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Rural school strengthening project- Half yearly report

January 2015

Background

The Asha Stanford supported rural school strengthening project has continued its

implementation in June 2014; in all the five project schools: - Panchayat Union / Government

schools in Kancheepuram district.

The project is implemented in 2 primary schools, in Ariyanur (26) and Chinna Venmani

(29) villages, one middle school, Periya Venmani (94), one high school which is Zameen

Endathur High School (194) and in a Higher Secondary School, Thiruvadhoor higher

secondary school (1600).

Total number of students benefiting from the programs in these schools include: 149 students

in the two primary schools and one middle school; 191 students in the high school and 1215

students in the higher secondary school.

In continuation from the previous years, the following activities are being implemented:

Para teachers are placed in the primary and middle school and in Higher secondary school

- Ariyanur, Chinna venmani, Periya Venmani, and Thiruvadhoor schools

One computer teacher has been appointed, who teaches the children use / operations on

computer, during a computer class, the primary and middle schools

Four subject special school teachers have been appointed for Thiruvadhoor higher

secondary school, to sixth, seventh, eleventh and twelfth: for commerce (11th and 12th),

English, Science and special classes on Saturday - .

Two subject special school teachers have been appointed for Zameen Endathur High School,

to teach Math and English for 6th, 7th and 8th standard students; and after school tuition for

10th standard students – they go to school daily at 8 30 am to take tuition for 9th and 10th and

in the evening for 6th, 7th and 8th class dull students.

Kalanjiyam

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As part of extra-curricular program, a drawing master

has been appointed to teach drawing for the children, at

least two times in a week

After school tuitions are being conducted for children of

the two primary and one middle school, as after school

program in the village. Tutors are appointed and they help

the students to do homework and study school lessons

and also to provide special support to students who need

additional support.

Student achievements In last year 10th board exams a total of 17 students who were supported by the project

scored over 80% marks in 10th board exams

o 14 students in Thiruvadhoor higher secondary School

o Two students who had passed out of Periya Venmani School two years back

o One student from Zameen Endathur high school

Activities conducted by the project:

Assessments Baseline ASER assessments were

conducted at the beginning of the school

year/ and in December, among the

primary class students.

Providing educational aids Students in the schools were provided

drawing note books, color pencils in the

primary, middle and higher secondary

schools.

Tamil English Tamil Dictionaries were

provided to all children from 5th class

onwards in all project schools.

School atlas has been provided to children from 6th class onwards in all schools.

Working with slow learners

One the learning needs recognized over the last few years, has been to have a special-

educator to support the program. We had a Special Educator on board, (as part of our other

Asha CNJ project) at Kalanjiyam and we leveraged this resource in the school where we felt

the most need, at Periya Venmani school – to spend one day identifying children with special

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needs. The process of assessment includes the following parameters: Cognition, name recall,

comprehension, Gross sills – balance, coordination, fine motor, academic parameters, reading,

writing and social skills and play skills.

Totally 8 children were identified to have learning challenges/ or as special needs children.

The para teachers in the project schools then shadowed the Special educator when he was

working with children in other schools (Asha CNJ schools) so that they can try to implement

some of the simple ‘interventions’. However with children who have more complex problems

require regular skilled professional to really help them, so we hope that this component can be

supported in the upcoming year.

After school tuitions

Daily after school tuitions are conducted in each village, Ariyanur, Chinnavenmani and

Periyavenmani. The format for the after school tuition is to help the children to catch up on

their school lessons and to do homework. Here they also practice their reading and writing,

and multiplication tables. In addition special home work is given to each child, based on

what the child needs to learn. General knowledge is also provided through reading from

different books/ sources.

This year we have also started some additional activities during the after school tuition, to

make it more interesting for the children and conduct special activities for which time is not

available during regular school hours.

Drama, songs, stories and play activities for 1st and 2nd standard students; Drama classes were conducted, based on moral stories, once a week; Songs in ABL cards were taught with action; and stories were told by instructors and students were asked to develop their own stories as well; different types of games were also taught to the children

For 3rd- 5th activities include games, recitation of poetry/ prose, and GK questions; these were conducted during the tuition classes and student who did well were provided small prizes to motivate them. In addition games like running race, skipping race, puzzles, and brain teasers were conducted.

