SWANIRVAR

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SWANIRVAR

• Open Learning Center project (LC)
• an alternative secondary school

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the NGO Swanirvar
the NGO the person the project the budget the
queries
Aim To create holistic and sustainable
alternatives for problems faced by the poor. Work
focus areas include education, health, micro
financing and agriculture

• Started in 1990
• Regd office at Andharmanik (Baduria post), West
  Bengal
• Project area now spans to about 40 villages (10
  villages in 1990) in 3 blocks (Baduria, Deganga,
  Swarupnagar)
• Partnered with ASHA (Seattle, Stanford, Los
  Angeles), CRY, Friends of Swanirvar (U.K.), CARE
  (W.Bengal), AID, and many others
• Innovative educational programs for the
  underprivileged

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the NGO Past Projects
the NGO the person the project the budget the
queries

• 14 pre-primary centers (1992 CRY)
• 3 rural primary schools in North 24 Parganas
  Dist. (1997 GoI, ASHA, FoS)
• The teen brigade a program telecast on DDs
  UGC experimenting with alternate rural
  secondary school curriculum. This work got them
  the highest award in the category The school
  that looks beyond in the Telegraph School Awards
  of 2002.
• Over the years they have got funding from various
  sources including CRY, CARE, UNICEF, ASHA, Share
  Care Foundation, Govt. of India.

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Key persons
the NGO the person the project the budget the
queries

• Sujit Sinha
• M.Sc. from IIT Kanpur (1979)
• Ph.D. from Princeton Univ. (1984)
• 2-year postdoc. at Bell Labs
• Full-time rural development activist from 1987
• Recently served as an expert to revamp the
  Panchayat system in West Bengal
• Sudeshna Sinha
• Trained as a Special Teacher from Bombay Spastic
  Society
• Instrumental in setting up an innovative Hindi
  medium school Ashirvaad Vidayalaya for slum
  children (Bow Bazar, Kolkata)

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Where is Baduria?
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Population Demographics
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Population demographics contd
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the project - Open Learning Center (alternative
secondary school)
the NGO the person the project the budget the
queries

• Target group Lower middle class and slum
  children of 9 age group
• Bengali medium to start with, also teach very
  good functional English make everyone familiar
  with computers
• Have aptitude determining facility and very good
  pre-vocational education
• Have a much broader Social Studies curriculum
  including Economics, Sociology, Politics,
  Governance, Development, Life Education .
• Have Ecology-Environment as one of focal themes
  in the Sciences.

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the project (contd)
the NGO the person the project the budget the
queries

• Process to include lot of Self Learning, Peer
  Learning, Group Activities inputs from visiting
  teachers -- both conventional experts and from
  the community
• Use of various pedagogic tools like theatre,
  audiovisuals, music, dance, yoga, martial arts,
  crafts etc .
• Career Counseling Services and counseling for
  psychological - personal problems

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the project Education Resource Centre

• ERC will have the following components
• Library
• Networking
• Training-Workshops-Seminars
• Studies-Research
• Publication

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Funding

• Approximate Budget for 1st year Rs. 26 lakhs
• Already have funding for Rs. 14 lakhs from
  IH(Indienhilfe)
• Need funding for Rs. 12 lakhs
• Support solicited for 3 years.

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Total funding estimate, funds needed
the NGO the person the project the budget the
queries
(in INR)
(in INR)
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the NGO the person the project the budget the
queries
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the NGO the person the project the budget the
queries
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the AIMS

• Produce lifelong, independent, motivated learners
• Balanced, happy, creative persons
• Socially-politically-culturally-ecologically
  sensitive, just, responsible, active humans
• Youths who are vocationally adept for now and the
  future