"The job of a teacher is a prestigious job. I have gained respect. Now I can roam anywhere in the community, and there is no fear in me."

When we meet Nirmalaben Javadekar at Laxmi Nagar in Baroda, she greets us with a smile and says this. Her husband works in a cement agency, and she is an integral part of Pratham's Urban Program at Baroda. She is delighted to meet us and has insisted that we should not leave her house without a cup of tea. After we agree to her request, she begins narrating her story.



"Till 2015, I was working as a peon in a Municipal school. No one knew me except for my neighbours. Pratham was looking for volunteers for the 'Lakhon Mein Ek' campaign, and I also wanted to do something for the Basti", she begins her narration. Gayatri ben from Pratham's team spotted her, and soon she was selected to work. She quit her job and decided to make full use of the opportunity. "I was shy and lacked confidence. However, conducting a survey was a good exercise, and it helped me gain confidence. In a matter of a few months, I could talk to people around me, ask them questions and update my leader about the findings." She was a part of Pratham's 'Bal Vachan' program, and the same is now a learning camp pattern.

Soon children began coming to her house, and her home became a place for reading and learning. This, she says, is the best thing to happen. "Children often come here, read a book or solve something, and then go to school. Their parents know about it, and they too are happy", she says. However, though children now stay at her place for a long time, the same was not the case at the beginning. She had to work hard to create awareness in the community. She was a known face because of the survey, as that meant talking to almost every household around her. However, the process was gradual, and after a lot of efforts and patience, she could convince community members the importance of learning. "It helped the children. They began to talk and began to express themselves freely. The participation of parents also increased. Now they ask me, is my child progressing, is he/she able to read properly?"

Nirmalaben conducts weekly meetings with parents, and she is happy stating that she gets a good response. "My younger son Darshan, who is in 1st grade has been keenly observing these activities at home. He demands the learning material from me and is keen to solve them", she smiles. "I am sure it will help him perform well in school."

"Cleanliness was a big issue in the other community where I work and visit quite often. I developed a checklist for children. Combing their hair would fetch them 1 star, having a bath would imply 2 stars and brushing teeth would give 3 stars. The child who earned maximum stars every week was declared a winner. It motivated the children and soon cleanliness in the community improved", she says, beaming with pride. "Every time I met them, they used to come closer and show their teeth to me."

Nirmalaben is extremely happy about this job with Pratham. "Earlier I had no recognition. I did not know my value. However, as I am now a teacher, people have understood my value. I have got an identity. Earlier they used to call me a Bai, but now they call me Madam."

Lunahar is a small village, located in the Gop block of Odisha's Puri district. Apart from growing coconut trees and banana trees, the people here indulge in cultivating rice, which also forms their staple food. Four years ago, Pratham implemented the 'Read India' learning camp in this village. Not only the learning camps were well received, but they also inspired three women to implement the library program in their village.

The three women - Rashmita Pradhan, Amita Pradhan and Basanti Pradhan - are convinced that the learning levels of children in the village should improve. Rashmita and Amita have a farm of their own, where they grow rice, whereas Basanti's husband is in Gujarat for work. Rashmita recalls that they had experienced the door-to-door visit of Pratham volunteers during the 'Read India' direct intervention in their village. It had made them aware of what learning levels are and why should they be improved. However, last year they came to know of Pratham's library, and they were happy that it involved their participation.
"During the intervention, they had tested the children, and we became aware that children should learn better. But with this program (library), we also can participate", begins Amita. "With an improvement in learning levels, children can progress ahead in life", she says.

Rashmita Pradhan, Amita Pradhan and Basanti Pradhan (From Left to Right)

The three of them underwent an orientation where they were told about the content and activities of the program. "We found the activities engaging, and we liked them. We agreed that we should implement this program in our village", says Amita, the most talkative of the three. "We also felt that the content was related to the school textbook and when children will use it, they will progress", says Basanti, as she joins the conversation.

The three of them discuss the library every week and plan things for the coming week. They also ensure that children complete all activities that are assigned to them. "We are relatively free during the evening, and hence this is the right time for us to monitor the children. They now sit in one place and learn. It makes us very happy", says Rashmita.
As we continue the conversation, we are greeted by Rakesh Pradhan who wants to be a volunteer for this program next year. He is a part of the library program, and also was a part of the Read India direct intervention in his village four years back. Now in the eighth grade, he was in the fourth grade during the intervention. He likes to read difficult words, and his favourite activity is writing a story after seeing a picture. We try to talk to him, but Rakesh feels shy and refuses to say anything. We tell him to speak in Oriya so that the others can translate it for us in Hindi. "I like to learn in a group", he begins. "Two of us are weak in solving a division problem, whereas the other three struggle in reading. We help each other", he says. Rashmita tells us that Rakesh was at a lower level in Math and these group activities have helped him improve. We ask Rakesh about his other favourite activities, and after an initial hesitation he opens up!

