Report Lawrence Fryer, April 2008
The following report is based on the following visits and discussions:
| 14.03.2008 | Visit to the school and vocational training centre |
| 16.03.2008 | Discussion with Bella and Musheer (Mithra’s bookkeeper) about Mithra’sfinancial reporting |
| 17.03.2008 | Visit the Vijinapuram centre and slum Mithra’s Annual Day celebration |
| 18.03.2008 | Evaluation of the Alternative School (part of the BMZ project) - second meeting of the evaluation team |
| Visit Muneshwarnagar centre | |
| 19.03.2008 | Complete the discussion on financial reporting and prepare the final reports for BMZ Visit Mokkuttammanagar pre-school |
| 20.03.2008 | Work on the BMZ hostel project |
| 25.03.2008 | Work on Mithra’s budget for 2008/2009 |
Alternative School / Vocational Training Centre
We were impressed by the new additions since our last visit in 2006: In the school itself the library has been extended with additional reading material in both English and Kannada, the laboratory for physics, chemistry and biology has been equipped and more toys and playing material have been acquired for the kindergarten. In the schools grounds a new and better compound wall has been constructed because the former wall made out of granite slabs proved to be insecure from intruders and also from snakes.
A basket ball hard court has been constructed which was not originally planned. This gives especially the older children a space for sporting activities and allows them to participate in inner-school events.
We were impressed by the garden and by the general tidiness of the grounds. All the requirements made in the BMZ proposal for the school building have now been fulfilled:
- Large light classrooms with sufficient space for the learning methods beingpracticed.
- A playground with sufficient space for team games
- A sufficient number of toilets
- A canteen, an auditorium and a library
- Space for a garden
- Availability of rooms for the staff and for first aid
For the 2007/2008 academic year Mithra had 8 classes from 1st. to 8th Standard with 200 children and 30 children in the 2 kindergarten classes.
There are now altogether 13 teachers, 5 support staff (cleaners, security, gardener, driver, secretary) and 6 part-time special educators (dance, yoga, band, karate, music, computing).
The Mithra School follows the state government syllabus with the corresponding state textbooks. However the methodology of teaching is based on active and creative learning in which Mithra tries to make learning a joyful experience in contrast to the conventional passive learning methods. The teachers are given regular training in these methods by experienced resource people and are constantly monitored by Sister Michaela and Manimeghallai.
It is proving difficult to retain good and dedicated teachers for a variety of reasons: poor status of teachers of the poor, comparatively low pay, difficulty of teaching first generation learners, long hours due to creative learning methods and extra-curricula activities, difficulty of accessibility.
A number of measures are being discussed to alleviate this situation; in particular Mithra will try to give their teachers better pay. Accessibility will shortly be improved by a better road passing the school in which buses can be used and also hopefully by building a hostel for teachers and students in the close vicinity of the school.
The quantitative performance indicators, e.g. number of drop-outs and acceptance by the target-group, have been fully met (no drop-outs, large number of applications). Mithra’s Annual Day on the seventeenth of March was most impressive. We were greeted at the gates by a band of about 20 girls and boys who conducted a marvellous military welcome. After that we all went into the school auditorium and listened to a number of speeches about the past school year. This was followed by a wonderful series of cultural performances covering the whole range of the school’s activities –dances, plays, gymnastics, yoga and karate.
Finally Bärbel and I were asked to distribute prices to the children.
Evaluation (Annex 3)
The BMZ project proposal to build the Alternative School included an external evaluation of the performance and the strengths and weaknesses of the School
A team made up of 4 external members and 8 Mithra personnel met together 6 times and also met and discussed several times with students and parents.
Terms of Reference for the evaluation:
- Alternativeness of the school
- Evidence of active and creative learning
- Standard of education of children
- Staff development, turnover and profile. (Qualification of teachers)
- Pre-Vocational skills.
- School Infrastructure
- Whether the school should go up to 10th standard?
- Sustainability of the school
- Interaction with the community
- Net-working with other groups
The evaluation team has made the following recommendations:
- To extend the school up to 10th. Standard.
- To continue having a team to head the school.
- To improve the image and visibility of the Mithra school by more vertisement and publicity.
- Remove stigma of the Mithra School only being for slum children.
- To have a teacher especially responsible for student and environmental cleanliness.
- To identify good and dedicated teachers and give them a better salary.
- To create a hostel for students and staff.
- To use the facilities of the Vocational Training Centre to the full.
