Pratham Education Foundation

A Day with ASER Volunteers

By Dalip K. Seth

On 16^th September 2012 – Dalip joined the ASER volunteers at a remote village, Dalod, in Ahmedabad District. This is an outsiders view of the ASER Survey.

  

8.00 a.m. in the morning, we left for Dalod, almost 120 kms away from Ahmedabad, passing the towns of Viramagam and Mandal, off the main highway.  We passed through a two- lane state highway, both sides of which were heavily drenched with the recent rain and the small plants of castor were barely out of the ground, due to delayed sowing, for miles and miles. I later heard from the farmers in the village, that they were happy to have regained, what was virtually a ‘lost year’ for them, due to delayed rains.

 

The volunteers, Forum and Ankita had stayed in the village after having completed their day’s work. It was interesting to know their dilemmas and apprehensions as ASER volunteers and how they resolved them, as they decided to stay over in the village for the night. The two young girl volunteers from the partner college in Ahmedabad had already reached the previous day, (Saturday morning), and we found them at Bharvad Vas (hamlet) of the village.  It was a pleasure meeting the volunteers - and listening to their experiences and seeing them in action with a great deal of enthusiasm.

As the young collegians made the village their home for the evening, they  had fun with the village children,  at the Rama pir temple – singing and dancing and being surprised at the village kids’ talent in singing,  – mostly for singing folk songs, the garba. A troupe of children followed the volunteers, giggling and cackling as the volunteers went from hamlet to hamlet and house to house. These city girls seemed quite at home after spending just one day and night in the village.

The village has a population of 4500, with over 2000 registered voters spread over eight different hamlets (Vas). We joined them at Bharvad vas.

While Forum and Ankita along with Chirag  (the ASER Associate), were busy in the assessment of children,  it was extremely pleasant to see the families fully involved and keenly observing their children in the whole activity - Before the volunteers started the assessment, few mothers would say, ‘ we are not educated, and  no one takes ‘tuition’ in our village’,  although it was obvious that many children  proved their parents wrong.  Yes, English seemed to be the big hurdle for most of them – even a fluent reader in Gujarati would get bogged down at the elementary level of English.   

After watching, the assessment s of few children,   I had the opportunity of talking to one of the Panchayat members, who took me to his home, and shared his insights about the education and other problems of his village.  Apart from rains, there is no other source of irrigation for the village farmers.  Though there is 24/7 electric supply, nobody in the village could afford a bore well any more, as the water table has receded more than 900 ft, and the land holdings are generally too small (avg 5 bigas per farmer) As far as education, there is a primary school catering to 350 children of the village, with 11 teachers and a principal, along with a separate high school in the village.

 

 

The Panchayat member felt pessimistic and helpless while sharing with me that in the last two years – less than twelve students have gone to neighboring towns for higher education after Std X. It was heartening to know that three times more girls than boys passed out in Std X this year, and the real sad part was that just about five or six girls could go for study after Std X.  A host of factors were cited, like distance of nearest secondary school, lack of motivation as well as affordability - which discouraged the girl child to continue her education.

 

In higher classes, where the need for ‘extra support ‘or ‘tuition’ becomes acute for these children, the parents feel it more prudent to spend their meagre resources on the sons than daughters – even in the families where both sons and daughters have cleared their Std X.  Talking to our volunteers, this part of gender inequality got confirmed, as they had spent more time with the villagers.

I strongly feel that more young college students, after their ASER training, like Forum and Ankita would do justice to the ASER survey and am sure that our city volunteers also gained for themselves an experience to remember, from a little taste of rural India. I am really glad to have spent the day with the children and with the ASER volunteers!