Andhra Pradesh

Janshala brings hope

Twelve-year-old Pervez Khan lives in Hyderabad city. Born into a poor family in
a slum, Pervez started working at an early age. He first worked as a ragpicker,
and then as a mechanic in a garage. He wanted to study, but thought he was
too old to join a school at this stage.

Hyderabad is a city that not only has a rich cultural heritage but has also seen
much development in recent times. However, 40 per cent of its population (over
3 million) are illiterate and live in 800 slums, dwelling in extremely unhygienic
surroundings. Like Pervez, a large number of slum children, having no access
to schools, are working as labourers instead of attending school.

In 1998, when the Janshala programme was launched in the city to identify
working children and bring them into the educational mainstream, Pervez got
the chance to be enrolled in an alternative school, where he is now studying.
Very soon, he will be enrolled in a government school.


Pervez’s ailing mother, who had never dreamed that her son would receive
education, is now hopeful for her son’s future. She wants him to be a teacher,
but above all, she wants him to be a “good man”.

Andhra Pradesh Project Area

Districts No of blocks/mandals
East Godavari 10
West Godavari 6
Krishna 12
Hyderabad city 4

Major indicators (as per Census 2001)

Population 75.7 million

% share in total population of India 7.37
Average annual exponential
growth rate (1991-2001) 1.30%
Sex ratio 978
Literacy rate (%)
Persons 61.11
Males 70.85
Females 51.17
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

Intr oduction
Introduction
Andhra Pradesh is the fifth largest state in India, both in area and population.
The state has taken large strides in many areas, most notably, in the
information technology sector. However, the goal of Universal Elementary
Education (UEE) remains unfulfilled, as nearly 40 per cent of the population,
and about half the women are illiterate.

Janshala was launched in this state in 1999. The programme covers 28

mandals (blocks) in three districts–East Godavari, West Godavari and Krishna--
and 136 slums in four mandals of Hyderabad city. It is being implemented
through a state-level society which also implements the District Primary
Education Programme (DPEP) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

East Godavari was selected because of its very high population of scheduled
castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs)–STs constituted 37 per cent of the
district's population. The district's literacy rate, at 17 per cent for males and 4
per cent for females, was particularly dismal. Similarly, the other districts, too,
had large populations of SCs and STs. In Krishna district, half of the
population are SCs and STs. In Hyderabad district, though the literacy rate
was 71.5 per cent, it was only 19 per cent in the slums. It was these areas that
were selected for the Janshala programme.

Janshala is premised on the belief that community participation, along with

improvement of school facilities and monitoring various quality aspects of the
school, is a prerequisite for any effort towards achieving UEE. Other salient
features of the programme in the state include capacity building of teachers,
academic support and monitoring, improving access to primary schools, and
reaching out to out-of-school children through bridge courses and
alternative schools.

Micro-planning and community participation

Micro-planning
Micro-planning is an instrument for mobilising communities, assessing their
contextual needs, improving access and facilitating retention and participation
in schools. Generally, it has two crucial elements–village- or block-based
planning and school-based planning.
The former involves the village
community in mobilisng people to enrol
each child and to support the school
financially or in other ways. The latter
aims to make the schools function
effectively.

Micro-planning was a thrust area during

A community mobilisation campaign in Hyderabad city
the first three months of the programme.
A team of trained teachers was
constituted, which informed villagers
about the need for micro-planning and
the importance of their participation.
The villagers chose women leaders from
the village to constitute mothers'

6 Janshala
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

committees. The committee members were trained,

after which they conducted a house-to-house survey Reasons for micro-
Planning
to collect data about children in the age group of 0-
14 years. The data was consolidated and collated in ! Specific attention given to
the presence of villagers. needs of the target groups;
! Programmes geared towards
The local community was involved in the entire specific needs of the area;
process of data collection. The gram sabha, ! Decentralised planning process
constituted by several community-based ! Closer partnership between people and
organisations, held a series of meetings, wherein they planners;
took up the task of validation of survey data. After ! Lowest echelons of the administration and
validation, the community discussed the educational grassroot level structures involved.
status of the habitation and developed habitation
educational plans. The nodal officer of the block, as
well as the habitation, also participated in the deliberations. All the habitation-
level plans were then prioritised and consolidated at the higher level, mandal.

