Fwd: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Strategies to Increase Focus on Early Childhood Care and Development. Reply by 12 March 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shashi Prakash <shashi.pra@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 12:21 PM
Subject: Re: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Strategies to Increase Focus on Early Childhood Care and Development. Reply by 12 March 2010
To: Education Community <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>

Dear Friends,

My exposure to functioning of ICDS program was quite disappointing, notwithstanding the fact that it is the only government supported program which operates at sub-village level. It led me to critically think the reasons for government or users not taking this seriously.

Child nurturing was exclusive domain of family, perhaps mothers. Now that we are leading towards a system where child health, nutrition, education, and other services are being take care of by government and society, it may require a change in the concept of childhood. With 5-10 major business houses running pre-school centers and catering mainly to metropolitan and upper middle class needs, we are witnessing many new concepts being experimented. It is really enjoying (or annoying) to see parents sending a two year old in the early morning hours to one of those play schools.

One of my recent readings includes a book by Minu Swaminathan. This reminds me the fact that 0-6 (or 3-6) years of age is of intense learning, mostly done outside the school framework, which you may call practical learning or experiential learning. Group behavior, cognitive patterns, brain and body coordination and many such finer things are happening inside the child, without even any of us or child realizing it.

I completely agree with Angela, that a separate act is required which holistically look into the developmental needs of children during 0-6 years of age. This act shall not only look into matters related to health, education, nutrition but sociability, family values, play and sports also.

When done for general population, I would also like to emphasis special group needs and rights. We are doing a project with the children of sex workers in Delhi. Younger children do not find a comfortable place to live and play, when they are with mothers. Children between the age group of 3-6 essentially pick up undesirable behavior traits. There is high likelihood of discrimination and stigma when such children go to schools and interact with wider group. It has been observed in our project that children ultimately fall back to their own group, having children from similar family and social background. This process of exclusion has to be broken at the early age. I would request my friends in this community to further highlight such specific issues. In any case, we shall not be fooled by business houses running pre-school program as the model of new wave in early childhood care.

Regards,

Shashi

Aide et Action

Delhi

---

From: Venita Kaul [mailto:vkaul54@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 5:07 PM
To: 'Education Community'
Subject: [se-ed] DISCUSSION: Strategies to Increase Focus on Early ChildhoodCare and Development. Reply by 12 March 2010

Moderator's Note: Dear Members, after a long time, we are happy to initiate a discussion on Early Childhood Care and Education for members' advice. As all of us would agree, this issue is of significance, given the importance of 0-6 years, in a persons' life. The kind of developmental and early learning opportunities as well as nutrition and health inputs a child is able to receive at this age, has a lot of bearing on her future.  

We are happy to announce that Venita Kaul, a known specialist in the area of Early Childhood Care and Development has agreed to be the Guest Moderator for this discussion. Venita Kaul recently retired as Senior Education Specialist from World Bank, India office and has written extensively on the educational and developmental needs of this age group. Even after her retirement from the World Bank, her focus is maintained on ECCD. We are sure members would be forthcoming in sharing their advice and suggestions for better strategization of ECCD in the country.

We look forward to your active participation.  

Shubhangi

---

Dear Members, 

I work for Center for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED), which is located in Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD). CECED's mission is to contribute to the national goals of social justice and equity by advocating for and promoting every child's right to a sound foundation for life, through contextually appropriate and inclusive ECED and to place ECED in the forefront of policy formulation and effective programme implementation.

After a long battle, education has become the fundamental right for children in the age group of 6-14 years. However, the Right to Education Act has left out the very important age group of children below 6 years. The reason given is the fact that 86^th Constitutional Amendment and its Article 21A through which right to education was accepted as a fundamental right, talks about children between the age group of 6-14 only.

Therefore, the Act clearly excludes and thus violates the right of the 0-6 and 14 to 18 year old children. As a Bill flowing out of the Amendment, it is clear that the Bill can not go beyond Article 21A, which makes it imperative that the 86^th amendment must be re-amended to correct this anomaly, and when that happens, the change needs to be reflected in the corresponding Act at that point of time. 

However, this omission has resulted in the exclusion of 17 crore children of 0-6 years age group from their entitlement to education as their fundamental right, which is a major cause of concern, given that this age is now empirically established as the most important and formative stage of a person's life. Given this concern, the issue of inclusion of children below 6 years in the Right to Education bill is being raised in several forums.   

In the context of the above, we invite members to share their views on how they believe this important age group and its entitlements should be catered to.

