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DevelopmProgramMilestonesEducation Systems, Leadership and Governance

Private Circulation Newsletter

Issue 2.1July 2011

Special IssueonNamma Shaale

Design, Graphics, Layout,

Editorial Team:

Swati Chanda Pradeep Ramavath Ruchi Ghose


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Namma Shaale. Our School.

Four syllables in Kannada, two in English. And encapsulated within the two words, the understanding that it takes a village to

raise a child.

The third issue of our newsletter Milestones looks at this proverb in action through the Namma Shaale program of Azim PremjiFoundation, the Government of Karnataka and NGO partners that has been operational in four districts of Karnataka since 2004

and will soon be scaling up to North East Karnataka. The idea of community involvement or participation in school is not a new

one. It is a paradigm that cuts across geographies, economies and demographics; it refers to involvement in all aspects of

school functioning - from providing labor for building of infrastructure to partnering with teachers for quality education.

Recently there appeared the story of Kadia, twelve years old and living in a rural area, who dropped out of elementary school.

She was sent away to a neighboring village to care for her sister's children. There was no point, her mother said, in continuing to

send Kadia to school: it was understaffed with poorly-qualified teachers, ramshackle furniture, a leaking roof, and no drinking

water or teaching learning materials.

There seemed to be no way to argue with this decision made by a family with meager resources, about a school that seemed to

reinforce the judgments against it. Kadia's situation was not unique: many children, particularly girls, were being kept out of

school because they were needed to help out with chores at home, and also because the school was so little valued.

But that was last year. Kadia, now thirteen, is back in school and doing well.

What happened during the year was that a community education assessment exercise was conducted. It helped the community

identify and prioritize educational needs, and examine cultural and social practices that influenced their children's educational

opportunities. This assessment served as a wakeup call for the region. Now, with the help of enhanced community participation,

new classrooms are being built, the roof is being repaired, and parents are talking to each other to reduce the amount of work

children do in the house, so that they are free to attend school and study. The continued involvement of the community saw the

appointment of two new, better qualified teachers, and the construction of a new well.

Kadia is a schoolgirl in Mali, but she could be anywhere. Her story, recounted by USAID, is that of countless others in socio-

political-economic locales which are heterogeneous but share similar underlying patterns and consequences. What her story

does is to give a face to the success of community participation in education. In transforming theschool to ourschool, where its

survival and success are recognized as being intimately bound with that of the community. And it is this link that our Namma

Shaale program has explored intensively over the last four years.

This issue of Milestones brings you the Namma Shaale experience of community participation in education through theunmediated voices of those closely involved with it. And it also zooms out to present the context and framework in which the

efforts are taking place. It documents the experiences of those traditionally excluded from decision-making, sometimes from

environments characterized by deep-rooted social and economic divisions. What emerges through the articles is the recognition

that the efforts to achieve quality education touch on many other elements in the community's life - and these organic

connections must be seen as sources of great strength.

The newsletter also contains two articles about community empowerment in other, very different spaces, which reinforce the

thought that ultimately, it does indeed take a village to usher in change.

Swati ChandaEducation Systems, Leadership and Governance

University Resource Center, Azim Premji Foundation

Editors Note

MILESTONES


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Issue 2.1July 2011

Overview

Community Demand for Quality Education and

the Namma Shaale Experience - Kishore Attavar4

Innovations and Geographies

The Seasonality CalendarYJ Ravindraprakash7

The Other IIT9

Addodagi: Return to School Change in Yalavalli Developmental Journalism

Towards Light in ChikkahaalivaanaKVijaya Raghava and Lokesh Gowda11

The Rukmapur ExperiencesSuresh Babu13The Kerala TourUday Bekal 15

People and Processes

In Conversation with Udaya Naik, BRC Kumta.. 16

Rehanas Story K Vijaya Raghava.. 17

Improving Micro-Political Environment through Community Participation

YJ Ravindraprakash and Pradeep Ramavath.. 18

Learning from Others

Swanirvar in North 24 ParganasSujit Sinha. 21

The Power of Many- Sukumar Anikar 24

All views expressed are those of the authors

MILESTONES


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Community Demand for Quality Education and the Namma Shale Experience...Kishore Attavar

4

The evolution of Namma Shaale has its genesis in the mandate of Policy Planning Unit (PPU), wherein social/community mobilization

capability is one of the key areas which needs to be considered while working on excellence in education, along with administrative, technical

and academic capability. The social/community engagement capability as per the PPU mandate was initially leveraged by the then

coordinator of PPU with active support of the Commissioner of Public Instruction who in turn introduced PPU to the Karnataka State Trainers

Collective (KSTC) with its rich experience of working with community in mass campaigns like the Total Literacy, Save the Western Ghats,

Decentralization and Empowering Local Self Governments, and Total Sanitation campaigns.

They prepared a comprehensive study and a proposal to be called Namma Shaale - Communication for Quality Education which intended to

cover the entire state and would cost Rs. 348 cr. The study was presented to the Government of Karnataka in 2006. Consequently, the

government advised PPU to take up a pilot instead of the whole state and also agreed to provide administrative support to implement the

piloting of Namma Shaale, requesting Azim Premji Foundation to financially support it. Hence, Namma Shaale was implemented in four

clusters in Karnataka between April 2006 and December 2010: Mirjan, representing Coastal and Bombay Karnataka region, Kundur,

representing the Deccan plateau and Western Ghats, Rukmapur in the Hyderabad region and Gavadgere covering the Old Mysore region.

Rationale

The vision for our society guided by our Constitution for preparing the future generations to achieve their desired goal requires the active

involvement of the community. For the state enshrined with the responsibility of planning, designing and delivering quality education in its true

spirit, the participation of an enlightened community is essential. Given the current socio-economically fragmented society, an in-depth

understanding of the community is required to help it transition from mere participation towards ownership in the process of providing

education to their children.

Theoretical Base

Mobilizing a socially, economically and culturally diverse community

towards the constitutional vision of a just, humane and equitable

society is best possible when communication between key actors is

established. Establishing the right communication between the stakeholders

requires to be facilitated through communication tools which would initiate the process of community mobilization in a diverse rural context for

education. Specific communication tools would trigger participation of key stakeholders coming from varied backgrounds and the

communication web thus created would bring key stakeholders to the center of an issue. With appropriate facilitation, this would help a

community to move from participation towards ownership. The time required for a community to attain the maturity level is directly proportional

to the level of socio economic and cultural backwardness of the given region. Hence, higher the backwardness of the region, the longer will

be the maturity period.

Hypotheses

Intensive communication is essential to build a School-Community Connect.

Active local community participation plays a critical role in enhancing the quality of learning of children in the school.

Project Goal

The project aims to provide research based understanding of the issues related to communitys influence on school quality and the

processes that are most effective in facilitating positive community influence on their schools.

Specific objectives

To evolve participatory and transparent processes for community participation for quality education.

To create an environment where the various stakeholders take active part in ensuring quality education in Government schools.

To enable the community for demanding the expected levels of competencies in learning for their children from the education system.

To create systems among the stakeholders for building mutual cooperation and trust to ensure quality education in a sustained

manner.

To create a detailed document on the entire program to evolve a comprehensive process manual that can be used to facilitate

implementation of similar initiatives on a larger scale.

Namma Shaale was taken up as an action research to

understand what it takes to mobilize community stakeholders

to get involved in demanding quality education from our state-

run government schools in rural areas.

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Key field support from our four partner NGOs:

Spoorthy - Kundur cluster

ARRM-K (Association for Rural Reconstruction Movement)Rukmapur cluster

DEED (Development through Education)Hunsur cluster

KSTCMirjan cluster


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End-line report on Mirjan and Gavadgere

Out of 25 parameters, 18 in Gavadgere and 16 in Mirjan cluster have shown positive changes.

