IMPACT : The essential component of Fundraising and Social giving

Rescue operations underway in Nepal 

          One of the worst natural catastrophes has be-fallen the hilly country of Nepal. A devastating Earthquake of 9.6 earthquake Richter scale. TV channels, newspapers, Face book, twitter, etc all all filled with imagery and story of the destruction. All our prayers and hearts go out to the injured, killed, trapped individuals and kids. At the same time our phones, emails, and news buzz about various NGOs, Government rehabilitation  schemes collecting money for the tragedy hit people of Nepal. "DONATE TO #NEPAL today!" - the messages read. Given the situation we are more than inclined to help out by giving money.

         But there are a few who are skeptical to donate.  Will my donation be used for the cause? Where will my money go? How will my donation be put to use?... are questions that occupy their minds. If you come to think of it , these people being circumspect cannot be taken as insensitivity or selfishness but their lack of trust that the money they part with will go the desired cause. So what is the cause of this doubt? It is a mix of bitter experiences in the past when people have been duped in the name of fund raising and people being kept in he dark about the impact their contributions created.

            I remember meeting a citizens group few years back when I started talking about the pathetic condition of municipal (inner city)schools in Mumbai, despite huge budgets for primary education, etc. and requested them to allow one of the "Volunteer Action Managers" from the NGO to organize a power point presentation to explain the situation and the support expected by their participation. The immediate reaction I got was  "We do not want to listen to some lecture or a presentation from these NGOs sitting in their comforts of their air conditioned offices and talking about issues related to child rights, specially when we do not see any activity or impact made at the ground" The fact is that the NGO is one of the most well known in this field for more than 25/30 years now, this came as a surprise that the impression was so negative.

Video Quantifying the improvement in English Skills :44% in 1.5 months

           It is extremely important to understand that without a track record of projects successfully implemented and budget correctly visualized, planned and utilized, it is difficult to gain trust of individual donors, corporate companies, and supporters to secure substantial funding for projects. Rather than feeling frustrated, it is a challenging time for NGOs to continue doing their good work selflessly with whatever resources available and also observe and learn from the success stories of other credible NGOs in the field, since finally giving selflessly for the cause committed should be the sole objective of any credible NGO, and a large part of the revenue generated, however small it is, should be utilized for the cause. 

Starving Children 

   Another observation is that, If we see a photograph of a starving or malnourished child or child labor or child abuse, or even statistical data on these issues, etc.evokes sympathy and does make an immediate impact on the donors, whereas NGOs who are involved in advocacy, working with various departments in creating awareness about various important schemes, facilities and amenities, etc. observing the shortcomings and network in getting like minded partners involved and help them in implementing various important projects within the framework, find it extremely difficult to get donors, since there is no direct visibility of the impact made.

    So it is essential for good and credible NGOs to not only focus on their vision of making a social impact through their efforts and projects, but also educate and enlighten their donors on how and where their donations are utilized to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged, which offers a feel-good factor to the donors and helps in creating LOYAL DONORS...

     We at CACR don't ask our donors to give us money based on sympathy or pity by using the plight of children to evoke emotions but we ask our donors to see the work we do. Projects we undertake and impact we create only then they should give us their  hard earned money and precious time. You can see the projects we have done impacted we have created in our video and impact stories

At Donate for Good - our 1st fund raiser we did just that. We made a short Video film and let the audience hear from all stakeholders  to see for themselves the improvement we have made in schools - infrastructure,  midday meal, e-learning, computer literacy, dance training, health and hygiene etc. 

Screenshot the the CACR IMPACT Video shown during the fund raiser

This will tell them precisely how their donations will be utilized. Fundraising for any cause is challenging and takes patience but communication of your objectives and impact are key to connecting with the right people. 

~by  +Nitin Wadhwani , Founder Director CACR ; Edited by +Richa Singh , CACR Core team member

CACR is a start up non-profit working to improve the education and healthcare in public schools of India

Website- www.ngocacr.com  

Face book -https://www.facebook.com/CitizensAssociationForChildRights
Photos are for representation purposes only

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 

Anything is possible...My journey with the ' CRAZY' people- PART IV

Nowadays ,often  when I watch the Indian Talk Show ‘Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai’ hosted by versatile actor Anupam Kher on Television I tend to get into a flashback mode -Almost 7 years back it was a weekday evening, C.R.Y. (Ngo-Child relief and you) had invited me for a donors’ meet at a school in Khar Mumbai. They showcased the work they had been doing for many years, i.e support and  advocacy for child rights.

Never did I dream that a time will come when I would feel so strongly about this cause and get so involved with the issues, that I would  start  my own non-profit organization –“Citizens Association for Child Rights [CACR]”.