We wish to hear your advice on the following:

• Should it be a justifiable right for only 3-6 year olds and that also to center based Early Childhood Education? Or should it be a right to a stimulating, healthy and enabling environment for all children, from birth to 6 years no matter where they are located? If it is the latter, what kind of government's commitment and public provisions would define this right operationally?
• If it should be only for 3 to 6 year olds and through a center based provision, what steps would be needed to ensure access to every child, given the wide variations in quality? If it is not conceptualized as institution/center based ECCD, but more holistically, what would be the monitoring mechanisms to ensure that every child's right to sound ECCE is fulfilled?
• Should there be a separate act for the right to education and development of 0-6 age group? Or should it be part of the Right to Education Act, given that the nodal Ministries for the two are different (for elementary education it is the Ministry of Human Resource Development and for ECCE it is the Ministry of Women and Child Development

Your inputs and advice will strengthen the advocacy and efforts of diverse sets of people in the area of ECCD and would also give us a clear direction to design our own activities and efforts as a Centre dedicated to early childhood care and development

Regards,

Venita Kaul

Center for Early Childhood Education and Development (CECED)

Ambedkar University,

Delhi

--
Ch.Santakar
Pujariput
Koraput-764020
Orissa
Mob:09437192553
e-mail:santakar@gmail.com
web:www.koraputonline.com

Fwd: [se-ed] QUERY: Status and Challenges of Educating Children in Urban Slums - Experiences; Examples. Reply by 24 February 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Havovi Wadia <havoviw@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 3, 2010 at 10:17 AM
Subject: Re: [se-ed] QUERY: Status and Challenges of Educating Children in Urban Slums - Experiences; Examples. Reply by 24 February 2010
To: Education Community <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>

Dear Friends,

My experience with issues related to education in urban slum pockets bears out some of what has been mentioned by others in their responses -  that migrant populations particularly struggle to access education, that the system seems more comfortable with one time grants of books/desks etc rather than investing in a sustainable and accountable programme that imparts equal and quality education for all children.

Just a few things I'd like to draw attention to:

1. In slums in Mumbai and Thane, almost invariably, schools are up to Class VII - most parents know they cannot afford to pay for their child to complete Class X in private schools and depend heavily on charity for this purpose. Many, knowing that this is a hurdle, refuse to enroll their children in the first place. There is an urgent need for us to complete the loop on primary education by ensuring that there are schools for children to go to.

2. The Bridge schemes in place currently do not have a cohesive or coherent syllabus, simply requiring teachers to cram into 2/3 years the syllabus from nursery to Class V, so that children can then be mainstreamed into municipal schools. As a result, most children are unable to keep up; many cannot be mainstreamed at the end of the bridge course. Teachers (in bridge schools) are handicapped by lack of training and very poor pay packages.

3. Under the SSA, coordinators are hired, to devote special attention to enrolment and retention. Their task is to work in communities around the school and address cases where education is being refused or cannot be accessed.

Perhaps a thorough understanding of the government schemes wrt education should be our first step towards understanding what role civil society needs to play to ensure children get a proper education.

Regards

Havovi Wadia

CRY (Child Rights and You)

Thane, Mumbai

---

From: Amita Tandon [mailto:tandon_amita_01@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 4:46 PM
To: 'Education Community'
Subject: [se-ed] QUERY: Status and Challenges of Educating Children in UrbanSlums - Experiences; Examples. Reply by 24 February 2010

Moderator's Note: Dear Members, we are posting this query to understand the status and challenges in education of Urban deprived children. With the ever growing urban population and the emergence of urban slums in a more rapid manner than ever before, as a result of increasing migrant population, the challenges of offering the basic essential services have become huge. Education is, of course, one of the important essential service to be provided to all children irrespective of their place of residence. It is a major agenda for planners, policy makers, executors and larger civil society. This query is intended to add to the knowledge base required to plan for effective educational interventions for children living in urban slums.

Amongst you, quite a few members and their organizations are working towards this goal. We would like to hear from you. Do share with us your experiences of work in this field and the challenges you are faced with. Strategisation of the education of urban deprived children is bound to get the priority in the coming years as there is no escape to the fact that they exist in huge numbers around us.

We look forward to your active participation in response to this query. The last date of the current discussions on " replicating innovative experiences in India to implement RTE" has also been extended till 10^th, therefore, till 10^th both these queries will run simultaneously and we are sure, on both the issues our members' have a lot to offer.

Shubhangi

---

Dear Members,

I work with Katha, a nonprofit organization that works for education of children living in urban poverty. We run 96 schools in slum communities and work with the government to bring the joy of reading to more than 200,000 children and bring communities into safeguarding child interest's vis-à-vis quality education and preventing dropping out etc.

Today, we help bring positive change into the lives of children and their mothers, living in 72 slum and street communities across Delhi; and in the tribal villages of Arunachal Pradesh. As a result, 52,242 children have come into the fold of sustainable education through Katha Schools and 39,846 children have been weaned away from labor into quality education.

