CACR’s April Adventure

Citizen Association of Child Rights

5th - Meeting with Education Officer and Mr.Astad from BCPT

7th- Meeting with Superintendent Manasi Apte and parents with CACR member (Dr. Richa)

10th - Meeting with parents in the Nityanand school with five CACR members

11th, 12th and 17th - Computer training teachers of H-west teachers by Dr.Wagle

13th - Students from KJ Somaiya interest in volunteering

16th - Meeting at IIT

17th - Meeting DMC w.r.t Varun school parents

17th - Meeting with EO on enrolment drive posters

17th - Meeting at Govandi station school w.r.t SDP

21st, 22nd and 25th - ADAPT program for BO and HM

22nd - HC order on mid-day meal to allow Centralized Kitchen’s passed

24th - Empowering Times - CACR featured in Standing Ovation

26th - Meeting musicians with Sandeep

27th - Encroachment on BMC property, in Malad and Andheri found

27th - Meeting with ORF

27th - Meeting to discuss fund-raising programs

28th - Funding Appeal sent to individuals

29th - Varun results out-Decision to take over the school pending

30th - Meeting with TISS

30th - Marol police camp’s “toilet issue”, letters received

FOREWORD-April Actions

The month of April brought in summer vacation for the school kids and election duty for the

teachers, but kept CACR members largely occupied in planning for the next academic year,

forging new partnerships, strengthening and reviewing existing ones. All in all a busy month

indeed!

Our spoken English program with BCPT (The Bombay Community Public Trust) was

implemented in few schools last academic year. To plan better on how to avoid the technical

glitches we had faced in the existing year and to roll out the program in a more efficient manner

next year, Mr.Astad from BCPT and Mr.Mirchandani from CACR met the Education Officer – EO.

The possibility to roll out the program via Virtual classrooms was also discussed.

Finally, it was decided that the DVD’s and TV sets available with the schools be repaired and

used when the schools reopen in June. Mr. Mirchandani will be co-coordinating the project in all

schools of H-WEST Ward.

CACR members have been trying to get RTE laws implemented in all MCGM schools. It was

reported in our previous newsletter - March Edition that Patel Education Trust running Varun

International School (illegally) in the BMC building premises has been commercially exploiting the

parents of school kids by taking 5000 to 20,000 Rupees per child in the name of tuition fees and

also the management has been punishing the students who fail to pay such fees. Both of these

are BLATANT RTE Act Violations. Moreover, parents are threatened by the school Headmaster

not to interact with the Ngo CACR or the media otherwise their children will be expelled from the

school

CACR members –Dr.Richa, Mr.Nitin, Mrs. Chitre, and Mrs. Vidya Vaidya have been pursuing the

matter with the Education Department to get speedy justice for the parents. Meetings were held

on April 7th and 10th in the school premises wherein parents openly expressed their concerns,

fears, and disappointment with the quality of poor education been given to the students, and

monetary exploitation being done by the school management. CACR has escalated their

complaints to the highest authority – AMC education and sought help for a speedy resolution

before the next academic year begins in June ’14. Print media also carried an article about the

same HERE and HERE

This month also saw two well received training programs carried out by Dr.Sharad Wagle from

CACR and by members of ADAPT (Able Disabled All People Together). Dr. Wagle provided

training to teachers of H-west wards in Basic IT Skills such as computer usage, typing and editing

the document, how to search a document on internet; etc .The AO of H-west “Mrs.Hemlata

Barwal” said that she found the session to be highly useful and informative. In total, teachers,

Beat officers and staff from H-west ward attended the training program by Dr.Wagle on 11th, 12th

and 17th April.

The program by ADAPT was about sensitizing and creating awareness about Inclusive

Education for disabled, handicapped, and special children studying in schools. The RTE

stresses on the need and application of Inclusive Education in all schools of India. The program

was appreciated by all attending Headmasters and Officers. Mrs. Sharmila Donde from ADAPT

has written a brief report about the training program that can be found on the CACR Blog here.

CACR has tied up with IIT Bombay to bridge the digital divide in public schools where the

kids don’t even know the basic parts of a computer. From introducing the students to computers,

to making them confident enough to type, edit and format text; CACR volunteer for Computer

Literacy Project-CLP have come a long way. Using IIT spoken tutorials we could train 600 kids in

schools of Andheri east, Vile Parle (east), Andheri (west), and Chembur. IIT soon plans to

distribute the certificates by organizing an event for current and future volunteers. The details of

implementation of the program in many more schools and teacher training in thirty or more

schools from June 2014 was discussed with Prof. Shyama Iyer when CACR members met her on

16th April. So far students from HR College and VESIT engineering college have volunteered for

the project. Talks are underway to get K.J. Somiaya students involved in the project too. Mr.

