7/8/2002 Second round of question-answers - received by post in Telugu. Translated by Madhuri Yechuri and later edited. ------------------------------------------------------ 1. Targetting workers who do not belong to any union (especially farm laborers), we have started a magazine called "union". i request you to introduce this magazine to people who can read telugu and are interested in such kind of magazines. 2. Each issue of the magazine is being sold for Rs.5. If a couple of you are interested in it, please let me know the number of copies and one address where i can post it to. i am sending two issues of it with this letter. Please go through it and let me know your comments. We do not have experience in teaching field. We are still in the learning phase. Some of your questions pointed some gaps to us and made us think about new things. Running this school is the aim of all of us. Please do not hesitate to send us you suggestions and comments. Also, please give us information about other people working in this field. ______________________________ Answers to questions from AID: Q - Based on your experience in running the school in Ganugurolu, what progress did the children make in a year ? For example, were they able to learn Telugu, do some mathematics etc. ? 1. Please refer to the answer to question #2 from Asha. In arithmetics, we teach tables, additions, subtractions, and small math like that. Q. How much time do you expect it will take for the children to be ready for ITDA schools - will it be three years or more ? 2. After estimating that it will take 3 years, we mentioned the time as 3 years in the proposal. Q. Did you consider using Non-Formal-Curriculum for the schools ? Since you also mention in your last mail that the state curriculum has little relevance in the lives of the tribal children, do you have any plans to introduce non-formal-education in the schools. 3. This school will offer classes up to 3rd standard. We have not yet framed any non-formal curriculum. We will make an attempt to do it. We have friends in Anakapalli who are in the teaching field and have advanced ideas. They have told that they will offer complete support in training the teachers. Q. Are the school teachers able to speak the Kondh language ? Since the school curriculum is in Telugu, do the children face any difficulty in learning ? 4. All the teachers might not speak Kondu language. We will give preference to Kondu unemployees during selection. There will definitely be problems if the children are taught in telugu curriculum. But unless the children overcome this problem, there is no other way for them to continue in the Ashram school. Q. We understand from your proposal that Kondhs are primarily migrants. So is it possible that the 10 villages where the schools are starting may shift ? The Kondh's villages are in reserve forests. Do they face threat of eviction from the government officers ? Will you be able to continue with the schools if any of this happens ? 5. You will get information from the Asha's question #8. Q. We will be interested in learning more about the other plans that you have for the Kondh villages. You had mentioned a plan that you have submitted to Mr. William Stanley in your last email. 6. This has been explained in the email sent to you. Q - Please try to send us an annual report for your organization if possible. 7. We recently translated it from telugu to english and put it in the computer. There are lots of mistakes in that (english version). Have not fixed that yet because of work pressure. Will send it to you as soon as we can. _____________________________ On 5/30/2002, i was sent 18 questions from Asha. Before that, i got 7 questions. Some of these 7 questions are present in the set of 18 questions mentioned above. I will first write what i know about the things mentioned in the 18 questions. i will answer the remaining questions from the 7 after that. Answers to Asha's quesions: Q1) How many schools does Praja Chetna run? As per the proposal, it is one school, but as per Kiran it is 3 schools. If just one, were the three teachers mentioned from the same school? 1. We are oraganizing 4 schools. Two of them are in V. Madugula mandal; they are: Raipalem (Sankaram panchayiti), Kondaveedi (Jalampalli panchayiti). One school is in Chidikaada mandal: that is Vaakapalli (Konaam panchayiti). One school in G. Maadugula mandal: that is Gaanugarolu (Gadutooru panchayiti). These are the 4 schools we are organizing. When Kiran came to Jalampalli panchayiti, Kondaveedi school was not running. The non-girijan teacher who was previously appointed here left in the middle. After that, a handicapped Girijan teacher from Lova-Kottapalli was appointed. Q2) Could you please let us know the impact of the Ganugurolu school on the children who attended them for a year? For example, did the children learn to write/read, etc. Were there some tests etc, if yes, could you please share it with us ? 