On 28^th June 2014, CACR completed a year of its operation and thanks to the blessings of the Almighty and the good wishes of our members and volunteers, the celebration cum orientation workshop was very well attended despite the heavy downpour in Mumbai.

WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN -TOGETHER

 The experience of anchoring  similar initiatives for the earlier NGO sensitized and  instilled an unknown confidence within me, to go in the world and talk about issues related to the poor functioning and dismal quality of education in Mumbai’s Municipal (Inner city) Schools. Our public schools face such neglect, despite the extraordinary budgets sanctioned every year for primary education. I have also explained to many people why and how citizens’ participation is extremely important to make a difference.

I feel deeply involved and concerned to ensure better functioning of schools and improving their quality of education. This is probably reflected in my interactions with individuals, citizens groups, activists, government authorities  etc. Such interactions and planned interventions will ultimately help in improving the accountability, functioning and the quality of education in our municipal schools

 I am grateful to all the people who listened to me patiently, encouraged me, and guided me on how to tackle the various seemingly intractable issues in the MCGM. Few of them believed in me completely and decided to hold hands and walk together with me in what has been an unbelievable and most satisfying journey so far.

Our FIRST Anniversary 

To be honest, the last few years of my journey has been truly amazing and the satisfaction I get while meeting and discussing how like-minded citizens can  work together with the concerned authorities to help improve the system (improve it rather than create parallel systems) cannot be described in words, thinking about it makes me extremely emotional.

.
I know, we have taken only the first few steps and there is a long way to go, but I feel very positive and committed towards the cause and with the support of my Co-Directors Vidya Vaidya and Deepak Wadhwani,  and Dr.Richa Singh our Projects & Branding Head, who have been a pillar of strength and support, as well as the good wishes and guidance  of our Advisory Board CACR has now entered a ONE WAY road. 

The road towards spreading the word, getting people sensitized and involving them in making a  difference towards this most important cause of ensuring free, compulsory and quality education in municipal schools. Education is the only sustainable way out of the abject poverty many of our disadvantaged citizens face day in and day out.

Of course,  being the Founder Director of a NGO has increased my responsibilities and commitment to the cause but I have to once again thank every member in CACR, since it only due to their support and good wishes that things are moving forward, slowly and steadily, taking the system along in a positive and bright direction.

So much more to learn, much more to do....

Like the title of the talk show points out a very surprising yet true fact - LIFE MEIN KUCH BHI HO SAKTA HAI...(Anything can be achieved in life if you so wish)

~Nitin Wadhwani
Founder-Director
Citizens Association for Child Rights CACR

This is the fourth article in the series of volunteer journey's with CACR on our first anniversary
The previous article can be read HERE

From Mumbai to Sikkim..how education & schools differ

Since the last 6/7 years, when I started as a CRY volunteer to anchoring Mumbaiites for Child Rights (M4CR) and finally deciding to go ahead and starting my NGO Citizens Association for Child Rights(CACR),  there has not been a single day probably, when I have not spent a few hours thinking, discussing, meeting people from different walks of life and trying to sensitise them on issues related to condition of our municipal schools in Mumbai, meeting or talking to the hierarchy of the BMC Education Department, etc.

Even a holiday with my family did not allow my mind to rest, since on my way from Bagdogra to Gangtok, i was discussing with my taxi driver about the accessibility of government schools to the local children, and whether there were sufficient schools as mandated under the RTE Act, etc.
Surprisingly the taxi driver took a great deal of interest in trying to understand some of the important clauses of the RTE Act....and shared with me some very useful information like the Government Schools are managed by the State Education Department in Sikkim and not the local corporation and I was amazed.
It was a lesson for me that we should never underestimate the knowledge and understanding of people who might not be educated or qualified enough by way of degrees, etc.which they probably could not pursue due to various circumstances beyond their control...


Even when I was moving around various sightseeing places in Gangtok including a visit to the very beautiful destination of Nathula Pass, at a height of almost 14,000 feet, snow clad mountains and the proud fluttering of our Indian flag, very close to the Chinese border, there was this restless feeling and I had to request my family members to allow me the time and space to visit the State Education Department of Sikkim.
I just walked into the Office of the State Education Department and surprisingly was very well received and welcomed by the Director and Deputy Director of Primary Education as well as the Director of Secondary Education.
They were very co-operative and we had very good discussions and sharing of information on the functioning of the primary and secondary schools, managed by the Government of Sikkim, with close to 1,20,000 children enrolled in almost 350 schools.
We could discuss various important clauses of the RTE and its implementation, the mid day meal programme which is working very well and children getting good variety of meals every day including eggs occasionally.

