The annual convention of Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) was
held in Chicago from June 16th to June 19th. At the
conference, the current Chairman of AAHOA, Mr. Chandrakant Patel, announced
AAHOA has selected Ekal as one of the two charities chosen for this year. We
the EKAL USA team send our heartfelt thanks to AAHOA Chairman Mr.
Chandrakant Patel, for endorsing Ekal as one of the AAHOA’ charity for this
year.
Mr. Patel, in his speech said “As Indians we must contribute back to our
homeland (America) as well as to motherland (India). And during my
chairmanship, AAHOA has endorsed USO for homeland (USA) and Ekal Vidyalaya
for motherland (India). We have representatives present here today from both
charities. The first group is Ekal Vidyalaya which provides education in the
rural tribal areas of India.”
The
EGL 2010 tour to this volatile state of Jammu & Kashmir was my second EGL
tour after the informative visit to three south Indian states in 2009, where
I learned first hand about the Ekal integrated development model (social,
economic, health & literacy support system), the day-to-day operational
policies & procedures (volunteerism, teacher training & support, etc.) and
the organizational structure (Anchal, Sanch and Up-Sanch hierarchy). So my
goal for attending this EGL was to experience its applicability in an
ethnically diverse region as the state of J&K.
"The children who attend Ekal program perform better in the regular school,"
said a government school teacher in the Igoo village in Ladakh. Such
statements make the sustained efforts of Ekal movement bear fruit in the
state of Jammu & Kashmir which has unparalleled diversity in religious,
cultural and geographical terms.
There are four key factors that I have come to use in evaluating education
related NGO models across the developing countries from my experience in
societies across Asia, Africa, and North and South America - (1)
Accessibility, (2) Scalability, (3) Extendability, and (4) Sustainability.
Accessibility of education
to underprivileged and underserved communities is the central goal of the
Ekal movement. In Jammu and Leh, the visits to the Ekal schools in remote
areas clinging to the slopes of the steep Himalayan peaks accessed only
through dirt roads bear testimony to the reach that Ekal has achieved in
this tough terrain. The schools in Chakka village in Doda district and in
the Igoo village in Ladakh were both located in remote villages not easily
reachable from the nearest urban areas. Another aspect of accessibility is
the quality of education, which has three factors on individual school basis
– (a) teachers, (b) curriculum & (c) infrastructure.
(a)
The quality of teachers in both the schools was encouraging. Both the
teachers seemed smart, confident and sensitive to impart the informal
education that Ekal provides and manage the class in terms of size and
structure. We had the opportunity to meet the families of both the teachers
and thank them for their indirect contribution. Also the informal support
group that the teacher of Igoo school relied on validated the sense of
community that Ekal fosters. The formal support through periodic teacher
training programs that the EGL group of patrons had an opportunity to visit
was very heartening. It was a rigorous and structured exercise that involved
empowering the teachers with the right tools to engage the children using
music & sports to teach traditional subjects of math & language as well as
imparting cultural & health messages.
(b)
As I witnessed in the EGL 2009 the curriculum consisted of health and
cultural values besides the basic math and language skills. In J&K state, I
got an impression that the government school infrastructure is far reaching
and does provide access to formal school education maybe with lesser quality
& consistency. Hence Ekal's role on the ground was that of providing
supplementary schooling and rounding off the formal education with health
and cultural teachings.
(c)
The schools in both villages of Chakka and Igoo validated the positive
aspect of Ekal model of finding an inexpensive yet sustainable venue for
school assembly either in teacher's home or in donated community spaces.
However the on ground evidence on supplies such as books & boards pointed to
the early phases of model implementation that Ekal is in this region
compared to its maturity in the EGL 2009 region of South India.
Scalability of the Ekal model of
education and integrated development is a key aspect enabling its growth
over the years. The universal application of Ekal's school operations and
integrated development focus, monitoring & evaluation procedures,
hierarchical organizational structure, and grassroot volunteer participation
was on display at every stage of the tour. My experience in J&K only
validated that the vision of the Ekal leadership and the momentum achieved
through relentless efforts of local volunteers and noble socialites can help
Ekal in reaching more children and villages across India without
compromising on efficiency & productivity of resources.
Concerning extendability, with the help of its regional partner,
Bharatiya Lok Shiksha Parishad, Ekal has been able to extend the geographic
reach of its model to people and places in the challenging region of J&K.
Also the Igoo school in Ladakh confirmed the extension of the model with the
focus on cultural education to populations of different ethnicities. The
BLSP members and patrons that joined us on this year's EGL exhibited similar
principles and common goals as Ekal leadership, thereby proving to be an
able and effective partner in furthering the Ekal movement.
Sustainability has
been a key cornerstone of Ekal model, with a stated target of making each
school self sustainable in 5 years time. The key pillars for sustenance
seemed to be (a) engagement of local sponsors, and (b) the socio-economic
development support in the form of vermiculture, bio-gas, and the likes. The
work in Jammu & Kashmir seemed to be in an early phase towards its maturity
into a self-sustaining integrated development model. Although Ekal and BLSP
had successfully engaged local volunteers, the involvement of local
socialites in Leh seemed limited to non existent. The interactions in Leh
pointed to a political dependency to sustain & grow the operations. The
roots of the organization and its narrow supporter/donor base may prove to
be an impediment in sustained growth and development of Ekal model in the
Leh region. The education programs were up and running but the health and
socio-economic development support seemed to be in budding phase if at all.
