Career Counselling Session at Youth Group Meeting, 30th June, 09

Date: 30.06.09

Place: Pardarshita, F-185, New seema Puri, Delhi-95

Resource person: Mrs. Saraswati

On 30.06.09 we organized career counseling for the youth of Seema puri. Counseling is started with the introduction of youth with the recourse person, In which every member of the youth told about himself/herself i.e. about name, class school name, hobbies, courses they want to do, etc. after that the resource person Mr. Sarswati Nayar introduce herself with the youth group. She also told that she doing social work from last many years.

After that she starts counseling with the student who enter in the tenth class and the student who clear tenth class. She told that the student of tenth class can do the following courses:

                                              

After that she completely gave a speech on these topics then she told the students who are interested in math, those students can take commerce..

After that she told that the students who take science can choose medical line, student that take commerce can choose CA line, and the student who choose arts have many line e.g. Govt. jobs, political party etc. Then the students asked many questions from Resource person and she reply very smoothly to students.

Then she starts counseling with the 12th class students.

She explain the three steams fully- Engineering, Commerce and Medical

Then the resource persons inform that after 12th you all can enter in the collage according to the choice of your course.

Even you all can do these courses from the private collage.

B.P.P:- Bachelors Preparatory Programme

Then she briefly told about this course, she told that the student who is failed in 10th, and the 11th, 12th student can also do this course,

This course is done from IGNOU and the age limit of this course is above 17.

Fees structure: Rs. 2000.

Duration: 2Years

She also told that this course is equal to 12 pass.

IGNOU: - Indra Gandhi National Open University

Indra Gandhi National Open University can start lots of courses. Center of the IGNOU is open in all states of India.It also start vocational courses i.e. moter viding, book viding, radio and TV, Plumbing etc. along with all other courses are running i.e. B.A, M.A, PhD etc. IGNOU can also send for the training for many courses i.e. BSW, MSW, B.ed etc. The fee structure of all couses is different i.e. starting from 800 to 25000. And the exam of these courses is held in June and December.

                 

AFMC:- Air Force Medical Collage

The student can be eligible in this course after 12th. This course can be done after clearance of entrance test.

                 

Vocational Courses: -

These courses can be done with the continue of 8th, 9th, 11th, and 12th.these courses can be applicable for girls and boys, the fee structure of the courses are different. These courses art promoted by, Ngo’s, private institute and collages.

• Steno

• Typing

• Beautician

• Airhostess

• Modeling

• Photography

• Nursing

Courses Related to Agriculture:

• Dairy Technology

• Portly Technology

• Rural Management

Courses related to Mass Communication:

• Advertising

• Film Making

• Public Relation

• Journalism

Courses Related to computer and IT (information Technology)

• Animation (cartoons)

• Call center training

• Web designing

• Web Developer

• Out Recourses

For the entire above course English is must and the fee structure of these courses is near about 1 lakh

In the end of the session she told about the some good collages.

WOMEN'S CAPACITY BUILDING TRAINING, BAWANA & SEEMA PURI, JUNE 2009

27th JUNE, 09

Women capacity building training of Bawana & Seema Puri was held on 27th June, 09. A resource person Mrs. Jyotsana Batra was invited to take the whole day session of training, 30 women from Seema Puri & Bawana attended the training.

A round of introduction of the all participants was conducted.

The meaning of capacity building was explained: It is to do self-management in limited resources.

Firstly, personality development was taken as a theme. What we are, we are forgetting all these we need to know the self development, and positive attitude has to be there. We should not think negative so it is must to think positive rather than thinking negative.

Secondly, the importance of creativity was explained. You feel confident if you have made some thing new out of the existing one.

An activity was given to the women for testing aptitude. All the participants were given a sheet to fill.

The third important thing which was explained was self-confidence. We have inbuilt fear that I can not do, but every one has some kind of talent, but we need to recoganise that talent, the example of CM Mayawati and Ex MP Rabri Devi.

Following five points were broadly discussed during the training:

• Thought (Positive Attitude)
• Self esteem
• Creativity (Confidence)
• Leadership
• Motivation                         

Importance of this pyramid was explained
                                 

The group was divided into two and all the women from the both community was merged after lunch. The session after lunch was started by the communication skill.

