- President’s Annual Report
- Educational Advisor Report
- Credibility Alliance Norms Compliance Report
- Financial Report(1st April,08 to 31st March,09)
It has been four years since I was elected as the President. I must say that it has been a great honour and a privilege for me. These four years have presented challenging moments but also a lot of exhilaration. We have made substantial progress in these four years and have initiated many important institutions, governance structures and changes in the quality parameters of our institutions. In some way we have been able to further change the self-image of Vidya Bhawan institutions individually and collectively.
As I look back over the 4 years, the most critical change that I see is the increased cooperation among institutions and a greater sense of ownership of Vidya Bhawan among the people working in it. It is because of this that we have been able to overcome some of the most critical challenges of the last four years. This is not to say that everyone in Vidya Bhawan is now inclined to think positively about the institutions and that all of us have a coherent sense of purpose with the organisation but a significantly larger number of members of Vidya Bhawan staff are engaged constructively in consolidating and evolving the institutions they are in. They are also some times contributing to building links among Vidya Bhawan institutions. I also feel satisfied that we have built on our infrastructure and have been able to maintain what we had properly. To give a few examples of what we have built over the last four years I want to mention the new building that houses part of the Public School, the Chemistry and other laboratories and workshops in the Polytechnic, the building of the Education Resource Centre, a new Nursery Wing in the V.B. Secondary School with the support of Old students of Vidya Bhawan, the building of the Institute of Gandhian Educational Studies, the development of the school ground in the Basic School, computers and computer labs, new buses for schools and many other such projects. These have led to further consolidation of the infrastructure of Vidya Bhawan. I must also mention the most recent Nature Interpretation Centre developed by Shri Jagat S. Mehta. Jagat Sb. has been a guardian of Vidya Bhawan and has shown how an old student and a responsible citizen can add to and/or help rebuild a public service organisation. It is an example of dedication to a purpose and to define a meaning for the role of an individual role in Society. We all salute him and assure him that we will try to fulfill his expectations and also make an attempt to learn from and follow the example that he has set.As I mentioned in the previous year’s annual report, the institutions are bubbling with new ideas and explorations. There is so much happening in each institution that I cannot share with you all the details. Much of it you can read from the detailed report of the institutions. There are however, I need to mention and I also cannot end without mentioning some of the challenges that still confront us.
Last year, we made a path-breaking intervention towards a comprehensive striving for our goals. Vidya Bhawan with the partnership of Michael Susan and Dell Foundation initiated a project in the Bastis of Udaipur. This project is aimed at improving the quality of education available to the children in the diverse communities of these locations. The complete project involves working with children going to the government and low-end private schools as well as with children who have dropped out. This project has emerged from the work of the Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Centre, that continues to be supported by the ICEE and the mobile library project initiated in consultation with Mr Harpreet Puri, another old student The existence of the Centre with the support from the ICEE has meant that many of these ideas can be now grounded in Vidya Bhawan and in Udaipur. The goals of the project with MSDF also include working with the Vidya Bhawan Schools. This entire project in partnership with VBERC attempts to ensure that the quality of education provided to the children with weak economic and social background is made better and they facilitated to do well and to learn more.The partnership with the ICEE is now 5 years old. It has meant a lot to Vidya Bhawan because it has not only allowed the VBERC to be established and work with State governments and significantly contribute to educational interventions in many States across the country but also help consolidate the effort to improve quality of work in Vidya Bhawan institutions. It has also led to building up of Vidya Bhawan as large resource base to transform education – not just in Rajasthan but over a wider space. The details of these efforts can be seen in the subsequent reports but I must point out that this Centre – supported by ICEE has brought Vidya Bhawan to the forefront of educational thought and intervention in the country. The Centre is currently working continuously with at least four State governments and has linkages with some others in terms of providing inputs for them to construct their educational improvement efforts. Team members from Vidya Bhawan faculty are respected Resource Persons in the States and the teams of many States have come to Vidya Bhawan for developing their textbooks, workbooks and for building their capacities in order to understand education better.
The partnership with WIPRO Applying Thoughts in Schools and the Azim Premji Foundation (APF) has also continued and in fact is in the process of being consolidated. There is an agreement with WATIS to partially support the process of improving our schools. This support also includes a position of Director of Schools. This person will help the schools develop an autonomous capability to function in a self-sustaining manner with quality. The APF is partnering with Vidya Bhawan towards development of an alternative teacher education program for the two year diploma and a joint effort to review the program in the States is being initiated. Apart from this, we have already conducted a study of the examination papers of 5 Boards of Secondary Education in the country. The report would be shortly finalised.
