centres the number of girls is

equal to the number of boys

and their parents are very

enthusiastically enrolling

them for jobs.

Q 4. Parvaaz has been re-

ceived by people very en-

thusiastically but as always

there are sceptics. What

would be your message to

these skeptics? I would tell them that they

have nothing to lose. It’s like

a priest telling you

that you should do

good deeds which

will help you enter

heaven but before

entering heaven you

will realise that you

have already created

a heaven for your-

self on earth and

have become a noble citizen.

Same is with Parvaaz, after

eleven months you will be

educated and skilled which

will enhance the possibilities

of a better living standard

and you have nothing to lose. Q 5. Do you see an initia-

tive like Parvaaz becoming

a scheme at national level? I believe Parvaaz has not

only the potential of becom-

ing a powerful tool in bring-

ing the minority youth in the

national mainstream but will

also serve as a model of pol-

icy making for other margin-

alized groups such as the

tribals in the Integrated Ac-

tion Plan (IAP) districts in

India.

Q 1. You saw potential in

the concept of Parvaaz and

gave it your full support.

What was it about Parvaaz

that excited you? When TIE Foundation shared

with us that they are working

for minority education in

rural areas, my point was that

minorities are placed at the

bottom of the economic

pyramid and they have little

stake in the mainstream eco-

nomic system of the

country. It is impor-

tant that they first

become part of the

mainstream and only

becoming will not

help. Times have

changed, today people

look for opportunities

to achieve economic

independence, to earn better

livelihood. Simple education

will not serve the purpose; it

has to be coupled with skills

and employment. Basic edu-

cation, followed by skills

development and finally

placement in the organized

sector is something that is

very exciting about this pro-

ject.

Q 2. Post-independence,

several schemes directed

towards minority develop-

ment have been introduced

but have not had the de-

sired impact, where are we

going wrong? Schemes introduced for mi-

nority community develop-

ment in the past have been

seen through social and reli-

gious prisms which made

them very complex to pro-

duce desired results. If you

look at Parvaaz, its Unique

Selling Preposition (USP) is

its simplicity. It aims at im-

parting basic education fol-

lowed by skills development

that helps these students gain

employment in organised

sectors where they get all the

benefits of provident fund,

paid leave, medical benefits

etc.

Q 3. During your tenure as

an IAS officer you have

had several opportunities

to work in minority

concentration areas; there

are many stereo-

types associated with the

community, any stereotype

that you saw happily shat-

tered?

There are a number of stereo-

types associated with differ-

ent communities including

the minority communities

but if you look at the kind of

impact media and telecom

revolution in India has had

on the population, these

stereotypes are constantly

shattering. One stereotype,

for example, is that Muslims

do not send their girls to

schools, and do not want to

work outside of their homes.

But at some of the Parvaaz

In conversation with Dr Arvind Mayaram

Inside this issue:

Interview 1

Parvaaz towards Assam 2

Student Bytes 3

Hardwork pays 3

Trust is the Key 4

NEWSLETTER January, 2012 Vol 1, Issue 8

I would tell them that

they have nothing to

lose. It’s like a priest

telling you that you

should do good deeds

which will help you

enter heaven but before

entering heaven you

will realise that you

have already created a

heaven for yourself on

earth and have become

a noble citizen.

Dr Arvind Mayaram,

AS & FA,

MoRD

With 12 centres up and

running in UP, Bihar and

Haryana and around 1700

students undergoing aca-

demic program, Parvaaz is

now paving its way into

Assam and West Bengal.

In a recent visit to 24 Par-

ganas districts of West

Bengal our team has vis-

ited a number of minority

institutions and assessed

their potential to be Par-

vaaz learning centres. Be-

sides identifying centres,

the team is also meeting

the community stake-

holders who play a vital

role in any such interven-

tion. The socio-economic

condition of the minority

community in West Ben-

gal is quite miserable.

Educationally also this

community has been at the

receiving end. However, a

number of minority insti-

tutions have been quite

active in these districts to

promote education in the

region. The community

leaders like Ms Atia

Mushtaq, Farah Khan and

Imran Zaki were quite

excited about the project

and are of the opinion that

there is a dire need for

projects like Parvaaz in

these areas. They assured

all support on ground for

the implementation of

Parvaaz.

