Preamble: Ushagram Trust and Asha CNJ
Asha CNJ's association with Ushagram Trust, based in the Nadia district of West Bengal, is one year old. Asha CNJ has been funding the Trust-run school for children of classes KG to class IX (class X to be added next academic year), Vidyaniketan Shishubihar (VSB), for the funding cycle of 2007-08. This year, Asha CNJ received another proposal from the Trust for supporting 12 Balwadis, catering to 478
children in various villages.
children in various villages.Ushagram Trust was established in 1980, by an ex-freedom fighter and visionary man Gopal Chandra Chakraborty, as a community development endeavor. The action area of the Trust is entirely rural. It comprises of 12 villages (out of a total of 14 villages) in the Barasat Gram Panchayat (Ranaghat Block I) area in Nadia district. These 12 villages are where the Trust runs its various community development programs - aimed at an integrated socio-economic development of the rural mother and her child. While the VSB school and balwadis cater to the rural children, various other literacy and emplyment/income generation programs (see evolving report here) are directed primarily at the womenfolk and mothers.
The current villages under the aegis of Ushagram Trust are (please refer to map): Cluster I - Shibpur, Nazirpur, Ushagram (erstwhile Taherpur Nutanpara), Taherpur Puranapara, Mahisdanga, Barasat, Bhaduri, and Cluster II - Mugrail, Gagrakhali, Bagrail, Barakulla and Chandandaha. The two villages of Gangni and Anjangarh are still outside the action area of the Trust. Furthermore, the Trust does not operate in the small urban pockets which fall under the administration of municipalities, such as Taherpur Municipality and Birnagar Municipality.
The current villages under the aegis of Ushagram Trust are (please refer to map): Cluster I - Shibpur, Nazirpur, Ushagram (erstwhile Taherpur Nutanpara), Taherpur Puranapara, Mahisdanga, Barasat, Bhaduri, and Cluster II - Mugrail, Gagrakhali, Bagrail, Barakulla and Chandandaha. The two villages of Gangni and Anjangarh are still outside the action area of the Trust. Furthermore, the Trust does not operate in the small urban pockets which fall under the administration of municipalities, such as Taherpur Municipality and Birnagar Municipality.
Visit to the Balwadis, June 2008
We visited the Ushagram Trust on the 18th and 19th of June, 2008. I was accompanied by my uncle and cousin (both of them helped with previous Asha CNJ visits). We travelled to Ushagram early in the morning of the 18th by road, following a day and night of midsummer cyclonic depression & torrential monsoon rains. Our journey, starting from Hooghly, took us about 1.5 hours. We reached Ushagram around 8 am. Later in the day, around 10 am, we were joined by Purba (Asha CNJ volunteer) who had traveled by train from Kolkata - a journey that took her about 3 hours. Over our tight-scheduled visit of two days, we spent time understanding various activities of the Trust. In this report, we'll concentrate only the Balwadis that we visited.
Our first stop was Singha Smriti Sangha, a Balwadi in Ushagram village (rechristened from "Taherpur Nutanpara" presumably after the Trust became popular). This balwadi is located nearest to the compounds of the Trust, sharing grounds with the Trust's various units: Ashram (meditation center), training centers, library, VSB school etc. on two sides, and bounded naturally by fields on the other two. The field adjacent to the Balwadi was brimming with budding tuberoses, an organic farming plantation.
