The Irony of Indian Education

“Irony is the gaiety of wisdom and the joy of reflection.”

In India however, irony seems to be the daily staple of our lives as we reflect on the happenings in the country.

The best defense to a false degree accusation.

From being a country where pissing on the road is fine, but kissing/any form of PDA isn't and where moms want their daughter to control their husbands and expect their sons to control their wives, the latest in a long list of ironies is that Smriti, Irani, the cabinet minister for Human Resource Development, responsible for education in the country herself has extremely murky education credentials.

In the ongoing furore that followed this revelation, one could not help but wonder, how education came to be such a controversial topic at times.

Even before the above mentioned incident occurred, a massive “fake degree scam” in Bangalore was unearthed where offers of degrees and certificates were openly advertised. The ads, posted on various websites, claimed to provide degree certificates from various varsities in no time to (un?)suspecting netizens. Another popular example of disrespect for our education system was the famous  IIPM or Indian Institute of Planning and Management issue, where a complaint by the University Grants Commission UGC, revealed that the institute is ‘cheating’ and ‘fooling’ its students as it is not recognised by any regulatory body.

Scams are more staple in our country than rice and wheat.

Even despite outright illegal acts, a  lot of activities in India’s education sector have been in a certain grey area; these include the system of “donations” to gain entry into universities, the setting up of universities and educational institutes without accreditation etc.

The main reason for a general sense of disrespect and heedlessness towards the education sector, is mainly that education is either viewed as a simple means to an end; students look at degrees from colleges as one way tickets to placement with an MNC and lifelong series of foreign trips and a priority savings account with Axis bank, or education is viewed as an inconvenience to be dealt with before entering the job sphere.

Education is neither of these two; it is meant to be an enlightening experience, to prepare you for the numerous challenges that you are inevitably to face in your later life.

Rural areas have particularly low literacy and education rates

A degree is meant to be nothing but a proof of these efforts, and a sign that you have the knowledge required to survive in the world, instead of being a “employable” stamp.

The moment that we as a country realize this, education and fake degree scams will cease to exist, and rural parents will start sending their children to schools 57.8 million children are out of primary school globally with India, ranking among the top five nations with 1.4 million children being out of school.

In the meantime, one can only hope that our other ministers make more educated claims henceforth.

- Anand Banerjee is a  creative intern with +Citizens Association For Child Rights, a non profit working in public schools on India to improve the standard of education and well being of children.

www.facebook.com/CitizensAssociationForChildRights

www.ngocacr.com

"Its wonderful the way our volunteers take the work as their own"

This is the  third article in the Q  n A series with CACR core team members 

Q: How would you describe the last year 2014 for Ngo CACR?

A: CACR as a team may not have grown exponentially in numbers but has gained tremendously in confidence to face  hurdles and problems in the last year.  We have learnt to identify areas where we can make the most difference,and learnt to be  patience. As patience in large doses is imperative when one needs a behemoth like the MCGM (municipal/public)  school system to change for the better.
  

Getting the MCGM to finally agree to show their school children Children Film Society of India CFSI films through their virtual classroom system was a great reward.

But looking at the smiling faces of the school children in Nityanand  BMC school as they practiced their dance steps under the guidance of the Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya (Nalanda Dance College)  teachers was looking at a miracle; their joy was a limitless. 

Children with Dance trainer from Nalanda Dance College who offer pro bono services to these school children

Everything changes so slowly in fact at times not at all! When you see  you have taken one step forward to ten behind it can be very disheartening, especially to the volunteers who are not yet completely committed. This lack of commitment is what hurts everyone else the most. 

I am fully aware that I am on the fringes of this cause, involved with only the administrative part, yet feel the pain of the volunteers who feel let down at crucial points, when commitments are not met. But we carry on with perseverance and hope.  

  

Q:  What challenges do you see ahead in 2015 for Team CACR and how do you plan to overcome these?

​A: As is apparent we need to build a much stronger structure and ​attract more like minded citizens to that the MCGM school system works. This will only come about through more interactive sessions with citizens groups, college students, and ALMs (Advance Locality Management)

Vidya Vaidya on the occasion of CACR anniversary function 

Q:  How would you describe the team and work culture at the organization?

​A: It is wonderful the way our volunteers take the work as their own, carry out their self appointed tasks to bring about a change in the dull and often lifeless MCGM school system. They donate their valuable time, time which most organizations have none of for the issues at hand concerning us. The work is truly voluntary, but with a lot of responsibility and commitment.

Q:  How has CACR helped change the lives of the school children and their families? 