On the other side, Assam

has seen violent phases of

ethnic clashes in the re-

cent past in which thou-

sands of members of the

minority community were

rendered homeless and

landless. This clash af-

fected community is now

socially, educationally and

politically at the bottom of

the pyramid. There are not

many job avenues avail-

able and the youth are just

wasting their ener-

gies. Various researches

have shown that the mi-

nority community in As-

sam has been through a

tough time and are treated

as immigrants. However,

the community has not

lost hope, and with the

introduction of Parvaaz,

the community is quite

happy to hear about it and

would like to take part in

the program. Abdus Sattar

and Javed Reza have been

hired as the state coordi-

nators for Assam and West

Bengal respectively. They

have been entrusted with

the responsibility of iden-

tifying the potential train-

ing partners and mobilisa-

tion of the community.

Page 2 NEWSLETTER

Parvaaz towards Assam and West Bengal

After leaving school I

had become very nega-

tive towards life and

was unable to plan my

future. However, since

the time I joined

Parvaaz, I feel very

positive and will surely

make use this

opportunity.

Anwar,

HP Inter College

“I come of a very poor

family and had no

avenues to continue

my studies but

Parvaaz has come as a

savior. I am

extremely happy to be

a part of Parvaaz and

I am putting in my best

to get a job at the end

of the program.”

Ghulam Jilani,

Bahadurganj

Such visits play a very

important role in checking and balancing the process

and systems laid down for

the implementation of the

programs.

31st Jan, 2012.

All the documents related

to the student enrolment

were verified by the team.

The library was also vis-

ited by the team which

houses around 200 books

drawn from publishers like

National Book Trust,

Pratham, Goodword, Chil-

dren Book trust, etc.

which include reference

books as well. The team

also interacted with the

trainees at the centre while

the academic classes were

The National Institute of

Rura l De ve lop ment

(NIRD) being the monitor-

ing agency of the Govt of

India monitors all govern-

ment schemes to ensure

that the schemes are prop-

erly implemented on

ground. As Parvaaz moves

into its IInd phase, it’s time

to see how well was the

first phase implemented

and to monitor the per-

formance of the Parvaaz

learning centres. A team

from NIRD visited Al-

Falah Senior Secondary

School, Bhadas, a Parvaaz

NIRD team visits Parvaaz Learning Centers

Maharwan Ali is a 21

year old young boy

from Guladiya village

of Amroha district,

Uttar Pradesh (U.P.)

with his parents and two

elder brothers. Unfortu-

nately, Maharwan Ali

could not continue his

education after eight

grade due to financial

constraints and prob-

lems from the teachers.

One of his teachers ex-

pected him to seek pri-

vate tuition from him

which was a huge pres-

sure on Maharwan and

his family who were

not strong enough fi-

nancially to support

even the basic needs.

Although Maharwan

wanted to go for further

education and wanted to

become a civil engineer

his circumstances did

not favour him. There-

fore, he left home and

kept wandering in dif-

ferent cities in search of

job for years so that he

could support his fam-

ily.

After continuous strug-

gle, he got a job in Am-

roha. Presently he

works as a helper with a

road roller driver. Be-

sides, he also earns a

small income by selling

ghee in the villages

when he gets spare

time. Meanwhile, he

came to know about

Parvaaz and could not

keep himself away from

this golden opportunity

to fulfil his and his fam-

ily’s dreams.

Through the interven-

tion of a centre counsel-

lor, two months before,

he was enrolled in the

H.P. Inter College in

Amroha. He now shows

keen interest in studies.

His participation in all

extra-curricular activi-

ties is being highly ap-

preciated at the centre.

He is the captain of

Khan Group and per-

forms his key responsi-

bilities well. Not only

has he taken interest in

books but has also been

a lively participant in co

-curricular activities. He

enjoys playing cricket

and badminton.

English is his favourite

subject but he also real-

izes that the gap in

schooling has brought

forth various difficulties

and challenges for him.