Singha Smriti Sangha, Ushagram village
The current enrollment for "Singha Smriti Sangha" Balwadi is 57. Number of teachers: 2. We reached there at 9 am. The balwadi building is pukka, with tilted asbestos roof. It comprises of two classrooms (for two sections, A and B) on either side, separated by a teachers' room in the middle - where attendance registers, notebooks, books, charts and other supplies are stored. There is an extended porch in the front. The toilets (two) are located behind another Trust building adjacent to the Balwadi. The supply for drinking water is from deep tubewells (240 ft deep, Arsenic testing done a couple of times to ensure safety) planted by the Trust. The building housing the Balwadi was completed in the late '80s with one-time funding from the Irish govt. It gave us the prototype architecture of Balwadis in 8 other villages, also funded by the Irish govt. Each Ushagram Balwadi is managed by the local youth club of the village in which it is located. The names of the Balwadis are also derived from the respective youth clubs. This is an effort to involve the village youth in running the balwadi in their own villages. In practice, the Trust is responsible for most of the important things like appointing teachers, enrolling students, providing school supplies and overall management. The youth club, in most cases, is responsible for providing land for the balwadi, resolving day-to-day maintenance issues and conducting cultural programs/audio-visual demonstrations on the Balwadi grounds.About 20 students were present when we visited. The low attendance, we were told, was due to heavy and continuous rains for two days (when we visited the electricity cables had snapped due to rains, and there was no electricity for almost the entire day) and since our visit was only 2 days into the school session after summer vacation, some students had not yet settled back into regular schedule. Due to the low attendance, they had put section A and B together for the day. Due to the rains, some kids were in uniforms - white tops and navy blue bottoms - but in flip-flops - and some in casual dresses. The mothers said that most kids had one set of uniform, which would get damp in such weather, so they sent the kids in casual dress. We checked the attendance register and it seemed the general attendance is quite good. Parents (mostly mothers) had gathered in the porch outside the Balwadi to collect their children. And we were told that a monthly nutrition demonstration and the monthly health check-up of the children were to take place after the classes were over.
We spoke to a teacher and some mothers while we waited for the class to get over. We asked a few children to recite poems for us, which they did. After that the children lined up for measurement of their height and weight, which was recorded in a register. After the measurements were over, Ms. Nupur Majumdar, a nutrition expert working with the Trust, came and discussed some cheap, local and easily available sources of proteins and taught the mothers a couple of simple nutritious recipes to suit the child's palate. School ended for the day with the children getting a sample of one of the cooked recipes - made with sprouted black beans.
We went over some of the textbooks and children's classworks. The stationary supplies like notebooks, pencils and some study material is given out by the Trust. They use special notebooks and techniques (using dots and lines) for the children to pick up good handwriting, especially a challenge with Bengali alphabets. The children's handwritings were particularly impressive. The parents supply textbooks, however there are spare textbooks for those who cannot afford.
Sanghasree Club, Balaka Sangha and Khudiram Sangha, Bhaduri village
The following day, 19th June, we sheaded off early in the morning, around 7:30 and drove all the way to Bhaduri. It had rained again and the muddy roads that too us to the villages, off the highway/main road were difficult to drive/walk on. All these three Balwadis are located in Bhaduri village, which is one of the bigger villages in the area. At Sanghasree Club, we met with two young teachers, who were most enterprising. They seemed to be very motivated in their work. They showed us how they used the teachers' training materials to teach in the classroom. Once again we saw very few attendees, presumably because of the summer vacation inertia coupled with bad weather. At Sanghasree Club, 9 out of 26 students were present. The teachers showed us many of their teaching materials, charts and aides as well as student notebooks. Our next stop was Khudiram Sangha, where things were similar. The Balwadi was getting over for the day as we reached (9:30 am). We met with the children (slightly better attendance here) some of whom recited poems for us and wrote words on the blackboard. The teachers here are women from the same village (see picture above). The final stop was Balaka Sangha balwadi, where the kids had already left, but the teacher was waiting to meet us. She said she was preparing for her graduation exam apart from teaching the kids in the Balwadi. Almost all the teachers we met seemed to enjoy their jobs, although they seemed to be not-too-happy about the salary. The last two Balwadis we visited did not have toilets. The children use toilet in a couple of nearby houses, by mutual agreement.
FAQ clarification questions (also refer to Q&A page)
1. Is there any kind of fee that children have to pay to attend the Balwadis?
The students pay a fee of Rs 10/- a month as tuition fee and a one-time admission fee of Rs. 25/- . They also bear expenses for textbooks and a set of uniform. Other school supplies are distributed by the Trust.
