Fox

Manthan Topic: Stepping Stones

More from less Developing self-sustaining primary schools

for the masses, from the masses

Team Aashayein Eliza Tripathy, Geetika, Ishita, Omkar Amrutanshu and Siddhant Sadangi

B.Tech, 3rd year KIIT University, Bhubaneswar

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“He who opens a school door, closes a prison.” ~Victor Hugo

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Problem Statement: There is a poor and marginalized section of a semi-urban society. Parents in the community are enthusiastic about sending their children to school, but avoid government schools due to poor quality of education and cannot afford private school education for their children.

• Costing the exchequer (on a conservative estimate) approximately Rs. 800 a month per child[1], government schools are conversely both the most heavily funded and lowest achieving educational institutions within India.

• Low standards of infrastructure and poor teacher attendance also discourage parents from sending their kids to Government run schools.

• Many Government teachers are also engaged in non-academic administrative work like census, elections et al, affecting their motivation and dedication towards teaching.

Why not Government

Schools?

• High monthly fees, averaging Rs. 241 per month for the cheapest private schools[2].

• Recurrent expenditure on transport, books, stationery, uniforms and other miscellany.

• All these raise the cost per student to about Rs. 400 per month, making private schools out of the reach of the poor.

Why not private

schools?

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Project aims:

• Self-sustaining economically.

• Not relying on charity.

• Not relying on volunteers for daily functioning.

• Affordable for the masses.

• Environment friendly.

• Independent and accountable management.

Assumptions:

• 250 families in the community.

• Maximum of 300 primary-school going children.

• A primary school is the foremost priority.

Facilities provided:

• A teacher-student ratio of 1:25.

• E-learning facilities.

• Drinking water and toilet facilities.

• Vocational training facilities.

Solution proposed: We propose a model independent and accountable school system on community participation basis which generates funds through the school system itself (ensemble efforts of teachers, parents and the students).

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Rooms:

•5 rooms with ample sunlight (4 classrooms and 1 staff-cum-office room) on lease (Rs. 750x5x12=Rs. 45,000 annually).

•4 blackboards at Rs. 200 each (Rs. 800 one time).

•Each classroom will have two Aakash tablets. Rs. 1130 x2 x4 =Rs. 9040.[3]

•Solar bottle lighting can cater to bright lighting needs without electricity and be made at Rs. 8 a piece((x4)x5) =Rs 160 initial investment[4].

Drinking water:

•A one time investment of Rs. 5400 will get us a rainwater harvesting system of a capacity of 45,000 litres per year (150 litres per day for 300 days)[6].

•A low cost RO purification system developed by BARC costs just Rs. 600 and purifies 10 litres of water per hour at a cost of just 5 paise per litre[7]. Two such systems will cost Rs. 1200 and will satisfy the needs of the school.

Sanitation:

•ECOSAN (ECOlogical SANitation) toilets, commonly known as compost pit latrines, developed by UNICEF and implemented in Tamil Nadu, cost just Rs. 4200 per unit[5]. Two units, (one each for boys and girls) will cost Rs. 8400.

• Water requirements can be met by the rainwater harvesting system.

Infrastructure development costs:

Total one time infrastructure investment= Rs. 25,000

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Textbooks: • Primary level subsidised

textbooks cost about Rs 150 per child. An investment of Rs 45,000 will get textbooks for all the students. The textbooks can be reused atleast once, so the annual investment on books comes to be Rs. 22,500.

Notebooks: • Notebooks will cost a maximum of Rs.

50 per child for an year. Total investment will be Rs. 15,000.

• A novel way of teaching children the importance of saving paper would be to collect the blank pages of notebooks or single side printed pages from institutions and teach the children to bind them into new notebooks.

• This practice can be expected to reduce the annual costs atleast by Rs. 2500 to Rs. 12,500.

Stationery: • A box of 10 pencils, an

eraser and a sharpener costs Rs. 30. Considering that a child shall need 20 pencils and 2 erasers, an investment of Rs. 18,000 will fulfil our stationery costs on the students for an year.

Annual expenditure:

Total annual expenditure= Rs. 98,000 + Rs. 2000 (misc.)= Rs 1,00,000

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Monthly expenditure:

Staff

•There will be a teaching staff of 6 teachers, who will be paid a salary of Rs 5000 per month each (5 working hours a day x 5 days a week). This will cost Rs. 30,000 monthly

•Local artisans can be paid Rs. 200 per class to impart vocational education to the students. This is in view to respect and revive regional Indian art from digression and impending demise. Considering 8 vocational classes per month, this will cost Rs. 1600 monthly.

•The school will follow Gandhiji’s “Sevashram” and the Japanese “o-soji” (cleaning) model[8]. The students will be divided into groups and maintenance of the school will be allotted to them. In addition to teaching them the dignity of labour, this will also reduce the staff costs.