Another major initiative last year on teacher preparation was the International Seminar on ‘Teacher Development and Management’. The seminar organized jointly by MHRD, NCERT, NCTE, NUEPA was planned in collaboration with Vidya Bhawan and was hosted by us too. It was supported by all the key development partners viz., DFID, UNESCO, UNICEF and World Bank. The report of the Seminar was finalised in consultation with Vidya Bhawan and has been circulated to all the State governments. There is a plan to carry this work forward with DFID, MHRD, the NCERT and other involved agencies over the next three years.
I want to briefly come back to the new institutions that have been set up. Institute of Gandhian Educational Studies, set up last year, has now had the first batch of B.Ed. students complete the program. It has also in collaboration with VBERC initiated work with some of the DIETs in Udaipur and would hold a national seminar on ‘Basic Education’ in the beginning of November. The institution is also looking towards developing an integrated programme with the Basic School to put into place a model of teacher preparation that has often been talked about. We hope to see a symbiotic relationship develop between these two institutions under the leadership of Dr. M.P. Sharma who will be working with the Heads of the two institutions in order to ensure collaborative functioning and co-learning. There is also a proposal to initiate a nursery teachers training program and a diploma in education in the same Institute so as to benefit from the larger vision of bringing in rediscovered principles of Gandhian education in the current context.
A Centre for Career Development and Professional Studies has been set up to facilitate candidates from weaker section getting through competitive examinations of various kinds. They initiated two programmes last year with singular success and hope to widen its scope from this year. It also seeks to enlarge its linkages with other Vidya Bhawan institutions and make possible effective use of support available to the institutions help the backward community students in the institutions and even outside.
The Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) is participating in an innovation project in collaboration with many institutions. This includes setting up a high technology nursery. It has also initiated a project where it would adopt villages and another to help villages develop both off-farm and on-farm livelihood activities. The institution has formulated other projects that are under considerations of the support agencies. We hope to be able to use available infrastructure more effectively through all these projects and fulfill the objectives of KVK’s.
The Rural Institute has seen re-stablization of admissions. A lot more students joined the college this year. One of the significant signals was that many students took admission in the regular under-graduate courses. This includes the regular Science and Arts streams and therefore these students would continue to be with us. Dr. B.L. Paliwal had proceeded on a short leave and Dr. Manju Sharma was looking after the institution in his absence. Many faculty members have prepared Research projects for UGC. Some of them are being currently conducted and others sent to the UGC.
The Teachers Training College is continuing its programme of using alternate ways of transacting theory. They have in collaboration with Rural Institute also initiated the process of starting a 4 years B.Sc. B.Ed. and B.A. B.Ed programme. This course has been cleared by the university and we now propose get necessary recognition and affiliation for the Rural Institute. M.A. (Education) is another course to be taken up by Teacher Training College in collaboration with Education Resource Centre and other organisations. It has also been approved by the university. There are, however, certain questions that need to be settled about this course including examination and other systems as these are courses that have to be distinct and also have a distinct assessment.
The four schools have had their ups and down in this period and while the Basic School continues to feel the pressure of many other schools opening around it, the other schools are doing well in terms of number of students. The results of all the institutions were reasonably good and efforts to improve the processes being used in the school and to increase participation of children and parents in the activities of the school have been strengthened. The support of WATIS, MSDF, APF and ICEE is helping us bring new ideas and expertise to the team members and has helped the faculty recognize the need to develop their own programme and work towards a process of assessment and functioning that are stress free.I am also pleased to inform you that Sir Dorabji Tata Trust supporting the Panchayati Raj Centre got the programme reviewed by an external consultant. The consultant was extremely positive about the programme and appreciated the work done. Following the appraisal – a new proposal for 5 years was developed and has now been sanctioned. This is creditable because inspite of utilizing resources frugally, the institution has been able to maintain excellent quality.
In addition to this project, there are many other projects that have been continued or have been initiated last year.
I want to particularly mention a project, which relate to the development of a plant to manage water in the Mansi Vakal basin. The project initiated by Polytechnic through Mr. Anil Mehta involved KVK, Education Resource Centre and Seva Mandir. It also had a major component that was conducted by the Lok Kala Mandal. A long term more elaborate project is in the pipeline. All those who work hard on this project, particularly, Mr. Anil Mehta, who did not take any honorarium himself, need to be appreciated.
