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Project Report
2013-2014
Writers
Mr.Anurag Mazumdar I Dr. Richa Singh I Mr.Nitin Wadhwani
Editors
Mrs.Vidya Vaidya I Dr. Richa Singh
PREFACE
Mr.Nitin Wadhwani
Founder-Director CACR
Probably for the first time, Citizens Association for Child Rights (CACR),
a citizens network registered as a non-profit organisation (NGO) gets
together to work towards demanding and ensuring rights for
underprivileged children with specific focus on improving the functioning
and quality of education in municipal schools in Mumbai.
This project report highlights some of the important programmes in
municipal schools initiated by a group of passionate citizens and volunteers during the very
first year of its operation and is a beautiful example of how volunteers and citizens from
different walks of life can get together to make a difference by active participation in a very
important cause which will ensure improved accountability, functioning and quality of primary
education in municipal schools.
Whether it is the Computer Literacy Programme, Spoken English Programme, monitoring of
major and minor repairs or becoming a part of the School Management Committee in
municipal schools, it is the story of selfless dedication and hard work of every member, which
has gone into implementing these programmes and making it work, despite the hurdles and
difficulties faced by them and full credit and applause to each and every member who has been
a part of these programmes.
However, this is just a beginning, and only first steps have been taken, guidelines and
framework have been set and real success can be achieved only if it is taken further through
sustained efforts and replicated in as many schools as possible, since we know that there are
more than 1100 such municipal schools housed in 450+ buildings in Mumbai.
Members of CACR are in for a long haul and will have to face and overcome the challenges in
implementing many more such programmes in municipal schools related to proper
implementation of the various clauses of RTE Act, which talks about ensuring free and
compulsory education for every child, and also ensure Quality Education, Health and
Sanitation Programmes, Community Empowerment Programmes, etc. and we will need the
support of many more such passionate and like-minded citizens and volunteers to take this
forward.
Special thanks to Anurag Mazumdar and Debanita Biswas for helping us in completing this
project report and there are not enough words to appreciate the tremendous amount of
dedication, passion and hard work of Dr.Richa Singh, in not only being an integral part of
CACR but also has been a great help in compiling the data and information from volunteers
and making this project report a reality.
With Best Regards
Nitin Wadhwani,
Citizens Association for Child Rights
Founder-Director
INDEX
CACR Introduction and Background
History and Genesis
Our work and USP
CACR Advisory Board and Core Team
Projects and Impact :
Computer literacy project with IITB
Spoken English e Teach
School Management Committee- SMC
Other Impact Stories
Holistic Developmental Activities
Future Endeavours
CACR Partners
Volunteer and members-CACR
Diversity utilised as strength - Often municipal schools have a heterogeneous and diverse pool
of students be it class, caste, community or religion. This offers several challenges but CACR would
like to see this as an opportunity rather than a roadblock. This is the vision of a just and equitable
society which the neighbourhood school is a part of. Our organisations USP lies in the fact that we
focus exclusively on these very strengths of the municipal schools by trying to activate and improve
the system rather than creating alternate parallel structures. While the diversity and number of
students make the system increasingly difficult to negotiate, it also offers us the challenge of
focussing our energy to deliver on participatory democracy right from infrastructure to learning.
Identifying actual beneficiaries - Our initiative also focuses on identifying and addressing the
actual beneficiaries of the process of primary education so that the delivery mechanism becomes
much more empathetic and efficient. There are several government schemes available for education
of economically marginalised families but the awareness and knowledge of these schemes has not
spread. It is yet another unique activity of our organisation wherein we talk directly to the
various stakeholders of the education department, such as parents, students and BMC officials,
to ensure accountability. This also helps create awareness amongst communities directly affected
by the programmes and addresses the problem of their implementation. Our experience has shown us
that, even if a sizeable percentage of the INR 2660 crores allotted for primary education in Mumbai
this year can be accounted for, it can be truly transformational.
Monitoring Indicators - In order to achieve this level of accountability CACR has employed a
unique tool Monitoring Indicators. These Monitoring Indicators for infrastructure, curriculum,
midday meals, have been devised after careful consideration with the education department as well
as the communities benefitting from these schemes. Our team of members and volunteers visit schools
to collect data and then measure the performance of each school by employing these monitoring
indicators. These parameters ensure that there is a standard mechanism to evaluate problems. This
data and analysis is then shared with all the members of our organisation as well as with the Education
Department. This is followed up with further planning and implementation of activities together with
the very people with whom the report is shared.