Communication Skills: After the lunch the group was told about the communication skill. We express our selves in three ways acting, speaking and writing just to communicate our expressions to others. Communication skills are very important just to convey our message, therefore while communicating to others.

A plot was given to the women groups to act. The plot was for the literacy of the girl child and to prohibit child marriage.

The group developed the story themselves and acted so well. It shows that once they are given the opportunity and proper training, they can do well in future.

Through this act it was tried to explain the importance of unity because in one group only 3 people participated and in other group all the women participated so it seems that all are equally responsible for the cause. One group raised the point of importance of girl education and abolition of child marriage; where as the other group took the issue of Sanitation, PDS, Electricity, MCD, Hospital. The address for Free legal cell was also given to the women: Member Secretary, Room No. 1, Patiala House, New Delhi.

Although it takes much time to build up the confidence, but it was more prominent on the faces of that group who came to attend the training, one of them stated to the resource person that we will try to implement this in our life and next time when you will come for the training you can feel the change in among us yourself. The primary focus of such kind of training is that to build self confidence and the way that women stated, I think that it is the right beginning.

This capacity building of women group was ended with thanks note of Mrs. Ritu. In this training women of Bawana & Seemapuri were learnt many things which will help them to build their capacity. 32 women attended the said training at ISI, Lodhi Road, New Delhi on 27th June, 2009.

Report on Protest against the MCD Teacher (Shanoo case)

An eleven year old girl child was punished by the MCD teacher and her punishment ends Shanoo’s life. On 16th April Afternoon we received a call from our volunteer from Bawana and he informed that a girl named Shanoo, 11 is very serious. Shanno, a girl student of IInd class studying in MCD School, E-Block, Site-5, J J Colony Bawana, went to school yesterday i.e. 15th April,09, but she failed to do her homework. When her class teacher Mrs. Manju asked about the homework and came to know that Shanno has not done her work, the teacher beat her and made her stand like a cock, put 2-3 bricks on her back for a long time. Suddenly after some time, Shanno got unconscious and fell down on the floor. Her teacher did not pay any attention towards her.

Shanno’s two sisters also study in the same school and when they came to know about this, they immediately rushed home to call their mother. Her mother took her to the hospital. When we came to know about this, we enquired the matter with the local people of Bawana and immediately sent a press release across the media and also to other NGO informing about the incidence.

A letter was also written to the Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, MCD Commissioner, Police Commissioner, Sh. Vijender Gupta Chairman of Standing Committee (MCD) and Director of Primary education demanding for lodging an FIR against culprit teacher and school principal, for demanding action against the teacher and sensitization of teacher to stop corporal punishment. An appeal was also made appeal to the people and other NGOs through emails for raising voice against such actions of teachers.

The police filed FIR U/s 304 A of IPC against the teacher after a long protest by the community people, but police has not arrested the teacher after four days of Shanoo’s death, therefore all the community people and other organizations of Delhi planned to organize a protest and in front of DCP’s (outer Delhi) office, Pitam Pura, at 11.00am on 21st April, 09 and demanding arrest of Mrs. Manju.

All the people and NGOs came together and raise demand for the arrest of teacher and strict laws against such kind of merciless corporal punishments being given in MCD schools.

A protest was organized on 21st April, 09 with the help of community people and other NGOs; Pahal, Nirmana, Navsrishti, Janwadi Morcha, Kabari Kamgar Union.

Protest at two places was organized; firstly more than 60 people and NGO representatives went to DCP (outer Delhi) office for peaceful protest and with a demand to arrest the guilty teacher.

The DCP met with the people in his office and assured that the teacher will be arrested soon once they get the PM report. He further stated that the investigations are in full swing, the SHO himself is investigating the case and they are enquiring the matter from the community as well as the classmates of Shanoo.

Secondly, a protest was organized at Police Commissioner Head office with a demand to arrest Ms Manju and stop the series of brutally killing series of children in the school. Hundreds of people from the community participated in the peaceful protest. The Jt. Commissioner met the people and he also assured that in inquiry is going on and the teacher will be arrested soon.

