Dear ASHA Core,

  Below is the much awaited awaited visit-report for the Singhbhum Legal Aid and
Development Society (SLADS) which is located in southern Bihar. The proposal
is on the projects information web page. It is basically for funding teachers
salaries for a remote high schools being run by SLADS. 

  I encourage you to go over the proposal and visit-report carefully. The 
impression we have of this project is good and it is likely to be funded.
We will consider this project for funding approval at the next projects 
meeting on Tuesday, September 30. Please express your opinions and further
questions by showing up at this meeting. If you can't show up and have any
serious points to raise, send them to either Aparna  or
me .

-Sri


------- Forwarded Message

Singhbhumm Legal Aid & Development Society Visit Report
by P.P. Krishnan 
Date: September 18

About P.P.K.:
P.P.Krishnan - he's called PPK - is an IIT Kanpur alumnus (1988 batch),
worked in SAIL for six yrs, joined IIM Cal. '94-96 and works for a
software co. called Techna in the area of Production Technology &
Scheduling software development.

How to reach him:
He's based in Calcutta and his office ph. no. is (91)-(33)-357-6208/9,
357-4550/1. If you want to, you can call him between 9 am - 1 pm or 2 pm
- 6 pm IST. Best would be between 9-10 am IST. If you want, you can make
a call from my home.

His mailing address is :
P. P. Krishnan
TECHNA
5th Floor, SDF Building
Salt Lake Electronics Complex
Calcutta - 700 091
INDIA                  


Introduction

The Jamini Mahato Secondary school provides instructions in Class VI
to X. This is the only secondary school in this area, which has a
number of primary and middle schools, set up by the Government of
Bihar. This school was set up in 1984; initially providing
instructions at the middle school level (Class VI and VII) and later,
from 1987 onwards, at the secondary level.

After the school certificate exams (ie after the Class X board exams),
there is no assured admission to any other higher secondary
schools. The onus of continuing education is on the students and their
family.

The area in which this school is located is dominated by Santhali
tribals, whose sole source of income is agriculture or working as
labourers in fields. As such the income levels are quite low and most
of the families find it impossible to meet the high costs of
education.

Further, the villages are connected by mud roads and are very poorly
linked with the main towns/ cities of Ghatsila and Jamshedpur (where
most of the schools are located). The school is open to all students
irrespective of caste, creed and gender. The school charges an almost
non existant fee of Rs 10 per month. The medium of instruction is
either Bengali or Hindi. The classes are held from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
on weekdays (Monday to Friday) and from 6:30 am to 10:30 am on
Saturdays.

Aid for the tribal students comes from the Welfare department of the
Government @ Rs 432 per year. This amount is distributed once a
year. The monetary aid for the construction of the school building was
extended by the Bihar Government in 1988. The school is served by the
similar mud approach roads, without any mode of conveyance, thereby
making it very difficult to attend the school during the monsoons. The
school is not electrified and chances of electrification in the near
future are remote - attempts are however on to expedite the process.

The need for a high school in this area was felt because of the high
dropout rate, specially among the girl students after the completion
of the primary level of education.

The Salboni area comprises of 53 villages with approximately 25,000
people (in 5 Panchayats).  There are 10 Primary schools (Class I to
III) and 5 Middle schools (Class I to VII) in this area, run by the
Govt. The Jamini Kanto Mahato school is the only secondary school in
this area.

School Details :

Number of floors : 2 ( Ground and First Floor ) Number of Rooms :
Ground floor : 3 Classrooms, I staff room, ( Operational ) and 1 Head
Master Room ( non Operational )
	Frist Floor : 1 Classroom cum Hall, ( non Operational ),
Balcony Electrification status : Not available, request has already
been made to electricity board ( Bihar ) Seating arrangements : Ground
Floor 20, 20, 40 students with chairs and tables, first floor has a
capacity 60 chairs and tables which are yet to be procured Teaching
aids : Black boards in operational classrooms Number of Teachers : 3
teachers ( on our visit ) Administrative staff : 1 Accountant cum
administrator Recognition status : Recognised by Bihar board Approach
roads : mud roads

The performance of the school can at best be described as moderate -
last year about 40% of the students of this school passed the
secondary exams. But then, performance is the least important metric
in this case. One point to be borne in mind is that these are the
first generation students from these villages and this effort is to
make them appreciate the importance of education. As time passes and
education gets more deeply ingrained in the minds of the people, the
performance will improve. What is very heartening to note is that
quite a few students secured Ist Division marks (more than 60%) in
their secondary exams and some of them also went on to obtain
graduation degrees, in the past.

