Second chance for village school dropouts
By Mary D’Souza
We run several educational programs for children and families at the Aditi Learning Centre. Aditi, now in its fifth year, is based in Khusgaon village, Maval Taluka, in the Pune district of Maharashtra state. It is run by six teachers, two care takers and a group of eight to 10 volunteers from Pune.
Literacy for children
Last year, we began a program to teach the basics of Maths and Marathi, the state language, to children of migrant labourers who leave their villages after the monsoon season work is over to look for jobs in places such as brick kilns or construction sites. They stay on the outskirts of Kamshet town, about two kilometres away from our centre, from December to May.
The literacy program runs from 9 am to 11.30 am. Both boys and girls come to study and play, many of them with younger siblings that they are responsible for looking after. They range in age from two to 14 years.
Our teachers, who have diplomas in education, were initially unable to move out of the traditional approaches of teaching. But this year, they have become more creative, reaching out to the children in different ways and using innovative approaches in their teaching.
High school for dropouts
A second program is aimed at helping girls and young women who dropped out of school to complete their high school education.
Recently, Mrs Sarika Sonawane, 27, passed her class 10 examination. Ten years ago, she had failed Maths and Science in the public examinations run by the state government. This year she came to Aditi to retake the two subjects. Sarika, who is immensely delighted, now plans to finish her class 12 examinations.
Married, with two children, to an alcoholic who is physically abusive, she is looking for a way to be economically independent. During the Independence Day celebrations on August 15, she stood up to speak in her village on the issue of alcoholism in her community.
Her achievement brings great satisfaction to our teachers. Sarika is now a role model. Her story is important. Her choices show the way for other potential learners.
Another student is Rupali, 21, who had dropped out of school after failing her class 8 examinations. She is now getting ready to take her public examination in March next year. Her younger sister Sheetal also studies at Aditi and will take her class 12 examinations next March. Rupali was in tears recently when she received a call asking her to return home as the family of a prospective bridegroom was coming to visit. Rupali, who does not want to get married, understands the parental perspective on marriage as ensuring her security but she also knows this is not the complete picture.
We registered 50 women learners at the beginning of the academic year. They hope to complete the 10th and 12the grade examinations. They range from 9 to 27 years in age. Most are between 12 and 19. Two are married. Students who face the greatest challenge are those who have been out of the school system for two to three years.
They enroll at Aditi partly because of economic reasons. Parents are unwilling to invest in educating a daughter, who will eventually get married. They feel their investment will be harvested by her future husband's family. They find it easier to support her education at Aditi, which provides school supplies as well as help with travel costs. They also believe Aditi is “more safe" than a co-educational learning environment.
Some dropouts are here because they don’t want to go back to the school where they failed. A few are here because they really do want to study. Some have tough family situations such as one of the bread winners falling ill. They have nowhere else to go. They are committed to getting an education so that they can carve out a future.
Many say they prefer the education at Aditi because the teachers give personalized attention and the usual prejudices of a school system with its smart/dumb or rich/poor classifications are absent.
Classes run from 11.30 am to 3.30 pm. This gives students enough time to help with household work such as cooking, cleaning and washing clothes before they leave for school. When they return home in the evening, they have more work. The school schedule also lets them take part in activities such as planting or harvesting of paddy or rebuilding of homes. This allows the students to contribute to the economic and social stability of the family for the following year.
The Potali program
Aditi began an early childhood and family learning program in Kamshet in April last year. Based on the Learning Basket approach, it is called the Potali program, potali referring to the small bag that women carry around their waist. Aditi’s collaborator in the effort is Kishor Mitra Trust, a local NGO which has been working in the field of education for over 30 years.
Potali has been well received by the families taking part. We have 12 people in six teams which interact directly with 103 families and indirectly with 300 others through neighborhood and community meetings.
Each team selects a neighborhood where it works with 20 families over a three-month period. Team members visit the families at their homes on a weekly basis. They do a short presentation on a theme followed by a discussion. There are also neighborhood meetings and community-wide parent meetings as well. Through the Potali program, we are work with the parents of children up to the age of 10 and address key issues such as the following:
Gender Equity: One of the parents the team worked with was distant with his three daughters, who were afraid of him, but proud of his son. After he and his wife interacted with the Potali team, he changed his attitude to being a father. He chose not to celebrate his son's first birthday as he had never celebrated his daughters’ birthdays. He enrolled his daughters in a private school.
Parents appreciate the talks on brain development of children below the age of three and both partners now initiate verbal interaction with their infants. Fathers have taken the initiative to interact and care for their children.
Strengthening Cultural roots: The teams have collected songs from the communities. Parents are asking for and learning the art of telling stories. This helps communities value their folklore and culture.
Child friendly food and nutrition: Parents are changing the way they feed young children. In large families, once an infant is weaned he or she is generally fed adult food. Parents now give them simple soups of lentils and vegetables instead. They are also aware of the poor nutritional value of packaged foods like biscuits and chips. They have started to discourage their children from buying them by stopping the practice of giving them money to keep them quiet.
Disciplining children: Hitting children to discipline them is a habit in the community that is difficult to change. However, most parents now realize that they do not have to be physically and verbally abusive in bringing up children.
Creating cohesive communities: The Potali program gets a neighborhood to come together to discuss common concerns about children. The connections and unity created give the community a bigger window for addressing common issues.
The Potali team
Six of the team members are 12th grade graduates from Aditi, who are registered in a Bachelor of Commerce program. The Potali work gives them an income that helps them pursue their studies. More importantly, they are getting a new kind of education through their exposure to the abuse of women and children within families. The Potali program is also helping them let go of their own ingrained prejudices about caste, minorities and religion. Recently, the 12 Potali practitioners and supervisor were invited by Muslim residents of Kamshet to their homes on the occasion of the Id festival. It was the first time for them to share a meal with Muslims. They asked questions and learnt things about Islam that they had not known. More importantly, they began seeing them as fellow human beings instead of as members of a faith different from their own.
Mary D’Souza is a member of ICA: Pune |