We have also met Mrs Shantha Sinha the chairperson of NCPCR regading this matter and also requested to frame some norms regarding protection of Child’s right, demand for trainings to sensitize teachers and arrest of the guilty teacher.

RTI helped in the admission of children belonging to Economically Weaker Sections of society in Private Schools- In-House Report by Ritu

Approximately 397 schools in Delhi have received land from the Government at subsidised rates on the condition that in return these schools reserve seats for the children of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in their schools. The allotment of land started in 1967 but none of the schools followed the condition of the Lease Deed. The worse part is that our Government did not take any action against this violation. This matter was highlighted when a PIL was filed in the High Court and the judgement stated that all the schools which had been given land by the government have to follow the conditions of lease deed and simultaneously ordered the Delhi Government to frame rules and guidelines for the admissions.

In 2004 the rules were framed and since then the case is in the High Court and in consecutive proceedings, very good rules were framed.

Despite good orders, however, it was not easy to take admission. The Right to Information played a great role in this admission process, because this is the only tool which could make the department move. Oral requests and written complaints did not make the authorities work, but because of using RTI the department awoke from a long sleep and the admission of poor children become possible in Public Schools.

Case Study I

Shakila, a labourer, who hails from a jhuggi cluster; works in a factory to raise her two children. Her husband lives in another state and does not provide any financial support for the upbringing of the children.

In the beginning of this year when volunteers of Pardarshita initiated mobilising people for admission under EWS quota, she also realised that inspite of her low status in society, her children can avail better quality of education. After being aware of this information, she had approached 5 schools (Dayanand Model School, Arwachin Bharti Bhawan, New Oxford Public school, Siddhartha International School, Vivekanand Public school) where she was insulted by the gatekeepers and was not allowed to enter the school for the admission forms.

She had filed a complaint against these schools with the office of Deputy Director of Education (DDE) but no action was taken for a long period of three months. But suddenly in the month of April her child got admission in three public schools (New Oxford Public school, Dayanand Model School and Vivekanand Public school) and some officials from Education Department (East District) had visited her and requested her to withdraw her complaint.

This had not only happened with Shakila, but with more than 300 parents who were seeking admissions of their wards in public schools under this quota and were denied by the school authorities. The officials who could hardly be bothered to take any action against the complaints have now come out of their air conditioned rooms and started visiting the complainants. Moreover the principals from the schools which had taken money for forms under this scheme have visited the slum and returned their money. This had become possible only because of the complaints followed by the RTI applications which insist the officials to come out from their AC rooms to the jhuggi cluster of these people. In the RTI application they have asked for:

1. the daily progress report on their complaints which they have filed with the department,

2. the enquiry report which the department was supposed to do on her complaint.

Although she did not get the reply, the government machinery moved and admission process started

Case Study II

Radha, Malti, Foolbano and Afsaan got their children admitted in a reputed school in East Delhi but the administration asked them to submit Rs.3466/- as admission fees if they were to attend classes. These perplexed women requested the principal, and they showed the order by the Education Department in which it was mandated that children from unprivileged section of society do not have to pay any registration fees, prospectus fees or tuition fees, but the school did not concede to it.

When these women were left with no hope they approached the director, the Deputy Director and an officer of the Education Department with a written complaint. They would meet these officers everyday after filing these complaints. Even after 2 months of the lodging of these complaints their children were not allowed to sit in the classes.

After all these efforts, these women enquired of the Director of Education Dept., Mr. Vijay Kumar, under the Right to Information. They asked that in response to the complaint filed by them about a school demanding Rs.3466 from unprivileged children, which officer is working upon the matter and they also demanded the investigation report. They also asked for a photocopy of the show cause notice issued to the school and their response to the Education department based on the complaint filed by them.

After filing this complaint under RTI Act, we got the response within 15 days that they have investigated that school has not only seeking money from them but has collected money from 16 other underprivileged students. On the basis of the complaint departmental action is being taken against the concerned officer of the Education Department and the school has been ordered that students be given admission within one week and the Education Department be notified about it. The next day, the school authorities themselves came to request these people to send their children to school. With that, they sent a written notice to 16 people who paid Rs.3466 to come and collect that money from the school

In the last three years more than 700 children had been admitted because of the employment of RTI.

