Asha for Education

Project Brief: Children's Education: KAORAKHALI JANA SEVASHRAM
Project Type: Pre-Primary (description)
Primary Focus: children of dalits/tribals (description)

Secondary Focus: other

Area: Rural
Supporting Chapter Contact: Minnesota

Status: completed - requirements ended
Project Steward: Sangeitha Thayalan
Project Partner(s): Bimal Mondal
Other Contacts: Anirban Patra
Project Address: , Kaorakhali, via Nimpith Ashram, P.S. Kultali ,Via Nimpith Ashram, P.S - Kultali,Kaorakhali,
West Bengal  743338
Tel: 91-97325-68825
Stewarding Chapter: Minnesota

A project stewarded by Asha for Education, Minnesota and Asha for Education, UIUC


Kaorakhali schools
+ a pre-primary school system with 4 single-room schoolhouses.
+ four villages in the S. 24 Parganas (Kaorakhali N., Kaorakhali S., Purba Gabtola and Jamtola)
+ 345 children ranging 3-6 years
+ These schools are the only pre-primary education system serving these villages.
+ school day is 9 am – noon. The school day consists of joint learning, games and play time. Children are taught reading and writing.
+ Midday meals are provided to children.

Significance of this effort
The children need a friendly and accessible introduction to education and schooling in a rural area that has a 30% literacy rate and where there hasn't been a tradition of school-going. The schooling provides an introduction to reading and familiarity with numbers and instills a love of learning. Without pre-primary education and preparation, a number of children find the step up to government primary schools an insurmountable barrier – a large proportion of these children are of illiterate parents who are unable to prepare them for primary school.

Project scope for Asha
+ Current project scope costs Rs. 506k ($12,000) per year.
Support for 4 schools in Kaorakhali North , Kaorakhali South , Jamtola and Purba Gabtola.
+ 29 students per teacher.
+ Teacher's salaries for 12 teachers. In our schools we are able to provide salaries for 3 teachers per school @ Rs.1000/month ($23.25/mth).
+ Midday meal for 345 students @ Rs. 3.50 per meal (8 cents/meal).

Future expansion of project
Funds permitting we would do the following in the future
+ Provide a toilet in each of the 4 school. Presently only Purba Gabtola school has a toilet. Each toilet would have 2 units and cost Rs. 20K ($444) to build.
+ Do renovations on 3 of the schoolhouses. Renovation per schoolhouse is estimated to be Rs.50k ($1,111).

Without Asha's assistance
+ There would be only 2 teachers per school with a ratio of 45 students per teacher.
+ The teachers would be paid only Rs 500 ($11.11) per month (reasonable rate is Rs 750-1,000/mth – ($16.67-$22.22))
the previous midday meals program would expire by October 2006.

What you can do to help
Contribute money as generously as you can. This is a worthwhile project that can be scaled up with your help.
+ $50 pays a teacher for 3 mths. $200 pays the teacher for a year.
+ $25 pays for the education and lunch of a child for a year
+ $450 pays for a pair of twin toilets for a school which greatly improves the hygiene situation for the children.
+ Provide micronutrients (Iron, Calcium, Vitamin A and deworming agents) for all 200 children for a full year: $100.
+ If you speak and read/write Bengali you can help facilitate communication. We have Bengali speaking volunteers who help us bridge the communication gap to the schools, but there is a lot of communication to be done and we can always use translators.
+ Visit the school system when you are in India. Your experiences and findings add to our knowledge of the project and progress, and makes the children and school staff feel they have well-wishers who care and are investing in their betterment.

Feb 2020 KJSA Proposal April 2020-March 2021
Dec 2019 December 2019 KJSA Site Visit Report
Apr 2019 KJSA Proposal April 2019-May 2020
Sep 2018 Site Visit Sep 18 2018
Aug 2018 Proposal for support from Aug 2018 to Jan 2019
Feb 2018 KJSA Construction Update
Feb 2018 KJSA Proposal for Sep 2017 to Mar 2018
May 2017 Poll_KJSA_05082017
Apr 2017 KJSA Proposal 042917
Dec 2016 KJSA_SiteVisitReport_Kousik_120816.pdf
Aug 2016 KJSA_construction_proposal_Aug16.pdf
Jul 2016 Proposal July 2016
Dec 2015 KJSA_proposal_123015
Feb 2015 Site Visit (Anirban)
Sep 2014 Budget Proposal for Oct '14 to Mar '15
Sep 2014 Budget Proposal for Oct '14 to Mar '15
Dec 2013 Site Visit 2013
Dec 2013 KJSA Budget for Oct 2013 - Mar 2014
Feb 2012 Budget School Repair 2012
Feb 2012 Budget Oct11-March12
Dec 2011 Site Visit Dec2011
Nov 2011 AnnualReport_Oct09_Sep10
Nov 2011 Budget-April-Sep-2011
Oct 2010 Budget-Oct2010-March2011
Oct 2010 Trip Report 30Oct2010
Apr 2010 KJSA_Budget_April_Sep_2010
Mar 2010 Budget & Contract Oct09-March10
Nov 2009 Annual Report: Oct 08 - Sep 09
Nov 2009 Cyclone Aila Relief Report-KJSA.
Sep 2009 Quarterly Financial Report APR09- Sep09
Sep 2009 Quarterly Financial Report July09- Sep09
Jun 2009 Proposal Cyclone Aila Relief-KJSA
Jun 2009 Cyclone Aila Budget-KJSA
Apr 2009 KJSA signed contrac Apr09_sep09_1
Apr 2009 KJSA signed contrac Apr09_sep09_2
Jan 2009 Quarterly Financial Report Oct08-Dec08
Nov 2008 Quarterly Financial Report July08- Sep08
Oct 2008 Financial Statement Oct08
Sep 2008 KJSA signed contrac Sep08-Mar09
Jul 2008 KJSA Contract Sep 08- Mar09
Jul 2008 KJSA contract Sep 08- Mar 09
Jun 2008 WAH approval minutes
Jun 2008 WAH proposal 2008
Jun 2008 WAH Budget 2008-2009
Jun 2008 WAH proposal 2008
May 2008 Teachers training contract
May 2008 Site Visit Sowmyadeb Maitra
May 2008 South Kaorakhali School Construction Photos
May 2008 Annual Progress Report
May 2008 Financial Statement May 08
May 2008 KJSA schools Information
Mar 2008 Quarterly Financial Report Jan08-Mar08
Dec 2007 Asha Mn-Financial Summary 07
Dec 2007 Quarterly Financial Report Oct07-Dec07
Oct 2007 KJSA contract
May 2007 Site Visit (Asha-UC)
Feb 2007 Pics Feb 2007
Feb 2007 Sam Murthy Site Visit 0307
Jan 2007 Nikil Wale site visit 0107
Oct 2006 Signed MN contract
Sep 2006 Pics_Sept06_SecondSet
Sep 2006 Pics Sept 2006
Sep 2006 UIUC project contract Oct 06- Sep 07
Aug 2006 Surya Das Aug 06 site visit
Feb 2006 Initial Project Proposal
Feb 2006 Proposed Budget