Community role in ensuring quality education in schools is better understood in both clusters.

75% parents in Gavadagere are aware of quality education and 94% in Mirjan.

79% of parents feel that there is significant improvement in their children's quality of education due to Namma Shaale program.

Household intervention in childrens education has increased to 60%; parents have identified that along with school

infrastructure, good learning and teaching environment are important for quality education.

There has been significant improvement in parents awareness about the School Development and Monitoring Committee

(SDMC) and its functioning and also in selection of SDMCs in their village; 66% in Gavadagere & 88% in Mirjan.

Evidence of Vertical & Horizontal communication established

Communication among primary and secondary stakeholders

and schools is well established in 46 villages.

SDMC network and linkage with Community Based

Organizations (CBOs), GPs and Education Department has become

strong in Mirjan, Kundur and Rukmapur cluster.

There is considerable improvement in the acceptance of

community participation in schools by the teaching community, in all

clusters. The initial resistance and reluctance of teachers to participate

in Namma Shaale is reduced to a great extent in all clusters.

SDMC networks at the cluster level are in place in Kundur, Mirjan, and

Rukmapura and at GP level in Gavadgere cluster.

Advocacy and mainstreaming of the concept

MHRD has documented a case study of Namma Shaale as an innovative intervention on the recommendation of SSA-Karnataka.

NGOs team from UP visited Rukmapur and Kundur for the study.

Education managers of Gulburga and Raichur are asked to visit Rukmapur cluster to study the Namma Shaale process.

Comprehensive Knowledge base document on process and tools have been completed.

Papers on Namma Shaale concept have been presented in two international and two national level conferences.

Post consolidation phase work in Namma Shaale cluster has been funded by the Government of Karnataka.

SSA has proposed to take up Namma Shaale intervention in 15 clusters of NEK region and fund it from 2011-14.

I must confess that in the initial phase of project

implementation, I was very skeptical about achieving

the desired results of Namma Shaale. I struggled

hard and spent sleepless nights to instill into myself

the required passion to drive the project, simply

because I could not visualize the end result, unlike

other campaigns - literacy, Panchayat Raj or total

sanitation, where I could visualize the end result

either in terms of an adult neo-literate or a robust

Gram Panchayat or a household toilet constructed

and used for the purpose.

Milestones and Lessons

1. Namma Shaale has completed all three phases in all the clusters

2. About 50% to 80% of decisions taken in Participatory Planning and Action (PPA-I phase) are already implemented in 50

schools

3. 46 out of 75 schools across 4 clusters (12 in Mirjan, 12 in Gavadagere, 13 in Kundur and 9 in Rukhmapur) have achieved

model school community connect stage.

4. End-line evaluation of two clusters (Mirjan and Gavadagere) is completed and the reporting of Kundur and Rukhmapur

cluster is under process.

5. Different tools of community participation and empowerment such as Baseline, Focus Group Discussions, Intimate

Interactive Theater, Participatory Planning & Action, Exposure visit, Seminar and Training have been tried and their

effectiveness and limitations understood and documented. The Namma Shaale concept has gained recognition from village

level to National level.

6. The same tools may not give same results everywhere; also there is a significant difference between inter- and intra-

cluster results. Therefore multiple tools are to be used to create maximum impact on a mass scale. Where one tool may fail,

another may become effective

7. Designing and conducting of the trainings at grassroots level should take into consideration the availability of stakeholders

and valuing their time. It is worth to consider their lost time through monetary compensation.

8. Participatory methods hold the attention of stakeholders more than any other methods and produce maximum outcome

/results.

9. Exposure visits expedited the process of networking and helped to build perspective on quality education.


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The four clusters selected for the action research, with their socio-economic and cultural differences, provide a vivid contrast. The

evidence of establishing communication between key stakeholders is seen in the story of Addodagi school. Meanwhile, in Kundur

cluster, the region representative of the mixed community predominant in the Deccan plateau and Malnad regions, Namma Shaale

shows how women from the minority community organized themselves and took a proactive role in not only participating in the SDMC

but also going one step ahead by resolving to disqualify those long absentee SDMC members and replace those who were willing to

take active part in the development and monitoring school activities in the Kundur Urdu HPs.

The case study from a well-endowed region, the Yelavalli school community in Mirjan of Kumta, is a classic example of how Namma

Shaale communication tools could be used to create amicable working relationships among the SDMC members representing parents

from socially and economically diverse communities (land-owning upper-castes and the labor class) who worked together to demand

quality education through their school community involvement. It is very interesting to note that the dynamics of social relationships

are slowly changing for the better in this region.

The Namma Shaale impact is substantiated by an end-line report on Mirjan and Gavadgere. The findings have supported the Namma

Shaale hypothesis that intensive communication is critical for establishing school community connect. The seasonality calendar as a

tool has established the basis to rationalize the need for region-specific changes in school calendar which has in turn helped parentsand the SDMC to be self-critical in their role of managing and planning school calendar.

The Namma Shaale team and the rainbow stakeholders visits to Kannada-speaking schools of Kasaragod in Kerala have shown us

how this exercise helped in setting up the context for developing a model community connect in 42 schools from among the 74. It has

given insight into the relationship between various institutions including the local self governments, their roles and responsibilities and

basis for curriculum framework for quality education in government schools in Kerala.

Developmental journalism and the creation of the children's club in Rukmapur provide the theoretical basis for the need of

scaffolding organizations and their critical watchdog roles in monitoring the existing institutions to fulfill their respec tive mandates.

The way forward?

The comprehensive knowledge base developed on community engagement could be a rich source of training material which can be

utilized to

Create modules to bring sharper focus on the role of community for use by governments while expansion of Namma Shaale in

the North East Karnataka region

Create training material as part of the University Resource Center of Azim Premji University for pre-service and in service

training to teachers, head teachers, SDMCs, Panchayat Raj institutions, line departments, Block Education Officers, Cluster

Resource Persons, and DIET faculty

Develop customized training modules for short-term courses for NGOs.

Four clusters can be developed as lab areas for further research on school community connect and how community empowerment

with classroom intervention can lead to cost effective improvement of quality education in government elementary schools.

Kishore Attavar is Head-Namma Shaale and Co-coordinator, Policy Planning Unit

Meanwhile, the Namma Shaale experience in Kundur cluster, which is a region representative of the mixed community predominant

in the Deccan plateau and Malnad region, shows how women from the minority Muslim community organized themselves as a self

help group, taking a proactive role in not only participating in the SDMC but also going one step ahead by resolving to disqualify

long-absentee SDMC members and replace them with those willing to take active part in the development and monitoring of school

activities in the Kundur Urdu Higher Primary School. This in itself is a case of Namma Shaales role in mobilizing the minority

community in improving the quality of elementary education.

Agonies and Ecstasies

Showing results in the highly process-oriented rather than demonstration model-oriented project made me nervous during the

entire project cycle. But the emergence of the SDMC networks in three clusters out of the four was like a real face-saver after the

grueling three and half years of Namma Shaale implementation across the four clusters. The ups and downs of the entire journey of

Namma Shaale are worth sharing with the wider audience. Among many things which we have experienced during the process,

perhaps the most interesting was what it takes it to mobilize community for demanding quality education.

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The Seasonality Calendar..Y.J. Ravindraprakash

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Namma Shaale conducted Phase II Participatory Planning and Action (PPA) at the end of Community Empowerment Phase in all four

clusters. Five tools were designed to facilitate PPA: School Immersion Program, Seasonal Calendar, Institutional Analysis, School Map,

and Resource Mapping, of which the first three were conducted simultaneously by groups of 13-15 members each. The seasonalitycalendar was an attempt to correlate the school calendar to that of the village.

