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: CLOSED - ENDED
Project Steward: Sangeitha Thayalan
Co-Steward: Anirban Patra
Project Partner(s): Bimal Mondal
Project Address: Kaorakhali Jana Sevashram
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 <a> Asha for Education, Minnesota </a> and <a> Asha for Education, UIUC </a>


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.

<b>Significance of this effort</b>
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.

<b>Project scope for Asha</b>
+ 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).

<b>Future expansion of project</b>
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).

<b>Without Asha's assistance</b>
+ 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.

<b>What you can do to help</b>
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.