There have been some other ideas that have been initiated, worked upon with energy but have not been fulfilled for different reasons. One of them is the effort towards setting up of a radio station in Vidya Bhawan. Inspite of strenuous efforts of many in Vidya Bhawan and outside and in particular of Himalaya Tehsin we have not been able to persuade the central government to sanction us a frequency as yet. The forms have been filled and refilled many times but for some reasons or the other the sanction has been stuck. The programme schedule which the Radio Station would broadcast and the mechanism for developing it has been considered, discussed and developed with participation of all development and communication sister institutions of Vidya Bhawan. All that awaits to the final setting up of the Radio Station so that all these ideas could be taken forward.
Governance has been a major issue in Vidya Bhawan. We have a structure that is centralized and simultaneously in many critical areas all institutions have substantial autonomy in not just day-to-day functioning. The present governance structures cannot make detailed analysis of the functioning of each institution. After long deliberations and consideration we have decided to set up Management Committees in all institutions. A structure of these Management Committees along with their role has been developed and we hope that these would function in a manner to help institutions to consolidate their visions and evolve their development path towards improving quality and sustainability.
Mr. S.P. Gaur joined as an Organising Secretary. This has meant a lot more capability available at the central level to organise and facilitate work. There have been important steps that have been taken in the last one year including cases that have been filed against government for release of grant-in-aid arrears as well as forcing government to accept its responsibility in a comprehensive way for the grant-in-aid institutions. We have also filed a case against the UIT in connection with the land that has been acquired near Syphon. This seeks more compensation.
Our financial statements this year show that in Educational Institutions (grant) there was an excess expenditure of Rs. 125.88 lacs over income due again to frozen grants as well as the increasing gap between the promised grant and the requirement for the institutions to function effectively. In case of Self-Financing Units and Servicing Units there was an excess income of Rs. 70.89 lacs and Rs. 60.05 lacs over expenditure respectively. After off-setting this excess income over expenditure of Rs. 130.94 against deficit of Rs. 125.88 lacs in Educational Institution a very small net surplus during the year 2008-09 was Rs. 5.06 lacs. This reduces the net deficit in the previous year to some extent. The expenditure under projects in this year was around Rs. 5 crores 36 lakhs which is approximately Rs. 1 crore 30 lakhs more than similar expenditure last year.
One of my major concerns is the financial viability of Vidya Bhawan. The nature of income and its pattern is changing and fluctuating every year. There are more partnerships developing but many sources are also drying up. Our liabilities are also multiplying and changing in nature. It is clear that the next year’s financial position is not likely to have a surplus even if we may be able to raise some more resources. The changing scenario at the national level with a high salary for a few, a high cost of common commodities means that for the others these are not reachable. All this forebodes a disturbed situation in the communities and the nation. For institutions like Vidya Bhawan following the middle path with sincerity of purpose and honesty, times are bound to become tougher. It would be important for us to see how we can keep our sensibilities and idealism alive while dealing with corrosion of values and in a sense of purpose for most around us. The contentment with what you have, the notion of plenty and to use what you have for the benefits of others has been guiding principles of Indian psyche which has been absorbed by many organisations including Vidya Bhawan. As the glamour and glitter around becomes more flashy and the disparities increase, all these values currently seen to some extent inside Vidya Bhawan would also be subject to a severe test. I hope that we will be able to overcome this.
The issue of grant-in-aid continues to confront us. There is no clarity about the way grant-in-aid would be reimbursed. The arrears are mounting. While on paper the government has accepted the validity of most claims but it is yet to make the payment possible. There is no clear direction regarding the continuation of grant or about the manner in which the amount would be determined. The Sixth Pay Commission for the grant-in-aid employees as also the Career Advancement is in a limbo with no clear directions or commitment from the government. Apart from this, even the manner in which the income of the Society is calculated for grant-in-aid purpose continues to be confusing with clauses that can be extremely damaging to the institutions not yet deleted. It is true that they are in abeyance but that does not ensure that they cannot be invoked at some later point of time. Besides this, even the estimation of the number of teachers and workers allowed for the institutions has been put in abeyance and it is not clear how the government will decide on all this. For us there is no option but to continue to fight with the government both at administrative front as well as on the legal fronts, to ensure full support. With steeply mounting arrears it is difficult to continue to manage the finances and impossible to contribute to any further changes in salary for the grant-in-aid staff members unless they are backed by sanctions and immediate disbursements of the amounts. The battle ahead is tough as we go through the period of transition that government supported organisations necessarily are going through in all development sectors including education.
