ASHA-MIT
NAME: SAHANIVASA
An Organization in Social Action & Rural Development
INTRODUCTION:
Sahanivasa has been working in the Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh
since 1985 on organizing dalits, landless laborers, and women on a variety
of issues. These include implementation of land reforms, organizing for
minimum wages and tenancy rights, organizing for gender equity and rights,
monitoring, documenting and disseminating information about human rights
violations (discrimination, untouchability practices, rape, burning of
villages, etc. by higher castes and state agencies) and violations of
women s rights and organizing local actions to address such violations.
Sahanivasa also lobbies actively for changes in existing laws, new laws and
implementation of the laws governing these issues.
Sahanivasa further works to empower and increase the confidence of the
populations with which they work. Dalits, who constitute 24% of the Indian
population (216 million) are the people who form the lowest social strata in
Indian society. They have been led to feel they are second-class citizens
of the community and have been humiliated over the centuries in countless
ways. They have called themselves dalits - meaning broken and oppressed
people.
While the caste system is officially abolished under the Indian
constitution, its practice and discrimination based on caste is still
rampant. Successive Governments of India have passed laws and policies
designed to address this discrimination. One of these policies, the
Government Reservation Policy for Education has not achieved its goals to
liberate dalits from their plight. After 44 years of these policies,
despite reservations for dalits, they remain unqualified for many jobs, and
these jobs are not filled.
For example, 96% of government hostels (which are meant to cater to low
caste and dalit students) are managed by wardens from the upper castes.
Many of them run the hostels according to the standards of their cultures
and caste, ignoring government rules. Dalit children cannot adjust to these
ways and the hostels become jails and the wardens the jailors, causing them
to hate the system and its policies.
At the primary education level, the local government teachers do not
encourage the dalit children s attendance, as most often they come to the
school dirty and untidy after toiling with their parents in the fields.
Many schools actively discriminate against dalit children, especially when
there are children of other higher castes attending the same schools. A
majority of teachers in the government schools belong to the upper castes
and look down on dalit children and humiliate them. So these children drop
out of school for fear of the teacher or the warden.
With such obstacles, the children do not finish school and even if they
do manage to stay on, they invariably fail the 10th standard examinations.
The reservation for employment comes into effect only if they pass these
examinations.
In a survey conducted by Sahanivasa, it was found that out of 40% of
the children enrolled in the 1st standard, 7% reach the 10th standard, and
90% of those fail the 10th standard examination.
Reasons for this situation The dalits have to struggle to survive and
to meet their most basic needs
* The denial of basic rights and lack of control over resources makes the
community live in sub-
human conditions.
* They work on the land but are not the owners.
* They work long hours but don t make enough money to feed their families.
* Their daily struggle to survive leaves them no time to think about their
future.
* Children are seen as free labor for the landlords.
The Situation of the Children
When dalit children are old enough, they work for the landlords or act
as baby-sitters for the younger children. The inability to feed their
families on their low wages makes the parents send out the children as
bonded laborers, especially if debts are incurred. Although technically in
India there is compulsory primary education, the uniform education system
for the entire country, at the primary level, does not take into account the
differences in the culture and way of life of the dalits. Hence these
children find this formal education very difficult to follow, added to
which, caste politics are rampant in practically every educational
institution.
Impact of Failure of the 10th Standard
Parents of these children do not want them to work as laborers and be
exploited by the landlords. At the same time, they cannot afford to get
them the coaching necessary for them to pass the 10th standard examination.
Hence these children feel frustrated and useless.
Sahanivasa believes that only through people s meaningful participation will
the redistributive justice, equity and harmony be actualized in the lives of
the marginalized. To achieve meaningful participation, the first step is to
produce qualified individuals who can then take advantage of any
opportunities provided. With this project, Sahanivasa hopes to improve the
chances of dalit communities to better the quality of lives of their youth.
Amongst Sahanivasa's achievements so far, they have been in the local news,
including televised news, many times and are often receiving recognition for
their work.
ADDRESS & CONTACT:
P. Chennaiah
Post Box No.47
D. No. 22-977/1
Moruganipalle Road
Chittoor - 517 001 (A.P.)