​A: I believe that the knowledge that there is a group interested in them and cares that the system must work for their welfare has not only changed the outlook of the school children and their parents but has also changed​ outlook of the teaching and administrative staff. Slowly but surely the lethargy and disinterest that is gripping the MCGM School System is lifting.​

Q:  Any new projects that you plan to participate in 2015?
A: Improvement and real change in the Mid- Day Meal Scheme will be in the forefront during 2015, I think.  ​

Q: Any appeals would you like to make to the readers?

​A: "Care for the future of these children. Help us keep them out of the streets and educate them, bring out their true potential. Donate your time for this cause, if you can." Help ensure the MCGM School System works as it should. Remember that in the past, not too distant. It did work, many of our seniors have been products of this very system, and have risen high in their respective fields.

CACR directors during MUSTRun Marathon where 525 BMC school kids participated 

--Vidya Vaidya, founder director CACR, talks to Richa Singh.CACR is a start-up nonprofit working in areas  of education, child rights and health.Website- www.ngocacr.comFacebbook-https://www.facebook.com/CitizensAssociationForChildRightsTwiiter- @cacr6 

New year ...New Hopes & Challenges

                   
              This is the second article in the Q  n A series with CACR core team members 

Q. How would you describe the last year 2014 for CACR?

A: My last years’ experience working with CACR  was simply superb! CACR touched new heights of success by performing  remarkable changes in BMC (Bombay Municipal Corporation) schools- assisting the system for timely distribution of 27 items in the school kit, getting computer labs available in working condition, activating the use of virtual classroom , monitoring system on every stage for the benefit of children,getting infrastructure funds to the tune of 6 crore rupees sanctioned for building repairs, mid day meal distribution for quality improvisation , planning various co-curricular activities for kids such as marathons and drawing competitions, and donating running shoes to kids and so on

Lesson learnt: I became a good 'Analyst' of BMC Education, got an experience of monitoring the system and knowing how it works, calmly getting done on right time and most importantly I have become a keen observer who has a strong will to appreciate the right acts and the ability to change the wrong ones.

2. What challenges do you see ahead in 2015 for team CACR and how you plan to overcome these?

A: No Challenges really but yes I would say it will be a  task to increase our volunteers force with double its speed as in the upcoming academic year we wish to start New Bombay and Thane CACR chapters so more work force will be required to join us in the initiative.


3. How would you describe the team and work culture at the organisation and would you like to change anything?

A: Team and work culture is really perfect though we have hierarchy in our organisation. But our higher ups make us comfortable by not micromanaging us on a daily basis.My personal thanks to Mr. Nitin and Dr Richa for  providing assistance and encouraging us on every step.Moreover, making us comfortable that we can share all our thought and observations.
The most awesome thing is we all work on all possible aspects which benefit school kids and education department.We believe in smart decisions with a common viewpoint

4. Any new projects that you plan to participate in 2015?

Yes, in 2015 academic year I wish to nominate myself for becoming a part of  SMC in a school and become a more active citizen and volunteer


5. According to you how has CACR helped change the lives of the school children and their families?

As per my experience CACR has really done what they say during their meetings and seminars. Lots of changes were done in the past year. Since its inception in June 2013 to date, CACR has been observing  all small activities of the education staff ,teachers,and  kids and assisting them on every small step:-

• conducting SMC meetings, 
• collaborating with multiple organisations and experts as an IIT Bombay, H West Federation, Toy bank, ADAPT, Nalanda Dance Institute, NSS club of Ruia College , Enactus HR College
• Also, teaching Basic IT skills and  spoken English, 
• organizing health talks and marathons 

CACR had put in efforts in all possible fields which can benefit these kids

6.Any appeals you would like to make to the readers?

Yes surely  : Thanks for showing your interest by reading our blogs,Facebook posts,and  Twitter tweets ;visiting our website; following us on everywhere on social media. I really appreciate all the activism you all do but a humble request is kindly  join us for spreading the word of education and RTE(Right to Education Act). 

Come forward and join the initiative, benefiting the system and kids in real time. Hope to connect with you

-as answered to Richa by Roshni Singh,a core team member of NGO CACR.CACR is a start-up nonprofit working in areas  of education, child rights and health

Website- www.ngocacr.com

Facebbook-https://www.facebook.com/CitizensAssociationForChildRights

Twiiter- @cacr6 

Tête-à-tête with the founder-director..the year that was

This is the first article in the Q  n A series with CACR core team members 

Q: As the founder director,how would you describe the last year 2014 for CACR?