Every region has some calendar of events based on its socio-cultural and economic activities. As most of the villages in India are

agriculture-based, their lifestyle is based on the monsoons and its occurrence. All festivals, leisure time activities, migration and

economic activities are based on the monsoons and the summer and winter seasons. But the academic calendar of a school is not

aligned to this. It still follows the system inherited from colonial times and does not take into account the village calendar.

We wanted to generate information to understand the extent of

mismatch between the village calendar and the school calendar.

This data varies from one geographical region to another region. For

instance, the situation in Mirjan varies from that of Gavadagere,

Kundur and Rukmapur. There are even intra-region changesdepending on the major vocation of the people of the region and

availability of permanent irrigation facilities, or migration of people in

search of jobs.

But overall, this data will help in evolving region specific changes in school calendars based on region specific needs of the people.

We selected a team of villagers from different backgrounds and age groups. We identified some elderly people who could tell the

sowing and harvesting seasons according to the monsoon patterns. We included women in the team so that they could discuss various

festivals where children are needed to participate. This group had farmers, agricultural laborers and migrant laborers also.

Village calendar of Machabayanahalli village (Gavadagere cluster), Hunsur taluk

Activities June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Ja

n

Feb. Mar. Apr May

Rain 15 10 15 7 10 - - - - 5 15 6

Agricultural

operations

Sowing Inter

Cultivation

Inter

Cultivation

Harvesting

Festivals

Fairs

Marriage

Migration

Childrens

Need

We made a table and asked them to mark out major activities each month and services of children required for some of the operations.

The main assumption behind this exercise was that

the mismatch between the school calendar and

village calendar was critical for seasonal

absenteeism of children in rural areas. There is a

need to reexamine our school calendar vis--vis the

village calendar to give opportunity to the children

to attend school for maximum number of days while

attending to family needs also.

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The school calendar was juxtaposed to this calendar. This helped the teachers and villagers to understand when the children

absent themselves from school and why. It also helped the teachers to understand the kinds of pressure operating on children that

disturb their scholastic activities.

The calendar clearly showed that school timings and holidays need to be synchronized with village timetable so that children can

have best of both the worlds. The time they spend in the fields during sowing, inter-cultivation and harvesting gives them invaluable

life skills and also necessary knowledge of agriculture and biology, and their syllabus can be synchronized with their field

experience. There is a plethora of opportunities to convert their field experiences into systematic knowledge, if a teacher can

construct lessons based on childrens experiences.

Alternatively, at the district level, such data can help in the redesign of the school calendar to synch with the village calendar.

The juxtaposed tables show that there is a clear mismatch between the village calendar and school calendar. When this was

discussed in the meeting, the teachers expressed their inability to create a school calendar according to the needs of the village

because they are bound by government rules and regulations which are impervious to the local needs, although they could

internalize the reasons for childrens absenteeism in certain seasons.

It is for this reason in many villages this exercise was not done. But there is great opportunity to create a database that can be used

to lobby with the government to rationalize the holidays and working days of the schools, based on local needs and convenience.

The information can be used in evolving a district-wise or Gram Panchayat (GP)-wise holiday calendar flexible enough to

accommodate the villages demand for childrens participation in various village activities and economic activities. Life skills

acquisition is one of the most important components of basic or elementary education. Sometimes children have to learn them

literally, by working with their parents in their fields. Having the school acknowledge this will also help develop recognition for the

dignity of labor.

This seasonality study has a lot of scope in influencing the school curriculum and co-curriculum.

The village seasonality calendar can help the school to design co-curricular activities around agriculture related activities.

The teachers can encourage the children to document their experiences and learning from field. They can do field studies and

project work based on agriculture.

The school can accommodate children who need to work in the field on certain days and treat it as work experience. It can

help the children to internalize the experience and study the ecosystem in the field by providing necessary knowledge inputs.

They can arrange for field trials and invite agriculture specialists to deliver lectures and discussions during the agricultural

season; they can invite parents and other farmers to attend such meetings.

The synchronizing of school calendar with village seasonality calendar can bring the village and school together for mutual

benefit. The teachers should respect village culture and economic activities and develop such respect among their students too.

Understanding of village seasonality and responding to the same will make school more holistic and meaningful. This will

help in community participation and enriching of school curriculum and childrens learning.

Ravindraprakash is Chief Consultant, Namma Shaale

It is very essential that children learn from the world that they inhabitfrom working in the field. They

have to understand the various processes of agricultural operations so that they can internalize and

improve on them by using the special skills and knowledge gained in the school.

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A communication format that combines street play, Focus Group Discussions, storytelling and short skits, Interactive Intimate Theater(IIT) has been a useful tool in Namma Shaale to initiate a dialogue with a small group of stakeholders, preferably belonging to same

category.

IIT is conducted in a small space; the team consists of three to five performers and one facilitator. The theme is drawn from local

specifics: non-performing teachers, School Development and Monitoring Committees (SDMCs), parents and public. The skit is of

three to five minutes' duration followed by open discussion on the theme between the audience and the spectators.

Opening up is one of the critical requirements to establish communication. From this point of view IITs became very effective tools in

the Community Initiation Phase to build the communication web. They also helped in identifying realities and the communitys

perception of the realities and its readiness to act when organized and sufficiently motivated.

Effectiveness of the IITs is in many areas.

Creating interest in school and primary education.

Establishing immediate rapport with the spectators and the Namma Shaale team.

It was interactive at the same time created awareness generation through

discussion, dialogue and self analysis. Hence it became a learning process for both the

Community Facilitation Team (CFT) members and the village community.

Its result was immediate and long lasting when compared to other tools.

Unlike other tools, it touched both heart and head - it had both intellectual and

emotional components.

It helped CFTs to communicate and organize group meetings easily and they

could hold meaningful group discussions with different stakeholders.

It opened up communication blocks.

At the same time, there were some limitations of IIT. For example in some

villages, a large gathering came to witness the show, which was reduced to

a street play - like activity. Sometimes, negative depictions about teachers

and community representatives created adverse reactions. Occasionally,

the facilitators could not facilitate the discussions effectively particularly

in the initial stages of IIT. There were budgetary constraints too because of

which a sufficient number of shows could not be organized in big villages.

By and large, IIT was seen as an effective way to engage the

community, with perceivable results across clusters.

Only dramatizing of the issues and facilitating a dialogue on

fictitious situations will allow them to open up, thus easing the

work of regular facilitation.

The Other IIT

Images from

the Mirjan

meet and the

DEED

Education

Jatha

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This theater form has beendeveloped by Mohan Chandra,

a KSTC Consultant

Cluster Facilitation Teams (CFTs) have been set up by Azim Premji

Foundation in partnership with NGOs. The CFTs operated from the

Cluster Resource/ Facilitation Center and have a role in doing

groundwork for community engagement (for example through IIT), and

facilitating discussions between various stakeholders.


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Addodagi is a small village in the Rukmapura cluster in Karnataka

with a population of about 915; it comes under the Sugur Gram

Panchayats jurisdiction. It is a backward district inhabited by the

Nayaka community. People are mainly agriculturists, dependent on

the rains for their survival. Most of the population is engaged in daily

wage employment. The village has one lower primary government schoolwhich is 30-35 years old. Earlier this school was run in a temple but now it

has its own building with three teachers, two of whom worked sincerely under a head teacher who was an established drunkard.

When the Namma Shaale team went for Participatory Planning and Action (PPA), the community said, If you have the guts, please

change the school head teacher. The root cause of the problem was that the school head teacher Mr. Balaraj was not regular and

addicted to alcohol as well. He did not take any classes; did not come regularly to the school, and disrupted all processes including the

Mid-day meal program when he did show up. He did not involve anyone in the decision-making process. He even had a hand in the

forgery of a number of documents relating to SDMC records and in the misappropriation of school funds. The community reported this

as a serious issue with the higher officials and in the absence of any action being taken, and worried about the kind of education their

children were receiving, went to close the doors of the school. They started sending their children to other schools.