List of Advisory members on the SLADS board :

Dr G N Reddy, Indian Rural Reconstruction Movement, Puricherla - 5171
Andhra Pradesh, India Ph: (085) 85 4913

Mrs Dilit Caseltina, Tata Tribal and Horizon Welfare Centre, TISCO
Jamshedpur - 1 Bihar India Ms Rahi Bhattacharya, Xavier Institute of
Management, Bhubaneshwar Orissa India Mr Ram Chandra Prasad, Block
Development Officer, Mosabani, Singbhum (East), Bihar, India

Dr L Pandey, Kadma, Jamshedpur Bihar India Mr R T Rakesh, Engineer -
Minor Irrigations Department) Ghatsila Bihar India Mr R K Kanniya
Block Development Officer, Ghatsila, Bihar, India Dr Ranjan Kumar
Sinha, Medical Officer, Ghatsila Government Hospital, Ghatsila Bihar,
India Mr Jamini Kanta Mahato, Lawyer Ghatsila, Bihar, India


List of the Governing Body members :

Mr Motilal Mahato President Gurmi PO Hirachuni

Mr Bishwajit Mahato Treasurer Village : Chottakhurshi PO Borakhurshi
Mr Subodh Singh Member Village : Gurajhore PO Keshavpur Mr Jamini
Kanti Mahato Secretary Mr Sanatan Singh Member Village : Gurajhore PO
Keshavpur Mr Jagdish Singh Member Village : Gurajhore PO Keshavpur

Mr Basanta Roy Member Village : Pairaguri PO Borakhurshi Mr Bijoy
Mahato Member Village : Gurma PO Hirachuni Mr Bijoy Kalindi Member
Village : Pairaguri PO Borakhurshi

Mr Subhash Mahato Member Village : Madnabera PO Hirachuni Mr Bamkim
Bishayee Member Village : Bandhdih PO Borakhurshi




List of Donors :

India Development Services (IDS) Chicago : IL 60615 United States of
America Amount : Rs 25,000/- Through Church Auxillary for Social
Action (CASA) 5, Russel Street Calcutta India

Amount : Rs 21,700/- from USA Through Xavier Institute of Management,
Bhubaneshwar Bhubaneshwar Orissa India

Amount : Rs 2,26,137 from USA Through South Asia Partnership India
Trust C 6, 1st floor Commercial Complex Safdarjung Development Area
New Delhi 110 016 India

Amount : Rs 2,03,800/- from Germany Through Action Aid India Rest
House Road Bangalore 560 001 India

Amount : Rs 1,53,250/- from United Kingdom All expenses based on these
foreign contributions are audited by R K Sakhuja & Co Chartered
Accountants Janpet

Teachers Profile : Name Qualification Subject Shasti Charan Paira B Sc
(Pass), B Ed Mathematics Debashis Kumar BA Economics Mridula Herenj BA
(Hons), B Ed Hindi & Sanskrit Radheshyam Acharya MA Bengali Kiran
Sribastab BA, B Ed Goegraphy Manohar Mahato B Sc (Hons) Biology
Premnath Mishra BA, BT History Angad P Mishra B Sc, B Ed Physics Binod
Kaibarta BA, B Ed English


The quality of teachers leaves a lot to be desired. However the
following points should be kept in mind before drawing any conclusions
from this statement : ? The teachers are paid a pittance ? The school
is located in a remote area, very poorly connected with the town ? The
medium of instruction has to be in Hindi/ Bengali (in the dialect
understood by the students) ? The dialect of Hindi/ Bengali, used in
this part is very different from the commonly spoken dialect (In fact
we were finding it very difficult to follow the instructions, when we
attended one of the classes, despite the fact that both of us are
quite proficient in both Hindi and Bengali)

With increased wages to the teachers and perhaps the facility to
provide them with conveyance, retired teachers from nearby areas could
be located to impart education of higher quality.  Further, SLADS has
plans to send these teachers to more professional schools for training
on the mode of teaching.