A:  It has been a very positive 2014 for our Ngo CACR for a variety of reasons--One of the most important reasons for CACR's existence is ensuring citizens participation towards improving the functioning and quality of education in public schools and we are probably the only Non-profit, which has come up with the idea of members observing the Neighborhood Municipal School.In the past year,we are pleased to have almost 75+ citizen members from different municipal wards (city areas), from various walks of life, supporting our vision, and helping us to amplify the voice of underprivileged children and demanding improved functioning and accountability in the system.

   Our members have been participating in the functioning as SMC members as per RTE Act, and ensuring that the education department functions efficiently. Our aim is to make the system more robust rather than replace it. CACR has been the only NGO which has been sharing its observations and suggestions with the hierarchy of the Education Department consistently to ensure that there is corrective action taken.Though the road is very long and the journey has just begun, CACR has been able to make their presence felt in the BMC Education Department in a positive way.

CACR Action-packed Calendar for 2014 

    
Q: How has CACR impacted the lives of children ? 

A: Some of our Impact stories are as follows:-- 

• We have implemented the IIT B Computer Literacy Programme in municipal schools,that has made almost 1400 children computer literate during the past year, 
• Virtual Classroom have been properly utilized  to ensure proper functioning of expensive equipment lying unused in most municipal schools in Mumbai, 
• Our members actively  participate in school management committees- SMCs formed under RTE Act,
• Organizing community meetings empowering parents to know about the rights of their children,
•  Ensuring timely distribution of facilities and amenities to all children, 
• Sensitizing the self help groups to provide improved quality of mid day meals, 
• Getting the School Infrastructure Cell to budget more than Rs.6.5 crores towards major repairs in some municipal schools and overseeing the work in progress to ensure proper utilisation of funds and scope of work, 
• Participation of more than 500 children in the Annual MustRun event,
•  Organising plays and activities for children during the Cleanliness Week in municipal schools, have been some of the highlights during the year.
• Most importantly raising concerns about commercial exploitation of spaces in municipal schools with a specific instance leading to expulsion of the NGO and getting classrooms back for children in the municipal school,which happened only because of the presence of vigilant CACR members and volunteers, were the highlights. All these success stories strengthen our belief that active participation of citizens DOES make a difference.
• Surprisingly, we have also been able to get fairly good support from most of the authorities of the Education Department, who consider our NGO as a Partner in Progress and despite our fair bit of criticism on the functioning of the department, the AMC, DMC Education, Education Officer as well as the Education Commissioner are very receptive to our observations and suggestions and generally take necessary corrective steps towards implementation of our unbiased and selfless suggestions.

Q: What challenges do you see ahead in 2015 for CACR and how you plan to overcome these?

A: On the flip side, our major challenges are -

• ensuring sustained citizens participation in specific projects, 
• scarcity of funds for few proposed projects,
• strengthening the E Learning Programmes through Virtual Classroom Studio,
•  implementing important clauses of the RTE Act like SMCs, Inclusive Education,etc. efficiently Some of of our initiatives do not attract the donors or corporates, as the outcome is not very easily visible,etc. and hence is a major challenge
• .At CACR, we firmly believe in working within the framework of the system, so the real challenge is in overcoming the lethargic approach in implementing various initiatives suggested and taken by our NGO.
• Proper utilisation of School Development Funds, implementing the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation Clause for every child, ensuring Inclusive Education for children with physical and learning disabilities remain tough tasks.

Eg. While implementing the Computer Literacy Programme, our objective is to also get full time teachers involved and trained so that the programme continues to be implemented irrespective of volunteer support, proper maintenance of the systems provided, 

On a positive note, CACR's proposal to have full time Computer Teachers in every school,and have sufficient numbers of properly maintained computers in every municipal school has been accepted and we expect to see a big change during this year.

Reaching out to larger number of citizens, activists, networking with like minded NGOs, extensive use of 

Social Media, Fund Raising Programmes, to highlight the issues and success stories to motivate participation, are some of the steps which need to be taken and constant interaction with authorities of the Education Department at Corporation and State Level will help in improving the system to a large extent.

It is also important to understand that a lot of officials, who have risen from lower ranks to position of Administration Officers, Superintendents, Dy EO and even EO, have done so primarily due to their experience of working in the department.Unfortunately, most of them are never oriented or trained to become good managers, which is the primary reason for their abject performance, despite having the necessary experience and understanding of the system.

Also the fact that an important issue like computerization of various sub-departments and even connectivity with schools is a major hurdle and needs to be tackled, to improve transparency, efficiency and accountability within the system.An important aspect which has also contributed to the downside in the functioning has been the participation of NGOs who have been instrumental in creating parallel systems rather than working in tandem with the department and ensuring proper deliverance of government schemes, amenities and  facilities to the actual beneficiaries....

Q: How would you describe the team and work culture at the organization Any changes you  want to introduce in 2015?