A 2008 sampling of salaries show 430 Katha alumni earned a total of Rs. 42 million (their family incomes were Rs. 600-800/month in 1990, according to a government survey).

Since last year, at the invitation of the Delhi Government, we have been working in a 100 schools, helping students gain reading skills for fun and for better grade level academic performance.

Over the last many years we have realized that sharing best practices will make the work of nonprofits and people in the voluntary sector better and more effective. Katha shares its own practices through capacity building workshops, thus avoiding too much time being spent on reinventing every single wheel that turns our commitment to children and communities and curriculum. But many questions do constantly come to mind:

Hence, I request members of the Education Community to share their thoughts and experiences on the following:

• What is the current scenario of education for urban disadvantaged children especially living in slums?
• What are the measures have been adopted by government to prevent children living in urban areas or who are disadvantaged from dropping out of school?
• What do you fee the role of civil society organizations (CSO) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should be in preventing children living in urban slums from dropping? Please also share any successful experiences from CSOs and NGOs.

Also, we are looking for evidence/documentation showing a clear co-relation between increased income of urban poor families and education of their children?

Your examples and experiences will help us in developing our strategies further in relation to sustainable education of urban slum children. It will also better understand the kind of work, which can be undertaken to ensure that children living in urban slums receive education that empowers them and gives them skills for future employment after they complete their studies in enter in labor market . 

We thank you in advance for supporting our research and action on child education and urban poverty reduction.

Regards,

Amita Tandon

Katha

New Delhi

--
Ch.Santakar
Pujariput
Koraput-764020
Orissa
Mob:09437192553
e-mail:santakar@gmail.com
web:www.koraputonline.com

The Sunday Indian(TSI) Story Link

Hi
santakar sends you a story
For story please click on the following link or copy and paste in browser's address bar
http://www.thesundayindian.com/17012010/storyd.asp?sid=8347&pageno=1
Regards --
TSI Team

Fwd: [se-ed] QUERY: Status and Challenges of Educating Children inUrban Slums - Experiences; Examples. Reply by 4 March 2010

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Multiple Contributors <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>
Date: Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 2:57 PM
Subject: Re: [se-ed] QUERY: Status and Challenges of Educating Children inUrban Slums - Experiences; Examples. Reply by 4 March 2010
To: Education Community <se-ed@solutionexchange-un.net.in>

Moderator's Note: Please find below responses from Umesh Chandra Gaur, Hiren Dharamshi and A. R. Vasavi on the query "Status and Challenges of Educating Children in Urban Slums"

---

Umesh Chandra Gaur, Confederation of Community Based Organizations of India, New Delhi

 

I want to say that the situation of slum area's children is very undesirable. It is sad to say that our Government started many programme for the children but it can't reach to them. The Government of India regards education as the basic element for overall development of its citizen.  

Confederation of community based organization of India (CCBOS) an apex body. It is working for grass-root level development. CCBOS will make a Education community for needs of education to all special children and girls child.

CCBOS desire to ensure that the Government commits 6% of the gross domestic product (GDP) to public expenditure to education. My suggestion is that we should make a Child Welfare Committee in every district. By this committee the government can easily know that the actual condition and growth of the children of the each district.

In opinion government should be give some attention to these following points and trying to solve the problems:

·         Quality of education and performance of teachers are two areas of urgent concern.

·         Number of schools has increased yet facilities are far from satisfactory.

·         The Public Private Partnership being proposed by the government will make education more and more inaccessible to the poor and also undermine the present govt. school system as only the poorest who will have no way of ensuring a quality education, will be attending the government school.

The big problem is only this that in slum area the poor people have not shown there interest for education. They sent their children to Aanganwadi only for food provided by Government. In the end I would like to say that the all government programme will only be successful by the cooperation of people who live in slum areas and the social workers of that areas.   

 

 

Hiren Dharamshi, Janhit Drishtee Foundation, Mumbai

 

There is lot done but more required as the fast growing child population in and across Metros in India is poising challenge to the Education system. 

Further, the bulging cost of education due to influx of sophisticated studies has resulted in education being for the class & mass is still deprived at large. The scenario has become more of a challenge for parents on how to get the reasonable & efficient education for their ward. In the event of specialization of education & government's limited reach it becomes of paramount importance for various institutions to come forward to the part responsibilities. 

The issue for Metros is most challenging as huge number of migrant is getting settled in & around these metros due to abundance in employment opportunities. But there is limited or no access to basic education, also difficult to have a place where a Child can enhance/explore & widen his thought process.

 

We have personally experienced that there is willingness of the family to send their ward for primary education. But the next stage of education & its cost is a huge setback. Most NGO's want the kids to start the educational process & they have the required funding to run the basic of everything, but the challenge here is whether what percentage enters the stage 2 & further. 

