a. Absence of formal schools in 10 of the 21villages of Irabgera area in Deodurg taluk, and the poor quality of education in the existing 11 government schools in the area is a deterrent to children from these geographically isolated villages and hamlets gaining skills that will help them improve their lives.

b. High teacher:student ratios (due to lack of teachers or absentee teachers) in government schools deprive children of the individual attention they require. Low community involvement further ensures that schools operate with very little accountability. SAMUHA-Plan will thus facilitate School Development Management Committees (SDMC's) to assess their own schools, and to make requests for the placement of Government School Assistants and Village Education Assistants wherever necessary.

c. Local culture, which provides very little recognition of, and value for children as children. In fact, children may be expected to take on the roles of little adults and may be given adult responsibilities inside or outside the home. To offset this, the PO provides opportunities where children can be encouraged to have fun, to demonstrate their talents and abilities as children, and to show the larger community that they can be role models while still enjoying their childhood.

d. Out of 30 children who enrol in Class 1, only 1 passes out of Class 10. According to a baseline data collected in the Deodurg project area in FY00, only 48.6% of primary school aged sponsored Children and their siblings attend primary education, only 13% of sponsored children and their siblings have completed primary school, and 17% of sponsored children and their siblings could not attend school because they work. The key reasons for drop-outs are

- The lack of middle and high schools. Because of this, children who cannot afford to travel to middle schools 1-10 km from their villages drop out after finishing Class 5. The second steep drop takes place when children who have traveled out to middle school, have to again travel 1-10 km to attend high school.
- The lack of stimulation. Most learning is rote based, and is often a disincentive for children to want to continue.
- Families do approve of girls traveling such distances unaccompanied, and because families are less likely to see any benefit in spending more on girls when this is not seen to lead to any economic benefit for the family, and when the girl can be of immediate use in the home.

e. The poor quality of teaching in the govt schools. The educational environment is not very challenging, and because the quality of supervision is poor, the quality of teaching is based on individual motivation. The existing school system often discourages and demotivates school teachers very quickly.

f. Apart from the blackboard and a few textbooks, there are no teaching/learning aids in any of the schools.

g. Lack of sufficient learning space sometimes with 80-100 children cramped in single classroom schools. Infrastructure poor and damaged buildings needing major repairs and repainting.

Next>>