A unique experiment in education for slum children
R.C. Ganjoo

EDUCATION is helping the child realise his potential, and an NGO, Bodh Shiksha Samiti (BSS), is doing just this for urban slum children. However, before floating the NGO, a team of volunteers spent one year with the urban slum dwellers to understand the type of education that ought to be made available to them. They considered it necessary to establish relationships with communities so that they could take the initiative themselves in sending their children to schools run by the BSS. Initially, about 12 bastis were involved in the project.

Yogendra Upadhyaya, executive director and secretary of the BSS, is of the belief that attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is like hammering a cold iron. Teachers, therefore, have been specially trained so that they can motivate students to develop individual specialised skills.

Receiving an incredible response from communities and the government, the BSS moved further to develop a fundamental research centre for teachers and pupils which could be a resource centre for government schools and other educational institutions. A research training centre under the Programme for Enrichment of School Level Education (PESLE) was set up with the help of the European Commission and the Agha Khan Foundation at Garaghbasi village, 60 km from Alwar city. Spread over 40 acres of land and surrounded by the Aravali mountains the centre is now called Bodh Gaon. The centre is like a gurukul and it cost Rs 80 lakh to build. Initial going was tough as the site was not connected by a road. With the help of the locals, BSS volunteers took three months to make the three- km road. Construction work took one year to complete.

Presently, the BSS concentrates on Alwar district of Rajasthan. However, on an experimental basis, it has started five government schools in Jaipur. Appreciating the experiment, the Rajasthan government in 1992-93 officially permitted them to intervene in government schools in association with UN agencies under the Janshala Programme to provide academic and technical support to urban children in four major cities of Rajasthan: Jaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer and Bharatpur. About 1000 community schools fall in these districts.

In Alwar, the BSS initially assisted 10 government schools. Now it is involved in 250. The BSS provides them technical and academic support under the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP). It specially focuses on enhancing the ability and capability of teachers. According to the Project Officer of Care India, Dr Pushpa Wadhwani, part funding to the tune of Rs 35 lakh has been provided by them. They were involved from January 2000. Care India’s main component for their project is mobilisation of community, building construction, teaching material, early child programme and adolescence girl programme.

According to Dr Wadhwani, urban slum children are deprived of education as no infrastructure facilities are available. Under the BSS scheme, children do not have to take examinations up to the fifth standard. They are prepared for one year for taking the fifth and eighth standard examinations conducted by government schools.

The NGO wants education to reach the most deprived. In Alwar district itself, BSS has identified 35 "hardcore black spots". Rekamala village is one of them. It is 45 km from Alwar and has no road link. One has to climb a two- km steep hill to reach the 50 nomad families living there. Similarly, Sariska area known for its Tiger Project has benefitted. BSS has established five schools inside the deep forest where 50 to 60 children are studying in each school.