Seva Mandir Rural Education Program Udaipur/Rajsamand, Rajasthan Project Update and Proposal Review

Background: Seva Mandir Founded in 1968 with an extensive education promoting for promoting primary education since 1991 The work of the organization spans over 626 villages, around 70,000 households, distributed across five blocks – Badgaon, Kotra, Girva, Kherwara, and Jhadol Key strategic organizational objectives: To create and strengthen institutions for development To enhance people’s capabilities for self-development To create sustainable improvements in the livelihoods base AfE-SV supports education program in Badgaon block since 2007

Seva Mandir Education Program Seva Mandir Education Program has its roots in Lok Jumbish movement Lok Jumbish - education for all - movement started in 1989 aimed at ensuring education for all in the state of Rajasthan through community mobilization with three primary objectives Universal Primary Education Universal retention of children up-to 14 years, and Improvement in quality of education to enable essential levels of learning Shiksha Kendra (NFE Centers) for promotion of primary education Non-Formal-Education centers in villages across Udaipur/Rajsamand district to bring literacy to first generation learners with community partnership Evolved directly out of Lok Jumbish movement Seasonal Residential Learning Schools for tribal children Full-time Immersive, seasonal residential school evolved out of extensive research in tribal and migratory regions of southern Rajasthan

Seva Mandir Education Program [2] Activity Centers (Sahayog Kendras) Capacity building initiative with the government schools Support Center to improve learning and introduce activity based learning Improve attendance, retention, and comprehension amongst children attending government schools Improving overall quality of education and in-part community trust in the government schools Action Research Project with MIT-PAL Measure, and in part develop, intrinsic motivation of teachers Reduce teacher absenteeism through use of camera and other intervention techniques Make children and parents participate in improving quality of education in school

Seva Mandir Education Program [3] Jan Shikshan Niliyams or Village Libraries Community powered, often mobile, libraries in villages to bring education and general awareness to doorstep … Uurja Ghar – Youth Resource Centers Targeted intervention focused at rural youth of age to who are losing their affinity with the village Equipping the youth to meet the challenges of the changing world Forum for constructive recreation as well as building and acquiring useful skills and knowledge

Seva Mandir Project Summary AfE-SV primary education intervention programs in the entire Badgaon block Operating 20 Shiksha Kendras in Badgaon block Initiating/Operating 5 Activity Centers in Government schools Supporting at least 25 tribal children from Badgaon for seasonal residential learning camps We reach over 1500 children directly through this project Seva Mandir NFE Centers have been officially recognized as Special Teaching Centers by the Education Department, Govt. or Rajasthan and are in-principal RTE compliant [ ] Study Report of progress and overall impact of Shiksha Kendras since the beginning of AfE-SV funding is here new/documents/876/impact_study_report.dochttp:// new/documents/876/impact_study_report.doc

Seva Mandir Project Summary AfE-SV Seva Mandir works in 79 tribal village under Badgaon block, and covers three Panchayat Samitis of Udaipur and Rajsamand Migration of adolescents to cities and town is a major school dropout contributor Education Program is present in 21 villages, and (NFE Center Program) is recognized under RTE by the Govt. of Rajasthan as a legitimate and necessary intervention Between July 2014-June 2015: 20 Non-Formal-Education Centers have reached 616 children 25 children from Badgaon block attended two residential learning camps Five Activity Centers reach 837 students in Government middle and high schools

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Shiksha Kendra 171 NFE Centers/Shiksha Kendra in 5 blocks of Udaipur with total enrollment of 5976children. Badgaon block has 20 centers and 24 instructors (13 male, 11 female) 616 students (300 boys, 306 girls) are enrolled in July ‘ (79 boys, 101 girls) new enrollments across 20 centers 111 children graduated into government schools, 44% girls 46% students admitted in standard 5 and 6 with a stay of ~5 years in NFE Center NFE Centers has average 22 effective working days excluding training and meeting days every month Instructor training was conducted between Sep 8 th – 13 th 2014; 11 instructors from badgaon block attended the training

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Shiksha Kendra zone # of Shiksha Kendra/NFE CenterEnrollment in Dec ‘13 Jul ‘14Jun ‘15Instructors (male/female) Boys Girlstotal Delwara556 (1/5) Bagdunda789 (6/3) Dhar223 (2/1) Godach112 (1/1) Kadiya544 (3/1) (13 / 11) total 300 (49%) 306 (51%) 616 Enrollment Details :

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Shiksha Kendra zone # of Shiksha Kendra/NFE Center # of children enrolled in BoysGirlsTotal Delwara Bagdunda Dhar Godach Kadiya New Enrollments in in Badgaon Block:

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Shiksha Kendra Level boy Girltotal Level Level Level Level (55%) 192 (45%) 430 Evaluation of Children: Half Yearly (Dec ’14) Level boy Girltotal Level Level Level Level (53%) 208 (47%) 446 Annual (May ’15) Comparing annual results of 2014 and 2015 for 173 common students: 60% have moved up in learning levels 34% retained their learning levels 34% increase in Level3 students & 36% decrease in Level1 students

