Mandra Lions ClubPurulia, West Bengal

a) 12/24/2008 Site Visit Report b) 2009 – 10 Project Proposal

February 21, 2009

Introduction Started in 1975 by Mr. Somnath Singha Roy and friends

Purulia district of West Bengal – tribal area Mr. Roy was born and raised in these parts Coordinates day to day activities High level: MLC has president, exec committee

Aim: Development of the tribal community in the region 1992-93: Focus shifted to tribal children and education

Past funding: Asha, AID, UNICEF, CRY, Dutch Embassy Long history of various developmental projects

No association with Lions Club Association

Kolkata

Mandra

Photos from Site Visit in 24/12/2008 The Mandra office in Saradapally, at the base of the

Ayodhya Hills. Also has residential quarters for staff anda mini mess.The 7 schools are spread over the hills. Notethe abundance of date trees.

Graffiti on wall, near the entrance,acknowledging support by various agencies including Asha.

Socio Economic Status of the people 74 tribal villages in Ayodhya Hills, Baghmundi district

Extremely interior: ~2.5 hours bikeride from Mandra office Dense forest, habitat of elephants, bears, boars etc. Massive deforestation in some parts to set up hydel project

Cutting wood for fuel is major occupation Tribals (both male and woman) cut wood for one whole day Next day: Climb down, carrying wood through forests Sell them (Rs 60 – Rs 100), buy food, and go up again Minor agriculture- mostly for internal consumption

Soil is infertile. Place is extremely hot during summers

10% of families have 1 meal/day, 50% have 2 Illiterate tribals are often exploited by political parties

Mura tribes: Understand/Speak Bengali Santhal tribes: Separate language (Santhali)

Elder Santhals have working knowledge of Bengali

Photos from Site Visit in 24/12/2008 Some loads of cut wood. Each person carries

about 2 such loads and sells them for Rs 30 – 50per load. Also seen in photo are Mandrastaff Benimadhav and Mama (in blue) who is Mr. Roy’s uncle and the overall in-charge of the education component of Mandra

Thatched huts in atribal village

Activities of Mandra Lions Club Heath

Community health intervention Mother and child health, reproductive child health

Women’s empowerment Self help group promotion, micro-cerdit

Sponsor a grand parent Malaria detection and control Natural Resource Management Water conservation and management

Worked with Govt, linked existing Govt schemes

Details about educational projects No of schools = 14 for Santhali children

7 schools supported by Stanford are about 2-3 years old 7 new schools funded by CNJ (schools started April 2008)

Children: 2.5 – 5+ years (pre-primary education) ~240 children , boy/girl ratio ~1 No permanent buildings – in courtyards or in the open Teachers in a village school are youths from the same village,

Madhyamik to graduate education Periodic teacher training by Mandra (more about this later)

There are Govt. schools at primary level Insensitive to local culture All in the plains – none up in Ayodhya hills Teaching medium is Bengali – alien for Santhali children

Santhali language and Alchiki script different from Bengali Hence need of vernacular pre-primary schools

A note about Santhali language and Alchiki script

Santhali language: Very different from Bengali Certain Santhali phonetics: not expressable in Bengali script Thus a new script was needed Pt. Raghunath Murmu developed Alchiki ~ 100 years back

Santhali language is much older A language can’t be sustained without a script

Without written works, a language dies Debatable: Do we need to sustain Santhali language/script?

Point: Wouldn’t help them in finding jobs in modern society Counterpoint: Part of broader process of upliftment of tribals

Recognizing their culture gives them a boost

Type of Education imparted to kids Development of cognitive faculty

E.g. 5 cubes of different shapes; child asked to put them on top of each other, with largest one at bottom

Fun and learning (recall how we played with lego blocks as kids)

Introduction to formal language structure Introduction to both Alchiki/Santhali and Bengali E.g. flash cards with photo of a house on both sides One side bengali word and other side Santhali word in Alchiki Recognize letters from phonetics (by pronouncing the word)

Basic Science, Maths, and Nature appreciation Made aware of importance of nature and jungles Children’s performances are evaluated and monitored

Make efforts to link children to regular schools after 3 years Reasonable success achieved with older 7 centers

Photos from Site Visit in 24/12/2008School # 1

Village Leoa: Community centerNote the yellow blocks – one of the ‘toys’ for cognitive development

Teacher Duryodhan teaches from the flash cards. Note the innovative ‘whiteboard’ made of cloth with pockets to keep the cards

Photos from Site Visit in 24/12/2008

School # 2Village: MamoriOut in the open. Just the previous day a wildelephant had meandered into the village and had to be driven out.