But in the presence of school functionaries, the community was able to resolve this issue. And when the pressure from the community

increased, the government transferred this head teacher to another school. With the completion of this demand, the community actively

started sending the children back to the school. In 2008, 28 children who dropped out from school were brought back. The Child

Friendly School Initiative (CFSI) program in Surpur conducted a Metric Melaand Science Melain which children took an active part.

Attendance has increased to 90%. The approach followed in Namma Shaale with respect to training of the developmental professionals

on PPA has proved its worth at the community level. Presently, the challenge in front of the community is to repair the Anganwadi. One

has to see how the community will take proactive steps to resolve this issue.

(All names have been changed.)

Translated by Pradeep Ramavath (Education Systems, Leadership and Governance, Azim Premji Foundation )

At one time the entire community in Addodagi wanted

to go to the school and shut it down. Then the Namma

Shaale project selected this school for intervention.

Now the Addodagi school is emerging as a model

school among the 19 schools in the cluster.

10

It was Monday 10.30 in the morning on February 08, 2010 when the SDMC president in Maratikoppa visited the school. Good

Morning, he wished the teachers who were assembled there. He then enquired, Where is the Headmaster? He was told that the

Headmaster was on leave. How many days leave? He was told: for a week. Stunned at the answer he said, I did not sanction leave

for the headmaster. How did he go on leave? Enquiring about the same he returned and shared the information with some of his

SDMC members. They came up with a collective decision to inform the Block Education Officer (BEO) and take further action.

Next day the SDMC president went directly to school to cross check whether the headmaster was present, and looking at his

absences he directly contacted the BEO. Further conversation revealed that the BEO was unaware that the headmaster was on leave;

he had not been informed. He also confirmed that only the SDMC president can grant leave and he resolved to teach a lesson to the

head master who was taking leave according to his own whims and fancies and signing the attendance register. Next day, the

confrontation with the headmaster turned hostile and it was decided to address the issue with the parents and SDMC. Meanwhile the

teachers were also perceived as being unresponsive to village issues. Once when the village community had planned to organize

Yakshagana the school staff refused to provide a classroom fortheir accommodation. The relationship worsened after that.

Taking a resolution to correct the system, the SDMC with the Namma Shaale team decided to make the school a model school,

implementing the project Namma Shalayojane and imitating Kasaragod school in Kerala. They organized a meeting of all parents and

villagers. 40 parents from 51 families, 16 women and ex-SDMC members, panchayat members and village seniors also attended.

Listening to issues of how quality of education was being badly impacted, the headmaster asked for an opportunity to correct himself.

The meeting resolved to take the issue to the DDPI if he failed to keep his word and gave the headmaster a period of 15 days to

correct himself. The contribution and efforts of the SDMC were app reciated by the old students association, parents and villagers.

The SDMC president opined later that skill development programs and the study tours also facilitated this process.

At present the milieu of the whole school has changed. Teachers are present by 8.45 am! Villagers and other associations in the

village appreciate the actions of SDMCand the headmaster recalls the past as a nightmare!

Change in YalavalliThe zeal to change the schools statusand

bring in reform in the condition of children

can change the milieu of a school.

Addodagi: Return to School

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What is the need to identify the good and poor schoo ls which come within our program limits? The main reason behind this datacompilation is to study the results of the various processes of our sch ool, and more imp ortantly to find reasons wh y a schoo l is good orpoor and also look into commu nity participation: in this light, an effort is made he re to describe how the total indifference and disinterestof the commun ity of Chikkahaalivaana ex tension changed to a m ore proactive attitude.

Chikkahaalivaana extension is a small village which falls under the Yakkanahalli gram panchayat. It is part of the Honnali taluk, Kundur

educational cluster. People from the Lambani, Lingayat and Adi-Karnataka communities live here. Communal harmony among these

communities is not very encouraging. Any attempt to do any kind of good work is quickly thwarted. Sri R., who is responsible for

starting a school here, was a very disillusioned man and said he was so frustrated with the way things were in the village that he hasd

not gone back to even visit the school in three and a half years.

According to a survey conducted between June and September 2007 by the Namma Shale team and the Department of Public

Instruction, the population of the village was 319. There were 72 families living in the village, with 35 children in the age group of 6 to 14

years. The Nayaka community is in the forefront in the leadership of the village. Irrigation facilities are good here and it s no surprise

that the village looks beautiful with lush green paddy fields and other crops. For the many small land owners and laborers, the means of

living is fairly good.

Three SHGs Self Help Groups (SHGs) operate in the village - Jagadamba, Adi Shakti and Veera Bhadreshwara. The 12-year-old

government lower primary school is a prominent landmark. It has two teachers. Initially around 30 children attended the school.

According to the 2007 survey, the number of children as also the attendance was 20. In the academic year 2008-2009, the number of

enrolled children had dropped to 13 and even among these 13, the parents of three children were pressurizing the teachers to issue

Transfer Certificates to their children as they wanted to admit them into a different school. The teachers and the SDMC were urging

them not to remove their children.

The woes of the school were many. There were no proper chairs and tables and the children were forced to sit on the floor. There was

no coordination between the SDMC and the school. The school had lost the confidence of the parents. The SHGs preferred to keep to

themselves. The people had a string of complaints against the teachers. They said that the two teachers were not good, they did nt

come on time and even if they did, they didnt stay in school for long or teach their children properly.

The SDMC President, who was instrumental in bringing the school to the village, recalled how depressing it was to see only five

children in the morning assembly one day. Though I stay near the college, I havent bothered visiting the school. I fee l very bad that it

has reached such a pathetic state, he lamented.

School admissions during 2008-09

1st standard 02

2nd standard 03

3rd standard 03

4th standard 03

5th standard 02

Total 13

Towards Light in Chikkahaalivaana

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Abhivruddi patrikodyama mattu adara susthira balake

Developmental journalism is one of the activities undertaken by Namma Shaale. Selected educated youths from the village were

given perspectives about journalism, along with training about the preparation and importance of wall posters and newspapers.

Journalism training was given for two days in July 2009. During this training, 28 trainers participated from 19 schools at the cluster

level. 13 were from Suguru GP, 8 from Hemanuru GP, 5 from Rukmapur GP, and 2 from Lakshmipur GP. There was a Resource

Person along with representatives from Kannada Prabha, Vijaya Karnataka, Samyukta Karnatakaand Kranti Patrike.

Importance was given to wall posters. Content was on teachers, the SDMC, the mid-day meal, Government programs, school

development programs, school action plans, childrens enrollment, attendance, etc. The Gram Panchayats brought out two wall

posters in a month. They were attractive-looking and encouraged people to analyze and critically think about various aspects of the

village.

The newspapers and posters have become an effective medium for qualitative change, playing a major role in attracting the youth,

education activists, and others towards school activities.

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Smt. Sarojamma travels to school every day from Malebennur. She has been serving in the school for 6-7 years. She spoke

positively about the SDMC: the members come to school regularly and extend all necessary cooperation; the SDMC had given

chairs and other necessary equipment to the school. She had her own reasons to give for the drastic drop in attendance,

claiming that convent mania had gripped the parents of the village. Secondly, with smaller families, couples have one or two

children only and the number of school-going kids has decreased. Thirdly, the village has a lot of people who drink regularly and

create public nuisance. The atmosphere is not conducive for learning.

The feeling was that if the attendance at the school continued in this way, the school would have to be closed one day. The study

of the main survey shows that the percentage of children joining convent schools has increased from 27% to 50%.