Pre-Election Campaign Report, 30 April 2009

On 8th April, 2009 Action Aid India organized an Election Campaign to aware the community about their voting rights at Garhwal Bhawan, Karol Bagh, New Delhi. In continuation of this it was also discussed that a follow up meeting with the community people will be held in each District, therefore keeping this in view a open meeting in the community was organized with the help of organizations working in Seema Puri and with the help of community people, Seema Puri market association with this on 30th April, 2009 PARDARSHITA organized an Election Campaign in East Delhi at D- Block Park, New Seemapuri with other alliance.

In this election campaign representatives of many organizations represented their organization. The alliance organizations/ associations are as below:

1. New Seemapuri Mahila Sangathan

2. Mobile Crèches

3. Prathamik School Bachao Andolan

4. All India Kabaadi Mazdoor Maha Sangh

5. Akhil Bhartiya Jan Chetna Manch

In this campaign around 300 women came out to raise their issues. Their issues were related to sanitation, ration, implementation of different welfare schemes, children’s quality education, up gradation and proper functioning of dispensaries, day care centre & crèches for children of working women, water problem, power cut etc.

In this campaign many social activist deliver their message to promote the people about voting right. Their messages are as below:

• Lakhi Das: She appeal to the people that to cast their vote on 7th April, 2009 because it will elect the right person who will fulfill our demand and we can approach him in easy way after the election also.

• Nasreen: She told the people about the importance of voting and how to choose their representative, because their valuable vote could give them a responsible representative.

• Jawar Singh: He appreciated the demand list of community women and encouraged them to keep a vigil regarding the development works which are being done by their elective representatives in their areas

• Kallu Das: He is from Maharastra and said that the problems of people are very similar in all over India. So we should fight to get our rights. Our voting right plays the major role to get our other rights.

Not only the activist but the women from the community came out and brought forward their demands with respect to their community they belong to.

The MLA & Councellor of the area were also invited so that people could represent their demand, but both of them failed to attend the campaign. The women have also framed a demand letter to present to their MLA & councellor.

By this campaign the people were aware about their voting right and people were mobilized to raise demand about the work which ever they want to pursue in their community and keep a vigil about the work which have been accomplished in their blocks.

Report on Capacity Building of Youth Groups, October 2009

As we are working with youths of Bawana & Seemapuri since April’09 and since then youths are actively involved in various activity like school admission campaign, school awareness campaign, cloth distribution to fire victims in Bawana etc. They are also sensitizing and assisting the community in various issues like sanitation, health, education, PSD etc. Therefore strengthen of the group is necessary. It is also important that these groups will work as a resource group for the community who can understand the need of group, give the leadership to the community, by knowing how to access the various entitlements etc.

Therefore to fulfill these objectives a capacity building training of youth group was organized at USO house, New Delhi on 14th October’09. This training was attended by 20 youths from Bawana and 14 from Seemapuri. Out of total 34 participants 16 were girl and 17 from Muslim community. This meeting was started with the welcome note by Mrs. Ritu. She welcomes the resource person Mrs. Amita from ISST and introduced her to the youth group.

After that an introduction round has held in which Mrs. Amita made pairs of youths and told them that every one will introduce his/her partner. Each one made pair and introduced their partner as per guidance of Mrs. Amita. Thereafter the resource person interact with every youth and said them that what capacity we have. Every youth participated in the discussion and shared their capacity.

Mrs. Amita told to the youth group that we are a human being and because of that we have some responsibilities towards our family, community as well as our country. To fulfill these responsibilities we need groups which do the work together. She also focused on the importance of group. The youth groups from Bawana and Seemapuri got actively involved in the discussion.

Mrs. Amita related the active involvement of youth group with the steps of success. She divided the whole subject in nine steps which are as follows:

Step 1 (Time Management): She briefed the youth group that if you want to be succeed in any area then you should have follow first step that is time management. It will help you to do the work in time.

