Location
Objective
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Background of the Organization and Situation analysis
Like most districts of West Bengal, North 24-Parganas has largely agrarian population. However, the land person ratio is critically low due to land fragmentation and a rapidly growing population.Foremost among the problems relating to the agricultural sector, is the extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides leading to environmental degradation. As very few traditiona skills and craft remain in the area the problems of landslides is multiple and deep-rooted. Lack of basic health facilities couple with harmful practices, customs and taboos pose a formidable challenge to development workers.
Progress Report: April to October 1998
Education Program
During the review period, it was observed that Swanirvar has fulfilled
the objectives of the Education Program to a considerable extent. There has been a mass awareness
on education in the operational villages. The fifteen pre-primary centers have served
the purpose of increasing enrollment in the primary schools.
An overview of the program in
terms of total outreach, male to female ratio and parent involvement is as follows:
Village | Total students | Male | Female | Parent Meetings/No. of Participant | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bajitpur | 80 | 40 | 40 | 60/155 | |||||
Fatullapur | 90 | 51 | 39 | 2/94 | |||||
Adharnanik | 63 | 21 | 42 | 3/95 | |||||
Chandalati | 90 | 44 | 46 | 3/138 | |||||
Kolsur | 91 | 45 | 46 | 3/129 | |||||
Dwipurdia | 45 | 17 | 28 | 4/78 | |||||
Rudrapur | 45 | 25 | 20 | 3/74 | |||||
Bhojpur | 50 | 27 | 23 | 2/36 | |||||
Bagjola | 35 | 17 | 18 | 2/64 | |||||
Haiderpur | 38 | 16 | 22 | 2/45 | |||||
Beliakhali | 64 | 34 | 30 | 2/97 | |||||
Gokulpur | 65 | 30 | 35 | 4/119 | |||||
Punra | 42 | 21 | 21 | 3/72 | |||||
Matia | 85 | 42 | 43 | 5/120 | |||||
Uttarmedia | 40 | 15 | 25 | 3/101 |
All the per-primary centers are scheduled for three hours
per day, six days a week. Precise timings vary as per local conviniences.
A total of 923 children are centered to through these
pre-primary centers as compared to the previous years, when they
reached out to 780 children. Significantly, the number of female
children has increased with regards to enrollment. Guardian participation
has also increased to a great extent aspecially in the case of Haiderpur
and Bhojpur. In addition to this, three primary centers are in operation under the MHRD
program through Vikramshila Education Resources Society.
The attendance of the children in the school increased
by approximately 75 %. It was consistent for female children.
To strengthen the quanlity of the program, regular home
vists and parent meetings were held. In each center, students requiring
specific attention in terms of low attendance, progress, behavioural
problems were identified and home visits were made by teachers to
observe family involvement. Parent meetings were held as per
schedule in all the pre-primary centers.
Monthly meetings for teachers : Monthly meeting for
all the educational centers have been held and participation in these have
been considerably high. Assesment of each center is made and the
teachers exchange new ideas and clarify doubts during these.
Internal exchange program: During the reporting period,
the internal exchange program enchanced the performance fo the centers
and the internal supervision further consolidated the education program. Centers which
needed attention were identified.
Internal Workshops and training : In-house training
has been conducted in the area of pre-primary education adn material
development. The key teachers in the primary schools
have participated in an interactive workshop on minimum levels of learning
conducted by VERS. Material development workshops have been held
at 15 pre-primary centers in the villages. The outcome has been particularly
useful in tapping the creative abilities of teachers and various
innovative teaching learning material has been developed.
Literacy Program : The literacy program conducted by
the pre-primary teachers for women in the villages through informal methodology
was implemented in the first half of the year. The teachers have been
able to use adult learning techniques for which thay
had received training earlier. The progress of the mothers have been
closely monitored and periodic evaluations have taken place.
Rural literacy through strengthening book banks and opening libraries has received attention.
Links with government schools : Government officials
and teachers have been invited in various functions of Swanirvar. The organization
has established contacts with other NGO's and district
level officials in order to strengthen the schooling syetem in the block.
Network Initiatives : Dr. Sujit Sinha has prime moved
various networks on education with NGO's as wella s with the government
functionaries. He has facilitated the West bengal Education Network
and has contributed in terms of information sharing. Swanirvar is
a pro-active member of the National Alliance on Education
regarding the 83rd ammendment and has developed a booklet on education
in Bangali. This has been widely circulated in the villages
as well as to the other CRY supported partners.
School health Program : The health workers at Swanirvar
visit each education center on a monthly basis. Growth monitoring,
identification of health needs and supply of medicines
for primary ailment, deworming etc. were the main activities of this program.