Short and long term goals - CACR has also identified, as part of its targeted intervention, some
short and long term goals. While we believe that sharing monitoring and evaluation reports will go
a long way in fixing the lacunae in the system we also would like to focus on short term goals that
can immediately help the children in the BMC schools. These inputs are given in the formal forums
of the education department, RTE training, teacher training, enrolment drives and spoken English
classes. These initiatives take note of the fact that often short term activities like these utilise the
existing infrastructure and help motivate the staff. Particularly, the English speaking classes and the
Computer Literacy Initiative have been able to arrest the drop outs of children from vernacular
backgrounds.
Collaboration, not competition - We are also acutely aware that change cannot be through an
individual agent and therefore we have partnered with several reputable institutions and agencies for
carrying out our initiates. We have tied up with the Rotary Club of Mumbai for the Chhatra Adhikar
Project (CAP) to monitor and improve the performance of schools in Mumbai. We have roped in
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) for the basic Information Technology (IT) skills
training programme to BMC schools. Apart from this, there are several other area and ward level
collaborations that CACR has forged for better governance and accountability.
Intervention: IIT had developed this program to provide self-learning audio compact discs (CDs) to
individuals, particularly students and these spoken tutorials were developed in several Indian
languages. This would enable the students to teach themselves basic IT skills such as Typing and
editing documents, creating presentations, and drawing up tables etc. This is part of an initiative of
National Mission on Education through ICT,
Government of India, to promote IT literacy through
Open Source Software.
Many citizens groups, ALMs as well as CACR joined
hands with the prestigious institution for this project.
CACR, as a partner with IIT-B, has enabled the
students to access these spoken-tutorial materials in
BMC schools and learn at their own pace and
convenience. The picture shows CACR advisory
board member Mr. Shailesh Gandhi taking
computer training workshops in Tanklane
Municipal School.
In this process, first BMC and government aided
schools with the potential to implement this particular
project are identified by the volunteers. The schools
need to have at least five computer peripherals in
working condition. CACR also looks into the condition
that their needs to be at least two volunteers who would
be ready to work in that school to assist the programme.
In the next phase the volunteers visit the school in order to talk to the administration in the school.
This visit also requires them to check and ascertain if the computers are in working condition and
would be suitable for the project or not. Then the principal of the school is contacted and a
presentation on the project is given and it is explained to her/him how it would benefit the school.
Pamphlets and project literature are given to the staff as well so that the project snowballs into a
discussion among the various stakeholders. CACR also ascertains if there are provisions for virtual
network classrooms in the school. This is important as this could enable to present the learning for a
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Chakala Mun.
Dixit Road
Radhakrishnan
Marol Police Camp
Chembur Marvali Church
DN Nagar Mun.
Chembur Naka
H-west schools
Pie Chart showing the schools and number of students benefitted by the project
CACR has partnered with student clubs and social groups of various colleges of Mumbai like Enactus
HR College, VESIT, Rotaract Club of Ruia, NSS groups, etc. to get student volunteers for this
project.
The volunteers have also noted that in several schools the BMC has appointed a computer teacher
where there was none thus reducing the burden of the volunteer and also forging a familiarity and
continuity in the pedagogy that comes with a permanent teacher.
Continuance: CACR is also in the process of initiating it in other wards. This can be done with the
help of IIT network and also the education department. Most of the models followed in the schools
can be scaled up to a hundred students at least. 100 teachers have already been identified which
means that 300 more teachers and mentors are required as BMC has 300 school buildings and each
of them would require one instructor each to assist with the project.
Going forward, CACR also believes that it will encourage BMC to recruit full-time teachers for the
computer literacy after having successfully trained from CACR because this will reduce the
requirement of voluntary teachers. This has already been done in a few schools and CACR believes
that this is the best way forward.
Intervention: For the purpose of teaching English to the children in BMC schools it was best to use
animation-dependant audio visual material. DVDs which worked with animation videos were chosen
by Citizens Association for Child Rights for the purpose. This would help both parties children
would respond better to interactive material
and it would be convenient for a teacher to
teach in this manner.