Highlight of our discussions was the fact that they were extremely keen to know more about the IIT Computer Literacy Programme initiated by our NGO in BMC schools and she was more than happy to connect with the IIT Resource Team from Mumbai to take things forward.
I felt extremely happy with their response, since if the programme is implemented well in Government Schools in Sikkim, it will probably benefit almost 80,000 children enrolled in these schools...
This strengthens my belief that NGOs working within the framework and supplementing the efforts of authorities will make a much larger and sustainable impact.

After a very nice meeting with the authorities, I also had an opportunity to visit a Boarding School for orphan children, managed by a NGO Human Development Foundation of Sikkim, and once again it was a pleasure to interact with the Trustees of the NGO, who are doing a FANTASTIC Job in managing the school following CBSE curriculum with support from donors.

There are almost 400 children from all over the State of Sikkim, enrolled in this school.
While leaving I assured the trustees that we will try to help them by sending them information on the Computer Literacy as well as the Spoken English Programme soon and  the smile on their faces expressing their gratitude was the best thing that I will always remember.

These few hours spent well definitely made my holidays much more pleasurable giving me a very good feeling for the rest of my trip back home.

Nitin_CACR

Communities: the real beneficiaries of various Government schemes, but do they know?

Out of every Rupee sanctioned by the Center, only 5 paise reaches the actual beneficiaries.....Where is it all going? 

Huge amount of tax payers money is used by the Government for various schemes and subsidies for the poor and there have been probably hundreds of schemes which are discussed and debated by our elected representatives for years, before they are actually converted into Bills and Acts and budgets worth thousands of crores are created and sanctioned accordingly.

How many proposed beneficiaries are actually aware about these schemes and do our elected representatives, bureaucrats and  officials from various departments made accountable in implementing these schemes??

The tragedy is that most of the actual beneficiaries of these schemes never know about these schemes at all and a very small section of these beneficiaries are made to run from pillar to post to get the benefit, that they ultimately give up.

Then there is a section of our society who are generally aware about these schemes, but do precious little about it, since they are not the direct beneficiaries.

A lot of NGOs who work on various issues, do not bother to create an awareness or follow up with the authorities concerned to ensure proper implementation of these schemes, but go back to donors, individual and corporate sector, etc. and create parallel systems.

Who wants the headache of following up and talking to authorities in Government Departments or even our elected representatives for something which does not benefit us directly? 

And this is precisely the reason for failure in proper implementation and execution of all Government Schemes, resulting in colossal waste of tax payer money. 

Based on this experience with the Education Department, CACR decided to create empowered and aware citizens, who on one side will continue to have dialogue and create accountability in the various concerned departments, meet our elected representatives, interact with communities who are the direct beneficiaries etc.and ensure proper implementation of various schemes meant for the poor and underprivileged.

Even if a good percentage of the Rs.2660 crores budgeted for primary education in Mumbai is monitored and well spent, we will have achieved our objective.

The positive angle the RTE Act does allow NGOs to participate along with parents and authorities from the system.

Infact a typical SMC in a school would comprise of 20 members,  which would include 15 parents(50% women), rest comprising of school authorities, local elected representative as well as NGO representative.

Role of the NGO representatives would be to monitor the system, empower the community, share observations and findings with the hierarchy of the department which would finally help in ensuring better functioning and improved quality of education in municipal schools.

While this sounds a lot of hard work, it is the only sustainable solution which will ensure that the benefits of such schemes actually reach the true beneficiaries.

CACR strongly believes that empowering communities and getting them to participate in the system, is a long term and sustainable solution to this problem.
Come volunteer with us. Donate your Time, Money and Word. 

Nitin_CACR 

Non profits: A profitable and recession proof business. Donation anyone?

Where is the recession? I said to myself as I read the newspaper article sometime back.

      An interesting article in one of the leading dailies in the country highlighted the fact that- India is witnessing a NGO boom, which has now become a billion dollar industry.
Yes, NGOs or (non) profits is a profitable business in India! 
Wow! what a contradiction isn't it?

   There are now almost 2 million NGOs in a population of 1.2 billion people, i.e  1 NGO for every 600 people as against 1 cop for 943 people and A whopping USD 2 billion received by about 22,000 NGOs in the country, in 2010-11 alone.

Despite all these figures and huge budgets for education and health, it is shocking to know that there are almost 8.1 million children in age group 8-13 years, who are out of school as per UNICEF report and almost 61 million children are malnourished and stunted, according to Hunger and Malnutrition Report.