During micro-planning, the community agreed to provide free land for

opening new schools and for the construction of school buildings (around 1000
sq. yards for each school).

Community mobilisation
Several methods were adopted to mobilise the community, including public
meetings and rallies. Meetings were also held with members of gram
panchayats, NGOs, women's groups, youth groups and teachers. The priorities
in all the programme districts were the eradication of child labour, protection
of child rights and enrolment of out-of-school children. Village groups were
motivated to take up the programme and generate awareness about the ills of
child labour and encourage all community members to bring children to
schools. Parents and employers were convinced about the merits of schooling
out-of-school children/child labourers through mainstreaming strategies.

Literacy Weeks called "Chaduvukundamu" were Community Participation Act 1998 -

held in the districts of East and West Godavari. A
massive campaign was launched for the
identification of out-of-school children and their
enrolment in schools through community
participation.
As a result of these campaigns, about 1,20,000
children were admitted into regular primary schools.
Community members themselves came forward for
the identification of out-of-school children/child
labourers and helped in their enrolment.
Community monitoring
As part of the community mobilisation exercise,
mothers' associations have been formed in villages
with mothers of children enrolled in anganwadis/
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
Andhra Pradesh
The state government enacted the A.P.
Community Participation Act in 1998 and formed
committees for the improvement of education at
various levels–School Committees at the
habitation level, Panchayat Education Committees
at the panchayat level, Mandal Education
Committees at the mandal level, Municipal
Education Committees at the municipal level and
District Committees at the district level. The
School Committees are involved in the micro-
planning exercise and the development of
habitation education plans. The School
Committees monitor the functioning of schools
and also act as the agency that procures TLM, etc.,
in partnership with the government.

Towards Empowered
Community Schools 7
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

Centres as members. These associations actively

Activities undertaken for participate in the developmental activities of the
community mobilisation school. They conduct periodic meetings to discuss the
! Constitution of mandal-wise and habitation- activities of ECCE Centres and take necessary steps for
wise nodal teams; girls’ enrolment and retention in primary school.
! Organising discussions of nodal teams on
various aspects of enrolling out-of-school On similar lines, in urban areas, slums have been
children through community mobilisation. organised into neighbourhoods of 20 families, based
on geographical proximity. Each neighbourhood forms
a unit called the neighbourhood group and selects a
woman amongst them as their representative. She is
known as the Resident Community Volunteer (RCV).
Ten RCVs join together to form a neighbourhood committee, which represents
200 families. Neighbourhood committees choose a leader from amongst the
RCVs, who is known as the neighbourhood convener.

The urban basic services have a well developed community monitoring

system, where RCVs maintain data on pregnant women, immunisation, and
the educational and nutritional status of their neighbourhood groups. The
monitoring formats were adapted to give details on children attending
school. RCVs in Andhra Pradesh generally specialise in community health
and community education. Community Education Volunteers were trained to
support and monitor the school by meeting teachers and community
members, and ensuring regular interface between the school and community.
In addition, they also collected data on enrolment
and dropouts, and prepared monthly reports.
Basthi Education Committee
Basthi Education Committee is a legally Training schedule for implementing the monitoring
empowered community body which system was put in place after the basti (slum)
coordinates and monitors educational activities development plans were finalised. A regular system
in slums. The neighbourhood committee, along was instituted, involving reviews with teachers and
with teachers, non-formal education instructor, neighbourhood committees once a month to discuss
Balajyothi teachers and NGO representative, problems, attendance levels, children's progress, etc.
together form the Basthi Education Committee.
This committee is an empowered body in the Quality improvement
improvement
basthi. A member from the basthi acts as Capacity building of teachers
chairman and the primary school headmaster In-service teacher training has been imparted to all
is the member convener. Funds for school teachers in the Janshala blocks in multi-level and
development, annual meetings and expenses of multi-grade teaching. This training programme was
the ECCE worker are routed through conducted in two sessions, each of which was for a
neighbourhood committees. The account is fortnight. Workshops to prepare model teaching-
operated jointly by the convener and the NGO. learning materials (TLMs) were also conducted. These
Basthi Education Committee also collects training programmes have given teachers an
contributions of Rs 5 from all children of understanding of the multi-level kit. Apart from this,
Balajyothi, formal school, etc., for meeting the the District Institute of Education and Training
cost of helpers and other contingencies. (DIET), Mandal Resource Centres and teacher centres
also provide professional support to primary and
upper primary teachers.

