R

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eport:

Academy of Working Children (partner Nokia), Academy of Working Children (partner Dell)

Introduction:
The AWCs are focusing on the children from the slum areas with a very poor background that are forced by circumstances to contribute to their families economy (collecting plastic, rubber, paper etc.) or selling fruits/vegetable in the market. Most of the time their parents are illiterate migrant workers with a main objective: earn some money and then go back in their villages. Because the children dont have any kind of documentation (they have documents but for their own villages not for the new states in where they are residents now) it is impossible to be registered in a government school. The AWC is designed to reach these children at the spot so each AWC has a main center where are enrolled the eldest students from 4th grade to 7th grade (between 10-15 years old) and 2, 3 or 4 sub centers (called satellites) from 1st grade to 3rd grade (between 6-8 years old). . Besides the educational program, all the AWCs organize quarterly health check-ups for all the children in the slums, culture arrangements, cleaning actions and sport tournaments. There is no enrollment fee and the children from main centers have governmental books for each subject (the books are bought with the project funds and children can take them home). My aim is to visit all the Academies of Working Children and to make an evaluation of the system. To be evaluated: teachers (teaching methods, teachers qualification, teachers challenges), educational mix (structure of classes, curriculum, educational materials, the conditions of the classes), children (discuss with them and find out if they are treated well, what are their issues, if they enjoy coming in this kind of school, etc.). In each AWC I observe the conditions in which the lesson are held, the attendance of the children, how the teachers interact with the students, the classrooms conditions. The discussions with the teachers follow the core questions: What are the teachers main challenges/difficulties in working with slum children? What are, from the teacher point of view, the minuses and pluses (advantages/disadvantages) of AWC system?

Page 2 of 7 Does the teacher consider that there is a need for trainings/courses in order to improve their teaching skills?

1) AWC Nokia
Description in figures: Main Center: 87 children, 1st Satellite: 52 children, 2nd Satellite: 68 children, 3rd Satellite: 45 children, 4th Satellite: 51 children.

In this project there are 12 teachers and the target of the project is to have 300 children enrolled at all the times. In each satellite there are 2 teachers and in the main center there are 4 teachers. The classes are starting at 9.00 am and finishing at 1.00 pm from Monday to Saturday. The subjects to be taught are: Hindi, English, Math and General Knowledge (Environment, Science). The teachers are not having a strict curriculum, as they told me, everything depends on how fast the children understand. That means that, every day, the teachers decide what classes will be held (only Hindi, only Math and rarely they combine the subjects). In the main center on each Saturday morning there is organized the morning assembly where all the children discuss the common points (examination marks, what are their problems in the school, their solutions for the issues raised). The system is very interactive because the eldest students (grade 6th and 7th) will ask the younger students if there is anything that they like to change or if for the last week they have had some problems in school. After all the students will say an issue the ones that noted everything down will say loud what do they found out and discuss together in order to find solutions. Besides the main classes, in the afternoon there are computer classes for youth (fee of Rs.300/course) and tuition classes (fee of Rs.100/month). For the classes of General Knowledge the main center has a mobile device and a projector from Nokia and the children can see different documentaries in English. The teachers that are working in project dont have Pedagogical specialization, only 1 teacher worked before as a teacher (outside of HPPI). The other teachers came from different projects of HPPI or from other AWCs in other states.

Page 3 of 7 The children are sitting on the floor and are placed one behind another. In the satellites the very young kids are placed in a circle when the teacher will tell them a story. The conditions in the main center are better compared to the satellites. The building conditions from 3rd satellite had an impact on me because the air inside the classrooms was very humid, unpleasant to breathe, the classrooms very dark (the electricity goes off very often). What the teachers consider to be challenging: to teach the children in first year, mostly because they speak different languages, children are skipping the classes and its hard to maintain the continuity when teaching, all the time teachers have to re-teach because the children that are missing the classes are forgetting, the need to bring the small kids to school (they wouldnt come by themselves and their parents are working so they are left alone at home). The pluses of AWC: a school where the very poor children are educated, get care and attention, a different educational program with a lot of cultural activities, sports, a school where any time the kids can come back for studies (even if they are skipping the classes for 1 month, in governmental school they would be expelled), the AWC is not concerned only for education but also for childrens health (health camps where children receive tonics- vitamins for free), the children can bring their smaller brothers at the classes or they can come a bit later to the classes, The minuses of AWC: the children that are quick learners are hold on the place because the teacher have to work with the ones that are understanding slower, first ones are not stimulated enough, the children dont make their homework, dont repeat at home what they learnt in the school and the teachers have to do extra work, the conditions in schools are very poor (lack of furniture, educational posters), the teaching methods for the higher classes should be improved, the teachers have to bring the children to school otherwise the attendance is low, the teachers have to work with children that have hygiene and health issues (dirty nails, dirty clothes, lice, etc.)

