EQUIP Project

1
EQUIP Project

• www.eurekachild.org

2
Problems in 2007

• 50 children in 5th standard cannot read a
  paragraph in Tamil. 10 cannot even identify
  letters.
• 50 children in 5th standard cannot even subtract
  two 2-digit numbers.
• Science education is just rote memorization no
  concepts, no experiments, no connection with the
  real world.
• Many 4-year-olds in balwadis cannot even match
  two identical pictures - something even
  1-year-olds in middle class families easily do.

3
Reasons for this state

• No School Focus on Basic Skills Focus on exam
  mark textbook memorization and not on ensuring
  basic skills.
• Lack of Learning Resources No access to learning
  resources. Schools and teachers have no
  libraries, no reading materials, no activity
  kits, no science experiment materials, etc.
  Balwadis have no learning aids or even simple
  toys.
• Ineffective Methodology Teachers lecture and
  read out from books. There is no focus on
  activities or even demonstrations in class. No
  avenues for children to think independently or to
  work in groups or to learn by doing. Poor
  training of teachers. Teachers are not trained
  in practical ideas nor on good teaching
  methodologies.
• Low community involvement Low community interest
  and involvement in education. Poor children have
  no access to a learning environment at home.

4
Two Pronged Implementation Strategy
Create Community Learning Initiatives We
mobilize village volunteers, train them and start
village libraries, childrens learning centers,
form science clubs, math clubs, sports clubs,
etc. We also get the community volunteers to
both help schools improve as well as to
pressurize schools to deliver quality.
Improve Learning Quality in Schools We work
with teachers to bring about measurable
improvements in specific learning skills like
reading, maths and science. We train and motivate
teachers, provide teaching learning materials and
change classroom practices through regular visits
and practical demonstrations.
5
Methodology

• Primary Education
• Improving Reading Skills of Children
• Improving Basic Math Skills of Children
• Continuous Evaluation of Children
• Corrective Measures being Applied so as to help
  teachers identify the kids who need additional
  help
• Secondary Education
• Science Education
• Community Initiatives and Community Learning
  Centers
• Village Libraries and Childrens Clubs
• Science and Math clubs
• Support Centers and Summer Campaigns

6
Sivaganga Details

• Revenue Divisions 2
• Taluks 6
• Blocks 12
• Town Panchayats 12
• Revenue Villages 521
• Panchayat Villages 431

7
EQUIP Sivagangai Summary

• Impacts 127,961 students
• Reading program was conducted last year in all 12
  blocks and 1119 schools
• The science program is running in a total of 360
  schools
• Library program is being run in 300 villages with
  the help of 4 local NGOs.
• Summer camp was held in 1320 villages
• 25 Rallies and 264 melas were held for community
  awareness
• 75 villages have the children club
• 54 teachers attended the network workshops

8
Padippum Inikkum

• Group activity based reading program
• Aim Is to bring rapid improvement in reading
  levels of a child
• Structure
• Initial Evaluation and Categorization into 5
  levels
• Everyday 1hr level specific activities
• Child-to-Child reading methods
• Reading materials and story boards to make it a
  fun event

9
Padippum Inikkum Levels
5 Reading Levels
Level 4 Child Reads stories fluentlyLevel 3 Child Reads sentences but not storiesLevel 2 Child Reads words but not sentencesLevel 1 Child Reads letters but not wordsLevel 0 Child Cannot even identify letters
10
PI Affects 90,671 children
Schools where Reading program is being implemented Schools where Reading program is being implemented Schools where Reading program is being implemented
No Block No. of Schools we are working in
1 Manamadurai 86
2 Sakkotai 98
3 S. Pudur 57
4 Kannankudi 42
5,6 Singampunari Thirupathur 196
7 Thiruppuvanam 107
8 Ilayangudi 97
9 Sivagangai 122
10 Kallal 75
11 Kalayarkoil 142
12 Devakottai 97

  Total (for 9 blocks) 1119
11
Arivial Anandam

• Do-it-yourself experiments for children
• Low cost science experiments as a means to teach
• Encouraging a child to think and come up with
  their own experiments

12
AA affects 31,834 children
Block Name No.of schools
Sivagangai 32
Singampunari 17
Ellayankudi 13
S.Pudur 16
Tirupathur 32
Tirubuvanam 34
Manamadurai 28
Total 172