Ratnamma, whose daughter Deepa, aged 15, studied till the 5 th standard in the same school before going on to complete her 7th

Std. in Yakkanahalli, had this to say: If the classes are not held regularly, will the children learn? If classes were held properly

here, why would others send their children to Yakkanahalli school?

New Wave

A new Head Teacher was appointed. After he took over, he identified people with leadership qualities and tried revamping the

school. He first looked at getting the SDMC organized. Later he tried bringing the parents and Self Help Groups nearer, and

rallying the old students.

The government too responded positively to the demands of the community and transferred one of the irregular teachers. This

move by the government helped bring the community together.

August 15, 2009, was a rejuvenation day for the school. On this day various stakeholders of the school were brought on a

common platform. Differences of opinion amongst the leaders were ironed out. Everyone present was happy at the way things

turned around.

The grievances of the school were looked into. A decision was taken to contain the remaining 13 children. The SDMC members

agreed to cajole those parents who wanted the transfer certificates of their children and convince them to let the children continue

in the same school.

A decision was taken to meet the parents who were sending their children to convents and other schools, and convince them to

bring their children back to school. It was also decided to organize a donation drive to improve the basic amenities to improve the

conditions of the school and collect Rs. 250 from each parent of the school. The new SDMC members believed that this would

help the children presently studying in the school to stay back in the same school and the parents too would be interested to know

about the progress of their children. The SHGs decided to donate a water tank to provide drinking water to the children.

The SDMC was newly reconstituted on Gandhi Jayanti Day on Oct 2, 2009. Nine people were selected from the Parents Council.

Members of all communities and women found a representation in the newly reconstituted SDMC.

The Old Students Association was revived following the efforts of the CFT. The Community School Academic Action Plan was

readied.

The new SDMC turned its attention to the problems of basic amenities at the school. As per the decision that every member

should donate something to the school, new chairs arrived. The school kitchen was repaired. Parents expressed their satisfaction

with the teaching style of the new teachers.

From this experience we can say that if the government provides a timely response to the communitys demands, if the CFT

members study the political and social situation at the correct time and through their intervention succeed in bringing the

stakeholders together, and if the school teachers mingle with the community and the children, it can help sick schools recover and

progress.

If the SDMC and community implement the decision they have taken and keep up the current interest, this school can become a

model school.

- Lokesh Gowda and K.Vijaya Raghava(Documentation Experts, Namma Shaale)

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The Rukmapur Experiences..Suresh Babu

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The implementation of institutionalized developmental activities like the Childrens Club, Cabinet, and Old Students Association/ Youth

Organizations is playing an important role in Rukmapur cluster.

Cabinet

Every Higher Primary School (HPS) has to form a Cabinet and it is

a part of the annual action plan. At the Rukmapur cluster we can see cabinet

members photographs in the Head Masters office along with details of the

cabinet members. Earlier there were no specific procedures regarding this:

all students gathered in a classroom, where the teacher selected a few students

as members of the cabinet. But now Rukmapur is changing its methodology with

respect to the formation of a cabinet. They have adopted National Election

Commission and State Election Commission procedures to form the cabinet.

But first it is essential that children should know about the formation of a cabinet, its

importance and their responsibilities in that regard. The formation of the cabinet is as

follows: on the appropriate day teachers declare a suitable date for structuring the

cabinet, nomination is invited by the interested students, canvassing, ballot papers,

election booth, voting system and other norms are decided by the teachers. After

elections, the counting of votes, declaring winners names, and distributing of departments among the winners and guiding them about

their responsibility are completedwith prominence given to the girl students.

Cluster Facilitation Teams (CFTs) have formed a cabinet in nine schools. In the Lakshmipura and Hemanur models, the cabinets are

functioning very well. To show creativity and responsibility among cabinet members, the members were taken to Kerala and on

education trips to Narayanapura and Rajanakolluru where they were able to see the village history prepared by children, the collection of

folk songs, and the well-maintained garden. The following objectives are

achieved through the cabinet;

Building consciousness of democratic values among children.

Election procedures and system.

Building personality development, responsibility and leadership skills.

Creating awareness about social values, like gender equality,

justice etc.

Encouraging moral values in children.

Childrens Club

According to School Annual Plan (SAP,) during the months of June-July, the school must form its Childrens Club. The Social, Scienceand Environment clubs have to be formed in every school. The idea is that forming these clubs will help to measure school quality, and

through these the children will acquire good critical thinking capacity and innovation skills. The childrens clubs were formed in the month

of September. To make Rukamapur cluster a model in terms of the Cabinet and Childrens Club, and for better understanding of their

roles and responsibilities, the children were taken on education trips to Narayanapura and to Rajanakolluru. They visited the

Rojanakolluru power project, and Higher Primary School where among other things they saw the baala snehiproject prepared by

children.

Old Students Association

This has not been formed under a proper institutionalized framework; even the CFTs agreed on this. And these associations are not

effectively coordinated in preparing monthly activity reports and in action plans. So no Old Students Association was in formal existence.

But a few old students were actively participating in the school activities like sports, annual day function, cultural activities, etc. And

through our Intense Interactive Theater (IIT) and through Focus Group Discussions and PPA as well as during internal analysis, they

began to participate. They actively participated in the formation of the childrens cabinet.

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Childrens Club in Karnal School

Karnal is a small village with good access toads but without proper transport facilities. The day we visited, bus transport was stopped

because of heavy rains. On the way we saw many children engaged in the fields. The school building itself is well-constructed and

new, with a separate room for mid-day meals and an anganwadi room near the school.

In mid-2010, when two of us went to see the formation of the childrens club, thirty students from classes 5-7 were combined together in

a room and teachers were seeking their opinion about the formation of the childrens club. With the lead taken by the school Science

teacher, they stared structuring the Science Club and the Social Club. Another teacher and the substitute Head Teacher joined later.

Only two clubs were formed that day.

Two children per club were chosen as its leaders. We noticed that girls got equal opportunity for participation. The following activities

were identified by the both clubs.

Social Club Science Club

Preparing geographical maps Preparing food chain picture

Understand about the globe Listing out carnivorous and herbivorous animals

Understand about the galaxy Collecting various scientists pictures

Collecting various figures and information about

famous poets, authors etc.

Understanding and collecting of measurement

materials

Collecting village information Preparing and understanding pictures on human

body

Collection of coins and stamps Using the laboratory

Collecting information about freedom fighters and

proper utilization of the library

Knowing about the medicinal plants values

Collection of travelogues Collection of articles on science

To do all these activities children have to seek support from the various stakeholders like teachers, parents, the SDMC, and the

community. For example to prepare the village history, children need support from parents as well as villagers. Children will put their

demand in front of the SDMC in the form of a letter and SDMC members will discuss this in the meetings. If the demands are outside

their capacity, they will hand it over to the Gram Panchayat with a notice. Childrens clubs are actively functioning at this cluster.

Conclusion

Although Karnal is a backward village, childrens clubs have brought in a new enthusiasm among the children. Social clubs are

functioning in such a way that even those who left school are being brought back to the schools through the clubs. Group discussions

helped them to strengthen their ability. But there was need that CFTs should bring effective participation of the SDMC, the Old

Students Association, and volunteers in the school activities. Through the encouragement of the Head Teacher and other teachers, this

can become a model cluster.

Suresh Babu is Head of the NGO ARRM-K in Surpur.

Translated by Savitha BC (Education Systems, Leadership and Governance, Azim Premji Foundation)

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The Kerala Tour.................................................................................................................................................. Uday Bekal

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Sixty members representing seven different stakeholders groups accompanied by four persons from KSTC and Azim Premji Foundation

went on a Kerala tourin 2010 as part of an exposure visit to observe good practices in Keralas government schools. 29% of the

participants were women. The oldest member was 60. According to a pre-tour survey, 13 were illiterate, 19 had completed PUC and a

bachelors degree. Most of the degree-holders were teachers, journalists or Cluster Resource Persons (CRPs).