2. What are the teacher salaries?
Typical teacher salaries are in a range around Rs 650/- with individual salaries depending on job-seniority/experience, starting from Rs. 500/-
3. What's the duration and timings of the Balwadi?
Two years. Timings are 7:30-10:00 am.
4. What is the Anganwadi situation in the area? Is there any kid who's trying to attend both your Balwadi and an Anganwadi (may be for the mid-day meal)?
Anganwadis are govt.-run pre-primary centers, with special emphasis on the health and well-being of the rural child and the mother. There are 33 such centres (with a roll strength of 975) running in the jurisdiction of entire Barasat Gram panchayet, i.e. 14 villages, of which 11 villages fall under Ushagram Trust. We learnt a lot in trying to explore this question. Firstly, the Ushagram Balwadis in the area are much older and existed long before the govt introduced the Anganwadi concept. We learnt that ALL the children currently enrolled in the Ushagram Balwadis are also enrolled in the govt. Anganwadis. The timings do not conflict, since the Anganwadis start at 10:30. We also passed by some Anganwadis as we toured the villages. They are typical pukka structures with at least one classroom - often not as well maintained as the Ushagram Balwadis. The Anganwadis are almost universally referred to as "Khichuri School" (The school serving mid-day meal, often Khichdi - hence the name!) - the children go to the Anganwadis after their Balwadi gets over, mostly to avail the midday meal. The Anganwadis also work for the mothers in issues like contraception, family planning, pregnancy and pre-natal care. Various sources (parents, teachers, youth club members and coordinators) mentioned that mostly the standard of education in the Anganwadis was not up to the mark. With some exceptions. We also heard of instances where Anganwadi-teachers are in good terms with Ushagram Balwadi-teachers and they share/exchange lesson plans. Overall, there is unconflicting and somewhat complementary co-existence of Balwadis and Anganwadis in the area, and the children/parents avail of both. Finally, we learnt that the Anganwadi teachers earn really high salaries (like Rs 2000/- or even higher) as per govt. scales, though they often have to do less work!
5. We noted (from the data in the project proposal) that the literacy rate is lowest in the village Barakulla, and it's way below national average. Could you please explain the reason behind such apparent anomaly? Why none set up a Balwadi in that village?
Barakullah, Bagrail and Chandandaha are some of the villages situated furthest from the central office of the Trust (8-9 Kms far). They are also some of the villages inhabited most with SC/ST/religious minorities. This is the reason why Barakulla is lagging behind in developmental aspects of which literacy is just one indicator. The Trust had tried to set up a Balwadi in Barakulla in the past, but was inhibited due to political disturbances between two main rival parties, which interfered with the Trust's functioning. However, in the timescale of coming 5 years, the Trust is positively looking to set up Balwadis in these three villages which have been left out so far. They also spoke about submitting a proposal for the Barakulla Balwadi soon.
6. What happens to most of the children after they graduate from the Balwadi?
About 30% join Vidyaniketan Shishu Bihar. 70% join govt. schools. We got the impression that almost all children is the area continue their studies at least upto class VIII. Usually boys study longer than girls on an average.
7. What % of students from your Balwadi go to Ushagram's primary schools and what % to Government primary schools?
30% and 70%, respectively.
8. Does the trust undertake any sort of regular health check up for the children attending Balwadis?
Yes, a monthly growth monitoring program is underway. Every child has a monitoring chart in which their monthly records of height and weight are entered, and compared against a standard govt. chart depicting "normal" or expected growth. If a child is found underweight, comments are entered in the health-card suggesting the parents to take steps. Apart from that a nutrition expert goes around the Balwadis and holds nutritional advice and cooking demonstration classes once a month for the mothers.
9. How are parents involved?
Most parents are farmers or housewives who also work on handlooms./handicrafts or in the fields. They are mostly unable to help the children in their study. The Balwadis have parent-teacher meetings every month. In practice, the teachers (also mostly from the same village or nearby village) knows the parents by face, thereby easing out the interaction. In Dec-Jan every year, they hold a Child Fair ("Shishu-Mela"), where there are various children's activities and cultural/sports programs. The venue rotates between all the villages. Parents take part in this fair.