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There is a need for training? Yes, because the teachers from AWC work in different conditions then the teachers from governmental/private schools, with a special category of children, Yes, because there are differences between teachers (studies, education).

2) AWC DELL
Description in figures: Main Center: 103 children, 1st Satellite: 113 children, 2nd Satellite: 45 children, 3rd Satellite: 122 children.

The project started in 2009, it has continuity till present and the projects target is to have enrolled 350 children at all times. In this project are working 14 teachers. Every morning the children are starting the day with morning assembly. In the front of the Main Center building all the children from 1st Satellite with the ones from main center are aligned for the common prayer. When they finish the prayer one student goes in the front of the group to read the headlines from the newspaper. One teacher will explain to the students what the news is about. There are organized basic computer classes for youth (fee Rs.300/course) and tuition classes (fee Rs.200). In this project the curriculum is organized on periods, and every month, 1 week is called thematic week (children do different activities: painting, dancing, learning about human body etc.). The conditions from the main center are very good, the classroom have whiteboards and all necessary for the smooth running of the classes. 1st Satellite conditions are very poor, in given conditions that the classroom is just a roof inside of a courtyard with no any walls.

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Once a week, the teachers go in different slums around the school to speak with the parents to send their children to school, to tell the youth about the computer classes. The project organizes weekly literacy classes in slums for women.
What the teachers consider to be challenging:

it is very difficult to motivate the parents to send their children to school, create and maintain the relation with the parents, make the parents understand how important the education is for their children, teachers dont have enough qualification and thats why the level of the teaching might be very poor.
The pluses of AWC:

the large area of the educational program: cultural activities, sports, thematic weeks, classes even in the summer holidays.

education for underprivileged children, the mix between traditional teaching and the new teaching methods as learning by doing it,
The minuses of AWC:

the children are moving away all the time and the system cant change this, parents are not coming for meetings and when are not all the parents present the decisions cant be made, the system cant make sure the children that are moving away are continuing the studies, the teachers have to deal with hygiene issues (children are not washed and taken care of properly), ABLM (activities based learning materials) or MGML (multi groups, multi levels) - a very interactive method of teaching has stopped working because some of the teachers didnt understand it; its requiring a lot of energy and planning and teachers couldnt keep up.
There is a need for training?

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in this project there are quarterly workshops for teachers, yes, long term courses are a <must> because some teachers dont have experience or they are coming in AWC from other projects HPPI (not from educational department).

Conclusions:
Even though the general structure of all AWC is the same there are slightly differences from one project to other. Differences in the way the buildings look, how is the general atmosphere in the satellites, how do the teachers do all their work, the educational facilities for students, etc. Evaluating the teaching methods I noticed that most of the teachers dont interact actively with the students. All the teachers are teaching the subjects in a very traditional way, putting the children to sit still and they would stay in the front of the classroom reading from books or reciting the content of the lesson. In the tuition classes the teachers are working with a part of the students, the ones that are very active, and the ones that are asking questions or asking how to solve the problems. In the English classes the teachers dont speak in English but in Hindi and the children dont have the chance to hear the words pronunciation. When I checked the English tests most of them, at the points where students had to create a composition, were almost identical (the reason might be that the students copy from each other or the teacher solved the point and gave to students the results to copy) so that the students would pass the exam. The teachers that are working in satellites are dealing with a large number of children and the working conditions are more difficult than in the main centers. In some cases I had the feeling that what is most important is how everything looks in the reports and not how is the quality of the educational system. In all the classrooms the students attendance is much lower than the number enrolled (for example, if in a satellite should be 80 children there are only 45- 50 children). The intelligent students are not stimulated according with their potential.

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Suggestions:
-there should be a building action where the teachers together with the parents paint the walls and clean all the schools, -the teachers should have trainings/courses, in which they can develop their knowledge about the subjects they are teachings, -the teachers should have trainings from outside teachers (with experience) how to make their classes more interesting and how to include actively all the students in the learning process, -each project should have a secretary that is doing all the bureaucratic work so the teachers are focused in preparing the classes and teaching, -because the motivation is a key factor in how the teachers are doing their work I think that there should be a chart that is awarding the best teachers (according to the student results), -in order to stimulate the intelligent students should be organized Olympics for each subject so that the ones that are very good will develop their potential.