These DVDs were facilitated by the Bombay
Community Public Trust and made by TATA
Interactive systems. The DVDs are based on
the prescribed curriculum of the Maharashtra
government. They were designed keeping in
mind that they do not take up extra time in the
school schedule which is packed with activities
already. Moreover, the DVDs are such that they
do not put any additional strain on the teachers
and the instructors because they can introduce
Success stories: This unique initiative has resulted in a lot of schools queuing up for this programme
and there have been such interest shown from the balwadis. The experience by one of the dedicated
CACR volunteers, Dr Sharad Wagle, is worth noting,
By November, 2013 I had enough experience and data to know the student
population (possibly representative of any BMC primary school) reasonably well in
terms of their education level, their knowledge of English, and their class behaviour,
their differing talent to learn and urge to study. The picture other than normal spread
of talent as in any group was dismal. Most students even up to 7th standard, had
difficulty reading English alphabet and in differentiating the use of capital letters and
when to use them. The vocabulary was virtually absent which means that any word
in piece of text is not comprehensible.
This shows the acute need for a programme that can address the English language skills of the
children. And this can only happen within the system of the government school itself and not by
running a parallel system.
Here are a few illustrative examples of the few success stories of our Spoken English programme
across three municipal schools due to the efforts of CACR members:
Khar Danda Municipal School building (Marathi, Hindi, Kannad, Urdu medium)
* Students benefitted --200 students (5, 6, and 7th standard)
* CACR volunteers - Ritu Tiwari, Neelima Widge, Mr. Mirchandani, Bloomingdale school kids
Laxmi Nagar Municipal School (Marathi medium)
* Students benefitted --100 students (5th to 7th standard)
* CACR volunteer - Mr.Mirchandani
Tanklane Municipal School Building (Urdu, Kannada, Hindi, Tamil and Gujarati medium)
* Students benefitted -- 250 students (2nd to 8th standard)
* CACR volunteers - Harsha Desai, Bharti Gandhi, Bharti Vora, Narinder Madan, Rajeev Mehta,
Dilmohan, Varsha Kamath, Daksha Modi, Satish Sutaria, Mr.Shaliesh Gandhi, Akshata Prabhu,
Rahul Mody
Petit Municipal School Building (Urdu, Marathi, Gujrathi and English)
*Students benefitted---200 students (Standards 4 to 7)
* CACR Volunteers: Shefali, Nayantara B, Archana Niphadkar, Dr Wagle, Dr Archana Wagle
Continuance: Citizens Association for Child Rights is planning to introduce these simple 8-pack
interactive DVDs by Tata Interactive to several other groups so that they can cover other BMC
schools. It is also looking at collaborating with peer educators so that they can train other teachers
over time to introduce this low-cost method to impart English language training.
. The members further questioned her about the inferior quality of food and also made a written
complaint to the education department. The building in charge was thereafter given strict
instructions by education
department officials to inspect and
taste the mid-day meal before
distribution and the food contractor
was issued a warning. Thereafter a
meeting of all contractors was called
by Administrative officers of K-east
and H-west wards due to complaint
by CACR members. Richa Singh
shows the video of poor quality
meal being supplied during the food contractor meeting.
1] Petit School:
The structure of Petit school was dilapidated and this was documented and brought to the attention
of the school authorities. The objective behind this was the safety of the children who were
In course of the meetings as well as through media reports, it was found out that Varun International
School was not providing any facilities and amenities, 27 items, etc. to the children of the school.
Only 2 out of the 12 teachers employed by Varun International School had the required qualifications
to teach children.
CACR whole-heartedly supported the community members and students to remove the illegal trust
out of the Municipal school building and establish the Nityanand English medium MPS School in its
place. Today the school is running successfully with more than 250 students.
MUST Run
The third edition of MUSTRun, organised by the H-West Federation and Wake Up Bandra on
16th February 2014 Sunday, saw the active participation of 400 municipal school children, senior
citizens and physically disabled people. School children from Petit Municipal School and Gazdar
Bandh schools participated with full vigour in the 2 km run. This was a great initiative that also
allowed the children to participate beyond
their curricular activities and extend their
energies to outdoor physical activities.
The top 3 finalists were given certificates
and prizes. The children were excited to
receive the awards and said they would
like to participate again next year. The
school teachers thanked CACR members
for organising such events and said that
such events give a platform to under
privileged kids to display their talent and
make them more confident individuals.