10. Who are the teachers?
Teachers are mostly women from the villages themselves. A few of them are graduate, some have 12+ or even 10+ education. However, all of them are trained through teachers training workshops every 6 months. We saw some of the training material, which are developed by the coordinator, in consultation with experienced educators in reputed schools in Kolkata, like Dumdum Kishore Bharati School and Holy Child school. These educators are also invited to conduct the training workshops for Balwadi teachers. The Balwadi teachers spoke highly of the 3-day training workshops they attended from time to time.
11. And what is taught in the schools?
The children, in their two years stint at the Balwadis, learn among other things to read and write Bengali and English alphabets, count and write numbers, identify colours, objects, flowers, animals, birds etc from pictures/charts, and write their names, recite poems - English and Bengali, write their names, parents names and address.
The students pay a fee of Rs 10/- a month as tuition fee and a one-time admission fee of Rs. 25/- . They also bear expenses for textbooks and a set of uniform. Other school supplies are distributed by the Trust.
2. What are the teacher salaries?
Typical teacher salaries are in a range around Rs 650/- with individual salaries depending on job-seniority/experience, starting from Rs. 500/-
3. What's the duration and timings of the Balwadi?
Two years. Timings are 7:30-10:00 am.
4. What is the Anganwadi situation in the area? Is there any kid who's trying to attend both your Balwadi and an Anganwadi (may be for the mid-day meal)?
Anganwadis are govt.-run pre-primary centers, with special emphasis on the health and well-being of the rural child and the mother. There are 33 such centres (with a roll strength of 975) running in the jurisdiction of entire Barasat Gram panchayet, i.e. 14 villages, of which 11 villages fall under Ushagram Trust. We learnt a lot in trying to explore this question. Firstly, the Ushagram Balwadis in the area are much older and existed long before the govt introduced the Anganwadi concept. We learnt that ALL the children currently enrolled in the Ushagram Balwadis are also enrolled in the govt. Anganwadis. The timings do not conflict, since the Anganwadis start at 10:30. We also passed by some Anganwadis as we toured the villages. They are typical pukka structures with at least one classroom - often not as well maintained as the Ushagram Balwadis. The Anganwadis are almost universally referred to as "Khichuri School" (The school serving mid-day meal, often Khichdi - hence the name!) - the children go to the Anganwadis after their Balwadi gets over, mostly to avail the midday meal. The Anganwadis also work for the mothers in issues like contraception, family planning, pregnancy and pre-natal care. Various sources (parents, teachers, youth club members and coordinators) mentioned that mostly the standard of education in the Anganwadis was not up to the mark. With some exceptions. We also heard of instances where Anganwadi-teachers are in good terms with Ushagram Balwadi-teachers and they share/exchange lesson plans. Overall, there is unconflicting and somewhat complementary co-existence of Balwadis and Anganwadis in the area, and the children/parents avail of both. Finally, we learnt that the Anganwadi teachers earn really high salaries (like Rs 2000/- or even higher) as per govt. scales, though they often have to do less work!
5. We noted (from the data in the project proposal) that the literacy rate is lowest in the village Barakulla, and it's way below national average. Could you please explain the reason behind such apparent anomaly? Why none set up a Balwadi in that village?
Barakullah, Bagrail and Chandandaha are some of the villages situated furthest from the central office of the Trust (8-9 Kms far). They are also some of the villages inhabited most with SC/ST/religious minorities. This is the reason why Barakulla is lagging behind in developmental aspects of which literacy is just one indicator. The Trust had tried to set up a Balwadi in Barakulla in the past, but was inhibited due to political disturbances between two main rival parties, which interfered with the Trust's functioning. However, in the timescale of coming 5 years, the Trust is positively looking to set up Balwadis in these three villages which have been left out so far. They also spoke about submitting a proposal for the Barakulla Balwadi soon.
6. What happens to most of the children after they graduate from the Balwadi?
About 30% join Vidyaniketan Shishu Bihar. 70% join govt. schools. We got the impression that almost all children is the area continue their studies at least upto class VIII. Usually boys study longer than girls on an average.