In a somewhat similar yet distinct manner the MoU with the RSMML is also held up. Their desire is to restrict the total grant to a fixed amount and that cannot be possible because of the increase in the salaries anticipated under regular salary revision. We have requested them to accord sanction as per the earlier arrangement where all the dues in terms of salaries and allowances were calculated and the amount provided for change every year. The discussions with RSMML has been delayed because of the transfer of the earlier Managing Director but we hope to take it up soon.
Last year I had expressed gratitude to key academicians who have encouraged and supported our work. Their guidance, contribution and inspiration have been with us this year as well. Dr. D.N. Dani and Dr. M.P. Sharma have continued to contribute to the institutions as have Dr. Arun Chaturvedi and many others. Prof. R.K. Agnihotri and Dr. A.B. Phatak, however, need to be mentioned specially once again for their continued engagement to improve the quality of work in Vidya Bhawan institutions.
To summarize it seems just yesterday that I presented my first Annual Report as President for the year 2004-05 to you and today I am before you with the 5th one for the year 2008-09. Time is flying and we are trying to fly faster than the time. Flying has two important dimensions – height and distance. In terms of our objectives these two dimensions means quality and reach. The challenge before us is to attain a balance by which we achieve excellence and continuity of performance simultaneously. How far we have gone in these directions can be assessed by the fact that our Teacher Training College has been awarded “A” grade by the NAAC and Polytechnic is declared as the best in northern region. Rural Institute has been given a status of a Model College of the region by State government. The Panchayati Raj Institute, for its excellent work, has been supported for a third consecutive term of five years. The V.B.K.V.K. in collaboration with M.P.U.T., is working on a big project. The Basic School has been converted into a hub of Gandhian Educational Studies with the starting of a B.Ed. Course with inclusion of Basic education philosophy. A whole School Transformation project is under way in all our Schools in collaboration with Education Resource Centre and the Public School has established its independent identity. We are trying to reach wider set of children through our Kachchi Basti School project supported by a grant from MSDF. The Sohan Lal Charitable Trust through Shri Udai Singh has continued the support to the Basic School. They have been helping us to offset the deficit in the salary budget but this year they also supported the development of the playground and the boundary wall.About 40 children from Sukher Orphanage are being supported for their schooling by Alumni and well wishers of Vidya Bhawan. Our Anganwadi Training Centre is considered one of the best in the region. The Education Resource Centre has extended its reach to at least five States viz. Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, Chattisgarh and Haryana and working with the State governments and other funding agencies to improve the quality and reach of primary education in our country.
Although we are not fully satisfied with these achievements, because we believe that there is always scope for further improvement. But it is heartening to learn that by and large our funders and government recognizes and appreciate our efforts. This gives us a sense of greater responsibility for which we must be ready in time to come.
I end on a note of expectation and a cautious optimism that we shall overcome of these difficulties as we have dealt with them so far and continue to move forward because there is an increasing consciousness amongst workers of Vidya Bhawan about the challenges that we face. I am thankful to all the Heads of Institutions and those among them others as well, who have made a constructive dialogue possible. Vidya Bhawan has a great potential and it is upto all of us to ensure that it realises a significant part of it in some manner. I would continue to seek your support and advice in this endeavour.
Riaz Tehsin
Last year we made a major jump. We were finally able to get two people to take care of functional aspects of Vidya Bhawan Society and Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Centre. Mr. S.P. Gaur joined as the Organising Secretary, has taken up responsibility of day-to-day administrative work with all its aspects. Tushita Lodha has joined the VBERC and has taken over the logistics and other responsibilities in the Centre. This has left more time to focus on academic and strategic discussions and to move the work forward qualitatively. The Academic Advisory Committee comprising of Heads of Institutions along with some faculty members from each institution has been meeting regularly. The attempt is to build both a vision as well as a transformational plan. The other key idea in the last year has been the conceptualization of a Managing Committee for each institution. These committees would be in place this year and gradually make the functioning of Vidya Bhawan more decentralized and participative. The challenge before us in Vidya Bhawan is to encourage autonomy while maintaining the overall identity of the Society. We have over the last few years particularly in the last year learnt to share our difficulties openly and have started to appreciate the difficulties of each other work more. Many ideas that bring the institutions together and are emerging from the experience and initiative of different institution have been put in place and there is an increased sharing of activities as well as resources. All this does not mean that the challenges have disappeared but it just means that there is greater sense of purpose among a larger number of people to help the institution progress.