13
Library Program

• Community based learning using Library in a Bag
  concept
• Aim is to use this as a booster to Padippum
  Inikkum program
• When community involves, the schools feel
  responsible to deliver better quality education
• In addition to library style learning, additional
  activities with games, fun events and activities
  etc.
• Encourage formation of children clubs

14
Library involves 5,456 children
Block Name No.of Libraries
Manamadurai 50
Devakottai 50
Thiruppuvanam 50
Thiruppuvanam 70
Kaalaiyaarkovil 50
Sivagangai 50
   
Total 320
15
Budget 2007-08
Total Funds Received from Asha SV INR 2,869,275.00
1st Installment Received from Asha SV INR 1,368,500.00
2nd Installment Received from Asha SV INR 1,500,775.00


Total Expenses on project from Sept 07 to July 08 INR 3,001,158.00
Reading Math Program INR 1,407,153.00
Science Program INR 556,113.00
Village Libraries Program INR 556,301.00
Festivals, Events and Workshops INR 66,904.00
Training, Coordination, Evaluation and Program Support INR 341,196.00
Administration INR 73,491.00

Excess of Expenditure over Funds Received INR 131,883.00
16
Impact of PI

• Reading Program Sample evaluation on 17700
  children in 400 schools in the beginning and at
  the end of the program. The evaluation showed
• In Standards I and II The number of children
  who couldnt even recognize letters has come down
  significantly, by 22. Children able to read
  words have also increased, by 16.3.
• In Standards II, IV and V The number of
  children who could read at least sentences (which
  includes stories and sentence levels combined)
  has improved from 67 to 79, an improvement of
  12.

17
Reading Skill Improvement with the program
18
PI Improvements
19
Impact of AA

• Children are able to relate real world science
  phenomena and able to quote it in their answers,
  instead of memorizing and repeating the books
• Science Program Evaluation of the science
  skills of 700 children in the 7th and 8th Std.
  For this evaluation, we randomly selected 10
  children in 70 schools (10 schools/block). The
  children were evaluated on whether they do and
  explain 40 selected experiments. The evaluation
  showed that
• 98 of children were able to do 20 experiments
  and 84 of children were able to do as well as
  explain 20 experiments correctly.
• 49 of children were able to do all 40
  experiments and 26 of children were able to do
  and explain all 40 experiments correctly.

20
AA results
21
Impact of Library Program

• This is still in experimental phase
• Several constraints to implement the program..
  e.g. finding volunteers in villages is hard
• Providing reading materials appropriate for the
  age and sufficient amount is difficult

22
Staff Information

• Total staff 55 (52 Field Staff 1 District
  Coordinator 1 Asst coord 1 Admin Asst).
  (This does not include state team as they work on
  multiple projects).
• Number of teachers trained last year Close to
  2000 teachers.
• Number of Administrative Staff (Please list
  positions e.g., peon, clerk, etc.) last year 1
  - Admin Asst in the District
• Same details for Volunteers, if any 1320
  volunteers (participated in the summer camp)
• The Field Staff are called Block Resource Persons
  (BRP) - They are not teachers, but they visit
  schools and demonstrate reading, math and science
  classes to teachers and provide materials and
  training to teachers. They also help in
  conducting evaluations, get feedback on the
  materials and usage. The total number of BRPs
  52. They are in the following categories
• Reading Math BRP 34
• Science 12
• Library 6

23
ABL v/s PI

• TN Government introduced ABL (Activity based
  learning) all across the state
• Text books were converted to cards
• Pros
• The government ABL program achieves the reading
  to a small extent
• Cons
• But it does not help in identification and
  improving the kids who need attention
• ABL also does not account for teacher
  participation

24
(No Transcript)
25
ASER 2006 to ASER 2007 Reading Level
Changes These are the changes in reading levels
between Nov 2006 and Nov 2007 From ASER Reports
26
Content In the Past Today ABL Tomorrow ABLPI Additions Proposed
Infrastructure ? ? ? ? ? ?
Teachers ? ? ? ? ? ?
Enrollment ? ? ? ? ? ?
Child Friendly Classroom ? ? ? ?
Group Activities ? ? ? Level Specific Group Activities
Resource Materials ? ? ? Dynamic Graded Materials
Activity Tracking ? ? ? Simpler but Effective Tracking
Learning Outcome Evaluation ? ? Reading and Math Skill Evaluation
Remedial Classes for reading and math ? ? Daily Remedial Classes
School Libraries for Reading Enrichment ? ? Materials to build and sustain newly acquired reading skills.
Learning outcomes that each system will achieve in 3 years ( ASER results, Our Estimates) Learning outcomes that each system will achieve in 3 years ( ASER results, Our Estimates) Learning outcomes that each system will achieve in 3 years ( ASER results, Our Estimates) Learning outcomes that each system will achieve in 3 years ( ASER results, Our Estimates) Learning outcomes that each system will achieve in 3 years ( ASER results, Our Estimates)
Learning Outcomes in 3 years predicted 35 40 85 Age appropriate fluent reading and arithmetic skills
27
Future Plans
28
PI Intensive Program