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Shiksha Kendra Teacher training was conducted between Sep 8 th – 13 th instructors from 5 blocks attended the training, with 11 instructors from Badgaon block Sessions were held on good classroom and school maintenance, how to make classrooms attractive, and schools inviting and interactive for children Skill building excercises, including writing and oral excercises, and a written evalutation test 9 instructor meetings (4 two-day, and 5 one-day long) were held between July-June period, with specific focus on the following areas: child protection and child rights Hygine amongst children and general health improvement concerns Record keeping in schools Three rounds of Science workshops were conducted for 14 instructors, with 3 instructors from Badgaon block Organized a world teacher exchange program between October 14 th – 26 th in cooperation with Edukans (Netherlands) to facilitate professional exchange between education professionals from Netherlands and teachers from Seva Mandir Shiksha Kendras, Activity Centers, and leraning camps

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Shiksha Kendra Community Involvement interventions: Shiksha Shulk (Education Fee): Parents optionally contribute Rs.150/year to support Shiksha Kendras Rs. 51,600 was collected in 2015, 64% of expected amount 70% of funds were spent on uniforms, clothing and lunch boxes Remaining funds were used for maintenance etc. as decided by the Parents of children PTA Meetings 42 meetings were organized with average attendance of 8-10 parents 2 meetings were conducted in Badanga and Gayarion Ka Guda centers with Government school teachers Bal Mela (Children Fair) Two fairs were organized in government schools in April 2015 attended by all children in the villages regardless of their enrollment status Praveshotsav celebrated in July 2015 to welcome new students in all centers

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Shiksha Kendra

Assessment: Sample study was conducted by volunteers in 16 centers across all blocks to identify potential areas of improvement Study covered infrastructure (record keeping, PTMs, facilities, material availability etc.) and qualitative (availability and usage of learning material, student teacher interaction, learning environment etc) aspects Five centers from Badgaon were randomly selected – Gayaria Ka Guda, Ushan Dhar, Rama and Badanga Regular absenteeism and dropouts from centers was a major finding Gayria Ka Guda scored poorly on survey, and assessment revealed that the center doesn’t cater to all households due to distance, and lack of proper student-teacher ratios

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Shiksha Kendra Assessment: Gayria Ka Guda scored poorly on survey, and assessment revealed that the center doesn’t cater to all households due to distance, and lack of proper student-teacher ratio The government school (UPS) was non-functional, but after this assessment, and discussions with the Government officials, a teacher has joined the Government school Subsequently all Seva Mandir center students are now attending Government school and the center has been closed from July!

Seva Mandir – Progress Update 2013 Activity Centers Activity Centers or Sahayog Kendras were started in collaboration with AfE-SV and Government schools in Activity Centers are housed within government schools and run by Seva Mandir teachers Primary objective is to enable activity based learning by providing various opportunities and exposures to learning and rapid understanding of math and language comprehension Activity Centers work in conjunction with the government schools, and have been incorporated into the regular school schedule. Seva Mandir reaches 837 students through 5 activity centers.

Seva Mandir – Progress Update 2013 Activity Centers Village/ZoneClasses in School Teachers# of children (boys/girls) Peepad/Kadiya1 st - 5 th 7187 (120, 67) Selu/Kadiya1 st - 5 th 7167 (86/81) Undithal/Bagdunda5 st - 12 th 4253 (155/98) Maruwas/Kadiya1 st - 5 th 4150 (76, 74) Malariya1 st – 5 th 380 (46, 34) UPS Malaria is Activity Center has improved the enrollment rates by 59%

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Activity Centers 3 facilitator meetings were held for all activity centers Principal agenda was inclusion of drop out/out-of-school children in schools, reasons and possible solutions regarding irregularity of PTA etc. Bal Sabhas – student/teacher open session is conducted every Saturday 3 girls from Selu Activity Center got admission in 9 th – the first time any girl has enrolled into secondary school! Malaria center has moved into the Government School and now conducts evening tuition classes for all students

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Seasonal Residential Learning Schools Seasonal learning camps were first started in 2001 to cater to need of out- of-school children, primarily child laborers Immersive, activity oriented learning model involving a variety of tools and methods for first time learners with minimum of 6hours of devoted interactive learning sessions per day “Three times a Year” & “180 days of learning” design has been very impactful in reacing out to marginalized children with no prior exposure to school Math and Hindi are taught with supplemental assistance of workbooks developed by Seva Mandir, and various learning tools. Focus on using local language and idioms for accelerated learning in familiar environment for children

Seva Mandir – Progress Update Seasonal Residential Learning Schools

Proposal Proposal Overview Continue Education Program in Badgaon with following components: 20 Shiksha Kendras/NFE Centers 5 Sahayod Kendra/Activity Centers Support 25 tribal children to attend Three Seasonal Residential School Program

2014 Proposal Proposal Overview

2014 Proposal Proposal Overview – Shiksha Kendra

2014 Proposal Proposal Overview – Activity Center

2014 Proposal Proposal Overview – Residential Schools

Proposal Appendix - RTE NFE Centers are RTE compliant by virtue of a being granted a special status by Department of Education, Govt of Rajathan Persistent and dedicated effort over past two years have led to this special status being accorded, although its still an in-principal agreement at this point Activity Centers are RTE exempted because these are not full-time schools and are operated in-conjunction with the Government School Seasonal Learning Camps/Schools are also RTE exempt because these are not full-time schools but are considered as supplementary education units