India
Phone & Fax (08572) 22475
LEGAL STATUS:
SAHANIVASA NARASIGARAYANIPETTA - 517419, a Society Registered in A.P.
bearing no. 206 / 1985.
LOCATION:
SAHANIVASA has been working in the four mandals of Chittoor District -
G.D. Nellore, Chitoor, Palasamudram and Gudipala.
PROPOSAL:
The proposal involves 60 villages from 2 mandals - G.D. Nellore and
Chitoor. Two students will be chosen from each village. Thirty students
(from 15 villages) will comprise one Special Coaching Centre. SAHANIVASA
hopes to use existing infrastructure of the union to start with 4 Special
Coaching Centres at each of the four union buildings in the two mandals
(supporting a total of 120 students).
The four Special Coaching Centres will focus on both dalit children who have
failed the 10th standard exam, and also those studying currently in the 10th
standard. The children will be coached to pass the exam, following which
they will become eligible for various government reservation policies in
terms of jobs or further formal education or vocational training.
BUDGET:
Based on 30 students per centre (2 students each from 15 villages)
Teacher s pay -- Rs. 600 for six months Rs. 18,000
(Rs. 600/- for six months X 30 students)
Education material & stationary Rs. 3,000
Subtotal Rs. 21,000
4 Special Coaching Centres Total Rs. 84,000
(Rs. 21,000/- for X 4 centres)
Approx. U.S. $2,500
DATES:
As soon as possible.
Funds requested will support the project for the 6 months prior to the
10th class examinations.
COMMENTS:
(by Vinay K)
This proposal came to us from workers for the Unitarian Universalist
Service Committee (UUSC) which is a human rights organization based in
Central Square, Cambridge. They are involved in supporting organizations
in different parts of the world which fight for human rights in their
part of the world.
Since UUSC does not support education related projects, Asha-MIT seemed
like the obvious choice. We discussed the project during the projects
meeting on June 13, 98 in which we saw slides of the project site and
discussed some issues involved.
Among the issues that I can bring up are the following-
1. This is another project on the lines of an after hour tutorial classes
that we already support in case of SODWAC and SHARE. The attempt here is
on getting the children through class 10. This is slightly out of line
with our focus on more elementary education. But we have already funded
high school children in SLADS.
2. The political and non-discriminatory aspects of the project are not
very clear. Agreed that Sahanivas seems to be doing admirable work but
UUSC is a human rights organization and most human rights efforts
are of a overtly political and anti-establishment nature. Even then
I think we have worked with organizations before that have done similar
work as Sahanivas (e.g. SLADS) and therefore I do not take this as a
sign of "too much" political activity. The one thing that can bother
someone is the over emphasis on Dalits. Is that being castiest in a
reverse sense?
3. In any case, the money situation right now is so tight that we cannot
think of approving this project in a hurry. This could be another candidate
project for taking to our corporate sponsors, especially with the slides
that Shalini and Renu already have.
By Vinay K (based on the General meeting of Dec 6, 98)
Shalini of UUSC made a presentation on the Sahanivasa project. The
project targets dalit children of Chittor dist. and seeks to provide
after-school tutorial assistance for students in 10th standard. The idea
is to improve on the currently abysmal passing rate and hence enable these
students to take advantage of the opportunities that come up after
finishing high school.
Shalini described her visit to the area a couple of years back,
and spoke on the condition of the people and the sort of discrimination
they face. She mentioned the reason for the rather steep compensation the
proposal envisages for the tutors and how it is expected to serve as a
pilot project for proving that these communities can do well in the field
of education. Several questions such as the duration and timing of these
classes, eligibility of a single teacher to tutor multiple subjects,
rationale behind putting all focus on class 10 which doesn't account for
accumulated problems etc. came up in the ensuing discussion. Srikanth
will compile them and send to Renu who'd get clarifications from the
people running the project.