Step 2 (Responsibility): Mrs. Amita briefed to the youth group that in group activity the responsibility of work is on every individual and each one do their work as per their responsibility. The feeling of responsibility in each member will help the group to get success.

Step 3 (Unity): In regard with this step Ms. Amita briefed the youths that it is the most important step to get the success. She also told the story of poor farmer and his four sons and related the story with the importance of unity in a group.

Step 4 (Positive Attitude): It is the key point to get success by an individual or a group. She said that when we start any work with a positive attitude surely that work will be completed in the desired goal. She also told the group that for positive attitude our habits should be positive because habits become our attitude.

Step 5 (Mutual Respect): The resource person briefed the youth group that if you want to be in a group then mutual respect is necessary for every individual. So it is also an important step of success.

Step 6 (Friendly Behavior): Mrs. Amita briefed to the youths that to work in a group your behavior should be friendly. She also said that if there is lack of friendly behavior within the group you can not succeed in your task.

Step 7 (Knowledge): She told to the youths that when you are taking initiative of any group work be sure about its background and plan according your knowledge. The knowledge is also the key point of the success. It is the knowledge that will reach you to the top of the success.

Step 8 (Action): In concern with this step of success the resource person briefed the youth group that after passing the seven steps of success you will have to take the action against your work. In absence of action no one will succeed in life. So it is the important step of success.

Step 9 (Victory): It is the last step of success. Mrs. Amita said to the participants that if you follow the steps of success then the last step of success will be automatically comes in your path that is known as victory. The victory will lead you to do more and more group work.

All the participants actively participated in the whole session of training and they also entertained their selves by various activity like sang songs, presented jokes, played street play etc between the training session.

Mr. Rajiv, Project Manager, has also taken feed back from the youths about the training session. Each participant shared their view regarding training session they told that it will help them in how to work in a group, how to work for community, understanding the problems, lead the community in a positive way, follow the steps of success etc. Some participants also pointed that the resource person not explained the last two steps of success.

This training was also attended by Rakesh, Rajeev, Sapna, Vishnu and Farhan, who are working in Bawana and Seemapuri with Action Aid.

Report on Dharna before Education Director (MCD), August 2009

In the month of July, 2009 Action Aid India, Bawana, organized 15 admission camps at different focal locations and MCD Primary Schools of Bawana. During these camps it was noticed that teachers and Principals of different schools refusing to take admissions and asking several documents like Date of Birth certificate, Address proof, Affidavit etc. while these documents are not necessary for admission in primary school as per departmental guidelines and every child has Right to free and compulsory education under Article 21 A of the constitution.

Therefore we spread awareness among the parents to file complaints against schools who are denying admissions of their child. As a result around 85 complaints were generated and filed before Smt. Premlata Kataria, Education Director (MCD). But after the passing of 15 to 20 days no action was taken by Education Director (MCD) on the complaints. So a dharna was organized before the office of Education Director (Primary Education) at Nigam Bhawan, Kashmere Gate, Delhi to protest on this issue.

On 7th August, 2009 around 50 parents with their children and representatives of Pardarshita, Navjyoti India Foundation, A.V Baliga Trust were gathered and went to Nigam Bhawan to sit on Dharna before Smt. Premlata Kataria, Education Director (MCD).

She denied meeting the aggrieved parents but all parents were rigid to meet with her to ensure admission of their child. Finally Education Director (MCD) ready to meet with parents. She gave a letter to people regarding ensuring admission of every child in MCD primary school and directed the D.E.O, Narela Zone to look this matter directly.

As a result of this protest now MCD Schools of Bawana are not refusing admission to any child and more than 100 children are directly benefited from this Dharna. Out of which 55 are Muslims and 25 are girl children.

 

This issue was discussed in the alliance building meeting also and most of the organizations stated that they are also facing such problems in getting the admission of the child in their respective areas, so during Dharna most of the organizations working in North West Delhi participated and had a positive result.