Rakesh Pradhan

"I love the colouring activity on the tablet. Before filling the colour, I imagine the object, and it helps me enjoy the activity."
Next year Rakesh will be in the ninth grade, and hence won't be a part of the library program. However, he wants to volunteer with us and ensure that his juniors also improve their learning levels like him. 

We wish the villagers all the best for the present and future initiatives in education! 

Mangal Navle had to drop out of school in 2002. She grew up in Harpalwadi village, in the Karad taluka of Maharashtra's Satara district. The school in her village offered education only till the 8th grade, and the school for higher grades was at a village very far from her's. This, coupled with some family problems made her leave education, and she got married four years later, in 2006.



"I am lucky that my husband supported me in education", she begins. Mangal's husband had also not completed education till 10th grade. He attended night school and then insisted that Mangal should also do the same. However, night school was not a good option for her, and they both began looking for a place that would offer her a chance to get back to education. But there was a problem.

"I was terrified of school", Mangal says with a smile. "In fact, I was scared of my teachers in my previous school. They always used to scold us, and that was etched in my mind. I was also scared of Science and Maths." Hence, despite her husband's support and encouragement, she was not ready to start her studies again. Finally, after a lot of discussions at home, Mangal joined Pratham's Second Chance Program at the Kodoli centre in Satara. This was in 2013, 11 years after quitting school in 2002.

"I was very quiet in class for the first couple of months. I used to remember my primary school and feel scared, but later I started to realise that this was different", Mangal recalls. "The way of teaching was different here. The teachers were accommodative and not selective to a few students like in my previous school. In fact, I began liking Science and Math, the subjects I once hated." She then recalls the many memories associated with the class and the friends she made over there. "There were many young girls in our batch, and we used to get intimidated while talking to them. But these differences vanished once we started learning in groups. We all became good friends", she says.

As our conversation progresses ahead, Mangal tells us about the attachment with her teachers."We were lucky to have these teachers. I remember I had a doubt in a Math sum, and sir explained it more than fifteen times! Hence we all were very emotional on the last day of class, as our association with sir and madam had come to an end."

Mangal passed her 10th-grade examination in 2014. She joined a course in Beauty and completed both the basic and advanced levels of certification. She now takes up beauty assignments and contributes to the family income. In addition to this, she also completed her education till 12th-grade and learned to operate a computer. She attributes this to Pratham's Second Chance program as that was the turning point in her life. "I want to share all this with my 10th-grade classmates, and hence I feel our batch should have a reunion", she smiles as we end the conversation. 

Farzana Khanum and Dilnawaz Sultana are sisters. They live in Azeez Sait Nagar, a well-known area in the city of Mysore. Both of them are Balwadi teachers, and they are associated with Pratham for the past three years. "We wanted to do something for the community here, and both of us like to work with kids", Farzana begins the conversation. "But we did not know that this job demands a lot of attention and efforts", she adds.

Farzana Khanum and Dilnawaz Sultana

Both of them admit that initially, they felt that a Balwadi is a place where children are to be looked after when their parents go to work. But none of them was aware that this 'looking after' is a great responsibility that involves strengthening their fundamentals and creating a learning environment. "We did not know that these years are important and it helps them in their primary school. We came to know that our role is critical", they say.

"As we learned more from Pratham, we understood that activities like shape recognition, colour recognition appear very simple, but we are very important for a child's development", says Dilnawaz.  Both of them became happy when they realised the importance of their role and hence decided to involve the parents of these children in the entire process. "There was lack of awareness about the importance of these early years. Hence we decided to establish a dialogue with the parents", says Farzana. "We now ask the parents to participate in simple activities at home. We tell children to narrate a simple story to their parents and then also tell the parents to do the same to the children. It establishes a dialogue between them. It appears simple, but it is vital."

They can see a change in children because of these activities. "Children start to express themselves after a few days. Some of them are shy and less talkative initially. But after a few days or weeks, they open up. These activities make them more cheerful", Dilnawaz points out. The parents also see this visible change, and hence their participation in the Balwadi has increased, and this has made both of them very happy. "Parents come and talk to us about their children. Now we talk to them about the importance of cleanliness and a balanced diet. They listen to us, as they now see a visible change in the children. They believe us", Farzana says with a smile. "During the meeting, we ask the parents to speak about their children, and many mothers, who were quiet in the initial days, now speak and participate", adds Dilnawaz.

Both, Farzana and Dilnawaz feel happy that they could convince parents that nurturing a child at a young age is very important. Both of them think that this awareness should spread in every locality of the city and every child of this age group should be encouraged so that he/she is better prepared for attending primary school.