BMC school students run with full
vigour at the start of the race as seen
this is picture.
DNA iCan
DNA (Daily News and Analysis) iCan Marathon is a
platform conceived to celebrate the spirit of
achievement among women. CACR approached DNA
as we valued and appreciated the message behind DNA
iCan marathon - 'World Without Boundaries and
requested the organizers to give an opportunity to
around 75 girl students from BMC schools to
participate in this event (the 5 km-Fun Run).
Since the girl students were from weak economic strata,
they themselves could not afford the participation fees
and associated costs. CACR assisted them with the
registration, logistics, travel, etc. enabling them to
participate in an event which they would have
otherwise not been able to, due to financial and logistical problems.
At the marathon we also met the fitness guru Mickey Mehta who was happy to share few health tips
with the girls and also offered to collaborate with CACR for planning a fitness program for the
municipal schools. BMC school girls with Mr Mickey Mehta above at DNA iCAN event.
Future Endeavours
We plan to continue with our current projects and also next year organise some healthcare workshops,
lecture-demonstrations and interactive sessions with healthcare providers for the parents and students
of the municipal schools. Diseases are quite common among children studying in municipal schools
due to lack of training at home as well as paucity of sanitation facilities in their surroundings. This
also makes them prone to water-borne diseases as there is little awareness of hygiene at home. CACR
plans to intervene in these key areas by planning activities and disseminating knowledge about
healthcare and hygiene to these children.
We also have noticed that many students have a flair for art creation - drawing, craft, sketching,
designing, etc. CACR will be organising workshops so that students can hone their skills in these
creative areas as well as indulge in it as a hobby if they want to.
CACR has also identified another problem area lack of municipal schools beyond the 7th standard
where a student can continue till the 10th standard, an issue it wants to address. This is not conducive
to education intervention programs because lack of continuing education often prompts students to
drop out. To prevent this we have thought of providing monetary support by giving needy student
scholarships to support their tuition fees so their learning doesnt stop.
CACR is working towards implementing BMC Sports Centres all over the city and a proposal to have
at least one per ward, i.e. 24 all over the city, is already on the DMC's table for his approval.
These Sports Centres will also engage specialists from the private organisations under CSR to help
in providing training in individual and team events to children enrolled in municipal schools.
CACR has also initiated a proposal for getting in Nalanda Nrityakala Academy, a well know and
established institute in teaching classical dance forms and this facility will also be made available in
municipal schools.
Our Partners
CACR has been fortunate to have collaborated with key institutions and experts in the very first year
of our inception. Our partners have provided us with key networking and strategic support.
We continue to network with them in the coming year and also forge new partnerships with
organisations and domain experts.
Our key partners for the past year have been:
1. Rotary Clubs in Mumbai:
The Rotary Club, which certainly does not need an introduction, is an international organization
involved with community service at large.
CACR is pleased to have been involved with them for their Chhatra Adhikar project. Going forward
CACR will also be partnering with them in one of their major projects this year, which is T.E.A.C.H
- a programme on Basic Education and Literacy. CACR, having a wide experience with working in
BMC schools, will be helping them in implementing the programme in municipal schools this year.
2. H-West Federation
The H-W Ward Federation is a citizens organization that has been spearheading the cause of
citizens of the H-W Ward, Bandra, Khar & Santacruz, (W) in Mumbai, for more than 20 years.
During this time, the federation has worked closely with the municipal authorities, police, other
government agencies and NGOs in upholding the citizens' rights to a clean, safe, and healthy and
just environment. It is managed by the H-West Ward Citizens Trust, a public trust registered with
the Charity Commissioner.
CACRs first members and support has been from the Federation and even now, we have the
maximum number of citizen volunteers and SMC members in this ward.
4. HR Enactus
The H.R College Chapter of Enactus is a global network of students, faculty & business leaders,
and working towards resolving the socio-economic challenges faced by vulnerable communities
through the application of social entrepreneurship. Thanks to ex-Sheriff Mrs.Indu Shahani, CACR
member Dr. Richa Singh was introduced to the young college volunteers of Enactus HR College.
These enthusiastic volunteers helped implement the Computer Literacy Project in BMC schools of
western suburbs.
THE CITIZENS THAT DRIVE THE CHANGE WITH THEIR EXEMPLARY SPIRIT