Newsletter: Jan-June 2021

Ghar Par Seekho Sikhao

The extended closure of schools due to the pandemic saw the continuation of our Ghar Par Seekho Sikhao (Learn and Teach at Home) initiative in the year 2021. The programme was started to engage parents and local community structures to ensure children's learning at home. It engaged children and used application-based learning to create an experiential and holistic learning experience. WhatsApp and SMS were used as modes of communication to send worksheets, audio files, links to stories, and Youtube videos. For people without network access, local community structures were leveraged to distribute worksheets to engage parents in the learning process. In UP alone, we reached out to 1000+ children. All these worksheets were then consolidated and made into workbooks. These activity workbooks consist of concept based worksheets that focus on :

• Understanding of concepts integrated with Life-skills leading to awareness of Self/Community/World, Health & Nutrition

• Clear identification of the learning outcomes, Math and Language skills, and the application of them in every worksheet

The developed content was sent in two groups:- one plan for children of class 1-2, and another set for children of class 3 - 5. these have been distributed to 2421 children.

This issue:

Ghar Par Seekho Sikhao
Page 01

SMC Training in Jharkhand
Page 02

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
Page 02

Vaccination Awareness
Page 03

Distribution of Ration and Hygiene Kits
Page 03

Special Mention
Page 04

Workbook for Children with Disabilities
Page 04

Training Of Government Resources
Page 04

Support Our Fundraiser
Page 05

The Department of Education in Ghaghra block came up with a plan to hold School Management Committee (SMC) trainings in schools and approached Prajayatna to conduct the training process effectively. This was also an opportunity for Prajayatna to reach out to a large number of SMCs in collaboration with the department and as a result, SMC of 71 schools have been trained in the month of February-march, reaching out to around 1000 members. Establishing and effectively using a library was one of the key agenda that Prajayatna had planned and have been able to facilitate in the schools. The common aspects most of the SMC planned for were:

• Increasing attendance of irregular children, and decreasing dropout rates.

• Cleanliness and Hygiene levels of the schools.

• Provisions to provide drinking water at the schools.

• Availability of first-aid and medicinal supplies.

• Organizing regular monthly meetings for the SMC

A blended learning approach - 'Namma Mane Namma Kalike' is based on the national ECCE curriculum and consisting of a total of 10 themes, including Me and Myself, My Family, My neighbourhood,etc. All activities can be conducted by parents using local materials along with digital content which is provided in written and oral form that includes e-posters, text messages & audio content in the local language, instructional videos, YouTube links, and other online resources providing stories, rhymes and guidance for Artwork and other activities.

Home learning kits were provided to all the children to ensure that basic learning materials and stationery along with local materials helped the children engage actively in the learning process. This initiative was implemented in the 32 anganwadis of Yelahanka circle in Bangalore. The Anganwadi teachers who attend the AWCs and are not allowed to have physical classes facilitate the learning of the children by sending content over phones and then following up with the children and parents through phone calls. These teachers were also trained to be able to utilise technology and reach out to more children, and this approach impacted over 600 children at Yelahanka circle, Bangalore.

Vaccination Awareness

A poster campaign was run by sending information about the pandemic and the importance of vaccination through posters sent via Whatsapp to all the parents, SMC, GP members, and other community members. This campaign reached around 4000 people of our working areas in UP, Jharkhand, and Karnataka.

Prajayatna then took up the initiative of conducting awareness campaigns and vaccination drives in communities that don't fully understand the effects of COVID-19. This was done in partnership with the Department of Health in Chitrakoot and Bahraich of Uttar Pradesh. Prajayatna conducted vaccination campaigns and door-to-door awareness campaigns along with public announcements explaining every detail related to COVID - symptoms, medication required, the importance of vaccination, and maintaining proper social distancing and hygiene in their daily lives. We reached around 20000 households and got around 800 people vaccinated.

Jayashree is an Anganwadi worker who even after many years of service is as enthusiastic and energetic as the day she first joined. Her dedication was especially displayed during COVID-19 where she undertook the following initiatives :

• Ensured distribution of nutrition to AWC children, and educate them about maintaining self-hygiene and cleanliness around them.

• Identified marginalized communities around her Anganwadi and ensured the distribution of dry rations to over 250 families in these communities. Continued her efforts through the second wave helping provide ration and hygiene kits to 50 impoverished families.

• Surveyed 3828 households for COVID symptoms, and provided extended support to those who tested positive.

• Conducted awareness campaigns for COVID vaccinations, monitored vaccination protocols at the centres and ensured that community members took their vaccines.

• Distributed sanitary napkins to adolescents in her Anganwadi’s community, conducted awareness sessions for all the girls in the community regarding menstrual hygiene.

• Ensured distribution of e-learning content to all children through Whatsapp and helped implement Prajayatna's remote e-learning program.

Special efforts were made by Prajayatna to leave no child behind, especially those with disabilities. Keeping in mind their special needs we created a workbook for inclusive education, consisting of activities and worksheets to help all children especially those with visual, speech, developmental or intellectual impairments. This workbook is concept-based, incorporating motor and cognitive skills and language-based activities to support the holistic development of the child. We broke it down into four themes - family, our home, our village, and the community. It has been made inclusive so that all children have equal opportunities to learn. These sections in the workbook are designed to help identify one's difficulty and help overcome it by learning in a different way, THEIR WAY.

Prajayatna is part of the ECCE Technical Committee for Karnataka, and is part of the efforts of the Department of Education to initiate pre-primary sections in government schools. Prajayatna along with other members of the committee(consisting of other NGOs and Universities) worked on training the master trainers from the Department of Education to implement their Early Childhood Care and Education(ECCE) programs in the state. We conducted these trainings for more than 107 staff including Master Resource Persons, Cluster Resource Persons and DIET staff from all 30 districts in Karnataka.

Now that the world is opening up post-COVID lockdowns, Prajayatna is looking to continue its community initiatives through a mix of blended education, group sessions and remote learning activities to ensure the continuation of the learning process for children. To achieve this, Prajayatna plans to use three different programs each aimed at targetting specific focus areas of the child, their stakeholders and their entire community:

• Mohalla Classes at INR 2000/month: Prajayatna plans to initiate and run Mohalla classes(community centers) for small groups of children facilitated by a volunteer from the local community. 10 mohalla classes are already up and running in both UP and Jharkhand, and Prajayatna is planning to start another 50 more in the near future.

• Ghar Par Seekho Sikhao at INR 100/child per month: The extended closure of schools due to the pandemic saw the continuation of our Ghar Par Seekho Sikhao (Learn and Teach at Home) initiative into the year 2021 as well. Prajayatna plans to continue sending e-content for this program but will need to provide the children with activity worksheets. This will reach children in 125 schools and 10000+ children across the remote villages of UP, Jharkhand and Karnataka.

• Namma Mane Namma Kalike at INR 400/child: 'Namma Mane Namma Kalike' (Our home, Our learning) is based on the national ECCE curriculum and comprises a total of 10 themes, including Me and Myself, My Family, My neighbourhood, etc using local contextualized materials that are readily available for parents and children to use. The program includes providing e-content alongwith home learning kits and worksheets to children and aims to reach 80 AWCs in UP and Karnataka covering 2500+ children.