Makkal Palli Iyakkam ( Peoples School Movement )

1. Makkal Palli Iyakkam( Peoples School Movement ) Half yearly report (2002-2003) March 2003 Prepared by Badri Narayanan

2. Background • School and community level education intervention program • 100 villages (5 Blocks) in Tamil Nadu • Implemented by Tamil Nadu Science Forum and AID India • Funded by Vibha completely

3. Vibha’s funding impact • Financial support for block and state level coordinators • 2 full timers/ block + 1 state coordinator • Training camps for block and village level activists • Educational material and books • Expected impact : 100 schools , 3 classes/school, 30-40 children/class • Blocks supported are • Pernampet • Bhuvanagiri • Vembakottai • Kizhvelur • Thanjavur

4. Objectives of program • To prevent dropout of children in primary school. Linked to this aim are the other aims of enrollment of all children and support centers to help weaker children. • To improve the quality and standard of education in primary and middle schools. • To establish community support for the school • To increase utilization of the school infrastructure even after school hours for community learning needs.

5. Drop out prevention • Identification of drop-outs through surveys • Enrollment drives • Special attention through support centers • Improve basic literacy and numeracy skills • Cultural programs and bring community focus on these children

6. Quality in education • Science experiments • Joy of learning activities • Songs and games • Library reading periods • Slide shows • Metric melas

7. Building community support • Village education committees • Village gatherings to foster discussions • Parent teacher meetings • Presentations in Gram sabha • Community involvement in education programs

8. Utilization of school resources • School as a learning center for adults • Reading periods • Savings group meetings • Health and know your body classes • Slide shows • Magic or Logic shows • Medical camps

9. Program structure • Three tiered structure • Village level • 3-4 volunteers / village • Block level • 2 full time activists + Resource people • 1 Block coordinator • State level • Resource team • Material preparation • Training programs • Monitoring and Visits

10. Training camps • State Training camp (Sept 2002) • Location: Thanjavur • Pre-requisite : 40 volunteers /block had to be identified in each block who can contribute 2hrs/day for the next 2 years • Attendance: 70 people • 2 full timers/block • 1 block coord/block • 5 resource persons/block • Dist secretary • State resource persons

11. Training camps (contd..) • Tasks for Block level activists • Completing village volunteer identification • Forming Village Education Committees and explaining the programme and their role to them • Organizing a block level training camp for the activists • Completing village education surveys and opening registers in all the villages • Identifying the weaker children in each village, meeting their parents and starting regular support centers for them (2-3 days a week) • Organizing village meetings (Oor Koodum Programmes) • Starting evening classes, libraries, special events and joy of learning classes during school

12. Training camps (contd..) • Block level camps (1st round, October 2002) • Completing village volunteer identification • Forming Village Education Committees and explaining the program and their role to them • Organizing a block level training camp for the activists • Completing village education surveys and opening registers in all the villages • Identifying the weaker children in each village, meeting their parents and starting regular support centers for them (2-3 days a week) • Organizing village meetings (Oor Koodum Programs) • Starting evening classes, libraries, special events and joy of learning classes during school

13. Training camps (contd..) • Block level camps • Latheri (Vellore) November 6th, 2002 • Bhuvanagiri (Cuddalore) December 11th, 2002 • Kizhvellore (Nagapatinam) February 2nd, 2003 • Villupuram, April 27th, 2003

14. Support centers • Targeted to give individual attention to weak children • 10-15 children/each class will be the focus of this center • Develop basic literacy and numeracy skills • They are NOT tuition centers • Quality of these centers needs to be improved • This will be the focus in year 2 • Read Dr.Ravishankar’s report for more details

15. Block level activities-Progress to date • The main block activities that have been done so far are: • Training of volunteers and full-timers • Surveys and register opening • Regular support centers – needs evaluation and focus on only weaker children, but it is being done in all the villages • Joy of learning classes – science experiments, games, songs etc – being done in most blocks • Games for Children being organized by MPI Activists • Libraries • Games for children and women – done in many blocks.

16. Overall Block level statistics

17. Block wise statistics

18. Block wise statistics(contd)

19. Problem areas (Weakness/Threats) • The activities that need to be addressed are: • Monthly educational committee meetings – not being organized • Events for children and adults - being done occasionally though not once a month • Evening Classes for women – not being done (except in Bhuvanagiri) • Evening courses for adults – Vocational courses, science education courses, etc • Slide and Video shows – not being done • Support centers not Tuition centers • Quality needs to be improved • Volunteers themselves are not trained to teach children to understand and learn and are themselves a product of a system which has judged them by quality of reproducing whats in the text books. • Number of children attending the evening classes needs to be addressed • Weak children focus is the prime motive behind these centers • Materials development is slow and needs a lot of help. • Virudunagar • There is a cause for concern of the efficacy of the program implementation due to different reasons in this center • Weak block level teams, lack of team work between block and village activists has caused this problem • This block should be monitored closely.

20. Strengths/Opportunities • Motivated people behind the project: Both TNSF volunteers at the block level and the state resource team (AID India/TNSF) are highly motivated. • The Chennai team is growing and with Dr.Ravishankar moving to IIT,Madras the state resource team has the potential to grow into a strong reosurce team. This team will be responsible for material development, training programs for block and village level activists. They hold the key to improvement in the quality of the program. The chennai MPI has also taken off very well. • Some work is underway to make this program sustainable by creating savings groups and SHG’s in each village. The transition of the school into a center for adults is very important. The idea is to loan SHG’s money from MPI and make them repay it with interest which can then be used to run the program. This is after the first two years when we will have enough material developed to keep the program running and will have enough trained village level activists so that funds used for training programs and materials development will no longer be required in the quantities required presently. • This program is scalable easily and each block can either expand to more villages or to the neighboring blocks. At the same time the state resource team should not be stretched too thin. • Continuous development of innovative teaching aids is the key to sustaining interest in the volunteers and the children. This will require a lot of help from volunteers in the US.