8 Janshala
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

Eighteen-day induction training was conducted for para-teachers to make

them understand various aspects of classroom pedagogy. The training
programmes were conducted during the summer break to avoid disruption of
the academic calendar.

Development and practice of multi-level teaching

Very few primary schools in Andhra Pradesh have five or more teachers to
handle each class separately. Many of them are single-teacher or two-teacher
schools, where one teacher has to teach children of different classes
simultaneously. Therefore, the teacher needs to have the ability to tackle
different levels and classes at a time.

To address this problem, teachers are trained in multi-level and multi-grade

teaching and learning processes and also provided with the necessary
instructional material. They have also been trained to prepare self-learning
material, known as Anand Lahiri kits, for use in the classroom.

However, the task of preparing the material as well as the training programme
for multi-level and multi-grade teaching was not easy. Before embarking on this
arduous exercise, a team of persons visited the satellite schools in Rishi Valley,
run by a well known NGO, to get a first-hand impression of the functioning of
this methodology.

After the visit, a team of dedicated teachers as well as a group of local people,
who were familiar with the history, culture and folklore of their area, were
identified. This core group of people from different geographic, linguistic, and
cultural zones started a process of exchange in which basic concepts and
principles underlying this methodology were worked out. The team was
invited to observe the multi-grade classrooms of the satellite schools of Rishi
Valley and encouraged to evaluate them, see their positive and negative aspects
and then adapt what was suitable for their needs.

Simultaneously, they started working on preparing the teaching-learning kit in

the local idiom so that learning would be based on familiar experiences. Initial
sessions with tribal teachers explored ways in
which the material could be adapted to their
particular needs. A lot of effort went into
matching the kits with the linguistic and
social realities of the tribal societies.

As a result of these initial efforts, the kits

have been well received by both children
and adults. The enrolment and retention
figures have improved substantially and
absenteeism is much less. The teachers too
have appreciated it.

Training of headmasters
The headmaster plays a crucial role in
education management. In addition to the Teachers undergoing training in multi-grade teaching

Towards Empowered
Community Schools 9
A N D H R A
A teacher's experience
It was spring of 1998 and I became quite sick. I was out of
school for several months and another teacher took over
my classes. Near the end of the school year, on a day when
I was feeling relatively better, I stopped by the school to
talk to my principal. She urged me to go and speak with
my former students. With some misgivings, I did so. The
students greeted me warmly when I walked into the room.
I sat among them and let them ask me questions. I replied
with squeaks and croaks and hoarse whispers. I had to
pause frequently for long seconds as I drank water to
lubricate my throat. But I had never heard a classroom so
quiet. No student interrupted or chatted. The students
wanted to hear what I had to say. I realised that I didn’t
have to yell in order to be heard.
Today I know that effective classroom management has
nothing to do with discipline or regimentation or silence.
I know that a healthy background buzz among students
and teacher can be indicative of a vital classroom,
brimming with lively ideas, serious student engagement,
and a reasonable amount of good humour.
(Saleena, primary school teacher, Rangapuram, West have been trained in various types of new
Godavari)
orient the Mandal Resource Groups (MRGs) and visit the schools to monitor
the implementation aspects.
MRGs consist of headmasters and teachers of primary and upper primary
schools. In addition to orientation by DRG members, they have also been trained
in new practices. In turn, they provide training and orientation to regular and
Children in an alternative school in Hyderabad
10 Janshala
P R A D E S H
training of teachers, it is, therefore,
necessary that headmasters of all primary
schools are properly trained in child-centric
pedagogy. The District Resource Groups
(DRGs) conducted in-service training
programmes for teachers, headmasters,
ECCE instructors, Mandal Resource Groups
and the monitoring and supervisory staff.
They also conducted achievement surveys
and appraisal of various initiatives.
Academic support and
monitoring
As the teacher is a vital component in the
implementation of the Janshala programme,
an elaborate mechanism has been put in
place to provide training and support to
teachers, from the district to the block level.
Since the training is in the cascade mode,
District Resource Groups (DRG) have been
constituted with representatives from
DIETs, headmasters, teachers, Mandal
Resource Persons (MRPs), etc. The DRGs
initiatives on aspects related to professional
development of teachers as well as
improved classroom practices. They in turn
freshly recruited teachers, vidya volunteers,
ECCE instructors, etc. MRG members who
are selected for the upper primary stage
undertake training and monitoring, and
also provide on-job support to the teachers
teaching upper primary classes, in addition
to attending the meetings at the teacher
centre.
Mandal Resource Centres (MRCs) are
established at the mandal level to cater to
the professional requirement of primary
school teachers. Each MRC has been
provided with three MRPs to provide
continuous on-job support to primary
teachers, as well to conduct various in-
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