Deepak is coordinating with them.

CACR had tied up with Rotary club in their Chatra Adhikar project and nominated many

Rotarians in SMC’s across Mumbai. One such dedicated Rotary club members is Cdr. Jana who

was a SMC member at Govandi municipal school. On April 17th, he and a few other citizen

volunteers met the Headmaster of the school to talk about the progress made so far and discuss

about the SDP-School Development Plan for next year. He has given a detailed feedback about

the points discussed and CACR will be taking it to the concerned department officials to resolve

the problems.

In a Landmark judgment, the Mumbai High court ordered that the Mid-day meal provided in

BMC schools will no longer be cooked and supplied by the Mahila Bachat Gadh’s (Mid day meal

contractors). But, instead, it will be supplied by the Centralised Kitchens. CACR members have

previously too pulled up erring contractors and complained to the higher authorities about

negligent contractors and HM’s. You can read about it HERE.

“We totally welcome the HC Order making Centralised Kitchens responsible for cooking

and distributing food”

Two new issues of encroachment were bought to CACR notice. School buildings in prime

locations of Malad and Andheri stations are given to private players to set up their own classes

and private colleges without any monitoring done by the department. CACR visited both the

schools and will be taking up this issue soon with the authorities.

In another endeavor to implement the RTE clause of separate toilet for Boys and Girls, CACR will

be following up to get separate toilets made in Marol Police Camp school. Since the school is in

rented premises that are owned by the Police Department, we need to get permission from the

department for construction of the new toilets. K-East’s AO “Mrs. Rao” will be coordinating with

CACR in this aspect.

On April 17th, CACR took parents from Varun International School to meet the DMC and

Education Officer. They explained the illegality going on in the school in their own words and

demanded BMC to take over the school as soon as possible. On the same day, CACR members

also spoke to the EO about the imminent enrolment drive to admit students in BMC schools.

CACR has also made a few creative handbills to spread awareness on the issue and these were

shown to

the EO.

You may

also have a

look.

On April 24th, CACR was featured in ‘Empowering Times’ in the Standing Ovation’s

section.

CACR team member, Dr.Richa, has been trying to design a heath and sanitation project for the

school children and parents covering basic self-hygiene, prevention from fever, malaria, dengue,

stomach infections, nutrition, mental agility, and stress management. We had met professors

from TISS-Tata Institute of Social Sciences to find out how we can synergize and shape this

project to spread awareness and prevention in schools.

To discuss about another collaboration opportunity we met with ORF – Observer Research

Foundation member Aparna Shivakumar. The possibility to work together for a think-tank to

influence educational practices and policies was discussed. Last month, CACR member Dr.Richa

was a panelist in the ORF conference for ‘Innovation and Best Educational Practices in

Maharashtra’.

Like any organization or government, a Non-Profit (Ngo) too needs funds to function effectively.

As you have read above, CACR too has a host of important projects lined up that will benefit the

school students and we are in need of funds to implement and execute these projects – Student

Enrolment drive, Computer training for teachers, Healthcare awareness, etc. So request all of you

to DONATE to Citizens Association for Child rights –CACR to make these projects a reality. Any

amount, BIG or small, counts to make a difference.

Hope you liked the Newsletter

spread of this month.

Write to us at

connect.cacr@gmail.com with your

suggestions and feedback.

Regards,

Richa Singh

CACR

Volunteer Speak --The Enactus HR connection

Saachi Jain Jaiswal, Director of Enactus H.R College of Commerce and Economics and also our

esteemed volunteer shares her accounts of implementing the Computer literacy program in BMC

schools

Collaboration of CACR with Enactus H.R College provided a new experience not only for me but

for the students’ as well. Working in the D.N Nagar municipal school and teaching children

of 6th and 7th standard computer literacy was an enriching experience.

To see them understand and comprehend what was being taught, to empower

them with computer literacy so that they could better their future and the feeling

of self satisfaction for investing energy and time trying to make it happen

was truly gratifying.

A wonderful experience and a step towards an educated India!

Computer Literacy is really important in today’s world. Before we could go and teach these

students, we attended a session to understand the entire process of executing this program in

schools. This session happened in the premises of my college and was truly enriching and fun. I

was enthusiastic enough to go right ahead and teach these students.

The first day was surprising because my assumption was proven wrong as a lot of the students

knew about power point /excel. But when it came to executing and working on the computers,

they hesitated as their practical experience was limited. They weren’t sure which keys were used

for what purpose.

I conducted the training, three days in a row in the DN Nagar Municipal School.