A: Being a start-up NGO with extremely limited resources, is always a difficult situation and it is only due to the sincerity and dedicated involvement of a handful of members, shouldering extraordinary responsibilities consistently, our NGO has been able to make reasonably good progress.Moreover an organisation with voluntary members requires a lot of passionate, committed and dedicated members who have a common vision and believe in the cause and direction taken.

Though having an organisation with sufficient resources and funding does not necessarily make it successful, it is extremely important to strike a right balance between sufficient funding as well as passionate and dedicated team of people with innovative ideas and the ability to be resourceful in implementing the various projects, which help in making the organisation credible, which ultimately makes it donor friendly in the long run.
The culture is inclusive, team-oriented and candid and you can easily see this when you interact with our team members and see our work both in schools and on social media platforms.
In 2015 we plan to start the CACR Youth club with help of our interns.

Q: Any new projects that you plan to execute in 2015?

A: There are many more projects which are being conceived and CACR will work towards implementing the same during the coming years.

1. Skill Based Vocational Training Programmes for children in municipal schools,
2.  Counselling sessions to prevent dropouts and importance of ensuring basic education for all children, 
3. Cleanliness, Health and Sanitation Programmes, 
4. Organizing Value Added Educational Excursion Trips during the year to the Nehru Planetarium, Museum, Science Center, 
5. Spreading Computer Literacy in as many schools as possible,
6.  train full time teachers, implement the Spoken English Programmes for vernacular medium children,
7. Making schools disabled friendly
8. Introducing co-curricular training for sports, martial-arts, dance, art,etc 

Q: Any appeals you want to make to the audience? 

A: When I started as a volunteer with CRY-Cry relief and you almost 6 to 7 years back, I never imagined that there will be a day when I decide to start my own NGO dedicated to rights of children with specific focus on improving the functioning and quality of municipal schools (inner city schools in Mumbai)

Based on this experience, I feel that all of us have a very strong but hidden desire to make some difference, it is only a question of identifying the cause that needs to be supported.

I would tell anyone who wants to make a positive change to  improve your knowledge and understanding of the issue, team up with like minded people, activists, experienced NGOs, during the journey in bringing about a change so that we leave this world a better place.

If you believe in the cause and our approach in handling this very important issue of ensuring good quality education for all children and strengthening the functioning and quality of education in municipal and government schools, do strengthen our hands with your support by being an active member or Donor of CACR.

-Nitin Wadhwani, founder director CACR, talks to Richa Singh.CACR is a start-up nonprofit working in areas  of education, child rights and health

Website- www.ngocacr.com

Facebbook-https://www.facebook.com/CitizensAssociationForChildRights

Twiiter- @cacr6 

Welcome 2015: Happy New Year from CACR!

I recently chanced upon an article, titled ‘Has 25 years of children’s rights made any difference?.’ While the article mainly veered off from the inherent meaning of child rights by talking in depth about the United Nations Convention for Child Rights (UNCRC) and developmental and policy measures in support of the same, being on threshold of the start of the new year, one cant help but ponder the cogency of the question at hand.

It might have been 25 years since the UNCRC was passed but in reality, especially in a country such as ours, the concept of child rights and the importance of children is in its infancy.

We do have a suitable level of legislation in place to tackle with the issue of child rights, and the perceptions and awareness of people in pursuance of this cause are definitely rising.

At CACR itself, this year we saw active participation of approximately 100 volunteers from some of the best colleges across the city, in many of our programmes to improve the quality of lives of children.

We had the Computer Literacy Programme where we tied up with IIT-Bombay and we reached out to more than 300-400 children across BMC schools throughout the city to teach basic computing skills to them to equip them with computer literacy for their later lives. We also relentlessly chivied the matter of the quality of mid-day meals for the students of Municipal Corporation run schools and ensured the conduction of regular quality checks and filing of complaints for the benefit of the children.

We also had a campaign and organized shoes for children from over 5 municipal schools and encouraged them to participate in the Must-Run Marathon.

Seeing all such efforts being taken and success being achieved in the field of child rights’ upliftment, the fact that there is still a long way to go, is not so much disheartening as it as encouraging.

As we herald the coming of a new year, we also herald the coming of the myriad challenges, accomplishments, problems and pitfalls, victories and achievements, in the field of the rights of children. CACR as an organization, has spent each passing year tirelessly in pursuit of these endeavours, and we will strive to do the same this year as well.

A happy new year to one and all!

-Anand Banerjee is a intern with CACR, A education start-up working on the problems of child rights,education, and health. 

Website : www.ngocacr.com

Facebook :www.facebook.com/CitizensAssociationForChildRights