    The fact is that there is a total lack of accountability, which has resulted in none of the subsidies, schemes and funds budgeted actually reaching out to the actual beneficiaries.
It is a matter of great shame that even a very noble Mid Day Meal scheme does not ensure good and nutritious meals for children enrolled in government schools, though official records show that almost 10.68 crore children are getting the benefit of hot, cooked , nutritious meals in almost 12 lakh government schools.

    One of the major reasons for the abject failure of these schemes is allowing NGOs to create parallel systems rather than supplementing and strengthening the system, which would have helped in creating better awareness and improved implementation of all these schemes meant to benefit the poor and needy. 

    There are no examples of any of the PPP -Private Public partnership models, which have helped in improving the education and healthcare systems in the country and it is matter of shame that most the resources provided by Government have resulted in commercial exploitation, benefiting only a small percentage of the entire population.

At CACR we don't believe in creating alternative systems rather we  supplement,strengthen, and improve the existing one. The Education department officials are well qualified (only first class or distinction candidates are selected ) for teaching and administration, experienced and quite well paid with government benefits. Why not help them do their job better instead of making your own pedagogy  taking over a school and weakening the existing system?

  Lets be part of the solution and channelize what we have. Volunteer and be an empowered citizen.

Team CACR
+Citizens Association For Child Rights
www.ngocacr.com

The death of the public school...a preventable tragedy?

     It was a summer morning in  2030 and a kid picked up a newspaper ..He quickly asked me what were (erstwhile) Inner city /Municipal schools? When did they exist and  Why did they vanish?
      For a moment let's get back to current day in 2014. Where our public schools are very much present but  do they really exist for the common 'middle' class? Does any one care to read or know about them expect the people looking to exploit them for private gain?
Is Public Private Partnership in Education the death knell for the Government Schools in the country?
    Almost 2500 classrooms in municipal schools in Mumbai,India have bee given away to various NGOs/Trusts Under the School Adoption/School Support Programme. Almost 650 classrooms for non educational purposes, and quite a few are using it for Education but are being commercially exploited.
Despite notices given to almost 650 NGOs asking them to vacate  the classrooms, the department has been able to recover only 16/18 classrooms as on date after a period of almost 6/7 months.

     CACR members have observed many classrooms/schools being exploited commercially too, a case of Varun International School functioning within a municipal school and not only depriving the children of all facilities and amenities like free uniforms, school books, notebooks, etc. but also asking the parents to pay fees of Rs.5000/Rs.10,000 and even punishing the children in classrooms when they fail to pay within a stipulated time.
    Moreover this NGO not only exploits and uses more number of classrooms than specified in the agreement, but also is able to issue School Leaving Certificates to children from the BMC, despite functioning as a private school, paying a miserly rent of Rs.1000 to the corporation....Recently this matter was bought to light by the print media here.
There are also some more instances of MS-CIT courses being provided within a municipal school, charging fees of Rs.3150/child and enrolling hundreds of children for this course, with no facility for the municipal school children....schools converted to Junior Colleges, private schools, etc. large scale commercial exploitation.
In a way, if the Government seriously decides to implement the 25% reservation clause for EWS in private and aided schools, which it has not done in the last 3 years of the RTE Act, there will be further reduction in enrollments in municipal schools, since parents prefer to send children to private schools and English medium schools, etc. So indeed our future generations will  read in newspapers that the Municipal schools existed somewhere in the past and are a extinct phenomenon now.

2030: PUBLIC SCHOOLS   Now extinct 

CACR is facing a herculean task of ensuring retention of children in municipal schools despite the huge amount of tax payer money budgeted for primary education.
Absolutely shocking state of affairs in such an important issue like basic primary education, in the country.
But then does the 'common middle class' care enough to do something about it?
Do join us to build a PUBLIC VOICE to save the vanishing structures called Municipal public schools

Nitin_CACR

Remember we NEVER stop hoping!

"Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life's deepest joy: true fulfillment." --Tony Robbins

In my experience -Whenever we identify a problem, it is in the larger interests to review the same from all possible angles before working out the necessary solution.

Based on the periodical feedback received from many of our CACR volunteers, while visiting neighborhood municipal schools, we have been interacting with the hierarchy of the BMC Education Department and expressing our concerns and suggesting solutions to them.
        CACR members have been meeting the Administrative Officers(Schools), the Deputy Education Officers of the zones, the Superintendents, the Education Officer, the Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Education ) as well as the Additional Municipal Commissioner (City and Education).

 BUT  The one link missing in this chain was the Labour Unions and it was extremely shocking to know that there are almost 38 Unions registered with the Municipal Corporation as on date, with about 7 of them handling the teachers and administrative staff of the Education Department.

