Pravesh Utsav (Admission Festival)

Introduction of village
Naharpur Baas is situated in Cheerwa Gram Panchayat 6 kms. from Nogawan along Alwar-Delhi Main Road. Mainly the area is inhabited by Banjara community. There are about 70 households in the village but these are habitated in a scattered manner. These people mostly migrate to Gujarat, Punjab and Haryana in search of livelihood.
Educational Scenario in the village
There is one Govt. Primary School in the village where 65 students are imparted education from 1st to 5th standard. But the school is functioning with only one teacher. And the students have to go out of village to pursue higher studies after std 5th.
Starting of Govt. School and Community Initiative Project
Naharpur is provided with an animator under Govt. school and Community Initiative Project by Ibtada from July 2008 to December 2008 to work with community and school. After that Mr. Gulab Chand was appointed as Education Motivator from February 2009 under the same project.
Preparation of Pravesh Utsav Programme
As per Rajasthan Govt., Pravesh Utsav shall be celebrated from 1st July to 15th July every year to ensure 100% enrolment of students over the age of 5 yrs in the school. But ironically this orders is merely followed in papers. To make things better, Education Motivator of Ibtada Mr. Gulab Chand had a conversation with Govt. Teacher Mr. Ashok Goyal and pursued him to observe Pravesh Utsav Programme in the month of July. Initially Mr. Ashok Goyal was reluctant towards the idea, reason being that they have not observed any such programme so far in the school and it shall reap no results and they might face few problems with the acceptance and cooperation by parents and residents of village. But when animator had a further detailed conversation regarding merits and demerits of the programme, Mr. Ashok Goyal got ready for the same and agreed to celebrate Pravesh Utsav Programme.
Community Meeting
Mr. Gulab Chand along with Mr. Ashok Goyal planned for a community meeting on 3rd July where all the villagers also were present. They put forward the proposal for Pravesh Utsav Programme in school in front of everyone present in the meeting. After due consideration and discussion they decided to plan for Pravesh Utsav Programme and decided to contribute Rs. 20 per head for the organization of the same. The programme was decided to take place on 9th July where BEEO of the village would be invited to be a part of the programme. They also presented the detailed programme about the Pravesh Utsav to all present in the meeting. Everybody was given responsibility to make programme successful and all the residents collected contribution towards the proper organisation and implementation of the programme.
Pravesh Utsav Programme
9th July was cheerful day for all the residents and children in the village because they were going to witness something that has never happened in their village so far and that too with the consent of people and justified participation of children. Also they were happy with the thought that senior officials will be visiting the village On the other hand the Govt. teacher was slightly worried about the conduction of programme.
At 7 a.m. school premises witnessed all the children, women and males of village in addition to Ibtada staff and BEEO.
Rally
All the students were carrying banners related to education in well defined rows and were calling slogans and were marching ahead in the village. The were calling following slogans-

1. Gali gali mein shor hai
Shiksha ka ab jor hai.
2. Aao behno aao bhai,
Sab milkar ke karen padhai
3. Ghar ghar alakh jagana hai
Bachchon ka naam likhana hai
4. Padhi likhi ladki
Roshni hai ghar ki.
The rally observed the delightful presence of the Govt teacher, the BEEO, staff of Ibtada, journalists and ladies and other people of village. Those children who were to be enrolled in school were ready with their parents and were standing at the main door of the house. Rally reached every house in the village and children were greeted with phoolmaala (garland ceremony) and tilak and included them in the rally. After picking all the students from homes rally marched back to school.
Cultural Programme
School was all set with the stage for cultural programme. Everybody took their respective seats. Stage was co-ordinated by Mr. Ashok Goyal the Govt. teacher. Programme started with the lighting candle in the front of Ma Saraswati’s statue. Cultural programme started with children’s Welcome Song followed by songs and poetry recitation by students. Cultural Programme was followed by speech by BEEO and few words by the Ibtada staff and community people enumerating the objectives of the programme, benefits of education and its necessity in today’s world and the ideas about improving school. Govt. teacher Mr. Ashok Goyal promised support to one meritorious student in the form of educational expenses and text material and books.
BEEO promised the appointment of new teacher for the school and praised the initiative undertaken by Ibtada. Programme concluded with the note of thanks from Mr. Ashok Goyal.
Enrolment
BEEO filled the enrolment form for first 10 admitted students and gave them one copy, one pen and one book each. Sweets were distributed among children after successful and eventful programme.
Tree Plantation
After the programme the BEEO, School teacher, staff of Ibtada and people from community planted saplings and gave their responsibility to children.

After successful conclusion Govt. teacher who was initially apprehensive and doubtful about the programme remarked that the success of the programme was initially doubtful for me but the event went so well that he could not imagine. He praised the initiative and support by Ibtada for if they have not pursued him and supported him he could never have gained the confidence of arranging such event. He assured of organising such events more and more in future as these programme create awareness among masses regarding education and it creates a congenial atmosphere in village related to education which otherwise is not so convenient.