- To increase the number of students to at least 25 to 30 per class
- To strength the networking with like-minded schools.
Networking
Mithra is a member of KUSMA (Karnataka Unaided Schools Management Association). The members meet often to discuss the problems they have with interacting with government departments.
Mithra Foundation runs a programme of human rights education in about 200 schools in Karnataka which leads to natural interaction with these schools (they give guidance to Mithra in maintenance of records needed for government interaction, students of Mithra school participate in inter-school events).
Mithra also collaborates with 15 other schools which adopt alternative forms of education.
The Hostel Project
For quite some time it has been apparent that it would be very desirable both for Mithra’s students as well as for some of the teachers if Mithra could offer hostel facilities for them. The difficult family background of many of the students makes it very difficult for them to concentrate on their studies. In several cases the children have lost one or both of their parents. In the hostel it would be much easier for these children. They would find it easier to participate in the school’s extramural activities and they would have more time for reading. They would have teachers on hand to help them with their homework.
In the hostel the children will be able to learn about personal hygiene and to have healthy nourishment.
If Mithra were able to offer good and inexpensive lodging for the teachers, it would be easier for Mithra to find and retain good teachers. These teachers would at the same time look after the children and their development.
The Muneshwarnagar centre, which is presently being used for Mithra’s field work (preschool, supplementary education, women’s meetings) and which housed the school for the first five years of it’s existence, is not being used as well as it could be and is in great need of being renovated.
For the above reasons, Mithra would like to replace the present Muneshwarnagar buildings by a new 4 storey structure covering an area of about 330 m2:
Ground floor Field work, kitchen, dining room, watchman’s quarters
| 1st Floor | Accommodation for about 25 girls and a warden. |
| 2ndFloor | Accommodation for about 25 boys and a warden. |
| 3rd Floor | Accommodation for Mithra’s teachers and for paying guests. |
Due to the rapid escalation of building costs in the past few years in Bangalore, the cost of the building is expected to be about 180,000 Euros.
The expected income from the hostel is 11,400 Euro / 17,900 US$ pa which is enough to cover both running costs (4,900 Euros / 7,700 US$ pa) and depreciation (6,000 Euros / 9,500 US$ pa).
SD Germany has offered to make a funding proposal to BMZ , which would cover 75% of the costs, provided we can find a way to meet the remaining 25% (ie 45,000 Euros / 71,000 US$) ourselves. Mithra has said it will be able to meet about half of this.
Financial Reporting
Bella and I discussed at length the best way of presenting the financial reports in as clear and transparent a way as possible and in a way that could be used as a model for other SD projects.
The annual reports have up to now contained a balance sheet together with a listing of the fixed assets and an income and expenditure statement as is required by the Indian tax authorities, who require income and expenditure figures for each foreign donor. For this reason Mithra defines in its books programs such as SD France-Program or SD Germany- Program etc.
Because these aforesaid programs are not understandable to an outsider, we have suggested that an additional income and expenditure statement is made according to the various activities that Mithra has:
- Pre-Schools (Running of classes, teacher training, food, mother's meetings, health)
- Field Work (Child labour, Sponsorships for children, disability, community programs, supplementary education, summer camp)
- Women Empowerment (savings, trainings, meetings, microcredit, women’s day)
- Alternative School / VST (Running of School and Vocational Training Centre, material, maintenance, salaries, food)
- Human Rights (Trainings, monitoring, publication, impact study, interschool events, support to schools, Government collaboration
- Tsunami
- Others (Conferences etc.)
- Administration (Auditing, Travels, Salary, Office Expenses)
The corresponding financial statements for 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2006/2007 and a budget for 2008/2009 have been made and are available (please ask me if you would like to have them).
| Euro | US$ | |
| Pre-school | 11,984 | 18,875 |
| Field work | 14,429 | 22,725 |
| Women Empowerment | 11,810 | 18,600 |
| Alternative School | 30,095 | 47,400 |
| Vocational Skills Training | 16,794 | 26,450 |
| Human Rights | 26,762 | 42,150 |
| Administration | 5,032 | 7,925 |
| Total | 116,906 | 184,125 |
As things stand at the moment (May 2008) Mithra has firm pledges of about 46,800 Euros and is therefore still in need of about 70,000 Euros (110,000 US$). The Mithra Foundation evaluation report and 2008/2009 budget is available from the SDIA office. For more information contact SDIA [info@susiladharma.org] or Lawrence Fryer: tdlfryer @ arcor.de