service training programmes at the block

level. MRCs are the professional support
mechanisms for MRGs. MRCs largely
monitor primary schools and provide on-job
support, in addition to the collection of
statistical information from primary schools.
All schools in the blocks have been divided
between three MRPs for effective monitoring
and supervision. Each MRP visits all the
schools in his/ her cluster once in a fortnight
and monitors the attendance of pupils and
teachers, observes classroom transactions
and provides guidance where required.
MRPs record their observations in the
academic guidance register. They also
maintain information on those aspects of
primary education which pertain to the
bastis, viz., mandal profile, school profile,
stock file, school monitoring returns,
enrolment and retention particulars of every
school, furniture, equipment and
accommodation details of every school,
Mandal Census Register, Basti Education
Plan Register, MEO and MRP handbook, etc.
In addition to monitoring schools, MRPs also
visit ECCE Centres and meet the School
Committee members. Several orientation
programmes have been planned for MRPs in
the fields of pedagogy, girls’ education,
ECCEs, community mobilisation, etc., for
their capacity building so as to enable them
to take up monitoring and supervision work.
MRPs work in close coordination with MEOs
to improve the quality of classroom transactions.
The little poet
She walked timidly to the front of the classroom, lowered
her eyes, and nervously started reciting her poem. The
poem described a night, and the anguish surrounding an
attempted suicide. When she finished reading and looked
up at her classmates , you could have heard a pin drop in
the room. It was more real to the students than the poems
of Keats or Wordsworth or Tennyson.
Today, I encourage my students to write on themes and
subjects and events that are meaningful to them. The
students have come to see that their classmates write about
the same classic themes — love, death, nature — as the
classic poets wrote. The words of the classic poets take on
new meaning because of their classmates’ poems. The
student's poem about suicide led me to make additional
changes in the poetry unit I teach. Two years ago, I invited
the local community into my classroom for the first time.
The local community has become a great resource for my
student poets. I enlisted members of the local poets'
society to hear my students present their poems and to
comment on their work. The president of the society
came to my class dressed like a classic poet. After the
students' presentations, she encouraged them to read other
poems that they had written. Later, she shared some of her
own work. Using my students' own “real poems” about
their personal experiences has helped them to understand
the mind of the poet – and the poems of the classic poets.
(as recounted by a teacher in Deepti
camp, Rampachodavoram, East
Godavari)

Teacher Centres
Teacher centres are sub-mandal structures where primary teachers meet once a
month to exchange professional information and to deliberate on new
innovations, ideas, TLM and other issues. Each TC (teacher centre) has been
provided with Rs 2000 as annual grant for procuring necessary stationery and
other TLM. These centres have proved to be an effective source of teacher
development and teacher motivation.