I
was accompanied on this EGL by my brother, a global banking executive, and a
teacher friend from the Catholic school system of USA who was the first
non-Indian to attend EGL in 4 years. Our evaluation and experience is from
the perspective of someone with social and professional exposure to a
multi-cultural, multi-identity environment, where our personal and career
success depends on recognition of diversity and tolerance of different value
systems. Our cultural values & beliefs are rooted in rising above the
political borders and institutionalized identities of religions and regions
and working towards fighting global ills of poverty, violence, disease and
destitution by employing universal means of education, science and basic
human values.
To
us this EGL tour brought out the positive aspects of Ekal's impressive reach
in rural India and the benefits of visionary operations & grassroots
momentum that it has achieved. However it also exposed the delicate stage of
maturity that the organization is at wherein its principles, its workings,
and its leadership will be put to test in finding ways to broaden the base
of its donor supporters globally in turn to be successful in getting to
higher grounds of educating and empowering the rural masses of India. Ekal
Vidyalaya has clearly become a national movement and has scaled commendable
heights, but in terms of size and spread it seems to be fast reaching the
pinnacle of its growth potential as evident in its restrictive local
supporter base, and its next stage of growth would be enabled by its ability
to not just broaden its appeal to multi-cultural & professional communities,
but also in becoming a responsible & sharing global proponent of education
oriented NGO model.
I
am very grateful to the Ekal and BLSP members for their organization of Ekal
Global Learning tour 2010. I do acknowledge that evaluating, appreciating or
criticizing the immense work accomplished by thousands of volunteers and
supporters is far easier than actually doing it and facing the day-to-day
challenges on the ground. No words can fully express my gratitude for the
hospitality & hard work of the tens of local supporters and volunteers who
made the Ekal Global Learning 2010 possible.
Ekal has been selected as the CSR Partner for PETROTECH 2010. On their
website they have given the logo of Ekal proclaiming it as their CSR
Partner. Under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government
of India, PETROTECH 2010 will be organized from the 31st October to 3rd
November, 2010.
The
Zonal Nagar Mahila Sangathan Varg was held in Chennai on 22nd and 23rd July, 2010.
Women volunteers from South zone comprising of four states i.e, Kerala,
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu took active part in the Varg.
The
varg started with the inaugural ceremony by chanting Omkar, Gayathri
Manthra and Saraswati Vandana. Our chief guest was Ms. Neena Reddy
(Executive Director - Hotel Savera) & guest of honor Ms. Mala (CEO - Raj
TV). Both belong to two distinct fields. Nina Reddy thought she would
motivate the ladies of Mahila Samiti FTS to join her in her project
“helping hands” which is for girls. But she herself got so motivated
that she assured us that her project will be merged with FTS. She agreed
to join our Mahila Samiti. All the office bearers and executive members
of the main chapter were present.
Mahila Nagar Sangathan Varg was organized successfully in Nagpur on 10th
and 11th July, 2010. The yearly congregation of Ekal’s
lady volunteers from different Chapters, SVOs Anchals and sankuls of
the country took place in Shri Agrasen Bhavan,
Amravati Road, Nagpur.
Women volunteers from 5 kshetras participated in this Varg. Volunteers
from Gujrat, Madhya Bharat, Mahakaushal, Chhattisgadh, Maharashtra and
Vidarbh attended the Varg. From all the attendees 79 were from chapters
and prant and 101 were from anchal and sankul. In all 180 women
volunteers attended the varg. In two days, 8 sessions were organized in
which nearly 40 representatives expressed their views on achievements,
organizational work and future targets.
The
Varg was formally inaugurated by Dr. Vedprakash Mishra, Vice-Chancellor
of Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences (Deemed University).
Stating that Ekal Vidyalaya Movement is the foundation of building
self-esteemed and self-sufficient nation, ’Gramotthan’ (rural upliftment)
is the basis of developed nation. Dr. Mishra added that rural upliftment
in totality must be achieved to make strong nation. Ekal Abhiyan’s
Gramotthan Parishad, a non-government organization would bring the
people from remote corners into main stream.
'Akshardhan' souvenir was
launched by Dr. Vedprakash Mishra during the inaugural function, which
was the sincere effort of Smt. Asha Pande-editor of ‘Akshardhan’.
The
Varg was wonderfully organized by a strong team of 35 ladies of Nagpur
Mahila Samiti. The Mahila Samiti took out a souvenir and managed to
generate funds through advertisements and sponsorships. All the
arrangements were A-class. Credit goes to the team spirit of the ladies
under leadership of Smt. Kshma Kulkarni, President, Mahila Samiti Nagpur
and of course, Gramotthan Parishad members and Nagpur Chapter of
Vanabandhu Parishad.
The
Varg has left an in-erasable impression on all minds and will surely be
remembered for a long time.
on 1st July,2010 at village Kalam Vihara, Distt. Jawar, we
were greeted by two ladies in traditional Indian guest welcome. It was
heart touching.The school was neat, clean with about 29 kids. In the
syllabus, maths, culture, good health habits, exercise, social science,
environment etc. were covered. Good progress in all the above topics was
observed. The co-learning process where younger kid learns from elder
kid was very evident.
The
Teacher was well aware of his role and was doing an excellent job. The
school was held in one of the village house. It was neat and clean.
Enough space for 30 kids. There was a good balance of girls and boys.
Ma Saraswati photo, blackboard, charts, and pati-pencil with each kid
was there. In general it surpassed my expectations.
In
one statement: I do not think $365/year can run any school better than
this, anywhere on the earth.
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