PROJECT UPDATES: WEEK 5

It was a difficult week as we tried to do an analysis of whatever we had done till now and what we have achieved? But we actually ended up with a number of issues and challenges which we need to focus on immediately otherwise things would start getting out of order and it will get difficult to manage.

1. Since all of us are working or studying in college and are able to take classes only on weekends, the 5 days gaps which comes in between weekends makes all efforts go in vain and each week we are back to what we started last week. We realized that in order to achieve something and make our efforts worthwhile we need have a full-time setup and look for various options. We also need to have a full time teacher who is well versed with the children and can handle and teach them well on weekdays.

Abhishek and me decided to do something about it and we went 2 hours before the actual class timing and tried to find out the various options available. This is what we ended up with:

a) We had a talk with a nearby property dealer and asked him to let us know if there is any empty room available on the nearby plots which we can take up on rent and teach the children there. He sounded positive and has promised us that he will let us know in 2-3 days if there is any such room available.

b) While searching for a room nearby we came across a plot where there is a small one floor Day Care/Boarding center which is not running currently but has all the facilities available. We tried to find out the owner of the center and got to know that there is a person who takes care of this center and can help us get in touch with the owner and we can then discuss with the owner about the possibility of using that center for JAAGRITI children.

c) There is a private school nearby called Pragati Public School where poor children are taught after the regular schooling hours from 3-5 pm. There is lady who is incharge of all this and and we decided to meet the lady tomorrow morning to work out the possibility for admission of some of the children and how we can possibly associate with them for this.

d) A person takes tuition daily and teaches some of the children who are under PROJECT JAAGRITI. He charges Rs 100 per child for 1 month. He can be the right person who can take up the reponsibility of a full-timer at PROJECT JAAGRITI.

e) There is a nearby government school where we can admit some children who require continuous formal education. Some parents did try to approach them earlier but were unsuccessful in getting their kids admitted as they did have the birth certificates and other required documents.

I have decided to go late to office tomorrow morning and sort out all these issues first in order to ensure smooth running of the project. I hope to work out atleast 1-2 of the above options and get some of the children admitted to some school.

2) Another aspect which we are lacking on is the interaction with children parents. Somehow we are not able to take out enough time to meet them. But its very essential for the smooth running of the project. We interacted with some of them today and told them about our above plans and they expressed their willingness to help us out in whatever manner they can and are keen to send their children to school.

Other Updates: Apart from the above work we did take classes like always and continued with our teaching of alphabets and numbers.

>> Many new students have joined JAAGRITI and many fo them even know a lot of things. They need to be admitted to school asap.

>> Also we made an evaluation report where we noted down each child's current level of education and any specific skill which we has. This will be used to keep a track of the progress of each and every child and make an evaluation fo his learning's regularly.

>> We also interacted with the children asked them about their dreams and aspirations. Some wanted to be doctors, some engineers and a whole lot of them wants to be in the police. I could not figure out the reason behind this but i guess its the police of which they are most scared off and so want to be in their shoes and scare others. :)

Apples were given to the children and next week we plan to distribute bananas. (Sponsored by Munish).

Volunteers: Anchit and Abhishek

Its just the first month of PROJECT JAAGRITI and these challenges and hurdles were expected. I hope we are able to sort them out asap and put things in order.

Suggestions/Idea from other fellow AIDers and readers are most welcome :)

Thanks