Day 1:

We started off with the basics of computers; for example the start button, the keyboard, desktop,

and so on. The students took keen interest and wrote down notes as we continued further into the

class. We also conducted a small quiz wherein the students were awarded chocolates for correct

answers. We tried to make the session as interesting as possible.

Read more...

I am proud to be

a part of such

an initiative and

hope to continue

working towards

its goal.

Partners Speak Sensitization Program for Principals of BMC

Schools

21st, 22nd and 25th April 2014

ADAPT in collaboration with CACR (Citizen’s Association for Child Rights) conducted

Sensitization and Awareness Program for 1250 Principals and 125 Beat Officers of BMC. The

program was conducted at the BMC Education office, Dadar over three days with two batches of

three hours daily. Each batch was attended by 250 participants.

The content included Introduction to Inclusion, Inclusion and Social model, Experiencing

Disability, Preparation for Inclusion and Simple classroom strategies for inclusion and

Concessions for Children with disabilities. The sessions were interactive where a lot of

personal experiences were shared. The principals asked queries about CWD in their schools.

Film ‘Mil Jul ke’ was also screened during the program. The participants were given handbooks

on Inclusion in Marathi. Pre and post questionnaires were filled by the participants.

The program was well appreciated by the principals. Some of them personally came and

expressed that the program has created awareness and changed their attitude towards persons

and students with disabilities.

Read more...

So What’s New?

CACR featured in EMPOWERING TIMES-STANDING OVATION section

Students benefited from CLP CROSS 1300 MARK in 2013-14

Approx. 1000 students for Spoken English Project in 2013-14

In The Pipeline

Collaboration with TISS

Collaboration with Childline

Collaboration with Nalanda Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya

CACR Project Report 2013-14

ANNOUNCEMENTS

CACR on five Social Media platforms –Connect now for latest Project updates

CACR invited to Rotary club to collaborate on HAPPY SCHOOLS PROJECT

STRUGGLING TO FIND THE MID-DAY MEAL GR? SMC INFORMATION? RTE Act?

Don’t worry, CACR has them list on its WEBSITE’S HOME PAGE

CACR wants to HIRE Interns/ Part-time assistants. DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE FOR

THE JOB?

Thanks,

CACR EDITORIAL TEAM

www.ngocacr.com

Citizen Association of Child Rights

NOT FOR PROFIT; ALL FOR CHILDREN

1, Prabhav Society,

2nd Road, TPS III,

Santacruz (E),

Mumbai-400055.

Mr.Nitin Wadhwani 91-09987598509

E-mail: info@ngocacr.com

For more: click here

www.ngocacr.com

www.cacr.in

Mr. Nitin R Wadhwani (Founder & Director)

Nitin is a Science graduate from Mumbai, with a

Diploma in Radio Electronics. He has Anchored

Mumbaiites for Child Rights (M4CR), a CRY

initiative, for almost 5 years, before proceeding to

establish CACR, a NGO registered as a Section

25, Not for Profit Company.

From time to time he keeps on interacting with concerned

authorities in the Education Department for overall improvement in

functioning and quality education in Government Schools for

underprivileged children.

Nitin Says: I strongly believe in creating awareness and in citizens’

participation on child rights issues with focus on ensuring free, quality

and compulsory education for all children.

Mrs. Vidya Vaidya (Director)

Vidya is an Artist and Social activist. She is an

Alumnus of the Sir J.J. School of Fine Art, Mumbai

and has had a number of exhibitions in Mumbai and

other cities.

She is the Trustee and Hon. Secretary of the 'H (W) Ward Citizens'

Federation' and the 'Gen. A. K. Vaidya Nagar Rahivasi Sangh' of

Bandra Reclamation.

Vidya Says: Public involvement and child rights advocacy can aid to

improve the quality of education in schools

Mr. Deepak Wadhwani (Director)

Deepak is a Commerce Graduate and a

businessman in the trading industry. He hails

from Amil Community (Hyderabad Sind).

He has been associated with NGO’s and ALMS’s such as AGNI

and ALMANAC contribute to various civic social issues for the

past 3 years and also has worked earlier as a CRY volunteer.

Deepak Says: Having met like-minded volunteers, now with Citizens

Association for Child Rights, I want to ensure improved functioning

and quality of education in BMC schools.

Dr. Richa Singh (Head– Projects &

Branding)

From early days Richa (Bachelors in Dental

Surgery) was keen to volunteer and make a

difference in the fields of education and health

care. She has also obtained a professional

diploma in management from Thadomal

Shahani trust, Mumbai and holds a certificate

in Management Principles from ILM, UK.

Richa Says: CACR is a citizens’ movement to reclaim our

government schools that are fast vanishing due to decrease in

student enrolment and a decline in quality of education."

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