INDUS Action - Project Eklavya

Project Brief: Awareness campaign for enrollment of Economically Weaker Section (EWS) students into formal schools under Section 12 of the RTE Act.
Project Type: Community Awareness Programs (description)
Primary Focus: to go to formal school (description)

Secondary Focus: creating resources

Area: Urban
Supporting Chapter Contact: Stanford
Status: completed - requirements ended
Project Steward: Pradeep Jayaraman
Project Partner(s): Apoorva Murari
Other Contacts: Rahul Batra
Project Address: , K-96, B K Dutt Colony,,Jor Bagh Road, ,New Delhi,
Delhi  110003
Tel:
Stewarding Chapter: Stanford
Dec 2015StanfordUSD 23513

Total = $23513

Section 12 of the Right to Education Act mandates 25% reservation in entering classes of unaided private schools for children, between the age group of 3-6 years, belonging to economically weaker (family income of less than a lakh a year) or socially disadvantaged groups. Often those belonging to economically weaker sections are daily wage laborers, self-employed or hired on contractual basis.

Project Eklavya, based in Delhi, is the effort to enable an opportunity for education for such sections of the society. Divided into two phases of information campaign & subsequent holistic inclusion in classrooms, Project Eklavya is Indus Action's first initiative in Delhi to break the social, psychological and technical barriers that impede the implementation of this law.

The awareness campaign, focusing on bridging the information gap, includes key partnerships with government institutions of Mission Convergence and Integrated Child Development Scheme, Ministry of Women and Child Development giving IA access to their community hubs in South Delhi alongside media partnerships with Hindustan Times, DEN and Hathway.

Phase Two focuses on tracking children admitted in schools to understand the problems they face in private schools. Concurrently, qualitative field research is planned to measure social integration practices and best practices of social integration across the board and to motivate, encourage other schools to constitute social integration committees.

Indus Action also plans to create a national coalition on Section 12 of the RTE to identify best practices across the country, escalating concerns of varying states, coaching low-performing states at the National Level.
1. To create awareness of Section 12 of the RTE to target EWS demographics.
2. To help the EWS families to gather all application materials required to submit successful applications.
3. To create a campaign template that can be utilized by any civil service organization (or the Government) to create awareness of Sec. 12 of the RTE.
d. To document and pilot necessary preparedness for the EWS students for school.
e. To document best practices of social inclusion to enable the students admitted through Sec. 12 to continue in school.
f. To pilot initiatives in schools to identify measures that schools can take to facilitate social inclusion in their calssrooms
INDUS ACTION was founded by students from Harvard and MIT committed to India’s growth and development. The team’s strengths include both extensive experience across a diverse range of sectors(government, politics, education, agriculture, health care, manufacturing, gaming and multi-laterals) as well as alumni networks representing India’s best universities, companies and nonprofits.

Indus Action's mission is to facilitate enrollment campaigns that empower choice for inclusion seats and school education programs that mobilize community ownership.