In order to improve classroom practices and school infrastructure facilities,

an annual grant of Rs 2000 is given per annum to every school. Moreover,
annual grant of Rs 500 per year is also given to every teacher to acquire and
develop TLM.

Towards Empowered
Community Schools 11
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

Given the predominance of Urdu schools in this project, especially in

Hyderabad city, a large amount of TLM has been prepared in Urdu. This has
been introduced in the slums of Hyderabad district. Urdu-speaking children
use this material, which is based on the phonetic approach, to learn Urdu.

Improving access
Improving
After initial survey and micro-planning, Janshala confronted the problem of
access to schools in the tribal mandals of East Godavari and in the slums of
Hyderabad city. This was a major reason for the large number of out-of-school
children, most of whom were working as child labourers. The priority in these
areas was to provide some kind of schooling facility in these unserved
habitations with the involvement and cooperation of local communities. The
strategy for older out-of-school children, who were either dropouts or had
never enrolled, was to organise courses to help them achieve age-specific
competencies in a short period time so that they could be mainstreamed in
schools at appropriate levels. Since both the areas also had high incidence of
child labour, short-duration residential camps were considered a useful
strategy to mainstream them and keep them away from work. Such courses
are called bridge courses. The various alternative schools in programme areas
are called Girijana Vidya Vikas Kendra (GVVK), Sandhanshala and bridge
course camps.

Girijana Vidya Vikas Kendra

In convergence with Janshala, the Integrated Tribal Development Agency
(ITDA) established alternative schools in habitations where there were no
schools. These schools are known as Girijana Vidya Vikas Kendras (GVVKs).
Usually, GVVKs only had class I and II, after which children either went to a
nearby primary or middle school, or were sent to residential schools
(Ashramshalas) run by the Tribal Welfare Department. However, it was found
that many GVVK children dropped out after class II due to the distance of the
nearest primary school and also due to reluctance of some parents to send their
children to hostels. To address this problem, ITDA and Janshala have
expanded some of the GVVKs up to class IV.

GVVK teachers are locally selected from those who are educated up to class X
and then they are trained by Janshala Mandal Resource Persons (MRPs) in
multi-level and multi-grade teaching
Importance of Sandhanshala techniques and other pedagogical aspects.
Community participation is very high in
! Developing need-based curriculum;
GVVKs, where it is a prerequisite that the
! Developing handbooks for teachers/volunteers, and
community should provide the schools. The
workbooks for children; school education committee also takes up
! Incentives to teacher/volunteer for retention and
beautification measures by planting gardens
promotion; and vegetation fencing. In some GVVK
! Training to instructor on the module and workbooks
schools, grain bank system has also been set
and in MGT; up to increase resources and enhance
! Vigorous implementation of child-centred, activity-
community participation. So far, 164
based teaching-learning methodology; GVVKs have been opened in six mandals of
! Academic guidance and monitoring by MRP,
East Godavari district.
headmaster and MEO.

12 Janshala
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

Sandhanshalas
Janshala, Andhra Pradesh, has set up special
classes in regular schools for children who
were out of school, dropouts or over-aged.
These classes are called Sandhanshalas. As
the teachers find it hard to handle over-aged
children and the children too have difficulty
adjusting with younger children, separate
classes are held for them to enable them to
cover the gap in the shortest possible time.

Habitation core groups have been formed to

mobilise the community. In addition, village
committees identify teachers for
Sandhanshalas from amongst themselves.
The teachers are trained to use modules and Children learning through activities
workbooks, as well as to develop TLM. The
curriculum draws upon local myths, legends,
history and heroes to generate interest among children. The school attempts to
provide a stress-free environment, where children learn new things in a playful
way.

The entire concept of Sandhanshala is operationalised through the coordinated

efforts of the community and school teacher. They
have defined roles in the process of survey, listing, enrolment, conducting
special drives in the village, guiding the Sandhanshala teacher and monitoring
the child’s progress, as well as attendance and retention rate.