Details of the village-wise participation of different stakeholders as per the records of Cluster Facilitation Team:

ParticularsHemanur

Shakhapura Halgera Lingadalli Total

M F M F M F M F M+F

1 Teachers 2 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 7

2 Gram Panchayat 2 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 6

3 SDMC 3 2 2 0 0 1 2 0 10

4 Parents 2 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 8

5 CBOs 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 6

6 Anganwadi 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 3

7 Student Cabinet 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 10

8 Dev. Journalists 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 3

9 Pro. Educationist 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1

10 CFT 4

11 NGO head 1

12 CRP 1

13 KSTC 3

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Azim Premji

Foundation 1

Total 13 6 11 5 6 3 7 3 64

All stakeholders were asked to share their views on issues: their expectations from the tour, reasons for participating, how they were

selected and what contributions they had made to their schools before undertaking the tour. 52 members answered. Their consolidated

replies:

To see the schools, education system, and panchayat of Kerala

To understand new learning methodologies

To understand the difference between their own schools and the Kerala schools, and improve schools and clusters

Improve the panchayats and childrens learning.

To bring in coordination among school, SDMC, and Gram Panchayat.

To see how Kerala has implemented compulsory education.

To understand Kerals schools concern for environment with its different types of flora and fauna. To understand coordination between teachers and the community and the learning levels of the children.

Highlights

Teachers, children, panchayat members, and Cluster Facilitation Teams (CFTs) have considered Keralas methods of teaching

(learning through group activities, self learning, and the involvement of teachers in the process) as the best part of the study tour.

CFTs, teachers, and developmental journalists have expressed their appreciation of the Block Education Officers explanation about

education methods in vogue in Kerala.

SDMC and Panchayat members have learnt from the involvement of PTA and gram panchayat in the process of school development.

Learning from the Tour

Uday Bekal is a Namma Shaale documentation expert with KSTC

Parents

Childrens involvement in the learning and Gram Panchayatssupport

The inner environment of school

Pattern of conducting meetings

Inspiration to do the same thing in their own schools

Gram Panchayat members

Group learning and self learning

The role of the panchayat in education

Supporting the school through the panchayat

Passing on the benefits of the panchayat to people

Education supervisors

The participation of all children in group activities in the class

The participation of teachers in childrens activities

Application of group activity to all children in all classes

Space given to children to think

Encouraging self learning

Implementing new skills in teaching

Discussing learning aspects with parents

Self learning and group discussion

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InConversation with Udaya Nayak, BRC Kumta

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Namma Shaale has not only increased the awareness of parents about quality education,

it has also increased their expectations about the learning levels of their children.

Parents and guardians are now consciously observing their childrens learning and also

discussing their progress in school with the teachers. Until now, they had very little to share or

discuss with teachers; no purpose to visit schools. They used to come to school only when they

were called for by the teachers. After Namma Shaale was inaugurated in Mirjan cluster, parents have been coming voluntarily to schools.

They have got an opportunity to interact with the Head Teacher and other teachers. This has led to a lot of changes in the parent teacher

relationship.We should not concentrate on active and intelligent children alone. We have to attend to the learning of weak students also.

As children have to work in their home and in the field after and before school, they are poor in learning some subjects. You have to give

special attention to such children. This type of discussion and dialogue is becoming common in parent-teacher meets, and this demand

has galvanized teachers to perform well. Hence teachers are teaching with much more commitment, responsibility and interest in Mirjan.

Udaya Nayak remembers the initial days of Namma Shaale, when many Head Teachers took the Cluster Resource Person (CRP) to task

for allowing selection of Mirjan cluster for implementation of the program. They were irritated by frequent visits of the Cluster Facilitation

Team (CFT) members. Nayak said that the same Head Teachers were now expressing the view that Namma Shaale has brought the

teaching community and parents and public closer and that their active support and involvement with school activities have transformed

the schools into good schools. Teachers and childrens performance have improved considerably and Namma Shaale should be

extended to other clusters of the taluk. He opines that through various different activities, Namma Shaale could motivate the parents to

take active interest in childrens scholastic performance. Another area where Udaya Nayak identified the impact of the progra m was on

the School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC). As a result of various trainings and meetings, SDMCs are performing better

today. Their attendance in the meetings has increased significantly. They are discussing many quality-related issues in the meetings.

Some of significant changes that Udaya Nayak has seen after Namma Shaale was introduced in Mirjan clusters include the introduction

of Suggestion Boxes in some schools, and performing voluntary labor (shram-daan) to level the school grounds, fence the school

compound, and arrange school anniversaries etc. After they visited the schools in Kerala, various stakeholders including teachers

understood the existing gaps in their schools and performance. Many of them wanted their schools to be better than the Kerala schools.

So they have planned both short term and long term indicators to make their school a model school.

The SDMCs have come forward to form their own network at cluster level to achieve their goals. They have started a dialogue with the

Gram Panchayat (GP) and other agencies to provide resources for improving their schools. As a result, in the last two years, more funds

have come from the GP to schools than in the past. For example, infrastructure development of three schools-Yelavalli, Kodkani and

Santhegadde were included in the action plans of GPs for the year 2010-11. This type of resource mobilization may get institutionalized in

the coming days and this development is very significant, especially in the light of Right to Education.

On the question of how Namma Shaale helped in addressing issues of quality education in Mirjan, Udaya Nayak identified the following:

Parents are expecting high quality education, comparing their school to convent schools. They want their children to learn better English.

The parents are paying equal importance to co-curricular activities in the schools.

They demanded one female teacher in every school. This demand has now been sent to the office of the Commissioner for Public

Instruction for adopting it as a policy.

In their own homes they have reduced or modified their TV viewing time to provide adequate time for the children to do their homework

and study. They have started monitoring the childrens learning in the home and are trying to teach them whenever possible.

On the question of what is the general impression about Namma Shaale in the Department and teacher community, he felt that in the

beginning, they had no clarity about the program and they were cynical and afraid that this program would also completely become their

responsibility. In the initial days, there was vehement opposition to this program from the teachers. It was the training at the College for

Leadership and Human Resource Development (CLHRD), Mangalore that changed the opinion of both head teachers and teachers

towards Namma Shaale and community participation in school activities.

The training helped school heads to identify their leadership and facilitation roles more clearly. The teachers could learn how to identify

the talents of children as well as leadership qualities of children. The DDPI and BEO were quite impressed with the result of these

trainings and decided to depute teachers to any training arranged by the Namma Shaale team in future.

On the issue of continuing Namma Shaale in the cluster and other clusters, Uday Nayak felt that there were many positive results on

school community relationships that need to be continued for some more time. He said that the SDMC and its network have become very

active and creative in their outlook. The network has taken initiative on its own in training SDMC members and also arranging coaching

classes to Navodaya school aspirants. It also is planning an awareness campaign about RTE in the cluster. These are all positive

developments. It would be very good if this program got extended to backward clusters like Gokarna and Hanehalli.

Lokesh Gowda, Documentation Specialist, Kumta

(translated by Ravindraprakash YJ)

Namma Shaale has raised

the expectations of parents

about their childrens

education quality.

