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In
the seventies, Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work took an
initiative to work with municipal schools in Mumbai. It was the
first time a partnership of this kind had been forged between an
educational institution and the municipal corporation. We wanted
to demonstrate how social services help for the education of the
marginalised. I joined the initiative in the role of a social
worker. After six years of demonstration, the municipal
corporation decided to institutionalise this relationship. Today,
social workers are part of the corporation. Mumbai is the only
city in the country where such a policy has been adopted.
Although
Pratham was set up only in 1994, this collaboration built the
foundation on which the organisation stands. It was clear that
dropout, wastage and stagnation in education are not problems of
the poor, but that of the system. The solution is not by providing
education alone; you have to provide the whole package of support
systems, including nutrition, uniform, books and so on.
This understanding has now been translated into policies at
the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation).
Pratham
came about as a result of a study commissioned by the UNICEF and
conducted by Nirmala Niketan in Mumbai. The study found that
200,000 children were out of school, 23 per cent could not read or
write, ten per cent were ‘regularly irregular’ and 18 per cent
dropped out from the fourth or seventh standards. It also
established that parents wanted their children to study and that
they valued education. The education system, however, was not
adequately supportive.
The
study made it clear that in order to make a significant difference
we cannot work as individual organisations in the ‘small is
beautiful’ mode; we will have to go large scale. However, we
still wanted to work outside the system and not put the onus on
the BMC alone, but on citizens as well. Dr Madhav Chauhan (now
Programme Director of Pratham), was part of the literacy movement,
a movement which held that literacy is the government’s
responsibility, but citizens should be working on it because it is
not the problem of the illiterate. The way we see it is that the
BMC has to be accountable to its citizens. Citizens should be able
to work together with the BMC, and not antagonise it.
Thus,
Pratham was born in Mumbai in 1994, committed to the cause of
universalisation of primary education. Although it was technically
set up as a non-government organisation (NGO), it is really a
platform that brings together the local self-government, the
corporate sector and the voluntary sector. Pratham was launched
with the municipal commissioner as the ex-officio vice chairperson
of the trust. The chairperson has always been the head of an
industry –- earlier it was SP Godrej, chairperson of Godrej
Group of Companies and now it is N Vaghul, chairperson of the
Board of ICICI Limited.
Having
set up Pratham, the objective was to make citizens participate at
all levels. We looked at the efficiency of the system in Mumbai
where Rs 400 crores is spent on education i.e. Rs 4,083 per child.
Mumbai has some of the best-trained teachers; 86 per cent of the
education budget went towards teachers’ salary. This is all
public money and, therefore, the concern for universalisation of
education is not the monopoly of the government or NGOs but of
citizens.
When
we found that 85 per cent of Mumbai’s children in municipal
schools went without attending pre-school, we decided that the
work needs to be taken up at a mass scale. Balwadis
(pre-schools) were set up in 23 wards and all slums. Adolescent
girls were trained to start balwadis; in the process they
gained freedom and our trust. They feel immensely empowered. The
community has realised that pre-school is essential for better
performance, attention, enrolment and retention in primary
schools. The community has grown to see their education as their
own problem.
To
its credit, Pratham has been able to reach out to citizens at
every level -– the elite, people living in slums and the middle
class. It is steered by the belief that each of these groups of
citizens lack opportunities for collaboration and action. The
organisation has channelled the energy and resources of the
corporate sector, students, communities and the municipal
corporation to facilitate an interaction between them. What guides
the collaboration is the principle that nobody is in the
driver’s seat; each one is playing the role of a catalyst along
with the other.
As
individuals, we play very important roles. We help to get
institutions involved. I have got Nirmala Niketan involved.
Similarly, people in HDFC, ICICI, etc. have got institutional
commitment to the cause. Once communities have the back-up of
multinationals, they know that somebody is supporting them and
they do not mind taking risks.Another group playing a major role
is the NGO network.
In
terms of advocacy, we have done it through demonstration effect.
The Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan of the State is modelled on the Pratham
pattern. It incorporates a community-based monitoring system. The
Pratham model is cheap, low-cost and replicable; it uses existing
resources – “your resource, our mechanism”. By 2002, the
organisation has spread to 21 cities, (ten of which are in
Maharashtra). Last year, it included the earthquake-affected areas
of Kutch and Rajkot in the network. The Pratham model works
through a relationship of trust. Barring a couple of cities, no
MoU has been drawn up between the different players. Over 30,000
out-of-school children have been brought into schools through its
efforts.
Pratham
is not there to stay; it is not an asset-building organisation. It
advocates time-bound governance. In our society, education is the
greatest divider. Pratham feels it should be an equaliser.
Ultimately, the image of municipal schools will have to change.
Today, the children of staff of municipal schools do not study
there.
As told to Rukmini
Datta
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