•Thus, the total staff costs can be limited to about Rs. 31,600 per month.

Miscellaneous

•Stationery like dusters, chalks, registers, pens, report cards, paper sheets, et al.

•Aakash tablet running costs.

•Infrastructure maintenance costs.

•All amounting to a maximum of Rs. 700 per month.

Drinking water

•The BARC water purifier purifies 10 litres of water per hour at a cost of just 5 paise per litre. It doesn’t use any energy. It can also support nearby families. Considering 6 hours working day, and 20 working days in a month, and adding the cost of spares, the total monthly cost comes to be a maximum of Rs. 100.

•Two such units will have a monthly expenditure of Rs. 200.

Total monthly expenditure= Rs. 32,500

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Balance sheet: • One time investment:

• Monthly Income:

Item Quantity Investment (in Rs.)

Blackboards 4 200x4=800

Rainwater harvesting system 1 5400x1=5400

ECOSAN Toilets 2 4200x2=8400

BARC Water purifier 2 600x2=1200

Aakash Tablets 2x4 1130x8=9040

Solar water bottle lighting 4x5 8x20=160

Total 25,000

Contribution per family 250 100x250=25,000

Item Quantity Income (in Rs.)

Staff costs 5000x6+200x8 -31,600

RO filter running costs 2 -100x2=-200

Miscellaneous --- -700

Total -32,500

Monthly fees 150x300 45,000

Monthly savings 12,500

• Annual Income:

Item Quantity Income (in Rs.)

Textbooks --- -22,500

Room lease 750x5x12 -45,000

Notebooks --- -12,500

Other stationery --- -18,000

Miscellaneous --- -2000

Total -1,00,000

Annual income 12,500x12 1,50,000

Annual Savings --- 50,000

The savings of the first year

can be used to pay back the

families Rs. 200 each (100%

interest payback in an year!). From the next year

onwards, annual savings

shall be a minimum of Rs. 50,000, further

paving paths for our future

plans and value additions!

Income Sources: • One time investment: The total one time investment on the school infrastructure is Rs. 25,000. This turns out to be a one

time investment of just Rs. 100 per family for all the 250 families in the community.

• Monthly Income: Keeping a nominal monthly fees of just Rs. 150 per student (which is less than the prescribed minimum daily wage), the school will generate Rs. 45,000 per

month.

Operations:

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• Staff recruitment and policy: o A monthly salary of Rs. 5000 is greater than the average salary of an Indian graduate, and hence will attract a lot

of interest. o Target groups will be fresh graduates who are dynamic and upto date with current needs of the education

Day 7:00-9:15/1:00-3:15 9:15-9:30/3:15-3:30 9:30-11:00/3:30-5:00

Mon-Fri 2 classes + 1 outdoor period Break 2 classes

Saturday Vocational class (7:00-10:00/10:30-1:30) --- ---

• Vocational education: o There will be a vocational class teaching crafts such as terracotta, woodwork, knitting, handicrafts et al of 3 hours duration every

week. o Local artisans will be more than willing to teach the students for a payment of Rs. 200 per class. o It will be compulsory for all students and even the parents and other members of the community will be free to attend the classes

to learn or teach crafts. o The craft items made (terracotta, bamboo crafts, et al) can be sold by the families to earn an extra income. oThe last vocational class of each month will be a spoken English class to raise the confidence of the students when they head out to

face the world. oWe can also have recreational competitions to boost the competitive spirit of the students.

sector and retired teachers who have experience in their favour and will be more willing to work for the salary offered. oThe most important qualities looked for will be a broad outlook, adaptability, dedication, acquaintance with new teaching methods

and patience in dealing with children. o School accounts will be managed by the senior-most teacher/audited by the representative of the resident community.

• Timetable: o Classes will be run in two batches of 4 hours each (7 to 11 and 1 to 5). o Each class will be of 45 minutes.

The outdoor period will be a time when the children shall be free to do anything under the supervision of the teachers-be it sports, self-study, doubt-clearance, learning from nature or exploring the world through the Aakash tablets.

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Although the model has

been prepared by

keeping semi-urban localities in

mind, it can be easily

replicated in other areas

by modifying the fees to match the

economy of the area.

Future Plans: Electrification: Solar powered ceiling fans complete with a 40 watt solar module are presently

available for Rs 15,000[9]. Considering our economic model, the school will be able to power all rooms within 1.5 years.

After electrification, the savings can be used for: Infrastructure development like purchasing the leased rooms, buying land and building more

rooms et al.