2. It has been 7 months since we opened a school in Gaanugarolu village. In these 7 months, we have identified stundents as belonging to 3 categories: a) Children who are still learning the letters. b) Children who are learning multiplication tables. c) Children who have already learnt multiplication tables, and are currently learning reading and writing words. Most of the children belong to the first category mentioned above, and there are lesser number of children belonging to the third category. We are conducting exams to test knowledge of multiplication tables and words. The tests are being administered in dictation method (questions are dictated to the students). We have not established a common mode of administering examinations for all the schools. Including the schools sponsored by you, we will be having 14 schools on the whole. We would like to come up with a common mode of administering exams. It is the first time that a school has been started in Gaanugolu village (it has taken 20 years for this to materialize). The children are happy about it. The teacher we have chosen belongs to Kondakommara tribe. (he failed Intermediate exam). He lives in the same village with his wife. He is a calm and quiet person and mixes well with the children; as a result, the children are attending the classes regularly. 3 children from a Kondu Girijan village called Palavalabanda (which is 3km away) are attending this school. Q3) What do the parents feel about the schools? 3. As mentioned above, the opening of school in the village is making the villagers happy. The villagers themselves volunteered and built the school with grass kind of from the mountains. The villagers are also happy with the fact that the teacher lives in the same village. Men and women come and spend time at the school when they have free time. After starting this school, we are getting pressure from the neighboring Kondu villages. Q4) Give us more details on the syllabus and the non-literacy activities conducted at the school. Where did/do they get the training material for the non-syllabus subjects? 4. We are following textbooks for grades 2 and 3 as suggested by the State Government Curriculum. Since our aim is to send the students to Girijan Ashram school, we have to sincerely adhere to this syllabus. We have not done anything related to non-literacy programs other than including activities like singing songs and playing games. Q5) We are interested to know if you are planning to use other educational aids like games, toys, etc. for the school. If yes, are the expenses covered under the project budget? 5. Please examine our budget. We have not included audit expenses in this. In the beginning, we have to give slates and chalk to write on the slates to the children. Also, we would have to buy blackboard and chalk pieces. Similarly, for things like constructing the school building, we feel that we have to partly depend on the community and partly provide from our expenses (for example, attender remuneration needs to be provided for from our expenses). Our aim to put as little financial responsibility on the donors as possible. We will be having 14 schools on the whole. We will have to consult organizations and individuals to sponsor for the non-syllabus training material, toys, and other games items mentioned by you. There is a lot of material in the market related to non-syllabus stuff; we can rotate some of the material amongst the schools. But we do not have any specific plan laid out as to how to do these things as of now. Q6) The population was 36,365 as per 1991 census. What is the current population approximately? 6. As per the information provided by the Tribal Culture and Research dept of Paderu ITDA, there are 36,365 Kondu Girijans in Visakha agency in 1991. i feel that there are definitely more Kondu Girijans than the number given above. The reason for this is the absence of lot of villages from the census. The govt has released only the priliminary figure for 2001 census. The complete information is yet to be published. Therefore, we cannot yet provide the information requested. Q7) As per the proposal, there were 14 Kondh villages in 1994. We would like to know if the number of villages is still same or has the number grown? As stated in the proposal, the Kondhs migrate periodically; we would like to know how long they live in one particular village and what are the factors that force them to migrate? 7. From your questions, we feel that the facts mentioned in our report on Kondu Girijans' migration have not been understood correctly. Kondu is not a migratory kind of tribe. They have stable homes and are farmers. The problem is the following: because of developement programs, these people were displaced from Koraput zilla in Orissa and landed up in the bordering forest areas in Visakhapatnam district. They then started establishing villages and practising Podu form of agriculture in the forests. In Podu form of cultivation, the crop returns keep reducing with time. This puts pressure on the availability of food in the village. As a result, some families move out of the village in search of new forest areas and establish new villages in the new forest areas. This pattern continues. So, the 14 villages we are considering will not disintegrate. Only some of the families in the villages will move out. Sometimes, new families might move into the villages. It takes some time for the villages to form, grow in size, and then shrink a little because of families leaving the village. Please note that there is no documentation or research material available on the residence problems faced by the Kondu girijans. The things mentioned in our report are based on our limited years of experience (since 1994) with them. So, the 14 villages have been there without morphing. As far as i know, no news villages have been formed. In case new villages are formed, they will not be located close to the old ones (since people who formed the new village would have