It has been observed that many administrative staff and teachers do not follow or fear the authorities since they get a back up support from their respective unions.(Ya, Unions can be powerful)

The questions to be asked are:-

1. Are these unions really concerned about the fact that the budgets and expenditure is increasing and the number of children in these schools is dwindling?

2. Are the children enrolled in municipal schools getting quality education, good enough to compare with the private and aided schools?

3. With the 25% reservation clause for children belonging to the Economically Weaker Sections, in private and aided schools, there will be a further reduction in enrollments in municipal schools. What are these unions doing to counter this challenge?

4. The authorities feel that there can be better accountability and functioning of these schools if they get into Public Private Partnerships with various NGOs. Incase this is implemented, the BMC employed well paid and well qualified teachers will have nothing to do, and the NGOs will not be able to provide the same job security, salaries, perks and benefits, etc as the municipal corporation does.

5. What steps are the Unions taking to ensure improved accountability of the teachers and administrative staff and ensure that these schools do not shut down?

6. Are these Unions ever concerned about the rights of children and do they have any point in their agenda which talks about the welfare of the children going to these municipal schools?

Armed with all these questions in my mind...I will pay a visit to the Union offices in the coming days...to get their side of the story and Can we put together and find a solution?

Perhaps YES! ...Remember we NEVER stop hoping! 

Nitin_CACR

BMC Budget for Primary Education...That's a LOT of money!

Rupees 2660.44 Crore sounds like a lot  of money,isn't it? (4291112000 USD)

That is the budget for the primary education in MCGM public corporation schools,where the number of students are decreasing and budget seems to pile up each passing year.

So wht's the break up behind this paradox....CACR tries to find out.

MCGM imparts free primary education in eight different mediums in 1150 primary school to 3,78,627 students which includes 863 students from 17 special schools for mentally challenged students.
MCGM also runs 145 Secondary Schools wherein 54,117 students are imparted free education.

There are 453 MCGM owned School Buildings and 62 rented School Buildings.
As on date there are 11,988 teachers for Primary Schools and 1407 teachers for Secondary Schools.
The Budget Estimate for 2013-14 which was Rs.2472.53 crores has now been revised to Rs.1894.61 crores, which means approximately 75% utilisation of the budget estimated.
Despite this, the budget estimate for 2014-15 has been increased to Rs.2660.44 crores.

Some of the important projects/schemes which will be implemented in 2014-15 are:-

1. Virtual Classroom Project:- 
An amount of Rs,12.62 crores has been budgeted despite the poor implementation of the project initiated last year at a cost of Rs.27 crores approx.

2. English Language Training by British Council Library:-

Provision of Rs,1.78 crores has been proposed for training 2400 MCGM teachers during this year.

3. Connecting all Schools through Computer and Internet:-
An amount of Rs.2.38 crores has bedn budgeted for providing hardware facilities.

4. Repairs/Upgradation and Reconstruction of Municipal School Buildings:-
During the year, 9 new school buildings will be constructed, 8 school buildings will be taken up for reconstruction and upgradation with increase in number of classrooms and 21 buildings will be taken up for structural repairs, for which Rs,266.34 crores has been proposed.

5. Quality of Housekeeping in municipal schools:-
Cleanliness, Hygiene, Upkeep and Security of 338 MCGM school buildings, remaining buildings being under care of Mali cum caretaker and peons for which a provision of Rs. 48.28 crores has been budgeted.

6. Educational Kits(Uniforms, Shoes and Socks, school kit, notebooks, stationery, raincoat and umbrella, etc. has been budgeted at Rs.100 crores for both Primary and Secondary schools.

7. Supply of supplementary food stuff(Chikki)
An amount of Rs.84 crores has been budgeted for providing chikki to children in both primary and secondary schools.

8. Grants to Private Primary Aided Schools:-
Almost 434 Private Primary and Secondary Schools are expected to get grants worth Rs.466 crores.

Other projects like 

• School Excellence Programme(Rs.11.31 crores), 
• Management Information Systems which includes Child Tracking System(Rs.5 crores), 
• Primary Teachers Training Centre(Rs.4.10 crores),
• Upgradation of Powai High level Scout and Guide Camp site(Rs.1.02 crores),
• Upgradation of Science Labs(Rs.1.50 crores), 
• Grants for Public Library(Rs.30 lakhs), 
• Girl Child Incentive Fixed Deposit Certificates(Rs.7.25 crores), 
• Bus Fares(Rs.80 lakhs), and 
• Balwadis(Rs.2.37 crores).

The press too has covered this report here 

Only public accountability and Audit can help to find if the funds are being well utilized 

We at CACR are trying to do that. Come join us!

@Nitin_CACR