Special activities Breaking up students into groups: To make it interesting for the children, this year we

divided students in all the classes in primary schools into four groups, each represented by

a color. To facilitate healthy competitive spirit, we have announced that the group with the

best scored (based on regularity, academic performance and other) will be provided prize

for all students in the group, at the end of the school year.

Competitions: The drawing instructor conducts regular drawing test/ competitions during

class and provides prizes; other than this, we conducted drawing competitions at the school

level and selected the good students and prizes were given on August 15th

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Independence Day celebrations: in all the project schools we conducted special

programs on Independence Day after flag hoisting. Running race and other small sports

competitions were conducted and prizes were given to students who won.

Speech competition: The students in all the schools participated in speech competitions

and the best students were given prizes on programs on 26th January for Republic day.

Newspaper reading habit is being encouraged. Each day Para teachers present recent /

important news stories. Other general knowledge is also being imparted on a regular

basis.

Engaging with girl students: One of the needs identified by the para teachers is to begin

addressing information needs/ vulnerabilities of girl students. So this year we have started

to take efforts to gather girls (in 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th) at the community level to engage with

them and start talking to them on their health, importance of education and any problems

they are facing in school or at home. We are also conducting awareness programs

regularly at Kalanjiyam training center, on reproductive health,

Scores from Exams We are seeing improvement in the exam scores in Zameen Endathur high school; except for Math, the

students are doing reasonably well. Now efforts are being taken to math scores increase and the

percent of all pass also increases among the 10th standard students.

Zameen Endathur High School – 10th standard Scores

1st Mid-term 2nd Mid-term Half Yearly Tamil 78.6 78.6 85.7 English 76.2 83.3 73.8 Math 38.1 45.2 42.9 Science 85.7 100.0 90.5 Social science 50.0 47.6 78.6 Total pass percent 35.0 32.0 38.0

In Thiruvadhoor School, project placed teachers have worked hard to improve the scores among the

10th class students. Marks in English and overall pass percentage are being focused on more strongly

going forward.

Thiruvadhoor higher secondary school – 10th half yearly marks

Tamil 65.0 English 46.7

Math 71.7

Science 91.6

Social science 67.4

Total pass percent 40.3

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Project Monitoring Parameters

The project monitoring indicators show consistent improvement in school regularity and other

child milestones. We are also happy to note that we see real improvement in school regularity

from the beginning of the school year.

Most of the other student milestones are good for all classes. This analysis does not

include the students with significant special needs.

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

reg1 reg2 reg3 reg4 reg5 reg6

Regularity of Class: June - November 2014

Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

Average aggregate Scores by Class for Monitoring Indicators

Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5

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Key Project Outcomes

Baseline Midline

Tam

il

Baseline - June 2014 Class 3 %

Class 4 %

Class 5 %

Total %

Class 3 %

Class 4 %

Class 5 %

Total %

Cannot read or write 0 5% 0 1.50% 0 0 0 0

can read only letters 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Can read only letters and words

45.0% 15.0% 8.0% 21.5% 0 0 0 0

Can read only letters, words and paragraph

15.0% 35.0% 8.0% 18.5% 20.0% 22.2% 9.1% 16.7%

Can read all up to stories 40.0% 45.0% 84.0% 58.5% 80.0% 77.8% 90.9% 83.3%

Total number of students 20 20 25 65 20 18 22 60

Engl

ish

Baseline - June 2014 Class 3

Class 4

Class 5

Total

Class 3 Class 4

Class 5

Total

Cannot read or write 0.0% 5.0% 0.0% 1.5% 0 0 0 0

can read letters 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Can read letters and words 50.0% 30.0% 16.0% 30.8% 0 0 0 0

can read letters, words and paragraph

35.0% 35.0% 32.0% 33.8% 30.0% 22.2% 13.6% 21.7%

can read all up to stories 15.0% 30.0% 52.0% 33.8% 70.0% 77.8% 86.4% 78.3%

Total number of students 20 20 25 65 20 18 22 60

Mat

h

Baseline - June 2014 Class 3

Class 4

Class 5

Total

Class 3 Class 4

Class 5

Total

None 0 0 4 1 0 0 0 0

Can count numbers 1 to 10 6 0 0 1 6 0 0 1

Can count numbers 99 to 100

25.0% 5.0% 4.0% 10.8% 10.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.3%