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Rehanas Story..Vijaya Raghava

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Rehana Baanu from Kundur has studied up to the seventh standard. She wanted to study further, but to go to high school she would

have had to travel to Malebennur, and unfortunately her family did not allow her to continue her education. Married to Ataulla Khan,

she now has three children; two girls and a boy. She doesnt own any agricultural land and her only source of livelihood is from daily

wage labor. But Rehana has demonstrated exceptional leadership and organization abilities both inside her community and outside it,

particularly with respect to educational activities. She has participated in a number of protests and demonstrations to fight for the rights

of her community. She has been motivated to take up such initiatives by an NGO called Spoorthy. She has motivated other community

womenlike Tabriz and Naseema Baanu - to participate in mobilization activities and processes, including school-related activities.

Starting from its inception, Namma Shaale recognized the leadership capability of Rehana Baanu and involved her in its activities. She

is a keen champion of school development activities. She was elected as School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC)

member. According to her, the community needs to be educated so that they also understand why every child must be enrolled in

school. Many from her community are illiterate. When she wanted to become an SDMC member there was lot of opposition from other

people because she was not originally from Koolambi. But later the school administration and Namma Shaale program helped her to

become a member of SDMC, with the justification that she has been living in Koolambi for the last five years and her children are

studying in the Koolambi schools.

Koolambi is in Kundur cluster of Honnali taluk. There are 18 schools in the cluster, of which two are Urdu medium schools. There is

one government higher primary school in Kundur and one government lower primary Urdu school in Koolambi, with the SDMC

functioning effectively in both. The Koolambi school has a Muslim majority population; the parents of the children are largely

dependent on small wage employment and agriculture. There is a strong Self-Help Group (SHG) movement in this locality, which

Namma Shaale program was able to effectively utilize.

Typically, women from the same community form an SHG. And only a few of the SHG members participate in the village development

activities. Although women from poor and marginalized communities rarely participate in activities related to education and school,

with constant guidance and capacity building training they are able to enhance their capabilities and in turn become empowered. In

Koolambi, even though the women came from different communities, they worked closely on SHG activities. They have moved a step

further and are able to form an SDMC Cluster Network; this has created a new wave in the community in the area of creating and

nurturing the women leaders in the communityso much so that through their participation they have become role models for women

in other clusters.

After Rehana became an SDMC member, she actively involved herself in its meetings, in monitoring most of the activities of the

SDMC, the teachers attendance, and the midday meal program. She says her leadership capability has been greatly enhanced and

that she gets pleasure from seeing the progress of her children in schools. Rehana also actively participates in the SDMC network

which is established at the Kundur cluster. She is the treasurer for the SDMC network, regularly attends SDMC meetings at the cluster

level and travels to different schools every month to help other women to participate in SDMC meetings and networks.

She has her husbands support and in turn motivates other friends from the

community to participate in the SDMC meetings and to an take active role

in school development processes. Rehanas friend Naseema Banu who

has been selected as SDMC vice-president is illiterate but wants to ensure

that all her children will enroll in the school and learn well.

In a nutshell, the Namma Shaale program has enabled womens leadership in SDMCs, and SHG initiatives have increased.

The approach of Namma Shaale through SHG Capacity building trainings, sensitization of SHG members on the importance of

education, SDMC networking at cluster level, exposure visits to model schools in Kerala; have all resulted in better quality education

for the children from this minority community. Earlier the community was not empowered to take any decisions and were not involved

in any decision-making; women had the smallest role to play. Now the community takes active decisions in SDMC network meetings

and actively addresses the problems in a participatory manner.

Connections and inter-connections between the school, community and SDMC have been strengthened; the SDMC network exists to

act as a federation of SDMCs and addresses the issues related to school problems and leadership issues. Women feel empowered in

the decisions related to community issues and actively take the decisions related to community development.

Community Facilitation Teams have popularized the idea of SDMC networking and the Namma Shaale program has leveraged the

strategies of working on minority educational issues.

Translated by Pradeep Ramavath

When asked about what motivates her, Rehana

says, I am most concerned about the future of

our children and wish to change their lives; we

wont fetch anything if we sit passively within

the four walls of the house.

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Improving Micro-Political Environment Through Community Participation..YJ Ravindraprakash and Pradeep Ramavath

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The study of the micro-political climate in schools has acquired importance in recent times and has attracted many social and political

thinkers in education. It is important to study the micro-political climate of a school on several grounds.

The intervention at micro level is much easier than bringing in systemic changes at higher levels; improving micro-level changes

would yield quicker results than macro-level political changes.

Micro-level political changes will ensure better results and can be monitored more easily by the local community than by any

outside agency.

It will help in building local level leadership and create opportunities for everyone to participate effectively.

In this paper, we have tried to understand how micro-political environment in Government schools could be improved, modified and

become more transparent through active participation of the community of that region.

What are the micropolitics of school?

The term micropolitics has been explained differently by different social scientists and thinkers. It was L. Iannaccone who tried to

explain micropolitics in education in 1975. He said that the micropolitics of education is concerned with interaction and political

ideologies of social systems of teachers, administrators and pupils within school building. These may be labeled as internal

organizational subsystems. It is also concerned with the issues of the interaction between professional and lay subsystems. They may

be called external subsystems.

JJ Blas states thatMicropolitics refers to use of formal and informal powers by individuals and groups to achieve their goal in

organizations. In large part political actions result from perceived differences between individuals and groups, coupled with the

motivation to use power to influence and or protect. Although such actions are consciously motivated, any action, consciously or

unconsciously motivated, may have political significance in a given situation. Both cooperative and conflictive actions and processes

are part of the realm of micropolitics. (inThe Micropolitics of Educational Change)

In schools intra-organizational politics are a daily occurrence. There are political forces within schools that dictate how things have been

done, how things are done, and how things will be done. The micropolitics of education- human behavior, power and how people use it

to influence others and to protect themselves, and how people compete with each other to get what want and to do what they want

shape the tone of the organization. It encompasses the daily interactions, negotiations and bargains of any school. H. Mawhinney

posits, Micropolitical research has emerged as one of the new thrusts in understanding the complexities of organizational li fe in

schools.

Policies such as site based management, shared governance, participatory decision making, decentralization of school administration,

and empowerment of the parents and community, have lead to devolution of political power and authority to the school level. This

restructuring has produced new formal governance structures and informal coalitions in the schools. New interest groups with new and

different ideologies have emerged in villages; more public conflicts, negotiating, bargaining and persuading than ever before. The

recent policies of our government about management of rural resources and their administration like watershed committees to manage

water areas, rural water supply sanitation committees, Bala Vikas Samitis to manage anganawadisand so on have changed the power

equations and new leaderships have emerged.

The introduction of SDMC as a statutory authority under the Gram Panchayat (GP) to monitor and take up school development issues

and have control over the teachers and Head Teachers (HTs) in certain administration matters, transparency measures to ensure

public accountability of teacher performances, have all led to several changes in the micropolitical environment of schools; inroads of

the public into the hitherto sacrosanct domain of teacher and teacher administrators have created many a conflicting situation in most of

the schools. They have also necessitated acquisition of new skills by the education administrators (CRC and CEOs), HTs and also

teachers as well as parents. Under the new bylaw, even schoolchildren are given representation in the SDMC.

The pronounced policy of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan that ultimately the schools should be run under the control of the community has

created deep fears among the teaching community. Since the formation of SDMC in 2006, the teacher community has been expressing

its apprehension against it. Teachers have many biases and think that it is an encroachment over their professional domain and

supremacy by lay persons and local politicians.

The regional political party leaders like GP presidents and MLAs also felt that their political supremacy got affected by the formation of

SDMC; hitherto the members to Village Education Committee (VEC) and other committees were often nominated by them. The SDMC

bylaw clearly mandates that members are to be elected from among the parents of the school-going children of that area by democratic

process only. This challenged their hegemony too.

School reformation involves both conflictive (power over) and cooperative (power with) political processes.

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Therefore notwithstanding anything contained in the bylaw and policy,

SDMCs were formed according to the dictates of either HTs or

by the local political leaders in most of the villages.

