Education, a place of equals
Seated on a mat under the shade of a neem tree, Saiba, 11, tosses a red dice in the air and waits for it to land. She cringes when her token lands on a picture of a snake. She passes the dice to a friend next to her and waits for her turn. She is playing Snakes and Ladders board game with a bunch of her friends at Remedial Education Centre (REC). On other days they learn Hindi and Math.
Saiba comes across at a timid girl but that is before the REC teacher, Niyazun asks her to stand and lead the group in singing and other recreational-learning activities. She has the children’s rights on her finger tips and recites them like a prayer.
“She couldn’t read a sentence when she first came,” Says Niyazun, smiling. While enrolling children to REC, more Priorities are given to address the poor quality education of children in the community.
Two baby goats sleep, resting their heads on children’s sandals outside the mat. A thatch roof house at the backdrop completes the rustic village set up. A dark green board in front is the only sign that draws resemblance to a classroom.
REC is an innovative approach and community-led process that seeks to ensure learning support to children of age 6-11 years, in the community to inculcate basic knowledge about reading, writing, math and life skills. Every study centre has a teacher and free classes are given for two hours, five days a week. It is to ensure that children attain appropriate age learning and also develop foundational, essential and applied life skills.
Children at REC are placed in three categories to make it easier for assessment and learning: level A (5+grade), level B (3-4 grade) and level C (1-2grade); A being the highest level. Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) are developed by REC facilitators, aligned to the mainstream education. Exclusive monthly reviews and academic planning is done.
Saiba is in the 5th standard and attends REC with one younger sister and younger brother. She struggled with Hindi and there was no one at home to help her with studies. Her parents were uneducated and have worked in farms all their lives.
“We have no money to spend on education. Private class coast a lot of money, so we couldn’t send our children to it even though we knew they needed it,” says Saiba’s mother Badima. All four of Badima’s children are in private school and she struggles to pay their fees.
Saiba is also part of a children club set up by World Vision India. She has been trained in Life Skills Education and Transformation, a module for adolescents. Some of the subjects covered during the trainings are: safety, personal development, self awareness, interpersonal relationship, management and stress, communication, creativity, critical thinking, decision making, emotional management, empathy problem solving etc. Children are empowered and more equipped to handle different situations in life.
“At children club we also learned about personal hygiene and evils of child abuse and child marriage. We also learn to take care of trees and to keep our house and community clean,” says Saiba.
At Haswa Block in Fatehpur District, World Vision India has set up 225 Remedial Education Centres in 31 villages covering 8226 households. At present 4800 poor performing children are enrolled in these centres and monitored every month to track their progress of reading and comprehension of local language and basic math. World Vision India has set up 1028 Remedial Education Centre across 4 states in India.
“If the parents don’t send the children to class I visit them and ask them to send their children,” said Niyazun, the REC teacher. Most parents in the community are farmers and are illiterate. Parental and community participation is important for successfully implementing REC. Parents are made aware of the importance of health, education and children well being through many awareness programmes conducted by World Vision India.
According to the District Report cards 2015-2016, the percentage of school dropouts in Fatehpur increases from 2.25% in 2nd standard to 15.78% in the 8th Standard. The highest drop-out rate is recorded at 15.87% in the 7th standard. The dropout rate is higher among girls. Gender disparity in schools is so obvious. According to the same report, for every 276 girls there are 421 boys in the 8th standard. The number of boys in school is almost double to that of girls.
One important factor that is shifting the whole balance is child marriage. Girls once married leave school. Girls carry an unwanted burden and pressure to quit school. Sanitizing the community and parents on issues like this is crucial. The fight is more than just about quality education.
“There have been huge changes in other areas too. Earlier when my children came from school, they would run first to the playfield and returned late. Now after attending REC they keep themselves clean,” says Saiba’s mother.
At home Saiba likes to study on the rooftop, under the open sky. Rooms in her house are dim. Her younger brother, Ali, sits beside her. On a beautiful evening like this, she would have been playing outside with friends from the locality. But now, she can study on her own without anyone helping her and her dream of becoming a doctor doesn’t seem that far off. “She used to come in 6th or 7th position but after attending the REC, she always comes 1st in her class,” says her proud mother.
Both REC monitoring report and LQAS (Lot quality assurance sampling) reports show that there is a considerable improvement in the learning achievement of children. The Functional literate which was 22% in baseline survey has increased to 38% as per LQAS 2017. Similarly REC monitoring revealed that out of 4800 children, 1378 children made progress in Hindi and 1232 children in Math.
Saiba watches his older brother release more line as the kite soars in the sky. There a lot of childhood left in her. And she is getting the best of learning and playing.