By Vinay K (based on the projects group meeting of Dec 19, 98)
Sahanivasa project was revisited in greater detail. In addition to the
issues that came up at the last meeting, other questions which came up
include the suitability of spreading the tutorials over a whole year instead
of concentrating it within 6 months only. In this context, questions that
need answering include current schedule of teachers (how much time they
can spare and whether they are willing to travel to the study centers
every day), typical time availability for the children (how much free time
they'd have after school to attend these classes, how long they'd need to
travel etc).
A compilation of these is being sent to UUSC.
CLARIFICATIONS:
By Srikanth. Our questions to Sahanivasa evoked the following answers.
1. a) What are the number of hours per day and the number of days per week
that coaching will be provided. In this context, what is the typical distance
children have to tranvel to reach the coaching centers? Can they give
sufficient time after school and regular work every day to attend the
tutorials?
Five hours per day- Morning between 7.30 to 9.30 and evening between 5 to
8 on weekdays. On Saturday afternoons from 2 to 8 with one hour break in
between and 9 AM to 1 PM on Sunday.
Since the period is very short the students have to spend sufficient time
leaving all other family support works. Followed by special study between
7.30 to 9.30 AM in the study center they go to school till 4 PM. Again
at 5pm, they gather at the center and continue their study till 8pm. Later
they will return to their respective villages which are at an average
distance of 3 to 4km from the center.
All the centers are situated in places where the govt high schools are
located. They are at Narasingarayanipet, Thungundram, Palasamudram and
G.D. Nellore. Sahanivasa has two people's awareness centers in the first
two places and we do have to hire places for the other two centers. All
these centers are located at the distance of half a kilo meter from the
school. The students will trancel
every day an average of 3 to 4 km to reach the school every day. Since the
centers are located in high school villages, they don't need to spend any
extra time attending the centers.
b) Is it better to reduce the number of hours per day by spreading the
tutorial over the full year instead of concentrating it within just 6 months?
If so, will be tutors be agreeable to such an arrangement at the same
compensation?
Basically we don't believe giving over pressure on students within short
period. But at the same time, these are the students craving for special
attention to get out of the 10th standard adopting short cut method of
studies. In other words, the coaching will most help these students to
secure more marks instead of developing command and full knowledge of the
subjects. Neither Sahanivasa not the students can afford to bear the full
years payment for the teachers because they demand atleast Rs 1000/- for
10 months (just upto the examination period). The teachers will not
compromise on the fees maninly because they will be with the background of
maths and sciences. Since we pay for their fees for 6 months they will not
take additional tuition on their own depending on our resources. They do
have so much command because they are with the background of maths and
sciences.
Our intention is to extract the potential of children through innovative
educational interventions. This is possible by way of spending time
continuosly atleast for two years with the children on sustained manner.
This demands lot of financial and personal involvement. At this juncture,
we cannot think of such programme which demands more resources. Our plan is
after one year of the attempt in present manner, we will plan a programme
so as to ensure the growth of children as a full human beings by imparting
not only just school education but also different life education skills
through which they can grow as responsible people to take care of the
community wherever they settle in life.
2. What is the specific plan of study? What are the main subjects and topics
to be covered in the coaching? Does the project plan to hire only 4 teachers
or will there be separate teachers for separate subjects? Are the teachers
capable of handling all the subjects?
All the six subjects will be dealt with in six months of study programme.
However, special focus will be on Maths, English and Science. The other three
subjects Social Studies, Telugu and Hindi will not be so difficult like other
three subjects. In experience, we have realized that 90% of Dalit children
failed in the 10th standard due to lack of knowledge in Maths, English and
Science.
We select two teachers for each center who has background in any one of these
three subject. The Maths or science teachers teach English besides their
specialization in the govt schools. These teachers will
also deal other easier three subjects. Therefore in each center two teachers
will share the timings and subjects with the students to give focus on the
weak subjects. That means in all four centers we give more focus to the
difficult subjects though they spend time on other easier subjects.
3. Is it better to go with 4 centers all concentrating on 10th class, or is
it better that 2 centers be started for 10th class, and the other two would
provide coaching for lower classes (we just want to get an idea whether the
organizers consider that a 6 month coaching session as sufficient to enable
students to pass the 10th class, which does not consider the fact that there
might be accumulated deficiencies due to poor teaching in the previous classes
might prevent students from doing well at the 10th class).