One of the key ideas that was initiated in each institution through the head and key faculty members was to take up the attempt to conduct an appreciative self-inquiry. This has met with different degrees of successes in different institutions and has taken up different directions as well. The exercise has engaged people to different extents of seriousness. In each institution, however, discussions about what the institution is doing, what it ought to be doing and where it can see itself some years later have been initiated. Conversations among faculty have begun the process of developing self-confidence to bring forth autonomy and responsibility. The appreciative self-inquiry is bringing in as stated achievements many half truths, dreams, rationalisation but has also forced people to question them. In having to present the basis for the claims, representatives from the institution were forced to give a greater deal of thought, better evidence, clearer argument, and to question their own assumptions. The sharing of the internal discussions in the wider group also help absorb the received feedback and in the process of articulation feel more confident about their own work.
The task of developing a strategic plan for any institution is a complex one, given the uncertainty regarding the future possibilities of finding support including funds. Each institution functions in a manner that requires a certain number of people working and available. It is not clear whether we have the best possible way to organise work in place. Identification of individual responsibilities to enable more efficient functioning has reluctantly started. The need to move towards a more balanced organisation has also begun to be considered as a question. The Heads of the institutions are gradually getting a grip of the nature of the work that different components of the institutions do and the expenditure made under different heads. They are beginning to recognise the sources of funds and the nature of effort that is required to ensure that we are able to reduce our deficit and also streamline and rationalise the salaries that are paid. It is true that we are far away from specific change in the functioning of the institutions to occur but the process of thinking about how to reorganise and redeploy resources has begun. The effort to look for resources and create opportunities for resource generations has also intensified.All the above steps are a prelude to develop a sense of autonomy in the institutions within a framework of common values, ethos and functional principles. These are a precursor to development of a notion of quality. The institutions need to evolve from fire fighting to a comprehensive quality defining and enhancement plan. The strategies of using these principles can vary from one institution to the other and the setting up of the Management Committees would help each institutions look for its own path. It is an important decision approved by the Board of Control, that institutions in Vidya Bhawan require governance structures that can facilitate, monitor and advise each of these institutions. The Management Committee structure is expected to guide, create ideas as well as help the institutions find sources and ways of raising resources. The next year would see the formation of and taking control by the Management Committees and we are all hopeful that it will lead to a greater sense of purpose and vitality in each institution. The Management Committees will also be the forums for introspection and reflection of the institutions while supporting and scaffolding the Head and her team to feel confident in taking up transformational and consolidational steps in the institutions.
Last 5 years has seen many new programmes being initiated, many new structures being formed and most importantly many new partnerships being forged. These partnerships are crucial to Vidya Bhawan as they open a window to the outside efforts and help us reflect on what we are doing. It also gives us an opportunity to articulate and share our experiences and to sharpen our learning. The process of developing a consolidated view of our work, presenting it and then being questioned on it is crucial to making improvement. The partnerships that Vidya Bhawan has forged with the outside are not only through the Education Resource Centre but now again through the Krishi Vigyan Kendra as well and also through the Polytechnic. These partnerships with a variety of bodies are also of a varied nature. The partnerships include those with academic institutions, with corporate entities, with grant making bodies as well as those that combine some of the functions. The recognition of the need and importance of forging partnerships has begun to take clearly emerge in other institutions as well. We hope that there would be more initiatives taken to promote and consolidate such processes. The setting up of the Management Committees would also serve to facilitate this process.
