Quality Education – AeA’s Parnerships

About 26 million children from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds continue to remain out of school in South Asia alone, making it the most non-literate region in the world. A very small percentage completes primary education due to the high drop-out and repetition rates. Out of every 100 students that enter the primary education cycle, fewer than 10 of the 100 go on to graduate out of secondary education. A large proportion of children do not master basic numeric and literary skills by the time the complete primary education. Public spending on education in South Asia currently averages about 4.1 percent of the GDP – one of the lowest levels in any region. Only a very small share of this limited spending is earmarked for learning material resources and other resource related expenditure. Another major concern is the large proportion of non-literate women in the population. Several reasons have been identified for this situation – tradition based stereotypes; social order in patrilineal/ patrilocal families; premising marriage over education. The supply side is ridden with factors such as inadequate investment, lack of infrastructure, schools and teachers.

Details of AeA’s partnerships on different education projects and their achievements are presented below:

Rural Development Trust- AeA’s partnership project with the Rural Development Trust in Nilgiri district of Tamil Nadu is called Community Owned and Managed Education. The main objective of the project is capacity building of marginalized communities such as scheduled caste and scheduled tribe. Women, children and youth are encouraged to actively participate in education and sustainable development. The project commenced in 2003 and will be phased out in 2009. The project covers 108 villages where it targets about 24 schools.

The major achievements of this project include capacity building programmes for Village Education Committees and development of Residential Bridge Course Centres and Alternative Innovative Education Centres for non-school going children in the Gudalur block.

 AeA partners with Arthik Anushadan Kendra in UP, in Mirzapur and Hallia Block. The name of the project is Action for Mainstreaming of the Disabled (AMOD). Inclusive education and community based rehabilitation are the main objectives of this project with the aim of providing need based intervention to women, children and men in the areas. AMOD was started in 2005 and will be phased out in 2012. The project covers about 60 villages and addresses 24 schools.

The major achievements of the project include provision of therapeutic services to persons with disabilities, training programmes for their family members, organization of awareness meetings in the villages and disability assessment camps as well as provision of disability certificates and identity cards.

 Bhopal Yuva Paryavaran and Sikshan Sansthan (BYPASS) – The partnership project with BYPASS is titled Udan and covers Khilchipur block and Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh. The project covers 68 villages in these areas and the primary objective is to mainstream persons with disabilities and increase the participation of community based organizations in education.

The project’s achievements include the formation of pre-school management committees, inclusion of children with disabilities in schools, provision of aids, appliances and therapy to persons with disabilities as well as provision of disability pension. As part of this project, several self-help groups formed and strengthened.

 AeA partners with Commitments in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh to strengthen inclusive education and community based rehabilitation projects. The partnership started in 2005 and will continue till 2012, covering 68 villages and 25 schools.

The major achievements of the project consist of formation of SHGs for persons with disabilities, sensitization and capacity building of stakeholders, enrolment of children with disabilities in mainstream schools, adaptation of homes based on the needs of persons with disabilities and provision of medical rehabilitation services. As part of these projects several rights awareness programmes were conducted and the Inclusive Education method was implemented in schools.

 Modern Architects of Rural India (MARI) partners with AeA in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh on projects related to education, HIV/AIDS, sustainable agriculture and microfinance. The primary objective of the project included capacity building of marginalized communities in 28 villages with the aim of addressing issues such as education, disability, health and livelihood. The partnership began in 2004 and will continue till 2009.

The project has achieved its goals of improving infrastructure in village schools, identifying and enrolling children with disabilities in mainstream schools, conducting surveys on the status of youth in order to provide them employability training as well as forming SHGs for persons with disabilities. MARI also implemented AeA’s education concepts such as Liberate School and Back to Basics.

 AeA partners with Socio Economic and Cultural Upliftment of Rural Environment (SECURE) to enhance quality education, inclusive education, livelihood education and women’s empowerment in Andhra Pradesh in Palvoncha and Mulakalpally mandals of Khammam district. The objective of the project was to ensure community development through quality basic education and promotion of livelihoods. The project started is 2005 and will continue to 2009.

The major achievements of the project are construction of school buildings, enrollment of child labourers in bridge schools, provision of disability certificates for children and persons with disabilities as well as livelihood training for unemployed youth.

 AeA has a partnership with Movement for Alternatives and Youth Awareness (MAYA) to focus on reform in elementary education with people’s participation.  The project started in 2006 and covers Anantpur and Mehbubnagar districts of Andhra Pradesh and Bellary and Gulbarga districts in Karnataka. The primary objectives of the project was to bring about universalisation of quality education through community ownership of schools with the larger aim of affecting structures, practices and policy of elementary education in the state of Andhra Pradesh. As part of this project school committee networks were established which facilitated the sharing of school level data. Shikshana Gram Sabhas or village meetings for education were conducted on a regular basis to enable people to prioritize issues and mobilize resources.

 AeA partners with Lokpanchayat in Mehbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh in a project implemented to facilitate inclusive education and community learning processes in order to create learning communities. The project began in 2006 and will be phased out in 2009. As a result of the project’s activities, children have become more conscious of their immediate environment, a bi-monthly newspaper is published that gives voice to children’s thought and creativity, learning resource centres were established and there has been a visible increase in the panchayat’s participation in the functioning of schools.

 YuvaMitra has a partnership with AeA to focus on inclusive education and community based rehabilitation in Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh.  The main objective of the project was to address the growing disconnect between schooling systems and the learning needs of the day. The project which started in 2006 will continue till 2009 and cover 68 villages and 25 schools. The major achievements of the project include linking modern technology to local knowledge, documentation of local knowledge by children in an effort to protect the environment and participation of village elders in children’s education. 

AeA partnered with IBTADA in Ramgarh and Umren blocks of Alwar district of Rajasthan to implement the Sava Sihiksha Abhiyan programme. The project started with the vision of ameliorating the living conditions for deprived women and children. The project started in 2002 and continued till 2008 . The project covers 18 villages and 18 schools in the area. The project resulted in consolidation of school information campaign in the two districts, supporting taluk level governance structures and conducted village level meetings on education.

AeA has a partnership with Tagore Society of Rural Development (TSRD) in West Bengal for a project in Kushmandi, Harirampur blocks of Dakshin Dinajpur. The project which started in 2006 and continues till 2009 focusing on quality education, livelihood education, inclusive education and women’s empowerment.  The project covers 123 villages and 23 schools. As a result of the project there was a marked increase in school attendance among boys and girls, implementation of Back to Basics programme and formation as well as capacity building of women’s SHGs.

AeA partnered with Rashtriya Seva Samiti (RASS) in Nandipur block of Koraput district in Orissa in a project that ensured better livelihood for the most vulnerable sections of society with particular focus on quality education, inclusive education and women’s empowerment. The project was started in 1997 and will continue till 2009 covering 204 villages and 10 schools. As a result of the project children have access to education in these villages, children with disabilities have obtained disability certificates, land has been acquired for the construction of a rural hospital basic health services have been provided to a large section of the population in this area.