This question is very much valid in the context of the majority students are
with background of poor performance. Since our students are from Dalit
background, they cannot even be above average standard. But at the same time,
we cannot afford to run study centers for lower classes dividing between the
centers mainly because the distance between each center is not less than
10 km. For each of the high school there are an average of 20 villages out
of which atleast 10 are Dalit villages. So in all the centers we have enough
of students to concentrate on the 10th class. Developing extra classes for
lower standards at this junction is very difficult as far as resources are
concerned. At the same time, allocating the centers for lower and upper
classes is also not possible due to distance between each center. That means
the students of Narasingarayanipeta center can't travel to the Palasamudram
center which is at the distance of 25 km if any of the center is converted
into specific class.Though there is a need to concentrate to give special
emphasis even from lower classes atleast in the immeadiate next year it is
not at all possible. Therefore for next year we will concetrate on getting
the students to pass the 10th class so that they can enter into any vocational
courses where the govt will take care of their stay and food under reservation
policy. Based on the experience gained in the year, we will plan a programme
in full-fledged character to take care of the needs of Dalit children in a
sustainable manner.
4. Have the teachers been identified? If so, on what criteria? Are any of
them from existing govt schools of the same area? What is the normal schedule
of these teachers?
We have discussed this with existing govt school teachers who have background
in science, math and english. They normally run extra coaching classes to
earn more money. Once we start offering a center, they are ready to work on
accoring to our terms. As far as the criteria is concerned, there is no
option but to select other than regular teachers mainly because it is
difficult to get people with such background from the Dalit community.
Further, we cannot hire fresh graduates as they do lack expertise in
equipping the students in short term to get results.
5. How will prospective students be identified?
Sahanivasa has been working among the most vulnerable communities for the
last 14 years in the project area. So far we have been concentrating on the
rights of laborers, women, dalits and marginal farmers. We have rather
neglected the children's education except working through parents to enrol
them in primary schools. We have realized that though there is increase of
school enrolment, the percentage of school dropouts is reducing due to several
factors. When it comes to high school education, almost 70% of enrolled
children dropout even before they reach the 10th standard. The rest of the
children who reach 10th have very poor results (like 10% of them pass).
There fore, all Dalit 10th class children in the project area who do not have
the capacity to bear for extra coaching will be enrolled in our study center.
That means we expect atleast 30 students will be enrolled in 10th class at
every center.
These students will be selected through village level associations that are
part of the women's collective, farmers collective and labours collective.
This way the parents will involve equally to encourage their children to
spend full time to get out of the 10th class.
6. Will there be some means of assessing the performance of the teachers, and
progress of the students during the course of the project (perhaps at the
halfway stage)?
Every month, the progress of students and performance of teachers will be
reviewed based on monthly tests on the subjects and syllabus dealt in the
month. Further, Sahanivasa co-ordinator and director will frequently sit
with the students and teachers separately to understand each students
performance and also the difficulties faced by the students with regard to
the teachers. This way, there will be regular monitoring and assessment on
the centers' performance.
Last but not the least this programme takes the development of Dalit
community in different plane as many of the students will be encouraged to
join in higher studies and also employment. 10th standard is a turning point
for Dalit students as their higher education will be completely subsidised by
the govt. In other
words, the parents will not have any financial burden on their children's
education. Further, the frustration of educated youth will be reduced to
avoid conflicts with the villages and also to minimize their attraction
towards criminal and communal forces.
These students will be formed as a group to support the struggles of
marginalized in the project. As educated group, they will continuously
related to the human rights work, i.e. carried in the project area besides
their responsibility to contribute for younger generation's education when
they settle in employment. This organic link will bind over their
responsibility towards the community.
SOURCE:
Proposal presented by Shalini Nataraj, Program Associate for Asia,
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
SUMMARIZED BY:
Shalini Nataraj, Renu Madan, June 12, 1998
STATUS:
Discussed in Projects Meeting on Dec 19, 1998.
Awaiting reply from Sahanivas on the questions raised.