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Jehanabad, Bihar - Bringing children to schools

  [Bihar]  


Project Summary

The objective of this project is to enroll non-school going/dropout children into Government Schools through campaign & advocacy.

Implementing NGO : Abhiyan
Start Year // End Year : 2011 // TBD
Location : Kako Block, Jehanabad District, Bihar
Target Area : 10 villages
Target Area Population :  
# of Beneficiaries : 1,077 [2011/12]
Funding Plan : $11,202 [2011/12]
Past Funding : None

Photos and Videos

To be updated soon

Region Demographics 

Despite 17% improvement in the last decade, the state of Bihar has the lowest literacy rate (64%) in India (74%). The literacy rate of Kako block is 41% while that in the project area is an abysmal 2%! This area faces several challenges like:

  • Extensive impoverishment, entrenched hierarchical social divisions and the lack of correlation between educational attainment and job opportunities create major hurdles.
  • Even in areas where there is no discrimination, children often cannot afford textbooks and stationery. Bihar's government schools have teacher absenteeism and use of unauthorized substitute teachers.
  • Children from backward/lower castes are frequently denied school attendance and harassed when they do attend. Schools are not child friendly or accessible, especially for the backward caste children. Teachers and fellow students from other communities also beat these children in the schools.
  • The situation may be grimmer than portrayed by the Census. An example was seen during an ILP visit in March 2011 when almost all the children in a Mushar community were seen outside the school on a weekday.

Plan of Action 

The project will have multi-pronged strategies to make it better from the current status. 

  1. Work with 6 existing Anganwadis to deliver Early childcare and development services properly. In 4 hamlets where there are no Anganwadis as of now, either the services will be ensured or efforts to get new balwadis will be galvanized. 
  2. Run Learning Centers in each Mushar hamlet to inculcate the habit of schooling to the children. 
  3. Work on convergence strategy with the nearest Government schools to start RE-ENROLLING the children from bridge schools after 6 months. The Siksha Mitra (Para-teacher) appointed in each village will take all children who are part of Bridge School to the Primary school and also serve in the Government school. This will help to improve the functioning of the government schools as well. 
  4. Work with communities, parents, Village Education Committees, School Management Committees, Panchayaths and other stakeholders to bring in collectivism to improve education standards in these villages. 
Success will be measured through the following quantitative indicators for the year 2011/2012:
  1. Pre-schools (Anganwadi Centers)
    • Enroll 200 children aged 3-6 years in 6 Anganwadis of the 10 target villages.
    • Train the 10 Anganwadi teachers (2-day training).
    • Activate mothers committees in all the 6 Anganwadis with at least 6 meetings at every center.
  2. Schools
    • Cover all drop out children through 10 bridge schools.
    • Enroll 400 such dropout children in Government schools.
    • Organize 6 School Management Committee meetings at every Government school.
    • Train 10 para-teachers (5-day training).
    • Formed 10 Child Rights Clubs in all the Government schools.
  3. Community Awareness/Empowerment
    • Make 80% of villagers aware of RTE Act and associated entitlements.
    • Make 90% of community based organization members aware of RTE act & associated entitlements.
  4. Capacity Building (NGO)
    • Training completed for NGO staff on project specific and related topics.

Accomplishments

To be updated soon

Success Stories 

To be updated soon

About our Partner NGO 

  • Abhiyan was founded in 1991 and has 63 staff members and over 1,000 volunteers. 
  • The organization works in about 600 villages in Bihar and Jharkhand with all marginalized communities with a special focus on the children, youth, women and small farmers through interventions in health and sanitation, education, women empowerment and livelihood creation.
  • Abhiyan's efforts have been funded by international organizations (Ex: UNICEF, Cordaid and DFID) and several government departments (Ex: Women Development Corporation, Bihar Social Welfare Department and CAPART).
  • Abhiyan focuses on making a rights-based approach operational, as well as formation/capacity-building of people’s organizations like Self Help Groups and Peace Committees.
  • Abhiyan’s efforts have resulted in 200 women now being elected representatives in their Panchayaths.