Pravesh Utsav was praised by all the members of community and children and they admitted to the fact that it has not been conducted so far in the village and they are really happy with organisation of such programme..

Taleemshala....

Taleemshala is an edeavor of IBTADA in collabaration of IIMPACT.Taleemshalas are parallel schools that are run by Ibtada for girls in the backward areas of Alwar and Mewat where girls are denied basic education due to household chores,Age old practices and sometimes just like that.These girls are married sometimes at very tender age to people as old as their fathers just because they cant fight.

Ibtada tries to get drop out girls back to school and prepare them so that they feel confidant and Independent.

Taleemshala.......A ray of hope

Loan that brought back her land .....& CONFIDENCE!!

Dadar is a small village in vicinity of Alwar, district headquarter and industrial city of Rajasthan. Jatavs living in a secluded colony in this village are listed amongst scheduled caste in India. Condition of most of the members of this community is bad. Most of the members work in village as daily wage labor during the agriculture season and rest of the time they work in Alwar as construction labors. Women join their husbands in agriculture work during agriculture season and rest of the time they are either free or busy with their household chores. Addiction of smoking, chewing tobacco and country made liquor amongst men makes condition of this community worst.

Krishna is a 45 years old woman from Jatav community in this village. Krishna’s husband works as construction labor in Alwar city. Both manage to earn around Rs 2000/- monthly. She has two are daughters and a son who is studying in class 9th of village government school. One of the two daughters is married and another is studying in class 7th. Krishna owns a total of 4 beegha land which was mortgaged 7 years back to a local money lender. She took loan of………. for the treatment of her another son who suffered APPENDICITIS. He was given treatment in Alwar and then taken to Jaipur but his life could not be saved. His treatment forced family to mortgage their 4 beeghas of land for Rs.50000/ and sell the paltry jewellery that Krishna had. Krishna could never arrange enough money to get her land back. The loan though was interest free, gave moneylender the right over produce of the farm which was around Rs.16000 yearly. Without agriculture income Krishna’s family was forced to live life of deprivation, as income from wage labor is very irregular and insufficient for a family of five members to survive.
Ibtada is working on women’s empowerment through Self Help Groups in the area for around 10 years. Ibtada has formed a federation of 11 clusters called Savera Mahila Munch and each cluster is again composed of 8-10 groups each.
Some women of her community wanted to start a Self help group that was facilitated by Ibtada, an NGO that was working in this village for seven years. She attended training session for the formation of group and came to know about the benefits of the group. Her group named SEEMA started in Jan,2006.Group started with initial savings of 50 Rs from each member and had to meet every fortnight. Group was a member of Cluster named SHANTI and District level federation named Savera.Activities of this three tiered institution is facilitated by Ibtada.Members of the group discuss their problem and community issues in the meetings. An accountant keeps record of the groups and is paid by Cluster. Ibtada facilitates loans from bank to the Cluster which disburses them to the group according to their performances which is decided by regular meetings, attendances of the members and repayment of the loans. Krishna’s group started getting loans in 6 months.In last 2.5 years Krishna has taken 6 loans that amounts to 13700/- for various petty needs of her family. She paid all her monthly installment in time. Group charges 24% interest on the loan and 2% service charge that is send to cluster for payment of accountant.
This loan and its repayment gave Krishna confidence and She discussed about her mortgaged land in the meeting. Three other woman of the group also wanted loan to get their land unmortgaged. The issue was forwarded to Cluster meeting. Application of Krishna and other three women was than forwarded to IBTADA which persuaded bank to provide a loan for two years to the cluster.
Accountant of the group helped all women in preparation of documents of land. A loan of 13000/- was provided to Krishna for 15 months at the rate of 15% per annum.
Krishna got her ½ beegha land unmortgaged with this loan. She will pay back the amount in Equal monthly installments of Rs 955/-.She is hopeful and happy. She said that she will work harder to pay back the loan so that she can take another loan to unmortgage her rest of the land. She is brimming with confidence . She is thankful to ibtada and her group. Her reputation in her family has increased. Now she can take part in decision making as she is the one who represents her family in the group.

VISIT ... http://www.ibtada.org

Arsida........back to school..

Arsida lives in Dadgas Bas (Meo-Muslim) village with her parents and 7 siblings. Her father is farmer and her mother is housewife. Every person of her family was illiterate therefore her father was unknown about importance of education and he had no interest in education of Hindi language. Her father believed that children learn bad manners by education so he refused to send his children to school. All the children of his family used to work as agricultur labor.
Arsida was one of his children.Ibtada’s staff and teacher contacted her father regularly to send Arsida to taleemshala. Mothers of Mothers Education Committee contacted Arsida’s father regularly too.
Her father believed only inUrdu language so he sent her in Madarsha. Teacher of Taleemshala contacted regularly and many time in meetings he discussed this issue. Members of Village Education Committee and Mother Education Committee contacted with her father many times.
After these efforts Arsida’s father agreed to visit the school. When he visited TALEEMSHALA he felt satisfaction that Taleemshala’s environment is as good as his family’s environment. Thus he agreed to send Arsida to school.
Now Arsida is regular in Taleemshala. Taleemshala education improved her level of understanding, such as the difference between living and non-living, milk and its products, animals and their residence etc. She also enjoys thumb painting, leaf rubbing, paper folding and making clay toys, all these creative activities she had never experienced before. Like other girls in this area, she might drop out soon for her early marriage or housework burden. However her teacher and staff are trying to build up her self-learning capacity, so that she can continue to learn throughout her life.

