places for two-three years and in January 23 there was a big demolition drive by the authority.
2	Mid-Line	December 22	346	149	154	043
3	End-Line	March 23	328	213	092	023

Case Studies

1. Deepak Makwana: Standard – 2

Before: When Deepak came to class he was very restless and couldn’t concentrate in class. He couldn’t do any activity properly but he came every day for three months and gradually there has been a change in him.

After: Now he can recognize numbers and can subtract sums. He is calm and quite now. He listens to the story, answers questions, can understand the difference between animals and birds. He has seen a lot of change during this year.

2. Alpesh Kori: Standard – 5

Before:

Not doing Home Work after School, Always Roaming on the street, Irregular in attending School, Was not able to read or write even in 5^th Class.

After:

Regularly attends classes and school, Takes care of his younger brother, Completes home work in time, Now he is able to read and write Helps other children also.

I am happy to say that last time I attended Parents Meeting and learnt many things about Education and Decent life like Saving, Health & Hygiene etc. Mahendra Sir gives good education and values to our children. 

– RanjanBen Mackwana

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

One of the biggest challenges we are facing is Slum Demolition in the name of Slum-Redevelopment Project.

IN- SITU REDEVELOPMENT_RAMAPIR NO TEKRO, AHMEDABAD

The Ahmedabad city has seen a greater success in terms of resolving livelihood issues of slum re-development currently more then project proposals are on going under PMAY. This housing project focuses on one such slum redevelopment project in Ahmedabad west, Nava Vadaj which is one of the largest slum area in the city with almost 80,000 hutments and 1.5 lakhs of population as per given data by AMC. The housing conditions in slum combination of pucca construction and kuccha houses with nearby work area. there are different communities residing together with their social and physical boundaries defining their area with certain elements like gates, different occupations and housing typologies and clusters. Thus, part of this slum with 3015 units have being studied under various expertise and proposed for re-development through slum redevelopment policy 2013.

 Parents and Children are in traumatic situation, they have no options left but to vacate the place for 3 to 5 years from now. Our Staff Members have also lost their houses. Children were irregular in attending schools and our NFE Classes as well. We avoided many celebrations this year to be with the plight of the people. At times we had to shift our centres and work accordingly as per peoples’ priorities. We realised that children and women suffer the most in war-like situation when life is uncertain. After two years of Covid 19 Pandemic they encountered this situation with mobilizing courage. We tried our best to give them guidance and solace in tough time. We learnt to work during fluid situation like this. We engaged the children to learn and celebrate their childhood through Songs, Art & Craft, Games and Cultural activities. We faced the situation of Irregular school timings and chaotic situation because of the challenges the community is facing.

Problem Statement & Theory of Change

Re-defined Problem Statement::

Slum Children coming from socio-economically-educationally backward communities go to school but they do not learn for one or the other reasons. This ‘Virtual Exclusion’ prevent them in transition to the secondary and higher education. They become un-skilled labourer, get exploited, live sub-human life and don’t contribute much to the development.

Re-defined Theory of Change:

If Slum children are given basic love and care, ‘Foundational Literacy and Numeracy’ as a learning skills, citizenship training, motivation to live decent life with values; their inner potentials bloom and by acquiring right knowledge, skills and attitude; they develop positive mindset about themselves and society, and instead of being liability they become asset to the nation by being skilled enlightened citizens.

Input, Output, Outcomes and Impact

Input	Output	Outcome	Impact
Financial Resources by “Tuurlijk” Foundation through “Gisela” Foundation, Prudent under CSR, Kokilaben Ch. Trust and other Friends of Jeevantirth. Infrastructural facilities of Jeevantirth. Support in Kind (Notebooks, Stationary, School begs, Food etc. by well-wishers. Expertise of Jeevantirth Trustees.	Local Non-formal Facilitators hired. Rented placed hired, NFE Centres established. Educational Materials procured and distributed to the students. Teaching Learning Materials Prepared and used. Trainings to NFE Facilitators.	11 NFE Facilitators run 17 NFE Classes for 553 Slum Children five days in a week for about 2 Hours. Improvement in Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Skills Good habits of health and Hygiene developed School drop-out reduced, Regularity increased. Inculcation of Life-Skill Values	Slum Children acquired Basic Foundational Literacy and Numeracy as a Learning Skill. Students and Parents realised the Importance of Quality Education in Life. Positivity in the minds of Slum Dwellers that there are people and organisations taking interest in our well-being. Sense of Gratitude developed.

Financial Summary

As per budget planning, total expenditure of Jeevantirth’s ‘Educational Programs’ was estimated around INR 2,00,00,000/- in the year 2022-23.  Our actual (provisional) expenditure is around INR 3,00,00,000/- We got more CSR Fund this year because of Learning Loss during Covid 19 Pandemic and more corporate came in to support our educational initiatives.

For NFE Project, statistics are as under:

Source	Budget	Expenditure	Remarks
“Tuurlijk” Foundation through “Gisela” Foundation	10,80,000	11,40,626	About 3.6% of Total Educational Expenditure and about 42% of NFE Exp.
Prudent CSR, Kokilaben Ch. Trust, Friends and well wishers of Jeevantirth. In Kind Donation	15,20,000	13,43,318 2,00,000	Some support was received in Kind: Notebooks, Schoolbags, Nutrition, Sponsorships in Events/Festivals etc. About: INR 2,00,000/-

Way Forward

With Gratitude, we look forward to work with more zeal and commitment to create a learning society by motivating and helping slum children to become change agents by developing themselves.