Education for all.....will it remain just a dream?

Have thought a lot about this. Kids from very poor families in India just don't get the opportunity to go to school...and remain enrolled for long. Drop-out rates are high...the need for the child to contribute to the poor family's income soon catches up and the child drop's out. 

I am suggesting a method which I developed while working as a Civil Engineer on a construction site almost 15 years ago....The concept of VIDYA-SHAKTI School. I have modified the concept through time based on experience and trial at the grass-roots. Here goes....

CAMP SCHOOLS AT CONSTRUCTION SITES - ‘VIDYA-SHAKTI’

India is a country of more than one billion people. A large percentage of this population is illiterate. Many poor people in the country make a living by using their labor capital - as agriculture labour or construction labour. The children of these labourers get very little opportunity to become literate. Their parents keep migrating from one place to another in search of their daily wages. Once they grow up, they too become labourers. In this way, the cycle of illiteracy and poverty keeps repeating itself year after year.

REACHA, AN NGO (www.reacha.org) registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860, has worked extensively in the field of formal and non-formal education in India since 1992. We strongly feel that the problems of poverty, illiteracy and population explosion that are adversely affecting development of our country can be tackled by focusing our efforts at providing meaningful non-formal education to such migratory child populations. This can be achieved by setting up camp schools called ‘VIDYA-SHAKTI’ at each construction site as per the following broad guideline:

1.      VIDYA-SHAKTI School to have a crèche to provide support to children of age group 0-6 years.

2.      VIDYA-SHAKTI School to impart non-formal education/ literacy (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) to children of age group 6-14 years.

3.      A local registered NGO to closely monitor the functioning of each VIDYA-SHAKTI.

4.      The cost of running each VIDYA-SHAKTI school to be included in the project cost. This cost should include resources made available to the local NGO for monitoring the school functioning.

5.      Teachers for VIDYA-SHAKTI to be appointed by the local NGO.

6.      Each child to be given a VIDYA-CARD (V-CARD). The V-CARD should contain the child’s photo, basic bio-data, basic health parameters and the level of literacy acquired till date.

7.      This V-CARD will be carried by each child from one site to another so that continuity is maintained and the literacy imparted at each new VIDYA-SHAKTI School acquires a certain level of consistency.

8.      If this V-CARD is maintained properly y by successive local NGO’s, then each child might be able to complete school education to a reasonably satisfactory level. Here, The National Open School (NOS) can play a vital role.

9.      Quarterly Reports on the running of VIDYA-SHAKTI/ Students performance/ development to be prepared by the NGO and submitted to the agency funding the project, so that the same is audited by their Chartered Accountant and forms part of the Income Tax documents submitted to the IT department at the end of the financial year.

I feel that if one successful model of a camp VIDYA-SHAKTI School is made functional for a year, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) can be filed in the Supreme Court Of India so that it may decree for such VIDYA-SHAKTI Schools to be setup at every construction site. This might herald a new era in our quest to ‘enable’ and ‘empower’ the poorest of the poor in the country through the power of knowledge. The ‘Knowledge Age’ would be the surest precursor to a developed India.