Every Child Counts campaign beyond Pune

The Every Child Counts (ECC) campaign was launched by Door Step School NGO (DSS) in the year 2011. The objective was to ensure every child between 6 and 14 years age living in the city of Pune gets its right of free elementary education. With help of citizen volunteers, corporates, educational institutes, and government agencies, ECC could reach out to more than 2,000 children in above age group, who had never been enrolled in or had dropped out of formal education system. A campaign framework was designed by ECC team with help of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). This framework includes campaign methodology for NGOs, a volunteer tool kit with guidelines for survey--admission--follow-up activities, challenges faced and solutions derived under this project, etc. In short, a replicable model of the citizens' campaign was prepared.

Almost every developing city in India faces similar problems of children remaining out of schools, despite the constitutional provisions made under Right To Education (RTE) Act 2009. It has been observed that most of these out-of-school children in urban areas belong to migrant communities. The replicable model of ECC citizens' campaign is being offered to local NGOs and groups in cities other than Pune. In one of such efforts, DSS-ECC team got connected with Mr. Milind Babar of Disha Foundation, Nashik and through him, with Mr. Sachin Joshi of Espalier Experimental School, Nashik. Mr. Joshi and his team at Espalier School have very enthusiastically taken up the Every Child Counts citizens' campaign in Nashik, and have reached out to more than 500 out-of-school children living in slums and temporary shelters of migrant communities in the city. The children found under ECC survey are being enrolled in nearby NMC (Nashik Municipal Corporation) schools and in few private schools offering free admissions to them. School transport is being arranged for children living at a distance from schools.

Door Step School is also trying to extend the ECC campaign to other cities, with help of local NGOs or interested volunteer groups. Employees of Cognizant Technology Solutions, Chennai have initiated survey of slums and temporary shelters of migrant workers in the city of Chennai. With inputs from DSS-ECC team, Cognizant volunteers have surveyed 150 slum-dwellers and have found 40 out-of-school children from 6 to 14 age group. With government schools starting their academic year this week, the volunteers are trying to get these children into mainstream of education. The survey will be extended to other areas of Chennai and more children are expected to benefit from the efforts being taken by Cognizant volunteers.

Preparatory Camps in Hinjewadi

"Preparatory Camps" are conducted by Door Step School to help children get interested in "school", a concept they have never seen or experienced. These camps are conducted in temporary shelters set up closer to the communities. The teachers gather children from huts and shacks, and keep them engaged for two to three hours a day. Since these camps are run for very short time (during May and June, till the schools reopen for next academic year), very few educational tools are available for children. Most of the activities involve singing, story telling, and interactive games. These Preparatory Camps are also used to set up a dialogue with parents in the community and to create awareness about importance of education and provisions of Right To Education Act.

This year, volunteers from Wipro helped ECC in setting up Preparatory Camps at construction sites in Hinjewadi, Pune. The sites are Xion, Opus, and Beverley Hills.

Bhumkar Vasti Survey by Udaan Volunteers

Volunteers from Udaan-Pune visited construction sites in Bhumkar Vasti area of Hinjewadi. Huge constructions - residential, commercial, and industrial - are coming up in this side of the city. Almost all of these construction sites host large labour camps, where labourer families live with their children.

 

The volunteers found 15 children who are of school-going age but are not going to school.

The details of children have been collected and admission process will start soon.

Thank you Udaan-Pune, for taking these children forward on path of progress!

Preparatory Camps

During survey of 6 to 8 years old children under Every Child Counts campaign, volunteers and field staff come across communities living in highly fragile environments. All elder members in the family are out earning, while children of very young age are often left to fend for themselves. There is even ignorance towards health and hygiene of the children, let alone their education. The children of all ages are seen loitering or picking rags.

At such communities, "Preparatory Camps" are conducted by Door Step School. The objective is to help children get interested in "school", a concept they have never seen or experienced. These camps are conducted in temporary shelters set up closer to the communities. The teachers gather children from huts and shacks, and keep them engaged for two to three hours a day. Since these camps are run for very short time (during May and June, till the schools reopen for next academic year), very few educational tools are available for children. Most of the activities involve singing, story telling, and interactive games. These Preparatory Camps are also used to set up a dialogue with parents in the community and to create awareness about importance of education and provisions of Right To Education Act.

Last year, 20 such camps were conducted in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, and on the outskirts, reaching out to around 500 children.

ECC in GIAN EduJesuit Editorial

Here is an excerpt from article published on edujesuit, the communication and participation tool of the Right to a Quality Education of the Global Ignatian Advocacy Network (GIAN) -

"...There are several simple strategies which have been tried successfully by other organisations, for example: Every Child Counts (ECC), launched initially by Doorstep School in Pune, is a campaign which inspired him (Trevor Miranda, SJ, Core group representative for India and Nepal  in the GIAN for the Right to Education) with its simplicity and capacity to create change at a low cost. It involves essentially taking the time to find, encourage and inspire children to enrol, utilising the right of every child of 6 years (whether included in the census or not) to receive an education. The method of action is a detailed Survey of parishes and schools to identify children of 6-8 years, Enrolment of the children in the nearest municipal school, and then Follow-up with both the children and the school to ensure regular attendance, with organisation of out of school activities continuing during holidays to instil the importance of continuous education to both students and parents. There are challenges involved of course, there are difficulties involved in making the campaign systematic and consistent, locating out of school children, ensuring availability of places in municipal schools, providing transport etc… however there are ways to overcome this; through the successful implementation of ideas such as this, and through the avocation of the rights of children to a quality education to policy makers."

Read full article at - http://edujesuit.org/education-goal-2025

'Every Child Counts' campaign now in Nashik

The 'Every Child Counts' citizens' campaign initiated by Door Step School in Pune and PCMC is now expanding its reach to Nashik. Under guidance of Door Step School, the campaign team at Espalier Experimental School, Nashik has initiated survey of 6 to 7 years old children from migrant communities living in the Panchavati area of Nashik city. The survey and RTE awareness activities are being conducted with help of citizen volunteers. The campaign team has also launched a helpline number (8983335555) for citizens to report out-of-school children seen anywhere in Nashik. The campaign is being supported by office of the Labour Commissioner and the National Child Labour Project (NCPL), Nashik. The ECC Nashik team is appealing citizens of Nashik to volunteer for finding out all 6 to 7 years old children in the city and helping them get their right to education. For more details about the campaign and to join hands with ECC Nashik team, please contact 8983335555. A small effort from you can help a child get formal education and build its career!

Survey & Parent Awareness by Udaan-Pune

UDAAN Pune is Pune chapter of informal employee group of Geometric Ltd and 3DPLM. Udaan volunteers have been working with Every Child Counts campaign for last couple of years now. Last year they conducted survey of children living in labour camps on construction sites near Hinjewadi and enrolled them in nearby ZP school. (Read the story here.)

This year again Udaan volunteers stepped in to help out-of-school children in Hinjewadi-Wakad area reach schools. The volunteers visited labour camps on construction sites and spoke with labourers about education of their children. Details of children were collected for the purpose of school admissions.

The volunteers even arranged street-play to demonstrate importance of education and benefits of Right To Education act. 

The labourer parents were surprised to see these highly educated youngsters 'wasting' their weekend time just to ensure every child from the camp attends school.

 

The parents provided all necessary details of their children and showed interest in sending their children to schools.

 

The Every Child Counts campaign will continue till we ensure every child reaches school.

Thanks to volunteer groups like Udaan that we feel confident of achieving this goal soon!