Taleemshala is an endeavor of Ibtada for girl childs in backward region of meo muslims where sending girls to school is considered a bad practice.Ibtada's staff tries to convince parents and family to leave this age old practice.

VISIT......... http://www.ibtada.org

Formation of Self Help Groups.

Video part One

Video Part 2

Video Part three

MOTIVATION TURN INTO A SUCCESS……

A case study of Sonam

Taleemshala provided me an opportunity to explore my knowledge & to educate girl child who cannot get basic education because of our society’s pattern. I am working with Taleemshala since 2000, when we established taleemshala in Bandipura village. In seven years, I have gone through different experiences. I worked with many children. Every child was different from other. It is quite normal to have a special relation & place of children while we work for them for more than three years, but sonam was a very different child of my Taleemshala.
Sonam 19 year’s old girl is a resident of Bandipura village. She came at Taleemshala in year 2000 with the progress report of class 5th from government school, when we started our Taleemshala in Bandipura village. According to their report, she was eligible for class sixth but her parents carried her to Taleemshala for basic learning. I was surprised, why her parents want to enroll in taleemshala. I told them we are only educating girls until they do not pass class 5th and your daughter has already passed class 5th than why you want?. I will not permit her than her parent told that yes she has passed class 5th but she do not know anything,she can not read & write properly and also do not know basic math like addition, subtraction, multiply, dividing, zero & equal to. I could not believe on them so I checked for my satisfaction but

I got surprised because her parents were right. She was unable for basic functioning. I shared this narrative with my colleague & coordinator of education programme and asked him what I should do. After getting permission for enroll her in Taleemshala from the coordinator, I enrolled Sonam in my Taleemshala. She was interested in study. She came to Taleemshala daily on time and completed given exercise perfectly.
In our sharing meeting, coordinator of education programme Mr. Ramsingh Hapawat always told me not to give more attention on Sonam because she has passed class 5th. However, I treated her as well as other children.
At the initial time, she was weak in reading; by the continuous efforts from both the sides (by herself & mine); she made a good understanding about the reading of stories, poems and puzzles. She was able to write story & poem in her words and raise questions on them. In the language, she acquired knowledge up to class fourth.
She was incapable for simple addition and identified the numbers in between 1 to 100 in math. In Taleemshala, she worked up to class fourth in which she learned calculation, number system up to one billion, fraction Geometry, measurement units etc.
In environment science she participated in discussion, in the sect of Aarambhik kshamta she learned classification and tabulation after observation and knowledge up to class third.
In government school while she passed class fifth, English was not a subject in their syllabus till class fifth. She learned English in Taleemshala by working on a book that is given by ‘David Horsborough’ in this, children speak English sentences. She fined an opportunity for speaking and listening English. By the 52 standard cards, she learned identification of ABCD…. In addition, by the phoenix she learned to read and write letters. It was similar to class fourth. She got an opportunity to express herself by the Art and learned many ways to express herself rather than speaking and writing.

In July 2003, she discontinued Taleemshala. I was not miserable by this but there was a peace in my heart that my Taleemshala and I were helpful to make her progress report of class fifth more significant.
There was a soft corner for her, which motivated me to make efforts for her study. I talked with her parents for her admission in class sixth but they said what she would do with more study. She has a progress report of government school and you taught her basic things, it is sufficient for her. I tried more and more but I could not make them agree for further study of Sonam.
Many a times Sonam shared with me now, can I study more? I was answerless, her parents were not agree, but I was with a hope that she will do and I always told her you can do if your parents get ready for it.
In July 2004, a batch passed class fifth from Taleemshala and went for class sixth. Sonam again came to me and shared that she wants to study with these girls. I got an anther opportunity to convince her parents. This time she put her desire more forcefully. Luckily, her parents got ready and she went in government school in Kalsada village for class sixth. She studied here for a year and after that, she passed her class seventh & eighth from government school, Mahua khurd. She got 65% marks in class 8th. Fortunately, this school was upgraded to secondary school and Sonam is studying in class ninth in this school.
Sonam wished to study so Sonam is studying. I just want to say we can make a bright future of children like Sonam by our little efforts. We can only do efforts we cannot assume the results. We cannot give up efforts by thinking about bad results. We may change bad result into good by the positive and continuous efforts.