 CATALYSTS WITHIN

Nearly one-third of Rajasthan's population lives in remote areas. This remoteness and inaccessibility is further accentuated by the chronic problem of teacher absenteeism. To fill in this vacuum created by lack of teachers, a novel idea was launched in Silora block of Ajmer district in 1987 which successfully spread to several parts of Rajasthan in cooperation with a number of non-govenmental organisations. The crucial innovation in this cost-effective and sustainable project called the Shiksha Karmi Project (SKP) is the selection of two ordinary villagers to fill in the vacuum created by the formally qualified but chronically absent primary school teachers. These two ordinary villagers were made responsible for teaching all the children of the village. These resident educational workers called the "Shiksha Karmis" are the educational equivalent of "barefoot doctors", who with their enthusiasm and motivation willed their way to be the agents of change.

Assisted by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), this project is on its own a trendsetter in the sense that it evolved from a recognition that the role of the teacher was not limited to teaching the syllabi and conducting examinations.

Most of the Shiksha Karmis themselves have not been exposed to the secondary level of education. The remoteness of teachers and their failure to understand village realities might have been crucial to their decision to drop out. They were witness to history repeating itself over and over again as the children continued to suffer. All this propelled them to put in total effort when they were given a chance to teach and learn - in a pathbreaking and creative way. They are patient and affectionate, something that was lacking in the formally qualified primary teachers.

These "barefoot teachers" have effected substantial transformation in both the infrastructure and in their human resources. The school has become a centre of creative and interactive teaching and learning process. The very same students who used to attend schools with reluctance and tired faces now join their coun- terparts with enthusiasm and jostle with each other to sit near the teacher. The teachers teach them through games, songs, and excursions, making learning joyful and related to the child's environment. There is a change in the attitude of the family and community members. Girls, especially, are making their presence felt in the Aangan Pathshalas (courtyard schools) and Prahar Pathshalas (non-formal classes). Another imaginative innovation is utilising the services of elderly

Aims and objectives

To REVITALISE and expand primary education in selected, remote and economically backward villages of Rajasthan.

To MANAGE teacher deficient system by using local resources after in- service training.

To ENSURE minimum levels of learning for all children

To ACTIVATE the enrolment process of children especially girls and also maintain the quality of the remaining students.

To INVOLVE working children

in the educational process by organising night classes for them.

To EVOLVE a strong community sup- port which would meet the needs of the deprived section of rural area.

SHIKSHA KARMI PROJECT

A one mid-term review of the project aptly puts it, to feel linked with the larger world, to feel sure that help would be available when needed, and to have the opportunity to interact with caring and concerned adults - these made the SKP succeed against all odds'.

women as Mahila Sahayogi (woman helper) to escort girls to school in difficult areas and take care of their siblings. The parents have realized clear benefits from sending the child to school, with a determination to ensure that the child continues to study. The commu- nit has come to perceive the values of reading, writing and mathematical skills and any practical demonstration of these skills by the children enhances their respect for the Shiksha Karmis.

The Shiksha Karmis themselves undergo frequent training. During this training, the Shiksha Karmis learn to study as well as to teach. In that process, their own skills in language, mathematics and science get upgraded. They are urged to make their teaching relevant, taking into account local environment and local needs. Appropriate curricula with a practical and functional thrust are being devised to suit the diverse needs of different areas. An effort is being made to foster creative methods of teaching under a congenial atmosphere.

As one mid-term review of the project aptly puts it, to feel linked with the larger world, to feel sure that help would be available when needed, and to have the opportunity to interact with caring and concerned adults - these made the Shiksha Karmi Project succeed against all odds'. With this innovative teacher training, child-centred, multi-grade teaching and the overall support, the students' achievement levels are comparable to those in the formal system.

Implementation, structure and mechanism of the project have been so designed that the state government and non-governmental organisations work in partnership. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) work hand in hand with the Project Director to design, organise and conduct training for Shiksha Karmi trainers an oversee raining Shiksha Karmis. NGOs are also responsible for the project supervision and support of Shiksha Karmis. The project design is based on the assumption that education services must have community support if they are to meet the needs of deprived sections of the rural areas. At the grass root level, there are the Panchayat Samitis, Shiksha Karmi Sahayogis, Subject Specialists of NGOs, Shiksha Karmis and the village community constantly interacting with each other to achieve the aims of the project.

A study of retention and achievement in Shiksha Karmi Schools conducted in 1995 concludes that the retention rate from grade I to grade V has tremendously increased from 19.5 per cent in 1990-91 to 41.7 per cent in 1993-94. The overall internal efficiency of the Shiksha Karmi Project schools has improved considerably (its indicator having reduced from 3.1 in 1989 to 2.0 in 1993), but its value is still twice the ideal value of 1 (The internal efficiency is the aver- age number of student-years spent from grade I to grade V). The other findings of this study were that the performance of the students of Class V of Shiksha

The Metamorphosis

1,066 VILLAGES in 67 blocks of 25 districts have been covered as on 30 September 1994. 2,514 Shiksha Karmis have been selected and trained.

THERE ARE 1,066 day centres and 2,115 Prahar Pathshalas (non-formal classes)

THERE ARE 1,08,690 children attending schools run by Shiksha Karmis out of which 24,528 children attend the Prahar Pathshalas (non-formal classes)

98 PER CENT boys and 70 per cent girls of the 6-14 age group in the village covered have been enrolled in the project schools.

IN 83 villages covered by SKP, 100 per cent children have been enrolled.

MONTHLY ATTENDANCE of school children has increased from 53 per cent at inception to 85 per cent at present.

THERE Is an upward swing in the number of women in the VECs.

SHIKSHA KARMI PROJECT

Whether or not educational opportunities will translate into meaningful development- for an individual or for the society depends ultimately on whether people actually learn as a result of those opportunities.

Karmi day schools was found to be very good in Hindi as the mean score was 71.3 percent but in Mathematics the performance was 50.7 per cent. Taking dictation and solving sums having fractions and decimals were the areas needing improvement.

Barring minor irritants, the project has had a smooth sailing so far. This needs to be sustained. The feeling of oneness, the all round participation of teachers, students, parents and community members, the upward mobility in terms of quality and quantity (of both teachers and students), cooperation (especially regarding girls and working children) - all these count for the success of any project. This project has recognized that education is vitally linked with the totality of the development processes. The Shiksha Karmi Project has demonstrated that given the appropriate orientation the teachers can teach better and the efficiency of the system can be enhanced by the community participation and total involvement. The momentum needs to be sustained and the achievement levels of the children constantly im- proved.

Recommendations of the Stud Conducted

RETENTION OF children in higher classes should be assured by ensuring their admission in the school at an early age. The logic behind this is the fact that very young children are never given a fixed alloca- tion of work in the family. Therefore, the family can afford to send the child to a regular, day-time school.

SHIKSHA KARMIS should make a conscious attempt to demonstrate to the community that their children are `learning' what is of `accepted' value, viz competency in language and mathematics.

COMMUNITY CONSENSUS should be elicited for a more rigorous eradication of child labour in areas which prevent them from getting proper education.

THE POSSIBILITY of making free sanitary protection available to adolescent girls going to school should be explored.

PRAHAR PATHSHALAs need an upgradation of status as they provide an opportunity for adolescent girls to get education and in the final analysis it would help in raising the status of women in the society.

HOLDING INTENSIVE workshops on teaching the hard spots in mathematics and Hindi, thereby improving the achievement levels.