4. EGS & AIE supports diversified strategies for ‘out of school’ children :

4.1  There is great heterogeneity among ‘out of school’ children. Out of school children could belong to remote school-less habitations, could be working children, street children, deprived children in urban slums, bonded child labourers, children of sex workers, girls belonging to the minority community, girls involved in domestic chores or sibling care, children who are engaged in cattle grazing etc. This heterogeneity demands diversified approaches and strategies for their education. 1 Details about some of these strategies and references of successful experiences in government  programmes / VA projects may be seen at Annex I.

4.2  EGS & AIE would support the following 3 broad kinds of strategies:  

1. setting up of schools in school-less habitations (EGS)  

2. interventions for mainstreaming of ‘out of school ‘ children viz bridge courses, back to school camps etc.  

3. strategies for very specific, difficult groups of children who cannot be mainstreamed.

Strategies under (b) and (c) above would be together referred to as the AIE component of the EGS & AIE Scheme (to distinguish them from the EGS component.)

4.2.1 Children in remote, school-less habitations :

Opening of Alternative schools in school-less habitations not having a school within 1 km with atleast 15 children of 6-14 years of age not enrolled at school. These would be single teacher schools with an education volunteer from the same habitation. EGS in Madhya Pradesh, Maabadi in Andhra Pradesh, Multigrade learning centres in Kerala, Shishu Shiksha Karamsuchi Kendras in West Bengal, Contract schools in Maharashtra, Rajiv Gandhi Swarna Jayanti Pathshalas in Rajasthan are some of the important strategies being implemented in various states to provide universal physical access for primary schooling.  In some states, such schools have grade-I and II only and are envisaged as feeder schools for formal primary schools.

4.2.2  Strategies for education of children who migrate :

• Seasonal community hostels with arrangement for boarding, lodging, coaching and care of children who stay back and continue in schools when the parents migrate (LJP and DPEP Andhra Pradesh)

• Provision of a mobile teacher along with the migrating families & children.
• Setting up of a school at the site of migration (Sugar schools, Brick kiln schools  in Maharashtra; salt farms schools in Gujarat).
• Organising condensed, bridging courses for children on their return to their village to make up for the schooling time lost during the period of migration (Vocational course in Gujarat).

4.2.3 Support to Maktabs / Madrasas in a variety of ways to provide non-formal education.

In cases where children are only receiving religious teaching or Dinee  Taleem in these institutions, arrangements should be made to provide an additional teacher who would transact the formal school curriculum.  Wherever possible children should be mainstreamed into the formal school system.

4.2.4 Bridge Courses / Back to School Camps :

These strategies support mainstreaming of children into formal schools through bridge courses of varying duration which bring `out of school’ children to age-appropriate competency levels through condensed courses followed by their admission into appropriate grades in the formal school. The duration of the bridge course would depend on the age of the children and their prior education. The bridge courses could be residential or non-residential, could be organised in

the community or as part of the regular school itself. MV Foundation, Andhra Pradesh has done pioneering work in this area. Several other VAs like  Pratham (Mumbai & other cities), CINI-ASHA (Calcutta) are also implementing bridge courses. The government of Andhra Pradesh runs a large `back to school’ programme for elder children. Under DPEP, Andhra Pradesh  and  Gujarat are implementing a large number of bridge courses.

4.2.5   Very specific, flexible strategies for certain groups of children e.g. street children, children of sex workers, children on railway platforms, children living in slums, children living on construction sites, children working in shops, dhabas, mechanic shops, as coolies, as domestic workers, in juvenile homes, children whose parents are in jails etc. The strategies could be bridge courses, remedial teaching centres, residential camps, drop-in-centres, half-way homes etc.  Strategies for such groups could also include contact based activities e.g. outreach workers to establish rapport with the children, a counselor to provide emotional support and a doctor to cater to their health need. 

4.2.6   Long duration residential camps for elder out of school children: These could be of 12-24 months duration that help children of ages 12-14 years to complete primary / upper primary education at the camp itself. Balika Shikshan Shivir of Lok Jumbish, Mahila Shikshan Kendras under Mahila Samakhya and several other VA initiatives (including MV Foundation) have implemented this approach.  Since such camp would have high per child costs, they should be adopted sparingly in deserving cases

4.2.7 Remedial teaching:

The scheme would allow for the following two kinds of interventions:-

(a)  For children mainstreamed into formal schools from bridge courses/camps/back to school strategies.

(b)   Remedial teaching for children in formal schools.

Under the strategy (b):-

• Only proposals from districts with female literacy rates below the national average as per the 1991 census would be eligible.
• Preference should be given to schools in tribal areas, in areas with high concentration of SC and ST population and minority communities.
• A district may prepare to cover not more than 5% of the total number of schools in that district (excluding schools located in urban slums).  In addition 10% of the schools located in urban slums could also be covered. 

It  should be ensured that all schools including under this strategy should have adequate number of teachers as per norms and be fully functional in all respects.  A certificate to this effect should accompany the proposals. 

These centres should be operational before or after school hours, hence these would be centres for less than 4 hours duration.  The EV for these centres could be paid an honorarium commensurate to the number hours the centre is operational. 

4.2.8  Short duration summer camps or schools to motivate children in the age group of 6-8 years to enroll in schools or even for remedial teaching prior to start of a new school session. Andhra Pradesh & Uttar Pradesh have conducted such summer schools / camps.

4.2.9  Strategies for adolescent girls could be similar to interventions adopted under the Mahila Samakhya programme and several other NGO run programmes in different states.  These include Jagjagi centres, short duration motivational and literacy centres which are residential in nature, from where the girls could go on to attend longer duration residential camps. The focus of these motivational/preparatory centres apart from inducting the girls into the formal system would be to also impart life oriented and gender sensitive education.  The learners apart from reading and writing would get information regarding legal aid, health care, environment and women issues. 

4.2.10  Several other strategies may be required depending on the specific target group.  EGS & AIE encourages diversified strategies. It should be recognised  that some of these strategies require extensive community mobilisation and prior work at the grass root level with parents, children, community Education Volunteers, employers, school  Education Volunteers etc.

It would be useful for key planners and decision makers of the state (and if possible district) level to visit some of the programmes implementing these strategies. Also, for some groups of children is very difficult circumstances, it may be more appropriate to support VAs already working with such groups for expanding or enriching their (VA’s) activities.  

1The document “Every Child in School and Every Child Learning – Diverse strategies for universalising access to Schooling” (Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, 1999) outlines a range of strategies being implemented by various DPEP states).

EGS & AIE Contents

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