Community health :
- Drinking Water : In the operational areas of Swanirvar,
arsenic detection camps were held. It was assessed that out of
a total of 102 smples tested, only 22 were safe while 44 were unsafe
and 36 were dangerous. 1398 tubewells were disinfected in 14
villages.
- Family Planning : In the first six months of the program,
3326 eligible couple were catered under this program. The
health requirements of 227 pregnant women were followed up.
- Clinical Services : A total number of 2363 patients
were catered to and curative services and medicine support was provided.
1605 patients received treatment in herbal medicines/ Swanirvar
continues to run four clinics in the operation villages.
- Malnutrition and Deworming program : Out of the total
children detected in eleven villages, six were found to be severly
affected, 74 were moderate cases, and 214 general cases. In eight
villages, deworming programs were catered tp 5959 children. 665
children belonging to the pre-primary centers werer covered.
- 22 patients underwent cataract operation in the reporting
period. This was organized in association with Barasat Government
Hospital.
Village awareness camps and meetings : These were held
as planned in the villages and Swanirvar. Awareness camps were held on deworming,
health and development, and blood donor motivation. Workshops
were conducted in first aid and health referral systems. Three teachers
of Swanirvar participated in a training on childhood disability
which was conducted by NIOH in Sept, 1998.
Cultural Program : Cultural activities continued on
an on-going basis - observing important days and the formation of youth groups
(kishore/kishore groups). Bratachari, yoga, puppetry, street theater, folk
dance and children's festivals were conducted a s planned.
The youth group programhas trained 100 adolescents in first aid. Training
was conducted on puppetry and drama. This group conducted village mappings
and surveyed sanition systems, prevalence of diarrhoe, tubewell, poultry
and kitchen gardens. I n the first few months, they have engaged
themselves in tree planting, cleaning of roadsides, disinfecting tubewells,
planting nursery, poultry vaccination with BDO's, conducting deworming
campaigns for the village and recording daily temperature and rain fall.
Kitchen garden and herbal medicine received due emphasis during the review
period and the youth groups were involved with the kitchen garden program.
In some villages, nurseries were nurtured by the youth members.
The youth program has a strong peda gogy content. The activities were collated
to Mathematics. In the last six months, the kishore-kishories
have learnt to make table charts, bar diagrams, graphs, pie-charts,etc. They have been
involved in cultural activities both for development purposes as well as
culture and entertainment. An integration with the high school syllabus is being worked out.
Financial Allocation:
April 1998 - March 1999
Yearly Sanction : Rs. 5,99,436.00
First Half Disbursal : Rs. 2,96,608.00
Review
In ths sphere, the focus has been on providing pre-primary
education to children of backward communities. In addition to the five pre-primary centres
which were existing previously, new units have been started, increasing the total to fourteen.
Three primary centres are in operation supported by the Ministry of HRD through VERS. The
pre-primary centres and support for workshops, co-curricular activities and cultural team the
primary level is being provided by CRY.
Monthly meetings, quarterly meetings and workshops have
been held regularly and joint meetings between health
and cultural supervisors conducted to review the entire
programe.
A qualitative evalutation format has been developed by
the teachers and project personnel which in the near
future will replace the reports of students having only gradations.
This has been a step forward in resolving the contradiction between non-formal
teaching methods and having a formalized grading system.
The supervisor has conducted his visits to all centres
on a regular basis.
Regular monthly meetings with parents and home visits
have been made.
The children have organised and participated in numerous
cultural shows whichincluded puppetry, dramatics, singing and dancing.
Trainings in "Bratachari" were conducted (which focuses
on the development of mind, soul and physique) and
39 children participated in the same.
Health
The primary objectives of the health programme is to
promote community health through child to child approach. School health programme has been
initiated during this period and health check ups held covering a total of 2126 children.
Further, a school health training was conducted. To enhance the awareness of mothers, nutrition
training was held; arsenic detention camps were held in 13 villages and out of a total of 102
listed samples, 44 were found unsafe and 36 dangerous.
An eye operation camp was held and 100 patients screened
and 23 cataract operations conducted at Barasat district
hospital.
In addition to preventive and promotive health measures,
Swanirvar operates 4 clinics to provide curative services.
Non Financial Support Details
03 Project personnel participated in regional baseline
data workshop organised by CRY at Swanirvar. 04 Project personnel attended ELT training at Calcutta
07 teachers attended Pre-primary Teacher training at
Calcutta Teachers attended the Puppetry training conducted by
the Puppets at Calcutta.