It is in this background that Namma Shaale interventions and its after-effects

have been presented in this paper.

This program was planned for three years. The goal of the program was to

build a strong school-community relationship by the end of the period.

This program could achieve the end result in 46 schools out of 75 schools

in four clusters. The following is a case-study.

Transformation of village school at Hemmanur, Rukhmapur cluster, Yadgir district

Hemmanur is big village with around 400 houses and is the panchayat headquarters. It has a higher primary school upgraded to the 8th

standard. About 15 years earlier, it got canal irrigation. Till that time, the land there was dry and prone to droughts. The village had a large

number of educated persons in the past. But in the recent times, the school functioning had become very bad.

The HT in collusion with SDMC president was neglecting his duties. He was perceived as being arrogant with villagers as well as his

assistant teachers. Student dropout was very high and the HT did not bother about attendance. He had misused a huge amount of school

grants. He had not given scholarships to many students. The school did not have a compound wall and its surroundings were very dirty

and unhygienic. The SDMC president was also the taluk panchayat vice president. So there was no monitoring of school activities. The

number of out of school children was around 200. The villagers did not pay any attention to the pathetic state of affairs. A few well-

intentioned people complained to the BEO but to no avail.

The Namma Shaale program slowly built public opinion about the sad state of affairs. The GP had to take responsibility; but it was also not

functioning properly. The husbands used to attend panchayat meetings in place of women members. The Civic Amenity Committee

(CAC) was not functioning.

The PPAs and finally the exposure visit to Kerala schools by the group of all stakeholders opened their eyes completely and the new GP

formed in May 2010 also supported the cause. The first thing the villagers did was to make the CAC functional in the real sense. They

demanded the formation of a new SDMC to be elected by the parent parishad only. They placed their demand for school infrastructuredevelopment in the Gram Sabha and through that to the GP. They demanded the transfer of the HT and the commencement of a high

school in their village. They resolved to send all children in the group of 6 to 14 years to school regularly.

As a result of this, today, the school has a compound wall and a gate. The toilets have become functional. The HT has been transferred.

The school teachers and HT are working as a team. They have taken many decisions to improve the school environment. The GP has

provided a water filter. They have planted new seedlings in the compound. The school cabinet of the children has become active. The

school community relationship has improved considerably. The GP has shown leadership to improve the schools in its jurisdiction. The

teachers are coming regularly. They have adopted activity-based learning methods in the school. The co-curricular activities have

improved.

The Namma Shaale interventions that led to these changes in these two and many other schools in the 4 clusters are;

1. Use of baseline data to influence the public and teachers.

2. Continuous Focus Group Discussions with all stakeholders leading to development of common shared vision.

3. The PPAs in two phases, which gave them an understanding of school and its functions and their roles and responsibilities in the

proper functioning of the school.

4. The exposure visit to Kerala that helped all stakeholders come together and also give them an example of a good government

school.

5. Capacity building training to different stakeholders gave them confidence to take up leadership in school development.

6. Preparation of joint action plan and sharing of responsibility among all members.

Emergence of SDMC network and its influence in Micropolitical climate of schools

The important outcome of the Namma Shaale intervention is the emergence of the SDMC network at the cluster level in three clusters-

Mirjan , Kundur and Rukmapur at the end of 3rd Phase of NS program. It took nearly 5 to 6 meetings and 1 year to complete the process.

Immediately after its emergence, it took upon itself the task of strengthening all SDMCs in the cluster; it made a two-pronged approach.

First, it pressurized the newly formed GPs to hold elections to the SDMC in the prescribed manner. Secondly, it started visiting all schools

and interacting with SDMCs of these schools and also the parent council. Many SDMCs which were not active at first became active.

The network also supported the SDMC in its fight for good teachers and action against errant teachers. It established a close liaison with

the Education Department and lobbied with them with relevant facts and figures and sought for action. As a result teachers and education

managers became alert and began taking note of existence of SDMCs in the schools. The SDMCs also became very active because of

close support of other neighboring SDMCs. Activation of GPs was an added plus for their empowerment. The teaching community also

realized that instead of fighting for power, it would be better to share with larger community, so that they could quickly mobilize additional

resource support.

Namma Shaale believes that right communication

processes are essential to build rapport and common

vision among all stakeholders who are working in to

impart quality education in Government elementary

schools. The stakeholders identified are teachers,

children, parents, SDMC, Community Based

Organizations in the neighborhood, Gram

Panchayats and education administrators. The right

communication means Right Information to the right

people at the right time by the right people. This,

along with some capacitybuilding of the

stakeholders to play their roles effectively, will result

in quality education in schools.

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Today, the SDMC Network in Mirjan can arrange training for members of new SDMCs in three schools on its own; it can organize the

coaching of Navodaya school aspirants in the cluster. It can create sufficient social pressure against corporal punishment in schools,

so that the Education Department feels it necessary to orient teachers against corporal punishment in schools. It has also planned to

hold a campaign on RTE in the cluster in March, 2011. Inspired by its success, the networks in other three clusters are also planning

such interventions.

Conclusion

Our experience has been that an empowered and aware community consisting of different stakeholders can definitely bring in

positive changes in the micropolitical climate of the schools. The all-inclusive approach is found effective in solving many political

issues in a non-confrontational, cooperative mode. The nurturing of a positive micropolitical climate was deeply rooted in the

community empowerment process. The community accepts and supports teachers, and teachers in turn respond to the demands of

the community at large. The community is normally willing to share its responsibility in the non-academic tasks of teachers; teachers

must capitalize on this as it will give them more time to deliver their academic responsibilities. Such a symbiotic process which has

emerged in the school suggests shared responsibility for the shared purpose of school development. When shared responsibility in

school process is embedded in the school community as a whole, there is a much greater potential for long-term social sustainability.

References

Anderson, G (1991). Cognitive politics of principals and teachers: Ideological control in an elementary school. In J. Blase (Ed),

The politics of life in schools: Power, conflict, and cooperation(pp 120-130). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Attavar K, Ramavath, P. & Ravindraprakash, YJ (2010). Community participation as strategy in enhancing quality of

education in Karnataka. Namma Shaale experiences in rural schools of Karnataka. Unpublished article.Azim Premji

Foundation, Bangalore.

Blas, J (1991). The politics of life in schools: Power, conflict and cooperation. Newbury Park, Ca: Sage.

Gouda, L (2010). Selected unpublished case studies in Mirjan and Gavadagere. Azim Premji Foundation. Bangalore.

Iannaccone, L (1975). Education policy systems: A study guide for educational administrators. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Nova

University.

Kher, A (2010). History of Namma Shaale. Unpublished document. Azim Premji Foundation. Bangalore,

Kreisberg, S (1992). Transforming power: Domination, Empowerment and Education. Albany: State University of New York

Press.

Vijayaraghava (2010). Selected unpublished case studies in Kundur, Rukmapura clusters. Azim Premji Foundation,

Bangalore.

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Swanirvar in North 24 Parganas.....Sujit Sinha

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"One basic difficulty is the lack of parental involvement in the initiative which inspires our schools. This lack is indicative of a deeply

rooted problem. Very often alternative schools have been initiated by people outside the local community's experience and history of

oppression, and who come from a vastly different cultural background. Parents cannot easily identify with or understand the outsider's

well-formulated ideas of what education consists of and where its aims lie. It is easy to reduce parents to the role of an obstacle and to

assume a position of superiority in pronouncing what is good for their children." -Jane Sahi in Education and Peace

Swanirvar, an NGO for integrated rural development, started work in 1990 in a few villages of Baduria and Deganga blocks of North 24

Parganas district, West Bengal. We started three experimental primary schools in 1996 with funding support from CRY

milestones issue 3

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