The blackboard containing lettersfrom Alchiki script

Comments about the Schools and Mid day Meal

Was a surprise visit in both places Both teachers were very dedicated Children were paying attention

Some children were working on their own About 60% attendance

Mid day meal was flattened rice (chiura) Problem: Storage and transportation of food

Interior villages: Food can’t be brought every day No fridge: Else milk could be stored and given Suggestion: Give tinned milk – already implemented

New proposal emerged after discussion Each day a family takes responsibility of cooking for all kids The family can’t sell woods that day – reimbursed by Mandra Mandra will investigate if this is feasible

Teacher Training

Held in Mandra office for 2 days. 12/14 teachers were present. The other 2 teachers are from the schools in the site visit. They were not informedabout the teacher training workshop and also that there would be a visit.

Side profile of Mr. Roy is seen in the right side of the photo (orange shirt)

Held every 6 months New educational material prepared – flash cards etc Reason given: Children lose interest if they keep seeing the same old cards. The need new things (books, cards etc) to keep their interests up. Organized by Mama; Mr. Roy’s uncle and in charge of education Discussion about teaching methodology

Utilization of funds for first 6 months April 2008 to September 2008 Sl. No Budget head Yearly

sanctionedExpenditure

during 6 months

Balance with MLC

A.1 Home Educator cum Mobilizer 1,26,000.00 63,000.00 63,000.00

B.1 Tiffin cost 1,60,000.00 80,040.00 79,960.00

C.! Purchase and repairing of educational materials

14,000.00 10,000.00 4,000.00

D Bank charges 00 1,167.00 - 1,167.00

3,00,000.00 1,54,207.00 1,45,793.00

Yearly Received Expenditure during the period Balance with MLC

3,10,944.00 1,54,207.00 1,56,737.00

As of October 2008

240 (Total no of children ) x 20 (working days per month) = 4,800 child per day are present x 6 months =28800 no of children are present in 6 months.Tiffin cost already made in 6 months is Rs.80, 040/- i.e. (Rs.80040 divided by 28800 children) Rs.2.79 per child per day expenses are happening.

Synopsis of budget for 2009-10 Sl. NO. ITEM No/Unit

Cost (per No / Per unit /Per day / Per

month)

Amount (Rs.) Annual

Amount Requested from ASHA New Jersey

A1 Home Educator cum Mobilizer

07 No 1500.00 1,26,000.001,26,000.00

A2 Field Organizer 02 No 2500.00 60,000.00 0,60,000.00

A3 Co-coordinator 01 4000.00 48,000.00 0.48,000.00

B1 Purchase and repairing of educational materials

7 Unit (Round the year workshop method)

1400.00 9,800.00

0,09,800.00

C1 Tiffin cost @ Rs.2/-Per day, for 200 days in a year

400 No (all 14 schools)

1,60,000.001,60,000.00

D1 Annual sports & Cultural Program 400 Nos, of centers & other non school children of the villages

600 Nos. 21.00 12,600.00 12,600.00

D2 Children day observation 600 5.00 3,000.00 3,000.00

J SUPPORT TO GOVT. PRY.SCHOOL (for teaching Alchiki i. This program, was a suggestion made to Mr. Roy by Asha CNJ and he had promised to implement it this year, if we provide the money)

J.1 Honorarium to Volunteer Teacher in 2 nos. Government Primary School (Tribal dominated)

2 nos. 3000.00 72000.00 72000.00

Some Random Discussions had with Sandip Pal, a social worker in Mandra Aim of education is not a regular job

Else tribal person will relocate to city His community will not benefit

Literacy that improves the entire community Education should be tied to income generation If Asha funds a school, Asha should also fund a

project that generates income E.g.: Project where tribal people can sell their art

In that way, they wouldn’t relocate to cities. Formal educational projects shouldn’t destroy

indigenous tribal culture

Misc Photos

Part of the hydel plant. This area used to be one of the most densely populated forests. Millions of trees cut and hundreds of animalsdisplaced. The plant is running at a loss now due to inefficient design

Twisted trees inside the forest

Misc Photos Incision made and tube thrust into a date tree forthe juice to trickle down. Usually collected insidean earthen pot all night. Here a bird is seen perchedon the tube, to drink some of the morning juice, which is incidentally intoxicating and used to made tadi

The pure date juice collectedall night is boiled and processedto make gur

Misc Photos

Chhou dance masks being madein a nearby town. Purulia is famous for this dance form which has attracted

international attention

Child and goat in a tribal village