1. 13th January 2016 By Sourabh Banerjee
BGUS Site Visit
13th January 2016
By Sourabh Banerjee

2. General Introduction
Balia Gram Unnayan Samity (BGUS) is an NGO working in the Hoogly district of West Bengal.
For the social and educational upliftment of the villagers.
Social work encompasses 10 villages in and around Balia
Educational work over 7 villages.
Primary target are kids of dalits and tribals among others

3. Challenges
Challenge is to keep the kids motivated in education from an early stage
Dropouts rates are most common in the primary and pre-primary stages
Provides the major book support for many students across these villages (all books are on donations)
No Government support

4. Educational Works 3 divisions for the support they offer
Pre-primary schools (KG, KG1, KG2). 7 schools, one in each of the 7 villages
Coaching programme (for students Class 1 to 7) in the morning and evening avoiding school hours.
Book bank for students beyond that standard upto Post Graduation. Also maintains a library and study room.

5. Pre-primary school structure
On average 45 kids in each of these pre-primary schools
3 teachers (maintaining 1:15 TS ratio)
Midday meal (cooked by Teachers and parents)
Every parents gives Re 1 for the meals or consumables worth that from their farms, ASHA contributes the rest
Schools are held in buildings donated by local supporters
I visited only 5 of the 7 schools, will just go over some of them

6. Balia PPS Under construction from Jan 6
Schooling currently going on at Mr. Bamapada’s house (nearby)
Part of last year’s sanctioned budget

7. Current replacement for Balia
Going on at a nearby place
Should resume at original location in a month

8. Narayanpur PPS Main problem lies here
Building in a dilapidated condition
No concrete roof
Need additional funding for construction

9. Narayanpur PPS Holes in the roof Problem in the monsoon season
Either class cancelled or held in some other building if available from local patrons
Needs fund for concrete roof construction

10. Narayanpur PPS
Cracks in the walls, request to sanction money for reconstruction
This is their most urgent requirement at the moment

11. Narayanpur PPS
Also since this school has two rooms, it’s really a problem to cook the midday meals. They cook in the front balcony space now.
This is a storehouse just opposite the school, which could be turned into a classroom or a kitchen.
Funds were sanctioned last year for this part only. But need funds for construction of the main school building.
By the way, good representative drawing by the kids

12. Kashipur PPS Fully functional school
Has concrete roof thanks ASHA sanctioning this last year
Three classrooms, one used for cooking the Midday meals

13. Dulya PPS
School going on in the storehouse opposite the main building, since main building needs construction. Needs fund for that.

14. Bahirkhand PPS Ichhapur PPS Jigra PPS
School properly functional in the main building and the opposite storehouse.
Needs door since there is only shutter to close the warehouse
Ichhapur PPS
School properly functional
Construction ended recently
Funds sanctioned last year
Jigra PPS
Tin over the stairs almost destroyed
Otherwise main rooms are properly functional

15. Meeting at the end
Meeting attended by Board members (left picture) and teachers from all the 7 schools (right picture).

16. Main Issues Narayanpur school needs immediate attention
The storehouses acting as classrooms needs to be constructed or fixed
Requests from guardian about uniforms for each school (funds for these were patially granted last year, but not adequate)
NO ELECTRICITY in three of the villages – Dulya, Narayanpur and Bahirkhand
Needs additional books for the book bank and the coaching program
Needs extra exercise books for the kids in the KG classes, not sufficient

17. Overall Impression
Personally it was amazing to see how motivated the teachers are.
The teachers are girls of the villages with some level of higher educations, some are ex students of the BGUS schools
Working on a minimal salary of Rs. 800 – 1400 per months
Staffs are mostly volunteers or working on a minimal wage
Completely dedicated to the development of the villages
Extremely organised and efficient (eg. Maintaining registers, admission files and library registers)
A study room recently opened thanks to ASHA’s donations last year
Encouraging parental participation, all are grateful to the ASHA members

18. Thank you!