The Vidya Bhawan institutions continue to draw up sustenance and support from the ICEE, the WIPRO Applying Thoughts in Schools, the Azim Premji Foundation, the National Council of Rural Institute, the Sohanlal Charitable Trust, the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, the Dorabji Tata Trust and the other institutions of State and Central governments. In the last year, these partnerships have increased to include a partnership with Michael Susan and Dell Foundation, the Read to Lead project of the ICICI Bank, the recent partnership with Jamshed ji Tata Trust, the partnership with NEG Fire for the seminar on ‘School Libraries and Reading’ and with the Rajaram Mohan Roy Trust for the same purpose. In the Polytechnic a partnership with World Vision India for the ‘Development of Manuals on Integrated Water Resources Management’ and in K.V.K. with the European Commission for ‘Vocational Training for Disadvantage and Marginalised Live Stock Keeping and Live Stock Product Processing Communities’. The last named projects are in collaboration with many other institutions of Udaipur. Our academic and functional collaboration with Eklavya, Digantar, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, NCERT, the Gyanshala, the Chhattisgarh Education Resource Centre, Seva Mandir (in a multi-prolonged manner), Gujarat Vidyapeeth, ICEE, Azim Premji Foundation, Care India, Nalanda and many other Institutes continues and is getting stronger. Being a part of the university system, our institutions are close collaborators of MLS University and also receive support from the UGC. In all these partnerships, the confidence in each other has sustained and has in fact grown. Over the last one year we have partnered with many State governments and also have supported the capacity building of many large non-governmental educational interventions. These have not only been possible because of recognition of our work but also because of an increased capability within the institution to take up such tasks. We are now able to simultaneously take up such tasks at different places by deploying appropriate team members available. The capability amongst team members to coordinate and lead difficult engagement has increased and we have also been able to identify and communicate our point of view more effectively. The joining of Kamal Mahendroo in the Education Resource Centre has been a major contribution to the work of the Centre and of Vidya Bhawan. We are sorry to lose some good people in the last year including Dr. Nagendra Nagpal who is in the process of consolidating a new organisation set up in Jaipur, that will work in education.
Last year many important tasks were taken up. One of the important tasks that we were able to undertake last year was the hosting of an International Seminar on Teacher Development and Management. This seminar brought together educationists and pedagogues from all over the world. The final report of the seminar brought out has gone to all the State Secretaries of Education, SSA Directors and the SCERT Directors. The cover of it carries the names of the national bodies of education in the country including MHRD, NCERT, the NCTE and NUPEA. The only other logo of an Indian organisation it carries is of Vidya Bhawan. The success of this endeavour has encouraged DFID and other development partners to conceptualise a series of such seminar with us over the next few years. Many of these would be in Udaipur. Besides this the seminar of school libraries and reading helped focussed attention on the issue of libraries and how they can help students develop the ability to read. All this would lead to an improved understanding of education and its processes in the wider education community.
Another important step taken last year was to fulfill our pledge to work for the under privileged and help improve the quality of education available to them. The partnership with the MSDF has made possible the effort to engage with the government and the private schools of fourteen Bastis of Udaipur in an organized manner. Our effort is not only to look at it as a project team intervention but also involve other institutions of Vidya Bhawan in this effort so as to not only help improve quality of education in these Bastis but also to sensitize the Vidya Bhawan faculty towards their responsibility and the possible role that they can take up to fulfill our pledge. The programmes taken up in the Bastis involve capacity building of teachers to help them understand children, education, the nature of the subject, how children learn and become confident of the key concepts in the subject areas. In order to help change the way children are expected to learn and what they are expected to learn, worksheets are developed and shared with teachers to use in their classes. In addition to this there are activity centers and libraries set up in schools. The facilitators have been specially trained to initiate them into educational thinking and in being able to have a sympathetic dialogue with teachers. These facilitators visit schools regularly. They spend time with teachers both giving them ideas to try out and to share their experiences to help them understand how they can function in the school differently. We are also holding workshop and Bal Melas for the Bastis. In these children get to participate in activities that they find interesting and want to engage with. The hope is that some of these would go beyond the workshop in the way that children can do then on their own as well. The melas are organised with open activity stalls where any child can walk into the specific activity that she wants to take part in provided there is space available at that time. If the space is not available she has to wait. The workshops for children involve having them make some things with their hands and developing skills of moulding and creating. These workshops and melas have attracted children a lot and we hope to reflect on our learning from them to take on the next steps of how to make them more regular and community based.
We have also begun to explore working with out of school children of these Bastis. This is in conjunction with our work with Seva Mandir for out of school children in rural area. The recognition that the conditions in these two situations have many similarities but are also strikingly different gives us a rich understanding of many aspects. These include the reasons for children not coming to the school. The learning camps organised for the urban children are therefore, also different in some respect from the camps organised for rural children even though the key principles remain the same. These and many other examples illustrate that there is a deeper understanding developing in the institutions of Vidya Bhawan.