Can count numbers and add

10.0% 10.0% 4.0% 7.7% 10.0% 0.0% 0.0% 3.3%

Can count, add and subtract

65.0% 10.0% 4.0% 24.6% 80.0% 16.7% 9.1% 35.0%

Can count, add, subtract and multiply

0.0% 15.0% 20.0% 12.3% 0.0% 16.7% 9.1% 8.3%

can do all including division 0.0% 60.0% 68.0% 44.6% 0.0% 66.7% 81.8% 50.0%

20 20 25 65 20 18 22 60

Results from the assessments suggest continuing improvement in trends in Tamil, English and

Math. We do notice some lags in the star of the new school year in the English and Math

(particularly subtraction and division), among 4th and 5th class students. This seems to vary

somewhat each year based on the students. We attribute this to poor memory/ retention, at

the beginning of the year students need a jump start again to help them in some areas.

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Other Activities:

Support for education including scholarships

Annually we provide scholarships to students- and this year, a number of students from the

project schools were provided support.

o Six students in either 11th or 12th classes from Thiruvadhoor School were provided

support based on economic need.

o Seventeen students who scored 80% in 10th board exam got a scholarship to

continue in 11th standard

o Five girl students 2 (in 10th std) from Zameen Endathur High school and 3 (in 9th std)

from Thiruvadhoor received an endowment scholarship on the basis of academic

performance. We will continue to support these students till they complete 10th

standard.

Bi-cycles for all students

To ensure that students do not dis-continue their education after middle school due to long distance to school, we provide bi-cycles to all students in middle school. All the graduating students in Ariyanur, Chinna Venmani, and Periya Venmani schools and those in Zameen Endathur, who come from other villages, were provided bi-cycles. We are monitoring the progress of this program for the last few years, and happy to report that this program is very successful and many students who were irregular to school or were likely to drop out are going to school regularly, in high school and beyond.

Working with girls

Working with girl students has taken a special focus in this last year. We conduct village level awareness programs and sessions at our training center to motivate girls to continue their education and help them in gaining confidence to pursue their educational aspirations.

Hygiene and sanitation program

We continue to emphasize issues related to hygiene and sanitation in all the project schools.

We have appointed sanitation worker from local villages in Ariyanur, Chinna Venmani and

Periya Venmani schools. They are taking care of the daily maintenance of hygiene facilities

in the school, so that children can use them regularly.

In November a special cleaning drive was conducted wherein Kalanjiyam team spend one

day cleaning the school premises and spreading the importance of personal hygiene. The

school students and teachers also participated in the efforts.

We are now insisting on hand washing with soap before meals and our para teachers are

supervising this activity daily, so that the habit is formed among the children.

All schools were provided with a new set of water storage drums and stand to have drinking

water available in all the class rooms. The water is filled into the drums from the RO system

and kept in each class room. The sanitation workers are cleaning these drums daily before

water is stored in them.

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Health care programs

Annual health check-ups are conducted for all the school children by the Kalanjiyam mobile

van doctor and nurse. This has been done in the three project schools – Ariyanur,

Chinnavenmani and Periyavenmani.

Special sessions for adolescent health are conducted in Endathur high school and

Thiruvadhoor higher secondary school.

Visit by Vandana Hariharan

Ms. Hariharan visited the project schools in July 2014- including Thiruvadhoor higher secondary

school and Periya Venmani Middle School.

Below with Ms. Vandana are the two students in Periya Venmani, who attended the special

training program at IIT Madras in the previous school year and continue to support the instruction

of 3rd and 4th class students.

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Project Expenditure: June 2014 – December 2015

ASHA-Stanford Rural School Strengthening Project in five Schools

Fund received for 2014-15 in September 2014 INR 385,000.00

Fund carried over from 2013-14

INR 53,169.00

Total available funds

INR 438,169.00

Expenditure for 2014-15 June through December 2014

Drawing master

INR 30,000.00

Staff salary and welfare (4 para-teachers) and computer teachers for

INR 157,500.00

After school tuition program

INR 18,000.00

Thiruvadhoor School teachers (4)

INR 120,000.00

School teachers from Zameen Endathur High School (2)

INR 70,000.00

Notebooks for primary / middle school and study guides

INR 34,830.00

Dictionaries/ student atlas

INR 18,750.00

Total Expenditure for 2014-15 till date INR 449,080.00

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