Setting up a tube-well as a permanent source of water for the school and the community. Tube well installation costs (upto 250 feet) is Rs. 51,000 inclusive of everything apart from the land[10]. Buying even more Akash tablets as teaching aids or as prizes for meritorious students. Developing a library. Organising workshops for spoken English, origami, puppet making and like.

Subsidizing education by reducing monthly fees. Introducing schemes such as mid-day meals, tying up with the likes of the Akshaya Patra

foundation (adopting the model nine states in India presently follow). It costs Rs. 675 to feed a child for an year.[11]

This shall depend on the needs of the community and the economics can be suitably crafted.

The salary of the teachers will be incremented annually and provisions of EPF, PF and ESI will be included to retain quality talent.

The savings can also be used to hire teams of professionals on a contractual basis to look after accounts, administration, identify new places where the model can be replicated, recruit and report on teachers; and spread awareness about the project within the community. This team will also be

responsible to report about the project to the government agencies concerned.

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Salient Features: Does not depend on charity and volunteering for daily work. Replicable nation-wide with minor changes to the economic model. Use of technology like Aakash tablets in teaching to broaden the outlook of children taking a cue from Sugata Mitra’s Hole in the Wall project[12] as well as providing open learning

resources like Khan Academy’s[13], comparable to the e-learning the counterparts in cities can avail. A teacher-student ratio of 1:25, lower than that of 1:30 as prescribed by the government. One lady teacher in each shift and separate toilets for boys and girls to encourage attendance of

girl students. Sustainable and low cost drinking water and sanitation facilities which can serve both the students

and the community. Emphasises eco-friendly practices like saving paper, reusing textbooks et al. Livelihood training of both the students and the community through vocational education. Monthly fees of Rs. 150 (inclusive of all) is much less than Rs. 241, the average monthly fees of

most low-cost private schools. Eco-friendly power supply with low operating costs available after 1.5 years. Community recovers 200% of initial investment after an year. Local artisans can earn by taking vocational classes. Crafts made by students can be sold by them leading to an extra income for them, inculcating a

sense of self-sufficiency.

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This micro-level model of educational infrastructure development faces some key challenges and risks. Challenges and risks: 1. Budget deficit. 2. Lack of initial capital due

to community’s lack of trust in the project.

3. If no suitable rooms are available for lease.

4. Urgent need of funds. 5. No enthusiasm of

parents towards education.

6. Water sourcing during dry seasons.

7. Lack of attendance ensuring schemes like the mid-day meals scheme.

Mitigation factors: 1. Can approach Corporates. The Companies Bill 2012 makes it

mandatory for companies to spend atleast 2% of their annual turnover in CSR campaigns[14]. In no case shall that be charity.

2. Can enlighten the community on why this project is better than existing models.

3. At places which have huge communities, MPLAD funds could be sought.

4. Can repeat the process of initial contribution and return. 5. Sensitization campaign on the need of education. 6. Water needs can be met by the community water source. It will be

purified in-house. 7. Since the parents are choosing to pay for school education, they can be

safely assumed to be above BPL. Considering demand, adopting the Gujarat Government model of using the services of the likes of the Akshaya Patra foundation can be adopted to provide delicious piping meals at nominal prices[15].

Appendix: Citations: [1],[2] A comparative study of Indian Government, Private-aided and Private-unaided Primary low fee educational institutes: http://www.andover.edu/StudentLife/CommunityService/Niswarth/Documents/ Wessels_11.pdf [3] Aakash Tablet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aakash_%28tablet%29

[4] Solar bottle lighting in the Philippines: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14967535 [5] Pricing options of ECOSAN toilets: http://www.indiawaterportal.org/sites/indiawaterportal.org/files/ Pricing%20Option_ Ecosan%20Toilet_UNICEF-SEI_2010.pdf [6] Rainwater harvesting system: http://www.rainwaterharvesting.org/Urban/Costs.htm [7] BARC RO water purifier: http://www.barc.gov.in/akruti-tp/atp_dwp.html [8] Japanese o-soji model: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2001/11/30/lifestyle/kids-get-down-to- classroom-clean-ups-2/#.UiYh2X_vvcw [9] Solar DC Packages: http://solar.aarsol.com/solar-dc-packages [10] Funds for tube well installation: http://ngopost.org/story/funds-tube-well-installation [11],[15] Mid-day meal scheme in Gujarat: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-20/ bangalore/40694419_1_billionth-meal-akshaya-patra-foundation-success-story [12] Hole in the Wall project: http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_shows_how_kids_teach_themselves

.html BARC water purifier

[13] Khan Academy: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57600323/khan-academythe-future-of-education/ [14] The Companies Bill 2012: http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/The_Companies_Bill_2012.pdf

References: Before you set up a school: http://www.dare.co.in/opportunities/education/before-you-set-up-a-school.htm Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Portal: ssa.nic.in 12