 

One problem we faced was of local politicians who wanted us to give books, Computers, Sewing machines etc to their own people and not to the children from migrant communities. Also they wanted a job post Computer and sewing classes. We really had a difficult time till we mend the situation.

 

 

A. R. Vasavi , National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore

 

This is in response to Ms. Amita Tandon's query related to education of children in urban poverty areas. Many of the questions she raises are pertinent and indicate the lack of comprehensive research and innovative programmes in such areas. Based on our research in some of the poverty areas in Bangalore and in one district town (Chamarajnagar), I strongly feel that the larger pool of Out of school children and those with education deprivation (and related problems of disadvantage) will be in the urban poverty areas.  The problems emanate not so much from the inability of families to pay for schools or schooling as much as from the sharp deterioration in  the administration of government schools and the failure to provision adequate and relevant schooling (even as cities expand) to people who are the working poor. In addition, the urban poverty areas are now home to an odd and very disturbing trend; that of literate parents but non-literate children.   

 

There is a detailed study titled "Urban Poverty and Basic Education Deprivation"  Local Education Report, 2002, Bangalore City, Karnataka, on the research conducted by National Institute of Advanced Studies, available with the Resource Team which can be shared with the interested members' on request . I do hope it helps answer some of the key questions raised by Ms. Tandon.

---

Moderator's Note: Dear Members, we are posting this query to understand the status and challenges in education of Urban deprived children. With the ever growing urban population and the emergence of urban slums in a more rapid manner than ever before as a result of increasing migrant population, the challenges of offering the basic essential services has become huge. Education is of course one of the important essential service to be provided to all children irrespective of their place of residence. It is a major agenda for planners, policy makers, implementers and larger civil society. This query is intended to add to the knowledge base required to plan for effective educational interventions for children living in urban slums.

 

Amongst you, quite a few members and their organizations are working towards this goal. We would like to hear from you. Do share with us your experiences of work in this field and the challenges you are faced with. Strategisation of the education of urban deprived children is bound to get the priority in the coming years as there is no escape to the fact that they exist in huge numbers around us.

 

We look forward to your active participation in response to this query. The last date of the current discussions on " replicating innovative experiences in India to implement RTE" has also been extended till 10^th, therefore till 10^th both these queries will run simultaneously and we are sure, on both the issues our members' have lot to offer.

 

Shubhangi

---

Dear Members,

 

I work with Katha, a nonprofit organization that works for education of children living in urban poverty. We run 96 schools in slum communities and work with the government to bring the joy of reading to more than 200,000 children and bring communities into safeguarding child interest's vis-à-vis quality education and preventing dropping out etc.

 

Today, we help bring positive change into the lives of children and their mothers, living in 72 slum and street communities across Delhi; and in the tribal villages of Arunachal Pradesh. As a result, 52,242 children have come into the fold of sustainable education through Katha Schools and 39,846 children have been weaned away from labor into quality education.

 

A 2008 sampling of salaries show 430 Katha alumni earned a total of Rs. 42 million (their family incomes were Rs. 600-800/month in 1990, according to a government survey).

 

Since last year, at the invitation of the Delhi Government, we have been working in a 100 schools, helping students gain reading skills for fun and for better grade level academic performance.

 

Over the last many years we have realized that sharing best practices will make the work of nonprofits and people in the voluntary sector better and more effective. Katha shares its own practices through capacity building workshops, thus avoiding too much time being spent on reinventing every single wheel that turns our commitment to children and communities and curriculum. But many questions do constantly come to mind:

 

Hence, I request members of the Education Community to share their thoughts and experiences on the following:

• What is the current scenario of education for urban disadvantaged children especially living in slums?
• What are the measures have been adopted by government to prevent children living in urban areas or who are disadvantaged from dropping out of school?
• What do you fee the role of civil society organizations (CSO) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should be in preventing children living in urban slums from dropping? Please also share any successful experiences from CSOs and NGOs.

 

Also, we are looking for evidence/documentation showing a clear co-relation between increased income of urban poor families and education of their children?

 

Your examples and experiences will help us in developing our strategies further in relation to sustainable education of urban slum children. It will also better understand the kind of work, which can be undertaken to ensure that children living in urban slums receive education that empowers them and gives them skills for future employment after they complete their studies in enter in labor market . 

 

We thank you in advance for supporting our research and action on child education and urban poverty reduction.

 

Regards,

Amita Tandon

Katha

New Delhi

 

--
Ch.Santakar
Pujariput
Koraput-764020
Orissa
Mob:09437192553
e-mail:santakar@gmail.com
web:www.koraputonline.com