Report on Dharna organized against the amendment of RTI Act on 14th Nov, 09 at Jantar Mantar

As we all know that our work is right based and Right to Information Act has proved to be an effective tool, and the RTI Act has just completed 4 years. In these four years, the Act has been used extensively by citizens to put out information related to public policy, human rights issues and systemic inefficiencies in the public domain. Yet, the Government of India is proposing new amendments to the RTI Act. These amendments are not to strengthen the law or improve its implementation. On the contrary, and despite repeated assurances from the Minister, DOPT and the Government of India , the proposed amendments, if introduced, will emasculate the RTI Act.

Therefore NCPRI and other citizen groups are organizing a protest at Jantar Mantar on 14th Nov’09. Therefore for opposing the proposal to weaken the Right to Information Act by amending it within the first four years of its implementation, people from 10 states across the country including the people from Seema Puri & Bawana gathered together at Jantar Mantar for a day long dharna to warn the government against bringing any amendments.

Several people’s groups and organizations and individuals and users of the RTI Act gathered at jantar mantar to support this dharna organised by the National Campaign for People’s Right to information. Amongst those present were -Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, social activist Aruna Roy, economist Jean Dreze, CPI General Secretary D Raja, RTI activist Shekhar Singh, renowned theatre personality Tripurari Sharma, Nikhil Dey and Swami Agnivesh of the ‘Bandhu Mukti Morcha’. A collective demand was made to not amend the Act but to implement it properly.

At the beginning of the dharna, participants observed a two minute silence for noted journalist and RTI activist Prabhash Joshi. Social activist and Magsaysay award winner Aruna Roy stated that by not allowing for any amendments to the RTI Act, we will be paying a true tribute to Prabhash Joshi. Roy said that in order to thwart any move to amend the RTI Act, there was a need to keep up a sustained and widespread people’s movement. She said that the RTI Act has not even reached every citizen of India today and the government is already wary of the Act, and that amending the RTI Act would be a step towards weakening it.

People from urban and rural Delhi and Rajasthan participated in the dharna in large numbers. Groups from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand were also present. On this occasion, Participants had brought several copies of the letter opposing amendments signed by more people of their respective states and organisations and expressed their opinion through slogans like ‘Say No to RTI Amendments’.

Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi, while addressing the dharna participants, stated: “This legislation has come into force through people’s movements. It has actually made people the supreme force in the democracy. There is no need for amendments in the Act. Development economist Professor Jean Dreze said that rather than limiting the Act by amending it, its scope should be extended to include the private sector and bank transactions. CPI General Secretary D Raja said that in the year 2006 as well, the Central

government had tried to amend the Act, an attempt that was foiled by people’s groups fighting for the expansion of democratic spaces. “Once again the government intends to amend this effective legislation, and this time, too, people’s campaigns and groups will come together to oppose the amendments,” said Raja. He also said that the current proposal reflects the government’s intentions towards an open and transparent system of governance. He said that the Right to Information is essential for any democracy, especially because it enables the participation of ordinary citizens.

Swami Agnivesh of the Bandhua Mukti Morcha asserted that any effort to weaken or amend the RTI is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. He said the government’s attempt to amend the law is like robbing the RTI of its letter and spirit. Professor Shekhar Singh, environmentalist and founder member of the NCPRI, said that the issue of amendments should be treated with gravity and that any attempt to amend the Act should be opposed tooth and nail.

The day long dharna ended with the participants affirming that if the government goes ahead with the amendments to the RTI without wide public Discussion and debate, we will gather once again in large numbers at Jantar Mantar to oppose any move by the government to weaken the RTI Act.

Report on condition of MCD school in New Seemapuri

We would like to start this report by thanking the government for all its efforts made in the direction of providing the nation’s children with the opportunities and infrastructure for education. However we would like to take this report a step further, by asking a question: Is it enough to only give the opportunities and provide the infrastructure, or is it essential to justify this provision and the resources spent on it by continual follow up and ensuring not just delivery of but also compliance with the services??

The ground reality is right here. A recent visit to an M.C.D school in New Seemapuri, Shahadra North zone, revealed a heart rending truth. We entered the school expecting to see our country’s future hard at work, battling its innocent wits with the formidable magnitude of knowledge set to be achieved. But what we actually saw was far from what this institution was set up to accomplish.

