They make it their biz to teach the deprived
IIM-A Alumni NGO Targets ‘Out Of The System’ Girls …….Nandita Sengupta
Alwar: The 15-odd chattering girls in the Islamiya Arabia madrassa are immune to criticism. For five years now, their parents have defied community wisdom to send them to this school in Mahua Khurd, a dusty Muslim-dominated village 13 km from Alwar. The girls, eight to 13 years old, sit straight. Even the youngest has a semblance of a veil thrown over her head.
Pinky Sahni, their young teacher, can be the envy of any private school. The girls are all attention as she goes through basic maths at lightning speed. They cheer at getting the answers right and correct her as she frequently inserts errors to catch them unawares. “Khub maza aata hai,” grins 10-year-old Noori, two teeth missing. Sahni’s taught them a few good lessons for life.
Set up in 2003, this is the first learning centre of Iimpact, an NGO created by IIM-A’s 1978 batch. Today, there are 9,000 girls in 275 such centres across Rajasthan, UP, Karnataka, Jharkand and Haryana. Iimpact has put its weight behind teaching girls not part of the ‘system’. “No dropouts, no secondary education. We target those who are left out of the system and have never been to school,” says Anil Tandon, Iimpact’s president.
When the alumni decided on its 25th year celebrations to ‘do something’, girls’ education was the obvious choice. Its target is to enrol 60,000 girls in their five-year curriculum by 2014. The team knew doing the NGO grind was not the answer. Most NGOs work on contract. As a result, causes such as girls’ education are pursued for a fund-driven period after which the NGO withdraws, leaving villages in a lurch. This simply wouldn’t work, felt Iimpact. Iimpact’s team put their expertise and networks together to create their own model. “We partner with local NGOs to proceed on girls’ education,” says Tandon, thus riding on a given NGO’s credibility with locals and using it as a delivery mechanism. Iimpact raises and disburses funds, decides curriculum, trains teachers, conducts exams, helps girls get admission into secondary school and monitors, fine-tunes the five-year school package that every girl who enrols must go through. They are taught everything from maths to language to hygiene and civic sense, the idea is to make school a habit for girls and their families. The USP clearly lies in ensuring best management of the project. “We are trained four times a year for 10-12 days each. We meet other teachers. Ek doosre ke problems bhi discuss ho jate hain,” says Alwar-based teacher Santosh.
Going to school has indeed become a habit in neighbouring Moreda. A gaggle of happy mothers looks on proudly as their daughters recite poems, read books and sing. The centre has become the hub of activity for the villagers. This is where the village’s community action is. “Instead of putting their angootha, a father takes his daughter along to sign. It’s a proud moment,” says a beaming Shanta.
LEARN INDIA: Iimpact, an NGO created by IIM-A’s 1978 batch, has about 9,000 girls in 275 learning centres across the country. It raises and disburses funds, decides the curriculum, conducts exams and helps the girls get into secondary school