An Experience

This article is pertaining to the tasks I/we undertook in May-September 2011.

Education:

1.

I am from a small village Kelanwas in Jaipur District, 35 Kms North-East to the city. We don't have any school higher than a primary, in our village. To study VI to VIII, students have to go to a school(upper primary)in a village Nimbi 1.5 kms in south-west to our village. To study IX to XII  they have to go to a town Bhanpur Kalan(also Bhanpur), 10 Kms in south to my village. In today's scenario, from my village, all of the girls and most of the boys study in private schools in Bhapur. These students can't study in Govt school, the reasons being:

·      Govt schools don't have transportation facility/There are no other means of transportation either Govt aided or private, matching the Govt schools' timings. There is one bus to and fro Jaipur via Bhanpur, and that makes 3 rounds a day. Starts from Nimbi at times: 6am, 2pm, 6pm. (People from our village have to go to Nimbi to get onto the bus.)

·      And why transportation is needed, can't the students stay in Bhapur. Boys, most of them are staying in Bhapur, but when it comes to girls, parents would prefer/oblige them to commute then stay in Bhapur, and for the very same reason sometimes a girl-student have to dropout.

Now, why to study in Govt Schools, why not in private schools? The teachers in those private schools are either the private (or regular)-graduating (B.A./B.Sc/B.Com) students from the local private colleges/Govt colleges in Jaipur, who don't attend classes or graduates from these same colleges who didn't get a job anywhere else(though they apply for many Govt/private jobs), and as a last resort they are teaching in these private schools for just Rs.2000 - 5000 a month. These are the so called Adhyapak-gan(teachers) who teach students of standard as high as 9th-12th. Let's not blame these private teachers/schools entirely for what's happening, it turned out to be a complicated issue/situation when I tried to understand this system, incorporating more and more factors, and concluded that it needed a wider comprehension, including up to state and national level systems. To say in one line "They are being driven and they don't realize it."

Now, they (these private schools) charge Rs.5000 for each student studying in 9th-10th and Rs.6000 for 11th-12th. When I learned about all this, I discussed with Ram Praksh(B.A.) and Sitaram (B.Sc.-Agri), who are from my own village. We took a initiative, in the first place, to admit all the students to Govt school in Bhanpur who were studying in 9th-12th. Now, the problem for girl-students was, that there parents were denying to let their daughters admit in Govt schools because of the transportation problem (major among the issues). The task in our hands was to sort out the transportation issue. Three of us got together and tried our best to convince all the parents of the girl-students for admitting their daughters in Govt Schools for the following reasons, assuring them that we would arrange a vehicle for the girl-students:

	Private Schools	Govt Schools
Teachers	Some of them are not even graduates, and the graduates, because they are without training and experience, so not equipped with adequate teaching skills	Quality teachers, trained, have teaching-experience, have greater knowledge than their private counterparts
Tuition fees	Rs. 5000-6000	Rs.300-500
Scholarship	NA	Rs.2500 for girls and Rs.1700 for boys
Books	Students have to buy books( books cost around Rs.1000 per student)	Lent Free of cost
Cycles for girl-students	NA	Lent for just Rs.100
Allowances: transport fare	NA	Rs.5/attendance
Infrastructure	Congested	Larger school area, play-grounds
Unethical/Cheating	In some schools students are asked/convinced to opt practical subjects in 12th viz. Drawing, Geography, for the sake of improving results	No such activities noticed. Students choose what they wish from available options in 11th and continue with those subjects in 12th

NOTE: The above information was collected from various sources viz. students who are studying in private and Govt schools, wherever needed – from school principal himself/herself, and by observation. Time of survey July-2011. The basis of survey was confined to the most relevant points.

It took us a 6-7 days to convince the parents, still two of them denied. This initiative saved the parents around Rs.1.5lac.

There were ups and downs in this path but we (some great people with me) kept going, and managed to make it a smooth journey so far. And hoping it continues...

2. Sci-Maths Stream Approval

With the help of Shri Ramsahay Kankrelia(former Sarpanch of Bhanpur Kalan), we (Harish Bhagwan, Mukesh and me) sought MLA and in tern, State Education Minister Master Bhanwar Lal Meghwal (Contemporary) to get the approval of Maths-subject (Sci-Maths) in Govt Sr. Sec. School Bhanpur Kalan. Earlier, the students who would wish to opt Sci-Maths, would have to move to Jaipur or some place elsewhere to pursue their studies(dreams). Three of us (above 'we') are victims of this situation. But many of the students(their parents) could not afford the expenses, and thus they end up opting Sci-Biology/Arts/Commerce in Bhanpur itself. Victims: Babulal Meena, Meva Ram Mali, Hanuman Sahay Gurjar(our seniors) .

Organic/Natural Farming

Persuaded 9-10 farmers from various villages to quit chemical farming and practice Organic Farming/Zero Budget Natural Farming (As prescribed by Mr. Subhash Palekar), and now three of them (Including us and Ramsahay Ji) are NOT using any Chemical Fertilizer or Pesticide/Insecticide in their entire farms or on part of their farms. Encouraged Ramsahay Ji and his younger brother to attend a workshop Conducted by Mr. Subhash Palekar on 'Zero Budget Natural Farming' in Hanumangarh at Shri Krishna Kumar Jakhar's farm. 

Ramsahay ji held Sarpanch post for 32 years in Bhanpur.

Watershed Development

Developed an extensive Watershed Development plan for two villages. Some flash points: 

Collected rain-fall data of Jaipur Rural for past 5 years from e-sources, and calculated the average rainfall, and used this data to calculate the amount of rain-water from the corresponding catchment areas. To calculate the catchment area, I took the help of 'Google map area calculator'. 

Though I could not accomplish this task, the plans have been paused till appropriate time.