Ajmer, July 1975. With inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s campaign, railway employee Sri Sagar Mal Kaushik (Kaushik Ji) led relief efforts amidst flash floods. With a foundation in grassroots activism and more than ten years of service activities, Kaushik Ji then founded Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal (RMKM) in 1987. The organization was established to address issues of women’s empowerment, special education, health and livelihoods enhancement.
Today, RMKM runs nine programs in more than 80 villages and urban areas with a dedicated team of 75 staff members, including Kaushik Ji’s youngest son and daughter-in-law.
Kaushik Ji’s early days of service focused on education, with special attention to providing opportunities for mentally challenged children. This belief led to the establishment of two schools for the mentally challenged: Minu Manovakis Mandir (1989) in Chachiyawas and Sanjay Special School (2001) in Beawer. Collectively the schools have 450 students and 28 staff members; the former is a residential school. In 2005, RMKM organized the first ever state-level Special Olympics for mentally challenged children in the Ajmer district.
In addition to the aforementioned initiatives, RMKM has collaborated with the Room to Read program. Room to Read is a government-accredited program designed to promote literacy in rural India. RMKM aligned with the government in 2008 to bring the program to Ajmer district and has established 100 libraries thus far to promote reading habits in government school students.
Along with the organization’s education initiatives, RMKM has established the AWARE program (Advancement of Women in Rural Environment). The program has trained 487 women in handicrafts work. These women market their products at various exhibitions, outlets, and Mumal - the crafts centre in the RMKM campus. In order to help these women become financially independent, RMKM has formed 190 self-help groups (SHGs), which encourage savings and collective action. The SHGs have also resulted in more active female participation in local governance. For example, the women of Chachiyawas initiated the closing of an illegal alcohol shop in their community.
Over the years, RMKM has purposefully built a repertoire of programs that provides opportunities for local children and women to realize their potential.
Need for Project:
From what started as home-schooling his neighbor’s son and two other mentally challenged children in 1988, Kaushik Ji now oversees two full fledged schools dedicated to special education. These schools currently reach out to 450 children.
Recognizing the stigma that impedes the re-integration of these children, Kaushik Ji launched the Pahla Kadam – Inclusion in Practice program in 2004, where mentally challenged children are educated together with local primary school students. RMKM firmly believes that inclusive schooling is vital to ensure quality education for all. RMKM runs this program in both its schools.
Currently, the Pahla Kadam program includes 116 primary school children and 114 mentally challenged children, and focuses on activity-based learning as a means to build cooperation amongst students.
One area that needs improvement is parental acceptance of mental disabilities and inclusive education. RMKM seeks to increase awareness and receptivity amongst parents through stronger outreach efforts.
As an August 2010 Indicorps Fellow, you will focus on increasing the community’s awareness about the Pahla Kadam program. Your role will be to holistically understand and find ways to improve parental relations with the Pahala Kadam program. You will be responsible for assessing the attitudes towards and the impact of inclusion with parents of both groups of children. You will also play an integral part in raising awareness about inclusive education and mental disabilities. One Indicorps Fellow will be placed in Chachiyawas, while the other will be in Beawar.
Initially, you will take part in an orientation to the program. It will be essential that you to build relationships with the teachers, students and their parents at this stage. You might want to shadow teachers in classroom sessions to understand the ongoing activities in the program. You could also organize home stays with the students, which will give you an opportunity to interact with their parents. Learning about the community’s attitude towards inclusive education and mental disabilities will be essential.
In the second phase, you will partner with the teachers to further develop the activity-based learning curriculum. By piloting some new ideas for the curriculum in the classroom, you will experientially understand the concept of inclusion. Simultaneously, based on your learnings of the community’s attitude towards inclusive education and mental abilities, you should plan a strategy on how to increase awareness, receptivity and acceptance. You will have to be creative and patient when striving to create change in the community’s mindset. You might want to use innovative and interactive means such as organizing awareness camps about mental disabilities and exposure visits for parents to the RMKM schools.
It is important that you make careful notes throughout the process. At the end of the year, you will present your findings in terms of the community’s attitudes to the organization. You should also highlight successful strategies to increase the community’s receptivity towards inclusive education. Passing on your learnings to staff members will help in ensuring sustainability of your efforts.
Target Community:
The target community is comprised of mentally challenged children, mainstream children, and their parents from the Ajmer district -- both from an urban and rural background. The families hail from various socio-economic backgrounds. Education is valued in these communities.
Objectives:
• To further develop the activity-based learning curriculum for the Pahala Kadam program
• To introduce new elements of creative learning for both mentally challenged and mainstream children.
• To increase awareness about mental disabilities in the community and promote the acceptance of inclusive education
Challenges:
• Creating a shift in mindset towards mental disabilities.
• Living on campus will offer limited personal space/privacy.
Team-Based Model:
Each project is designed as a three-way partnership between you, Indicorps, and a partner organization. Each grassroots partner organization – in this case RMKM – will be hosting two to four Fellows. Consequently, the August 2010 Fellowship will have both an individual and a team component.
As a team of Indicorps Fellows, your focus is to strengthen the core RMKM programs and add a new level of innovation/creativity. Team members will focus on different areas: including inculcating reading habits in government school children, advancing the women’s self-help groups and promoting inclusive education amongst mentally challenged and mainstream primary school students.
Chachiyawas:
You will live in a shared dormitory with other staff members in the RMKM campus. Simple vegetarian food will be provided. You will do your own laundry and chores and will be expected to assist with team responsibilities. Internet and international calling facilities are available in the nearby city of Ajmer which is 15 km away from the campus. For local transportation, you will use government transportation, shared jeeps, or tandem with staff on motorcycles. Ajmer is well connected to all major cities in the country by the road and railway network.
Beawer:
You will be living in the school campus with other staff members. Simple vegetarian food will be provided. You will do your own laundry and chores and will be expected to assist with team responsibilities. Internet and international calling facilities are available in the city. For local transportation, you will use government transportation, shared jeeps, or tandem with staff on motorcycles. Beawer is connected to Ajmer by bus and train. Ajmer is well connected to all major cities in the country by the road and railway network.
The language spoken at RMKM is Hindi, and the local dialect is Marwari. For this project, a basic knowledge of Hindi is required. If you do not have basic knowledge of Hindi, you can still apply if you commit to learning the language before the start of your Fellowship year.
Prior experience and interest in working with mentally challenged children is preferred.
What excites you about this opportunity? What particular experiences have led you to want to do this project?
2.
How might you encourage science teachers who attend your trainings on learning disabilities to change their teaching practices in a way that is more responsive to different learning styles?
3.
Please describe a time when you noticed someone being excluded from a social group due to a factor beyond their control. How did this make you feel? Did you or did you not take action at the time? Why or why not?
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