• Key Points
• PI Intensive is the primary differentiator from
  ABL. With this program, the students who are
  lagging behind are identified and corrective
  steps are taken (evaluation correction)
• Intend to start off this in 500 schools of
  Sivagangai where there is increased teacher
  participation.
• Students are given new texts and not allowed to
  memorize
• More co-ordinators per school
• Small library in PI Intensive schools
• But costs increase due to this too
• Continue PI program in remaining schools to
  emphasize teacher participation
• Math Intensive Program in 120 schools
• PI Intensive being conducted in 10 other
  districts with CIFF aid
• Government has asked for story cards from AID
• Work with government so that ABL adopts the
  methodology of evaluation correction

29
Other Program

• Expand AA it to all high schools (414) of
  Sivagangai from 360
• Expand Village libraries to 500 villages from 300
• Start Community Learning Centers (CLC) in 60
  villages which have village libraries
• Start 120 Balvadis
• State is borrowing some of the ideas for its
  Activity Based Learning Method program, and also
  asking AID to expand the AA program. Need to work
  with the state to adopt these into their syllabus

30
Budget Request 2008-09
Heads Reading School Lib Intensive Reading Math Outreach Math Intensive Science Village Library CLC Pre-primary
Blocks 12 12 4 12 8 4 4
Units 500 schools 619 schools 120 schools 414 schools 500 villages 60 villages 120 Balwadis
Fulltimers 20 6 6 24 8 3 8

People Cost Rs. 720,000 Rs. 216,000 Rs. 216,000 Rs. 864,000 Rs. 288,000 Rs. 108,000 Rs. 288,000
Material Cost Rs. 1000,000 Rs. 247,600 Rs. 180,000 Rs. 496,800 Rs. 600,000 Rs. 120,000 Rs. 240,000
Coordination Rs. 150,000 Rs. 60,000 Rs. 60,000 Rs. 144,000 Rs. 120,000 Rs. 48,000 Rs. 60,000
Admin (10) Rs. 187,000 Rs. 52,360 Rs. 45,600 Rs. 150480 Rs. 100800 Rs. 27600 Rs. 58800
Program Budget Rs. 2057,000 Rs. 575,960 Rs. 501,600 Rs.1655,280 Rs.1108,800 Rs. 303,600 Rs. 646,800
Grand Total Rs. 6848,600 163,000 Rs. 6848,600 163,000 Rs. 6848,600 163,000 Rs. 6848,600 163,000 Rs. 6848,600 163,000 Rs. 6848,600 163,000 Rs. 6848,600 163,000
31
Other Options 2008-09
Option Particulars Total Budget
A Asha SV supports to the total project above. This is the of course our most desirable option! 163,000
B Project is implemented as above without scaling down. Asha SV supports the Intensive components alone Reading Intensive Math Intensive Science CLC And we try to raise funds for the outreach components separately - for the reading outreach, village library and Pre-primary. As these will be in different schools and villages (and a lower intensity program), the Asha SV schools and villages will be clearly kept separate. The evaluation for the Asha SV schools can also be done separately. 107,559
C Project is implemented as above without scaling down. Asha SV supports fully a few of the components above like Science, Village Library, CLC and Pre-primary (for example). And we will raise additional funds for the Reading and Math components. 88,440
D Asha SV supports the project in Sivagangai with the following scaling down of the project components Reading School Lib 200 schools Outreach Reading Math program 919 schools Math Intensive program 120 school Science 360 schools (existing - with lesser materials than proposed above) Village Library 300 library (existing but with lesser materials than proposed above) 92,523
E Asha SV supports only the Science program in all schools in the district with a greater intensity than done in the last year (more materials and people). 39,400
F Asha SV supports only the Library and CLC components - the community components. 33,628
G Asha SV supports only the Science Program - but at the same level of intensity as done last year. 1 person per block and lesser number of kits/school (costing Rs. 800 per school/year) 25,182
32
Q A