7. What % of students from your Balwadi go to Ushagram's primary schools and what % to Government primary schools?
30% and 70%, respectively.
8. Does the trust undertake any sort of regular health check up for the children attending Balwadis?
Yes, a monthly growth monitoring program is underway. Every child has a monitoring chart in which their monthly records of height and weight are entered, and compared against a standard govt. chart depicting "normal" or expected growth. If a child is found underweight, comments are entered in the health-card suggesting the parents to take steps. Apart from that a nutrition expert goes around the Balwadis and holds nutritional advice and cooking demonstration classes once a month for the mothers.
9. How are parents involved?
Most parents are farmers or housewives who also work on handlooms./handicrafts or in the fields. They are mostly unable to help the children in their study. The Balwadis have parent-teacher meetings every month. In practice, the teachers (also mostly from the same village or nearby village) knows the parents by face, thereby easing out the interaction. In Dec-Jan every year, they hold a Child Fair ("Shishu-Mela"), where there are various children's activities and cultural/sports programs. The venue rotates between all the villages. Parents take part in this fair.
10. Who are the teachers?
Teachers are mostly women from the villages themselves. A few of them are graduate, some have 12+ or even 10+ education. However, all of them are trained through teachers training workshops every 6 months. We saw some of the training material, which are developed by the coordinator, in consultation with experienced educators in reputed schools in Kolkata, like Dumdum Kishore Bharati School and Holy Child school. These educators are also invited to conduct the training workshops for Balwadi teachers. The Balwadi teachers spoke highly of the 3-day training workshops they attended from time to time.
11. And what is taught in the schools?
The children, in their two years stint at the Balwadis, learn among other things to read and write Bengali and English alphabets, count and write numbers, identify colours, objects, flowers, animals, birds etc from pictures/charts, and write their names, recite poems - English and Bengali, write their names, parents names and address.
Observations and general recommendations
1. Need for toilets in two Balwadis:
Two Balwadis don't have toilets on their premises. These need to be built. Land is available, but one-time fund required.
2. Superior to Anganwadis, extend to more children desirable:
The quality of education at these Balwadis is much better than that of Anganwadis (which is more of a child day-care than a school), as is borne out by the fact that the Balwadi passouts do much better than their anganwadi peers when they get admitted to govt. primary schools. This was mentioned by several parents. However, since only about half of the total children in the population in the action area get to avail the Balwadis, some steps should be taken to admit more children into the Balwadi system. Steps should be taken to encourage more kids to come and join the Balwadis.
3. Fall in enrollment from 478 to 380 - family planning?
The Trust gave us a projected enrollment of 380 (compared to 478 in the prev year). However, the main reason seems to be drop in the no. of children overall due to better family planning practices and not due to admission refusals (most Balwadis are able to take in more students)
4. Need Balwadi in Barkulla - with currently lowest literacy rate:
The extension of Balwadis to Barkulla is necessary, to bring up the literacy and education scenario there. Other villages, which have been having UT Balwadis for two decades, are much above Barkulla as per the literacy rate goes. There is a need to bring up Barkulla to that level, too. It should be mentioned that we visited Gagrakhali, another very poor village, where the Trust activities like Balwadi and adult literacy is visibly a positive force in the general development of the village.
5. Dried up funding, need for Asha to step-in:
Most (2/3rds) of the Balwadis were built with one-time fund from the Irish govt back in the 80's. The remaining 1/3rd were funded by Children International, who work in India via Sahay, an NGO based in Kolkata. The Balwadis were also funded by CI+Sahay till 2000. This halt in 2000 came about due to a conflict of philosophy. CI+Sahay's approach was through funding of individual children (through educational expenses, other expenses and often expensive toys and gifts) which eventually created unwanted divides between peers and sometimes sibling-tensions, or inequality between neighbours. Hence, a rift in the collaboration. From 2000 to present, the funding came from a Christian missionary orgn., which is also dried up currently. So, to keep the Balwaids running with the current infrastructure, there is a big need of Asha to intervene.