To cope up with these,

he takes out time from

his schedule and attends

English learning classes

in the vocational centre

near his place.

Johar Abbas who is an

English teacher in H.P.

Inter College said,

“Maharwan Ali is very

hard working and en-

thusiastic about his fu-

ture. It’s really a great

pleasure to guide such a

student like him.”

Hardwork pays

Page 3 NEWSLETTER

FACE OF THE MONTH

Convincing my parents

about Parvaaz was little

difficult but when Par-

vaaz team held meetings

in the village, my par-

ents were satisfies with

Parvaaz and now I am

happy to be attending

classes at Parvaaz

Learning center.

Saymeen,

Umar Inter College

“I had never thought

about returning to a

school. Though I will

not become an engineer

but I will still become

capable to earn a

livelihood to support

the family with dignity

and self respect.”

Maharwan,

HP Inter College

NIRD OFFICIAL at Al- Falah Sr. Sec. School, Bhadas

“Going back to school was beyond my

imagination but Parvaaz has inspired me

to take on education once again. The aim

now is to gain economic independence.”

Mumtaz Jehan

Umar Inter College,

Bilari

Trust is the key to successful intervention – Najmus Sakib

IL&FS EDUCATION 2nd Floor, NTBCL Building,

DND Flyway, Noida Toll Bridge,

Noida -201301

Phone: 0120-2459248

Email: contactus@parvaaz.in

www.parvaaz.in

tion with which I ap-

proached the community

at different levels, right

from primary stakeholders

to the secondary stake-

holders. I faced problems

as it was quite difficult to

convince people because

of their bad experiences

with other NGOs in past.

Initially people were not

even ready to listen to me

but I managed to gain the

confidence of the commu-

nity leaders and along

with them I organized fo-

cus group discussions. We

understood their problems

and explained Parvaaz in

detail and started mobiliz-

ing volunteers. When the

community started receiv-

ing our message we ar-

ranged trainings for the

volunteers and the other

community leaders. This

helped us spread the word

fast and we started getting

positive response from the

youngsters and also insti-

tutions to set up centers in

their villages. Pradhans

also showed interest in the

program.

The primary ingredient for

any social intervention is

trust. No community will

allow you to intervene

unless they trust you. But

I believe trust of the com-

munity is secondary; pri-

mary is your own trust in

the program that you go to

the community with. If

you do not have trust in

your own program, gain-

ing trust of the community

is almost impossible, be-

cause no matter what ap-

proach you adopt for in-

tervention, it will be de-

void of conviction. I

joined TIE Foundation

because I was convinced

with the kind of potential

Parvaaz had. At the same

time I was sure that we

will face problems on

ground as I was aware of

the community. The Mus-

lim community in Mewat

is quite religious but edu-

cationally backward.

Families do not take deci-

sions without consulting a

religious leader. So, when

we started our interven-

tion in Mewat my best

tool was my own convic-

While we mobilize, it is

very important for us to

target the main leaders

and well respected mem-

bers of the community. If

you are able to convince

them, half your job is

done. Their word is pow-

erful and when they be-

come your ambassadors, it

is easier for you to carry

the message across. It is

they who helped us set up

three centers in Mewat

where females in the age

bracket of 17-25 are nor-

mally married but we still

managed to convince par-

ents to send their daugh-

ters to Parvaaz centers.

We were not able to mobi-

lize many girls but we

managed to enroll few of

them. The Parvaaz experi-

ence till now has been

fulfilling and its strength

lies in its approach. Edu-

cation, skills and finally

employment, this is what

any youngster would want

and Parvaaz gives it all. I

am very happy to be a part

of such a wonderful pro-

ject.

I believe trust of

the community is

secondary; pri-

mary is your own

trust in the pro-

gram that you go

to the community

with.

Najmus Sakib,

State Coordinator,

Haryana

TIE Foundation

“I was wandering aimlessly but

parvaaz has given a direction to my life.

It feels great to be studying again and

progressing towards getting stable a

job.”

Imran

Alfalah, Nagina,

Mewat