In collaboration with the Azim Premji Foundation the VBERC took up a study of the question papers of different Boards of Secondary Education. The members of other institutions; V.B.CTE, V.B. Schools, V.B. Rural Institute also helped in this effort. The purpose of this was to get a feedback on how secondary boards look at assessment and how they set questions. The eventual purpose is to have a dialogue with the boards, give them a review of what they are doing and also eventually influence assessment in the elementary school system. In the previous year NCERT developed a source book on assessment for primary classes in the people from Vidya Bhawan were involved. One of the workshops was held here. I must mention that the hand books for Science teachers using NCERT books have also been developed with Vidya Bhawan.
There is now an increased confidence in Vidya Bhawan team in developing materials of all kinds. Besides the ability to communicate and have a dialogue with educational functionaries and institutions, we have facilitated in partnership with other institutions, the development of training processes both pre-service and in-service. These efforts also include capacity building of the SCERT and the DIET faculties. The close relationship and constant support being provided to some SCERT’s has forced us to learn faster and think deeper.
We had made substantial learning in textbook development and understand textbook development much better. This is not only in terms of what content should go into it and the way it should presented but also how it should be conceptualised and evolved. We also know better how to work with different team members and through negotiated dialogue evolve a team with a broadly consensual understanding and view of the textbook. We also know the difficulties in getting things ready for printing, the kind of illustrations book would need and even how the process and schedule for the printing can be set up. We know as an institution how to make a final dummy and produce camera ready copy. We have also learnt how to network with the state machinery in order to share ideas on the nature of textbooks, how they should be developed and the systems that are required to make effective textbooks development possible. Last year we worked with some State governments to help them build their textbook development capacity.
The institution has developed as a Centre for thinking about Teacher Development and including particularly curricular issues. We have over the last two years been thinking about developing an integrated programme of graduation with a degree in teaching as well. The faculty of Vidya Bhawan including three institutions – the CTE, VB CTE, the V.B. Rural Institute, the VBERC and individuals like Dr. M.P. Sharma, Dr. A.B. Phatak, Dr. D.N. Dani and in consultation with some faculty members of the Sukhadia University developed a four year graduation-cum-teaching degree programme for both Arts and Science. This course has been accepted in the Academic Council of Sukhadia University and we are seeking affiliation to start it as early as possible. Vidya Bhawan has been a part of a course run by TISS for post-graduation in education. We have been in dialogue with many other institutions to start this course in more locations and also starting it in Hindi. The course M.A. (Education) proposed by VB CTE and ERC as part of the education faculty of the Sukhadia University has also been accepted by the Academic Council.
A committee of Vidya Bhawan members has been set up to work out the modalities of initiating these courses in Vidya Bhawan. In recognition of the respect Vidya Bhawan has in teacher preparation, this has increased due to the fact that it has started working on D.Ed curriculum with the Chhattisgarh State in collaboration with CERT, Digantar, Eklavya and APF. Keeping all this in mind an effort to initiate the review of D.Ed. curricula in the light of NCF 2005 is being taken up in collaboration with the Azim Premji Foundation. This collaborative programme involves all Vidya Bhawan teacher institutions including VBERC and to review the teacher preparation pre-service programmes. As an initial step we will examine the two year diploma or certificate programme for teachers. The scope of the study is being worked out and many of our institutions would be engaged in this effort. Our aim is to make Vidya Bhawan a major centre of teacher development and be a part of the leadership towards reforming both pre-service and in-service teacher training in the country.
In this period a lot has changed within Vidya Bhawan Schools. We have the beginnings of teachers meeting and signs that teachers can be given the responsibility of making the schools function effectively. It seems that many of the teachers are now more involved, they are reading more, they are reflecting more and have even begun to share their experiences and views in writing. There is a recognition of the need for greater engagement of children and a reduction in evaluative stress while encouraging them to do better.