The school also tries to impart non academic education which is a very
important in the development of a boy or girl into responsible
youths. Care for nature and the environment is imparted by means of
tree plantation programmes. Each plant is allocated to a student who
is responsible for its well being. It is envisioned that the fruits
produced by these trees will bring in a substantial amount of revenue
in the future.

It is planned to hand over the school to the Givernment after 3
years. The criteria for Government takeover of the school are the
following : ? Land & Building should be present ? Trained staff must
be available ? Students must be enrolled

Opinion regarding Mr Mahato

Mr Mahato originally hails from one of the villages in this area. He
seems to be a well to do lawyer and is well respected in the villages
in the Salboni area. He has taken up cudgels on behalf on the tribals,
with respect to their legal rights, and helped them out on several
occasions. He has also ensured that his son and daughter persue their
education in this school - Jamini Kanta Mahato school - till their
secondary level. This is done, despite the fact that he could easily
afford a more expensive town based school, primarily to earn the trust
of the villagers. Hence there can be no doubts about his commitments
to this school.  The school is open to all students, irrespective of
their caste, creed and sex and there is no trace of any political or
religious affiliations.

The SLADS is also focussing on a variety of activities, which include
:

Creation of mahila committees (womens committees in villages) to
tackle the problems in the villages, provide easy loans to the
villages through the chit funds etc. The idea is to involve woman more
in the development work.

Excellent work done in the area of agriculture and farming. Trying to
increase the farm outputs, more than one crop per year, providing
irrigation facilities to enable farming even in case of dry spells
etc. This had led to increased earnings from the land for the
villagers and also increased their level of participation in these
programmes. Loans are also provided to the villagers on easy terms to
enable them to start other small ventures like poultry etc.

Provide free legal aid to the tribals and villagers, who are basically
ignorant about the law and have no money to employ lawyers to defend
them. The cases involved are usually trivial like illegal chopping of
forest woods (on a very small scale) etc.

Promoting social activities encompassing a number of villages in this
area to promote harmony in the region. Health related issues. Trying
to set up hospital in this area to provide at least basic medical and
nursing facilities. The land for setting up the hospital has been
provided free by the villagers. A doctor was sent by Action Health (a
UK based Voluntary Organisation) to make a feasibility study and his
report was very favourable.

Villagers reaction

The villagers are full of praise for the SLADS initiatives in all
areas including the school. Many of the students and parents we talked
to, professed the need for such a school in the area and said that in
the absence of such an institution, their children will not be able to
persue studies beyond the middle school level.

Conclusions :

After the visit we feel that the school deserves the aid that ASHA MIT
plans to extend to them.  There might be many issues that might crop
up like quality of education, number of students, how many pass the
secondary exams, how many pursue higher studies, how many find
employment outside the village etc. It is very important to remember
that this is almost the first generation of students. The idea is to
create an awareness towards education and learning rather than create
a pool of potential doctors and engineers. The students will be useful
in the other ventures of the organisation like the medical services -
high school female students could be given nurses training and would
serve as nurses in the hospitals and medical units in this area.
Other forms of vocational training in the fields of agriculture,
animal husbandary, poultry farming etc. could be imparted to diversify
the activities of the villages and ensure increasing self
sufficiency. Students from these schools will be best suited for this
purpose and will also serve the area with dedication.  We recommend
strongly that the project should receive immediate help from Asha-MIT.


PS: We have asked Mr Mahato to sublit a phase wise plan of
expenditures based on the resource required at different points in
time. As soon as we receive it, we will send it across to you.


------- End of Forwarded Message