Two Balwadis don't have toilets on their premises. These need to be built. Land is available, but one-time fund required.
2. Superior to Anganwadis, extend to more children desirable:
The quality of education at these Balwadis is much better than that of Anganwadis (which is more of a child day-care than a school), as is borne out by the fact that the Balwadi passouts do much better than their anganwadi peers when they get admitted to govt. primary schools. This was mentioned by several parents. However, since only about half of the total children in the population in the action area get to avail the Balwadis, some steps should be taken to admit more children into the Balwadi system. Steps should be taken to encourage more kids to come and join the Balwadis.
3. Fall in enrollment from 478 to 380 - family planning?
The Trust gave us a projected enrollment of 380 (compared to 478 in the prev year). However, the main reason seems to be drop in the no. of children overall due to better family planning practices and not due to admission refusals (most Balwadis are able to take in more students)
4. Need Balwadi in Barkulla - with currently lowest literacy rate:
The extension of Balwadis to Barkulla is necessary, to bring up the literacy and education scenario there. Other villages, which have been having UT Balwadis for two decades, are much above Barkulla as per the literacy rate goes. There is a need to bring up Barkulla to that level, too. It should be mentioned that we visited Gagrakhali, another very poor village, where the Trust activities like Balwadi and adult literacy is visibly a positive force in the general development of the village.
5. Dried up funding, need for Asha to step-in:
Most (2/3rds) of the Balwadis were built with one-time fund from the Irish govt back in the 80's. The remaining 1/3rd were funded by Children International, who work in India via Sahay, an NGO based in Kolkata. The Balwadis were also funded by CI+Sahay till 2000. This halt in 2000 came about due to a conflict of philosophy. CI+Sahay's approach was through funding of individual children (through educational expenses, other expenses and often expensive toys and gifts) which eventually created unwanted divides between peers and sometimes sibling-tensions, or inequality between neighbours. Hence, a rift in the collaboration. From 2000 to present, the funding came from a Christian missionary orgn., which is also dried up currently. So, to keep the Balwaids running with the current infrastructure, there is a big need of Asha to intervene.
6. Private tuition - a common practice
We found that the practice of hiring private tutors in addition to school is a common practice in the area, that the poorest of the poor now indulges in. The Balwadi teachers actively discourage parents to continue this practice, and we did meet some parents who testified to this fact and abstained from arranging extra private tuitions. However, for the majority, it's like a basic necessity they feel obliged to provide to their children! Call it an influx of typically urban practices or simply a status symbol influenced by peers, at least a good percentage of the parents are into this practice, even at the stage of Balwadis. They would pay something like Rs.40 p.m. for this.
7. Involving mothers - integrated development
Most of the mothers of the Balwadi-going children are also enrolled in the adult-education centers run by the Trust in village, literally at the doorsteps of the adult students. Some of these centers even assemble at the Balwadi buildings in the evening. Most mothers (a total of ~3000 women) are also part of the self-help groups and microcredit groups introduced by the Trust (see evolving draft of other proposal under consideration by Asha Uflorida chapter), and some of them take part in several emplyment-generating training &production undertaken by the Trust. Like bee-keeping, organic farming, Tant & Batik textiles, food processing etc. So this brings more of an integrated development focussed on the Mother & child.
We found that the practice of hiring private tutors in addition to school is a common practice in the area, that the poorest of the poor now indulges in. The Balwadi teachers actively discourage parents to continue this practice, and we did meet some parents who testified to this fact and abstained from arranging extra private tuitions. However, for the majority, it's like a basic necessity they feel obliged to provide to their children! Call it an influx of typically urban practices or simply a status symbol influenced by peers, at least a good percentage of the parents are into this practice, even at the stage of Balwadis. They would pay something like Rs.40 p.m. for this.
