Project: Vision 2040
Thematic Area: Education
Intervention: Informal Primary Education System (IPES)
The reports and statistics of government and non-government sources clearly show that India has a learning crisis which if not addressed will erode the demographic dividend. The existing formal education has still not been able to include the children from marginalized section. Identifying this grave need Vision 2040 decided to create schools under IPES in localities where good number of chidren of schooling age are out of umbrella of education.
Informal Primary Education System (IPES) is a concept which should be regarded as the stepping stone in to the mainstream educational system for underprivileged children. In this system 5 classes (In the first year 3 classes) with children divided on the basis of age and prior knowledge shall be formed. The target group shall include underprivileged children of slum dwellers and downtrodden between the age group of 5 to 15 years, who have not gone to school or have dropped out due to financial and social constraints.
The system shall function as a primary school with the following objectives:
- To impart basic reading and learning skills to students in order to equip them for mainstream educational system with enrollment and retention as focal points.
- To provide the children with opportunities for overall personality development, better hygiene and built up their self-confidence.
- To make constant efforts towards sensitizing and work in collaboration with the community members, private school management and concerned authorities to ensure and promote educational services to children belongs to the minority Communities.
- To ensure the placements of students in regular schools through a student sponsorship scheme.
Keeping in view the above aims and objectives the Manappat Foundation, under its Vision 2040 goal, has established Vision Informal Schools (VIS). One such school is established in Mewali village of Hathras District and the other in Shahjamal locality of Aligarh city. Both these locations were selected as they are backward on all developmental parameters including education.
Mewali is an under-developed village located 26 km from Hathras Head Quarters. The population comprises mostly of farm laborers and gypsies belonging to backward and scheduled castes both from majority and minority communities. The demography is slightly dominated by minority community in population who are less empowered than their compatriots. With one government primary school this village had very low accessibility to education. After baseline survey and discussion with village elders and Pradhan it was decided to establish a school. The school now has about 150 students coming from all communities and classes. They have been divided into three groups based on their level of education. Four school teachers are teaching them English, Hindi, Urdu, mathematics and sciences. Moral and civic training is also provided to make them good and responsible citizen.
Shahjamal locality, classified as slum, is densely populated. A cluster of tiny lock manufacturing units are located here. The people of the area, mostly poor, are engaged in these lock manufacturing units. The area, despite being a part of the industrial city, does not have basic facilities like proper drinking water supply, primary healthcare centre and adequate government schools.
The environment is unhygienic and highly polluted. Water logging generates many diseases. The socio-economic status of the population is defined by lack of education. High incidence of child labor and illiteracy/poor education go hand in hand. It was therefore, highly imperative to start an informal school in Shahjamal.
Since the school is Informal, we hired two rented rooms in the target locality. These rooms were converted into class rooms after making proper arrangement of sitting, lighting, black board, charts etc.
The school is running successfully in three shifts as given below:
| Shift | Students | Timings |
|
Morning (First shift) |
Children between the age group of 5-12 | 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon |
|
Afternoon (Second shift) |
Adolescent Girls between the age group of 14-18 | 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM |
|
Evening (Third shift) |
Boys working in factories or elsewhere between the age group of 13-17 |
8:00 PM to 10:00 PM (The timing of this shift will change according to season) |
In the morning shifts we have about 50 students divided into two classes depending on their knowledge level. Out of 50 about 12-15 children do not know how to write, around 15 are able to write English alphabets and numbers from 1 to 50 in English while the rest are able to read and write in English, Hindi and Urdu but their level of understanding is below 1st standard of NCERT. We decided to follow the NCERT syllabus as standard target. The two teachers for Morning Shift are trying to uplift the level of these children to the 1st standard of NCERT in the first phase. The uninitiated students are given special attention.
For the Afternoon Session 20 girls are enrolled. Most of them had dropped out of school owing to poverty and other personal reasons. They are taught academic subjects as well as trained in sewing and stitching. They are presently at primary level. It is intended that they continue their studies and pass the High School Exam (Class X) through open board. A teacher and a trainer are engaged for this Session.
The Duration of Vocational Training course is six-months. With a plan to empower the girls by training them in professional stitching standard course and equipment are being used.
In the Evening Shift 20 boys are enrolled. Most of them are working in lock units or elsewhere. They too had been to schools earlier but due to poverty they had to drop out. Due to discontinuation of studies for long period the level of knowledge is around 1st standard of NCERT. But many of them are bright and have acquired knowledge randomly through experience. We plan to educate them so that they may pass High School Exam (Class X) through open board.
Our team is conducting surveys in other underprivileged locations in Aligarh District. Soon new IPES schools in other locations with will be added this year and next year.