Highlights 2012 -13
Some Numbers
No. Of students 85 boys and 12 girls
Teachers/Mentors 7 (6 women
and one male, and the male is not the head)
Other Staff 5
Volunteers 2
for two months
Academic -
§ Ex Student gets admission in BHU for Masters in Economics. He
topped the MA Entrance test of DAVV, Indore. Came first in BA final in Sendhwa,
Khargone region. Another ex student is working as trainee at THRIVE, Hyderabad - a company manufacturing solar lamps.
Another student came in merit in BA final and got admitted to MA Hindi in DAVV, Indore.
§ High School topper of Chatli High School is ex Adharshila.
§ 16 students were given scholarships by SRUTI. The students were from 10th – MA.
They were ex students of Adharshila who were also contributing towards running
Adharshila while studying.
§ One teacher enrolled for D.Ed and BA exam.
Student Projects
-
§ Students installed drip irrigation on a vegetable plot.
§ Middle school children made 1000 liter bio digester with
the help of a volunteer, and it worked. We can now cook daal for 120 people,
once a day almost daily. They learnt a lot of Math, Science and English words
by way of the gobar gas. We also realized why most of them fail in villages.
The accuracy required in their daily maintenance is impossible in villages.
§ Documenting folk stories, traditional seeds and
agricultural practices etc.
§ Methi plots maintained by children of 3rd – 5th
grade.
§ Drip irrigation using used saline bottles.
Media
Theater - About 25 children and teachers performed the play Bhanai at the State convention of IPTA in Indore,
Annual Conference of Ekta Parishad in Gujarat and 3 other places. Two theater
workshops were held for the preparation of the play. Theater artists – Avijit
and Aakash, held the workshops for 8 and 6 days respectively.
CGNet
Swara Workshop – Participants from about
12 districts of MP participated in a two day workshop organised in
collaboration with the CGNet Swara team and SRUTI.
Calendar
– 1000 copies of a regular calendar with
glossy photographs, highlighting the importance of local markets was printed.
It was received very well amongst urban as well as rural settings.
Administration
Local team runs Adharshila on its own. We
take a back seat and provide special effects and planning meetings. Volunteers
also spent about 2 months at Adharshila. Then it needed more intervention from
us, mainly interpersonal problems. Also many parents were not convinced that
local teachers that too women (they look like girls even when they wore sarees)
could do a good job.
A team of about15-20 student karyakartas
assist the adults in the various daily tasks like looking after sick children,
kitchen, evening assembly etc.
Organic Farm
Students learn organic farming by working on
the farm and seeing the results. They learnt to make Jeevamrut, organic
pesticides and a magic potion which promotes branching in plants. We got to eat veggies for about 5 months and
daal for two months. This is a considerable feat considering that 15 years ago
the land was almost barren.
Tree Plantation
Like every year, we planted about 100 trees
on the campus. In all there are about 1500 trees of app. 5o varieties. We are
trying hard to collect more species and more fuel wood trees.
Poultry
A poultry was set up under
the leadership of two senior students who had gone for training last summer. A
team of six children raised the number from 6 hens to 80. Recovered the costs
and some profit but could not manage viral infection. They also did the masonry
work for setting up the 6’ x 10’ cage. The poultry was a favorite sitting place
for the smaller children who watched the small chicks, counted eggs, fed them,
grew medicinal plants and generally kept themselves busy.
Bulls and Cows
It’s never easy to guess what strikes them
and no amount of care or medicine helps. Anyway many children saw a vet for the
first time though they learnt the word in Book 1. In spite of a lot of effort
we couldn’t save the bull. We have 5 animals. The main benefit is the dung for
the farm. We also sold one bull and got some cash. Everyday
General
§ An Adharshila project chosen for EIFI award from more
than 800 applications.
§ Discovered that Adharshila inspired some young people to
start a similar school in Tamil Nadu.
§ Women leadership training, Satna.
§ Collected folk stories related to the Holi festival from
various districts of MP, Maharashtra and Gujarat for a booklet. Couldn’t be
printed due to delay in getting material. Maybe next year.
Exposure tour
Senior children - Mandu Fort and Dinosaur
Museum
Juniors – Badwani and Sendhwa.
Teachers and senior students – Organic Farm
of Vandana and Vasant Phutane
Participation
Seed festivals in
Hyderabad and Nagpur.
IPTA State
Convention, Indore
Azadi Bachao Andolan
meeting, Indore
SRUTI Saathi Milan,
Rajasthan.
Adivasi Ekta
Parishad, National Convention, Gujarat
Adivasi Sammelan,
Pansemal.
Adivasi Sammelan,
Burhanpur.
Volunteers
Harin, 2nd
year student from Azim Premji Institute.
Christian, Engineer
from the US. Taught the children to make the Gobar Gas plant and install solar
lights. Also taught the theory.
The Naatak India Company and the Calendar
Last
year it was Yuvaniya, a magazine written, read and distributed by adivasi
youth. This year we freaked out on the Naatak India Companies production – Bhanai and the Haat Calender.
The
Play, Bhanai is a satire showing the
pathetic condition of schools in the adivasi villages and how they were a dead
end and no go for adivasi students.. How the school system belies the hopes and
aspirations of the parents and children, who ultimately become factory labor or
are trapped by criminal elements. The
play goes on to show an interaction of people with the Minister who says that
the Govt. school system is irreparable and hence proposes privatising the whole
system which the people oppose.
The
Naatak India Company was invited to stage the play Bhanai at the State
Convention of IPTA – the Indian Peoples Theater Association- in Indore. It was
a great honor for the NIC and Adharshila. The play had the audience applauding
and laughing for one hour and was given a standing ovation.
The
same play was invited again at the annual function of Jan Vikas, Indore, an NGO
working with slum dwellers and rag pickers. Later the play enthralled adivasi
audience in Pansemal and Gujarat at the Adivasi Ekta Parishad conventions.
After the play was staged most speakers based their speeches on the play.
It
was a great educational experience for the children who also got to visit new
places.
Theater,
we once again realised was a great hit and a very potent method of
communicating ideas. In spite of the mobile, TV trying to dominate the
entertainment industry, theater is theater and is still very relevant in
villages as well as cities. Especially in the villages where we could share the
critique of the education system with an audience who was mostly illiterate.
There is a hoard of literature and glossy reports which is circulated amongst
the intellectual and already convinced group of people. It is of no use for
most laboring people. Theater holds the key to communication in a rural
setting.
The
Haat Calender was an attempt to take alternative ideas to the homes of people
living mainstream lives.
0 comments :
Post a Comment