Education of working children

In Hyderabad city, an NGO called Balajyothi had been working since 1995 for
the eradication of child labour through universal primary education. Janshala
programme took a conscious decision to support and strengthen the efforts of
Balajyothi in widening its coverage and including new interventions for girls,
especially from minority communities, engaged in petty wage-earning
activities. A survey in city slums found that approximately 34,000 children
were engaged in wage labour, majority of them girls. It also revealed that
while children wished to go to school, lack of access and facilities in the
existing schools pushed them to work.

Thus in order to improve access, alternative schools were set up in slums

where there were no government schools within a radius of 1 km. They
functioned like government schools, running from 9 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. and the
medium of instruction was Telugu or Urdu according to the needs of the children.
The teachers were selected from the local youth, mostly women, who were
identified by the community and given special training. Mothers’ committees were
set up to monitor the work and ensure community participation.

At present there are 121 such schools in the slum areas of Hyderabad, covering
22,871 children with 339 teachers, as well as 245 ayahs to take care of the
younger siblings who sometimes accompany girl children to school.

Towards Empowered
Community Schools 13
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

However, alternative schools are just one part of

the Janshala interventions in the city. The
programme has also undertaken strengthening of
government schools by providing materials,
teacher training, motivating parents, and
introducing appropriate teaching methodologies.

Bridge Courses
Children who have never been enrolled or
dropped out need special attention before they
can be mainstreamed into formal school. Bridge
courses have been started to facilitate the
mainstreaming of these children.
Grain bank in GVVK school

Deepti and Balajyothi are the two bridge course

camps in different districts. Balajyothi is a residential bridge course camp
exclusively for girl children in Hyderabad, while Deepti camps are for boys and
girls in East Godavari.

Balajyothi camp: Hyderabad

Balajyothi, with the help of Janshala, started a fully residential bridge course
for older out-of-school girls who were engaged in labour in industries such as
safety-pin making, incense stick making, etc. The camp is being run in large
premises located in one of the slums of the city. A total of 300 girls, all of them
coming from Muslim families, were enrolled in the camp in three batches of
100 each. The girls belonged to the 9-14 age group–many of them had never
gone to school. Most had dropped out of school at an early stage.

The task of identifying the girls and convincing their parents to send them to a
residential course was not easy, and required continuous persuasion by
volunteers. In every slum, where the number of out-of-school children was very
high, a core team of activists called basti volunteers was formed. These were
highly motivated people interested in working to eradicate child labour. The
process was also challenging because most of the girls belonged to the minority
community which traditionally accorded low priority to girls’ education.
Moreover, the girls were supplementing family income through their labour in
different kinds of household industries, some of them hazardous to health.

In the course of their work, the community volunteers discovered a large

number of girls in the bastis around Hyderabad who wanted to study but
were too old to go to schools. Realising that parents were not ready to
withdraw them from wage-earning activities and support their studies.
Balajyothi decided that the best strategy to ensure these girls' education
would be to bring them to a residential camp. Parents were persuaded and
mobilised, community leaders were taken into confidence, and an influential
person from amongst the Muslim community agreed to let out his building
for the camp.

In the first batch, 100 girls were brought into the camp and subsequently, two
more batches of 100 each were inducted. The teachers of the camp, all

14 Janshala
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

women, live with the children and guide them not only in their studies but also
in various life skills. Classes are held in an informal environment and the
emphasis is on the overall growth of these girls. Girls have shown remarkable
achievement in their studies. After just 1–1½ years of support in these camps,
some of the girls are ready to appear for class V and VII examinations. The
residential nature of the course not only keeps the girls away from work but
also helps in building their confidence.

Deepti Camps
While Balajyothi runs bridge course camps for girls in Hyderabad city, Deepti
residential camps are implemented by ITDA in East Godavari district. The
children in Deepti camps are mainly from tribal habitats, where access is a
matter of concern, and the number of out-of-school children is very high. Parents
are persuaded to bring their children to the camps. Usually, such enrolment
drives are carried out by camp resource persons, adoption officer, nodal officers,
members of the mandal literacy committees, etc.

Deepti camps have three phases. During the first phase, interest among the
learners towards education is developed. The second phase focuses on
developing the competency level and in the third phase, the learners are
prepared for the formal school system, during which they are made to follow a
school-like routine. These camps help to build confidence in children that
school education is possible for them.