At a modest budget of rupees 1.1 crores; a new building was set up in 2007-08, to become a fully functional institute of learning. This building was complete with class rooms, toilet for students, provision for drinking water and a table tennis room. While all of these facilities still exist, none of them are available or of use to the students.

Condition of toilets: The only existing toilet for the students is always locked, leaving the students with no choice except to relieve themselves in the unlikeliest of places. The very class rooms for study, the temples of knowledge, have turned into lavatories. The marks on the wall and pools of urine on the floor are a ghastly reality check of the inconvenience faced by the little children.

Drinking water facilities: In the hottest of summer days, the children have no way to satisfy their thirst since drinking water is not accessible. Due to the fear of taps being stolen, the staff has permanently sealed the room with provision of drinking water. Moreover, they have removed the taps and inserted wooden planks instead, to completely do away with the water supply. As a result, any child who requires water has to go home to satiate his need, only to suit the teacher’s objectives very well, as no child usually returns home once he’s gone home.

Lack of interest from teachers: During full school hours, we were greeted by children of the school in the play ground. The only problem was that it was not their P.T. period, and there was not a single teacher in sight to supervise their activities. This gathering of students outside the classes was a result of absence of teachers from the classroom during regular class periods. A dearth of teachers results in none of the scheduled classes being held. The school has 25 class rooms with a minimum of 70-80 students in each class (a total of about 1,800 children in the schools), whereas there are only 13–14 teachers for the entire school. These teachers seem to give more importance in amassing knowledge themselves, and can be often found preparing for courses they have enrolled for or reading other entertainment material. When questioned, they have lost interest in teaching as the number of children per class is too much for them to indulge in any effective knowledge sharing.

Illegal activities in the old building: The old building that exists still is being judiciously used by the illegal miscreants, who can slip in and out of the school complex unnoticed and unchecked. Using the vacant class rooms as their base, they shamelessly indulge in gambling, drug, tobacco and alcohol abuse, and other activities which the children of the school, at their tender age, should not be exposed to. You can see bunches of people, some students as well, huddled together engrossed in a game of cards, underage smoking and drug abuse. This building has turned into a public urinal of sorts and the marks on the walls relay this fact. Just about a month ago, a dead body was discovered in the toilet block of this old building. The death was attributed to consumption of SMACK. Such instances further add to the grim environment at school. Some parts of the block have been demolished since then, but are still home to the above activities.

Unsafe conditions at the new building: The new building sure seems to offer a better environment for education as compared to the old one. But the insides tell a different story altogether. The unhygienic conditions created by helpless students urinating in the classrooms are sure shot sources of diseases. Other unsafe factors too endanger the lives of the students. Naked wires hanging along the stairs and protruding through the walls is a hazard in itself. There is high possibility of unsuspecting students to touch the wires and get electrocuted.

Irresponsible behavior on the part of the Headmaster: If the absence of safety, law, order, discipline and education on the whole wasn’t enough, the head master has been adding to the woes of expectant parents by refusing admission to their wards. The head master of the school retired on April 30, 2008. Since his retirement was on the anvil, he refused to grant admissions to the students for the new term and has deferred all cases to the time the new head master comes in. This claim is supported by the fact that there has not been a single student admitted into classes 2nd to the 5th since the beginning of this term.

The story above is of a single MCD school visited. There will be hundreds of more that have escaped any such notice. Our efforts have always been and will be in the direction of helping people with their rights, helping people claim what has been promised to them and helping people to fight for what their deserve. The intention is to give them access to provisions that would make a better tomorrow and not to encourage them to make unreasonable demands. Our dilemma lies in the situation where the supplier promises but fails to deliver. It is the promise that sets us to work. Very simply put, if there were no such promises, these would be mere content people and if promises existed but no consequent breaches, organizations like ours would have no business. But we alone, although strong enough, are not sufficient to fulfill this objective. The support of the government inevitable. We would request you to come forward support our endeavor to make it better tomorrow.

Note: This report was presented to the Department of Education and appropriate action has been initiated on this front.