moved out because of land scarcity in the old village). i will give you an example of the movement of 3 families in Gaanugarolu. This will help you understand the situation better: Gaanugarolu village was formed around 20 years ago (Kondu people do not have knowledge of dates). Initially, when the settlers came, the forest was dense. The village elders invited 3 more families to join the village (this happened around 10 years ago). These 3 new families were allocated a piece of land (forest land). As a result of growth in the families of the original settlers in the past 10 years, the land that was initially given to the 3 extra families has been taken back. As a result, these 3 families migrated to Paderu area. The school strength reduced because of this move. Q8) We would like to know if the Kondhs face any problems Government, other tribals in re-settlement? How easy it is for the Kondhs to settle in a different forest/part of forest. Secondly, we would also like to know if Praja Chetana has any plans to help the Kondh's in their migration or to prevent the conditions that make them migrate ? 8. There are several reasons for the migration problems of Kondu girijans. It is important to politically consult with the Kondu girijans. Unless this is done, the problems of Kondu girijans will not be visible to the main stream. In order to achieve this, Praja-chetana has come up with a plan for the 7 mandals. We submitted this plan to Mr. Stanley who is the Director of WIDA organization that works in the Koraput area of Orissa where Kondu tribe originated. This plan has been sent to you through email. Please go through it. Q9) What are the different crops they grow? 9. Millets are their staple food. They also cultivate red, black, and white beans. Red beans (rajma) is used in north India. This is not usually eaten in south India. Q10) Have you already appointed a coordinator for the schools? If so, who is this person? 10. Praja-chaitanya is the co-ordinator for these 10 schools (Ajay Kumar is the supervisor). Q11) In the proposal budget, the number of individuals undergoing training is 20; could you please let us know who the additional 10 individuals are, apart from 10 teachers who will receive the training? If its a typographical error, please ignore this question. 11. Number of teachers for 10 schools provided by you: 10 Number of teachers currently present: 4 Number of teachers from Praja-chaitanya: 2 Number of union workers, and resource personnel working in the areas in which schools are present: 2 Q12) Has Praja Chetna considered recruiting individuals with prior teaching experience or are such individuals difficult to find ? 12: The answer is in your question. There is no dearth of qualified and experienced unemployed people in our country. But even if you given tons of money, they wouldnt live in villages like Kondu girijan villages. If schools have to function in these villages, the teachers will definitely have to live in the villages. For the salaries that we are offering, it is impossible to find people who are willing to live in these villages which are located in forests and mountain regions. Therefore, we will be dependent on girijan unemployed people. The selection criteria for the teachers has been mentioned by me in a previous note to AID. Please refer to that. Q13) What is Praja Chetna's relationship with LAYA? How do they share funds and manpower? Who are the people in LAYA? 13: I think there is no need to answer this question?! Q14) What are the criteria for the children to join the Tribal Residential school? 14: Should belong to Scheduled tribes and should have cleared at least 3rd grade. Q15) What classes do the residential school conduct? 15: These schools will offers 3rd grade through 10th grade. Q16) If Praja Chetna already feels that the mainstream education system is not going to help the girijans, what is the reasoning behind using government syllabus? Have they explored other NGOs' work who may have been doing similar work? 16: What we have written about main stream education refers to the existing education policies that are being implemented in the country and schools that we are administering that offer classes for 0-3 grades. Because of our limitations, we are not in a state to offer complete education for a student to reach a logical end following an alternative method. This is not possible for any non-government organization in my opinion. Students get free lodging and food in the govt residential schools. You can imagine the convenience that this would result in for the girijan family (especially Kondu girijan family). We have a fixed target in our mind which is to send as many students as possible from these 10 schools to Ashram schools. We do not have much information about people who are experimenting with pratyamyaya methods. In one occassion, we met Mr. Subbaraju who resides in Timbaktu-Collectil in Anantapur zilla. We do not have any inhibitions in taking help from people like him. Q17) How many volunteers are part of Praja-Chetna and who will be assigned to this particular project ? 17. As of now, Praja-chaitanya does not have any fixed projects. We have friends who work in farm-laborers association in Visakha zilla. Considering such affiliations, there are around 15 people/groups. Please refer to the answer to question #10. Q18) Can we get some photos of the project? 18. We are unable to send photos right now. Will be able to send them later. Best wishes, Ajay.