The bridge course provides an environment which enables self-paced and easy
learning. Separate records, including the case study of each child, are
maintained. The residential nature of the camp prevents the children from
going back to labour and prepares them for the formal system. On completion
of the course, children appear for the class V examinations, after which they
either continue with the studies while staying with the family or are admitted
to hostels run by the Social Welfare Department.

In East Godavari, 1314 children were enrolled in bridge courses, of which 824
have been mainstreamed into formal schools.

ECCE Centres and play schools

To successfully cope with the demands of formal schooling, children under the
age of six need to have adequate nutrition and an introduction to learning
through informal methods such as play-way learning. This is because even in
habitations where access is not a problem, statistics show a huge dropout rate
and a large number of non-enrolled children. Detailed studies have revealed that
the main reasons for this are child labour, sibling care, and lack of preparedness
for school.

Considering these problems, Janshala started the Early Childhood Care and
Education (ECCE) Scheme in the primary school compound itself. While older
children attend classes, their younger siblings stay in the play school. The
timing of the play school matches that of the school. A teacher and an ayah are
provided for each play school, which usually functions in thatched huts built
by the community.

Towards Empowered
Community Schools 15
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

Women’s groups have been mobilised to set up and

manage ECCE centres. They have produced
inexpensive play materials for children by using local
materials.

It has now been decided that to achieve universal

elementary education, play schools will be
expanded to cover all children under the age of six.
Important elements of this initiative will include
increasing the number of centres; providing
practical training, and providing materials such as
An alternative school
picture books, posters, and play material. In
addition to this, the state will need to synchronise
the timings of elementary schools and play schools
so that infants are looked after throughout the time while older girls attend
classes. Encouraging the adaptation of play school to the environment and home
conditions of the children through innovative alternatives is also on the agenda.

Conver gence
Convergence
Education, like any other field, requires the support of other departments, if it
has to reach out to everyone. Various departments like health, social welfare,
tribal welfare, and ICDS have been involved in Janshala. In all the project
blocks, fortnightly meetings are held at the divisional level with officials of all
other departments, under the chairmanship of the District Collector.

This has helped in better implementation of Janshala. For instance, in

convergence with the Social Welfare/Tribal Welfare departments, NCLP’s
‘Back To School Programme’ is being undertaken in the districts. NCLP booked
3701 child labour cases in collaboration with MEOs and MRPs.

The Department of Social Welfare has established welfare hostels with

boarding and lodging for students enrolled in Class III and above at all mandal
headquarters, primarily for children of socially and economically backward
classes. Students are provided free uniforms, and scholarships. Remedial
classes for children who are unable to cope are also being run besides. Back to
School Programmes during summer to mainstream out-of-school children in
convergence with the Department of Education.

The Department of Welfare of Handicapped runs special schools for the

disabled. There is also a provision for hostels for these children. The
department also conducts special programmes for vocational training and
rehabilitation of these children. They undertake special drives to assess
disability and provide free medical facilities, as well as other aids and
equipment.

The Women and Child Welfare Department runs anganwadi centres for
children in the age group of 3-5 years under the ICDS programme. It also runs
protection homes for girls, and conducts long-term residential bridge courses
for mainstreaming girls.

16 Janshala
A N D H R A P R A D E S H

The Department of Tribal Welfare runs schools, trains teachers, monitors

qualitative aspects of the education provided in these schools, opens schools in
unserved habitations and runs Residential Ashram Schools at the cluster level
from class III onwards It also provides free uniforms, textbooks and
scholarships to tribal children.

The Forest Department supplies free seedlings and small plants for social
forestation in schools or in public places by school children.

The Department of Health conducts medical camps to provide medical

assistance to primary as well as upper primary school pupils, conducts
drives to identify disabled persons so that they can be sent to special schools. It
conducts ENT camps at schools and organises population and health
awareness camps in villages in coordination with the Education Department. It
also aids the establishment of medical and health care centres in slums and
remote tribal areas.

Towards Empowered
Community Schools 17