7. Involving mothers - integrated development
Most of the mothers of the Balwadi-going children are also enrolled in the adult-education centers run by the Trust in village, literally at the doorsteps of the adult students. Some of these centers even assemble at the Balwadi buildings in the evening. Most mothers (a total of ~3000 women) are also part of the self-help groups and microcredit groups introduced by the Trust (see evolving draft of other proposal under consideration by Asha Uflorida chapter), and some of them take part in several emplyment-generating training &production undertaken by the Trust. Like bee-keeping, organic farming, Tant & Batik textiles, food processing etc. So this brings more of an integrated development focussed on the Mother & child.
Recommendations for the budget
The following are our recommendations for the budget, in order of priority (for the record, we also paste the revised budget request sent to us from the Project Partner, following the site visit in June 2008)
2K priority : 30% of Teachers' salaries requested @ Rs. 300 *12*24(teachers) - Insufficient to sustain!
5K priority : 75% of Teachers' salaries requested @ Rs. 750*12*24 - break-even without much incentive (Anganwadi teachers get Rs 2000 p.m.)
6K priority : 90% of Teachers' salaries requested @ Rs. 900*12*24 - recommended coverage of teachers' salaries
8K priority: 90% of teacher salaries + Teaching supplies@Rs.1000*12 + Student stationary supplies@Rs.100*380 + construction of toilets in 2 Balwadis
10K priority: 8K priority + 1 set school uniform@Rs.125*380 + petty repair & maintenance of 5 Balwadis@Rs.4000*5
My recommendation would be to fund the 8K-prioritized aspects and to go for the rest only if there are enough funds available.
Revised funding request sent by project partner, July 2008
1. Monthly honoraria of 24 Teachers (INR 21500/Month)
Total: Rs. 2,56,200.00
2. Teaching Materials for School such as Register, Chalk, Duster, Charts, toys etc. @ INR 1000/Balwadi Centre/year
Total: Rs. 12,000.00 300 USD
3. Supplies for Students such as Books, Khatas, Pencils, etc. @ INR 100/child/year
Total: Rs. 38,000.00
4. School Uniform for Students @ INR 125/child/year
Total: Rs. 47,500.00
5. Petty Repair & Renovation of Balwadi Centres - 5 nos. (White-wash, repairing of roof leakage etc.)
Total: Rs. 20,000.00 500 USD
6. 2 nos of Latrine & Urinals for 2 Balwadi Centres at Bharuri Village
Total: Rs. 40,000.00
Grand Total: Rs. 4,13,680.00
2K priority : 30% of Teachers' salaries requested @ Rs. 300 *12*24(teachers) - Insufficient to sustain!
5K priority : 75% of Teachers' salaries requested @ Rs. 750*12*24 - break-even without much incentive (Anganwadi teachers get Rs 2000 p.m.)
6K priority : 90% of Teachers' salaries requested @ Rs. 900*12*24 - recommended coverage of teachers' salaries
8K priority: 90% of teacher salaries + Teaching supplies@Rs.1000*12 + Student stationary supplies@Rs.100*380 + construction of toilets in 2 Balwadis
10K priority: 8K priority + 1 set school uniform@Rs.125*380 + petty repair & maintenance of 5 Balwadis@Rs.4000*5
My recommendation would be to fund the 8K-prioritized aspects and to go for the rest only if there are enough funds available.
Revised funding request sent by project partner, July 2008
1. Monthly honoraria of 24 Teachers (INR 21500/Month)
Total: Rs. 2,56,200.00
2. Teaching Materials for School such as Register, Chalk, Duster, Charts, toys etc. @ INR 1000/Balwadi Centre/year
Total: Rs. 12,000.00 300 USD
3. Supplies for Students such as Books, Khatas, Pencils, etc. @ INR 100/child/year
Total: Rs. 38,000.00
4. School Uniform for Students @ INR 125/child/year
Total: Rs. 47,500.00
5. Petty Repair & Renovation of Balwadi Centres - 5 nos. (White-wash, repairing of roof leakage etc.)
Total: Rs. 20,000.00 500 USD
6. 2 nos of Latrine & Urinals for 2 Balwadi Centres at Bharuri Village
Total: Rs. 40,000.00
Grand Total: Rs. 4,13,680.00
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