The program of teachers doing some small studies in their classrooms continues. For some of the teachers it has now become somewhat natural to reflect on the work done during the day and to plan for the next few. It is not as if these people are able to write careful reports but to some extent they understand that they can learn a lot by observing students in the classroom and analysing their own classroom and other experiences systematically. The team members of VBERC and a few teachers have also started writing papers and articles about teaching and learning. The schools are moving towards more participation space for the children. They would gradually have more occasions to express themselves and to attempt to sort out and solve problems. They would now gradually have more occasions to work with each without fear and to learn from these interactions. They would slowly become less afraid of tests and examinations and have an increased the confidence in their ability to learn. We hope they would also have a greater desire to learn and read. The facility of classroom libraries is being extended and also the idea of worksheets. Review processes and meetings among teachers have started happening regularly and gradually an agenda for them is emerging. There are many ideas that are being explored in different institutions and institutional goals set according to the available situation. Many of the institutional functions and activities are being held differently and if we look at the detailed report of the institutions we would recognize an increased role of students.All this shows that we would be able to make a wide dialogue on issues of education possible, if the occasion so arises. The basis for this dialogue is emerging from our perspective of education. Something that we are sharing and simultaneously developing within ourselves. This includes ideas such as self-learning, open ended explorations, non-judgemental feedback, a belief in the capability of the human mind and the human child, appreciation of diversity, the confidence and the belief that all children can learn etc. Our effort is put together cogent experiences and arguments to convince more people. Educational change, beliefs about education, curricular issues and documents are matters of negotiation in a democracy. We see our role in widening these discussions and building a discourse that would alter this fundamental assumptions about education in the wider society as well.
There are mechanism being created for capacity development in the team at Vidya Bhawan by providing them exposures, keener challenges and an opportunity to participate in educational dialogues. A key factor in developing confidence and capability of Vidya Bhawan team members is of scaffolding and communication. There is an increased academic sharing of work and a continuous reflection on the tasks that have to be undertaken. I am sure this development in the capacity of Vidya Bhawan team members will continue as more and more institutions join to explore and exploit their capabilities for the benefit of the under privileged.
The Panchayati Raj Institution is entering its first phase of the new project. The new project has envisaged a more intense engagement with the community and with elected representatives. Besides continuing with the activities that the Centre has been engaged with, there is an effort to increase the support that the elected representatives need in actually performing their duties. This additional component of the project requires us to work with local village community in order to improve and influence, reach of democratic governance to them. The new proposal also includes doing research and documentation of the work.
Clearly there is a lot of churning going on in Vidya Bhawan institutions and there is progress in our thinking and functioning. The progress is both in terms of feeling the responsibility, evolving strategies for taking action and most importantly towards deepening the development and dissemination of understanding. The work of dissemination needs to be read as facilitative engagement as we recognize that education and other ideas for change cannot be given as something to be absorbed as it is.
The goal of development of a just and equitable society in India is not unique to us. We have over the last few years learnt to work with those who think broadly along the same direction and also have a dialogue with those who think somewhat differently but are sensitive to the concerns of the others. The thought that education is one of the possible areas of intervention in the journey towards a just, equitable and democratic society inspires us to continue our struggle. We recognize that the understanding and experience gained by any organisation resides in its people. Institutions are built on people and traditions are also maintained by people believing in them deeply and by being able to constantly redefine and re-interpret them as the context changes. We recognize that ensuring quality is a continuous process and is not an episodic task. In our interactions with ourselves and with others we recognize that each idea and each principle needs to be renegotiated so that it becomes meaningful and can be put into operation. The key path for progress of ideas is to develop the ability to have open dialogue in a larger number of people and to make possible for them to constantly evolve and change their own understanding. It also requires a sincerity of purpose and the ability to dream beyond what exists and what can be seen to be obviously possible. It is in these areas of reaching beyond today, setting goals and standards for ourselves, that we need to feel more strongly about in Vidya Bhawan. We feel confident that the new learnings that are emerging are becoming a part of our consciousness and we would continue to be able to take ourselves beyond our present.H.K. Dewan
Vidya Bhawan started as a middle school in 1931 when the percentage of literacy in Mewar State (Udaipur) was only 4.9. Vidya Bhawan drew its inspiration from the tenets of the Boys Scout Movement with an emphasis on community services.
It is registered as a Society under Section 5 of the Certificate of Registration Under Societies Registration Act No.VII of 1941 bearing No. 5079/1941 dated 10-09-1941.
Tax exemption is granted to it under section 80(G) of Income Tax Act 1961 corresponding to section 15-B of the Income Tax Act 1922 vide No.JE 5/88/25/68-69/5425 and is valid still further order.
Its FCRA Registration No. is 125690033 dated 07-06-1989 and is still valid.
Main Bankers:
State Bank of India, