Education - for those of us who have it, we treasure it and even preach about it to others. But is education really as much of a commodity as it is made out to be in India? Maybe not argues Mr Bhushan in his article "From Classes to Masses: Journey of Educational Development in India". In this issue of Xpressions we present the challenges faced by some Indian children in their quest for the constitutional right to education. We are also proud to communicate the launch of our new and improved website www.vibha.org. Many kudos to the website team for such a fabulous job. Finally this edition also presents a short write up on the Integrated Development Initiative for Rural Children run by the Rachana Society for Rural Reconstruction. This project helps children pick up not only basic academics but also imparts vocational and social training. We hope you enjoy this months newsletter and as ever your feedback is critical to our success.

Yogendra Bhushan's White Paper

"Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow,' his name is today." - Gabriel Mistral

Everyone recognizes the importance of education for the child, however translating intent into action has proven to be a challenge in India.

Today we present an analysis of the Indian education sector in India by Mr. Yogendra Bhushan, a well-known grassroots worker who has been recognized internationally by several organizations including the UNICEF, the Ashoka Foundation, the Indian Government, for his contributions to providing quality education for the marginalized child.

Titled "From Classes to Masses: Journey of Educational Development in India", Mr. Bhushan outlines the different programs initiated by the Government of India to improve education, including the several amendments to the constitution which made it a fundamental right in 2002. The issues hampering the progress, both at the policy (macro) level, and at the grassroots (micro) level have been discussed. For example, the gradual marginalization of most of the Government schools is a case in point. These schools were earlier patronized by the middle and lower middle class but later abandoned in search of better quality in private schools, thus leading to further erosion of accountability and quality, leading to a sense of frustration and eventual withdrawal.

We encourage you to read this article to develop an understanding of issues and the role of Non-Government Organizations (NGO) in making a difference.

www.vibha.org - A new look

Vibha.org - Redesign

The Marketing team launched the new Vibha website on Sunday June 25th, 2006. The design efforts for the new website started way back in January 2006. A design and implementation approach was finalized by March and the implementation was done in a span of a month.

The website was unveiled during the Vibha Volunteer Conference in DC. The website was developed using Twiki (a structured Wiki) - A piece of server software that allows users to easily create and edit web page content using any Web Browser. Hence to maintain the content of the website little to no knowledge of HTML is required.

The launch of the website was truly a collaborative effort with teams working across geography to deliver on tight deadlines. The Vibha team wishes to thank these dedicated volunteers for their time and effort

Attached are a few vignettes of www.vibha.org

Together, we can do much more!
Dream a little! Do a Little!

Write To Us...

Your feedback is important to us. Vibha welcomes any comments, suggestions or questions you may have about our projects, programs, products, monitoring etc. If you are particularly interested in a topic and would like to see Vibha showcase it please let us know.

Project Profile

Rachana
Mulshi, Haveli and Panshet taluka of Pune district, Maharashtra

INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE FOR RURAL CHILDREN

In this month’s issue we take you to the state of Maharashtra where the Rachana Society for Rural Reconstruction runs a Vibha-supported project called “Integrated Development Initiative for Rural Children.” Rachana was founded in 1989 by a group of young people dedicated to the reconstruction of society through the uplift of its weaker sections. Rachana currently has initiatives in 70 villages in Maharashtra. The Integrated Development Initiative focuses on 12 of these villages, located between 40 and 70 kilometers from the city of Pune. The project has two components, a supportive study program for children in primary school and integrated development activities for children in the 10 to 17 age group.

Supportive study program

Let us begin our visit at the primary school building in Ranjane village, where 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders are spending their morning on supportive study activities. Today, divided into groups of five, they are using colorful and innovative learning aids to strengthen their vocabulary skills. The visual impact of the aids helps them to sharpen their memory. They are being supervised by three teachers, but the group leaders, chosen from among the children themselves, are doing their part in encouraging and urging on their classmates.

The vocabulary activity is followed by science puzzles that use pictures and objects familiar to the children from their everyday life. Finally, the children are given the opportunity to enact a play based on a story that they themselves have created. The activity serves to strengthen their skills of comprehension and expression. In this play, the children notice that their friend, Raju, is absent from school one day. They go to his home to find that he is working on chores. Raju, together with the support of his classmates, is able to convince his parents to let him go back to school.

Through the use of joyful learning techniques, the supportive study program aims to strengthen the children’s foundation in language, math, and science, and thereby to reduce dropout rates. The classes supplement rather than substitute for the children’s primary school education and their impact is evident from the great improvement in the children’s test scores over the year.

Integrated development activities

Now let us travel to the high school in Kondgaon village to meet the children in the integrated development component. Only about half the children are school-going, so their activities focus more on vocational training, social awareness, and skill workshops. We find ourselves in the midst of an awareness workshop, where the children are creating posters and scrapbooks on various topics. The topics are both locally and globally relevant and include issues like gender equality and women in society, the global environment and natural resources, dowry, personal hygiene, community health and primary health care, and the role of local government. We see a poster describing the structure and functions of the students’ village and an analysis of some of the hardships faced by its people.

The integrated development activities encourage the children to think about their future, both in terms of their livelihood and their social functions as mature adults. We hear some girls confidently assert their views on education for women and the abolition of dowry. This is a positive indication of the awareness that the project has generated in a short span of years.

We return to Ranjane at the conclusion of our visit. The children sing us a song and bid us farewell.

We hope you enjoyed our little tour of Rachana’s initiative as much as we did. Heartening projects like this encourage us strive harder towards our goals. If you would like more information on this project, please contact us at projects@vibha.org.

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Vibha is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit, non-religious, non-political organization that seeks to restore to underprivileged children their basic rights to food, shelter, health and education - in short, a future.
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