Thursday, March 28, 2013

Chattisgarh Education Programs

Pratham 2:45:00 PM

Chattisgarh: Living On Hope
By Chandrika Rathore

Ever since I started work at Pratham, which was almost six months ago, I’ve been particularly keen to visit its education programs in Chhattisgarh – the small state in Central India that was born out of Madhya Pradesh. Its people, after all, have long had to endure the struggle between the government and the Naxals and I was eager to see how these programs would run amidst such menace.

Prior to my visit, the only ideas I had about the socio political affairs of the state were from what I had read and heard. Based on that limited information, I had formed strong biases (best left undeclared) that came out in the endless debates I had with friends and acquaintances.

Hence I looked forward to a visit hoping to better understand the situation in the state. In retrospect, I think I had been little naive to believe that this short visit would all so simply wipe away my doubts and bring me back with a crystal clear viewpoint.

What I did come back with, however, was a rather pleasant perspective, even if not with answers to all my questions; and the realization that this was enough for the time being. It would be wrong, maybe even unfair to believe in the possibility of understanding a situation of this nature in such little time, with such little interaction with the people there. It would be an insult to the atrocities the common man has faced in Chattisgarh and most of all, it was impossible.

During my four-day visit, I had several questions and fortunately, I had for company, a colleague from Mumbai who was revisiting with me, Swamiji - the Unicef program head and Papuji who tirelessly drove us around, through unfriendly terrains. They were knowledgeable about the affairs of their state. I wanted to know their views for they would also, in some way or the other, reflect the views of people they knew: who did the people of Chhattisgarh sympathize with? But as is the case with most things, nothing was black and white. Even so, while Swamiji came forward in his support for the government, Papuji was quick to establish that he disagreed.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Friends of Pratham

Repost of Article From 'The Hindu'

Pratham 12:07:00 AM

Link To Original Article: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/educating-nirbhayaswhose-karthavya/article4465282.ece

Educating 'Nirbhayas'...Whose 'Karthavya'?

Vinay Sankar

A lost childhood, a run-away mother, a broken marriage, a 13 year old son and an elderly father to take care of -- none of these deterred Jaya Rawal from continuing her education. Jaya’s voter id shows she was born in the year 1979 and yet, she says she is not sure of her real age. In her fragile physique, she conceals a dogged determination to continue her studies and to get ahead.

It is said, 'when the going gets tough, the tough gets going' and that is absolutely correct in the case of Jaya. When the mother left her in her early teens, Jaya had to take charge of the family. That meant she discontinue her studies and take care of her siblings. Her father was with the Telecom Department, but, due to lack of a minimum period of service, is not eligible for a pension. Presently, she does nearly four-five hours of tailoring every day, earning around Rs. 3000 per month, to meet her family's needs. She hardly gets to eat three rotis a day!

In spite of all these and more, she wakes up at four in the morning and studies for three hours, and in the evening, she is with books for another three hours till midnight, in order to pass her Secondary School exams under the Rajasthan State Open School (RSOS) Board.

Now, imagine two friends. They were studying together in the same class at the Secondary School in 2006. Fast forward to 2012. One of them became a teacher, while the other one became..guess what, her student! This might sound filmy, but it did happen to Jayashree Khairvasiya and Deepika Vyas. While Jayashree is a tutor, Deepika is her student. Deepika could not clear her ninth grade exams and thereafter, she discontinued her studies. Mean while, Jayashree continued her studies and she is now in her final year of graduation, where her main subject is astrology. Unfortunately for Deepika, stars did not smile at her. But, she is quite determined that she would clear her secondary school exams this year through RSOS.

About Us

In a country with over 29 states, over 600 Districts, and more than 350 million children, it is a monumental task to ensure that every child is literate, a task that government cannot accomplish alone. This thought gave birth to Pratham Education Foundation in 1994 with aim of providing pre-school education to children in the slums of Mumbai city. Since then, the organization has grown to become India's largest non-governmental organization to provide education to the underprivileged children in India. Today it is reaching to three million children annually in rural and urban areas across 23 states of the country.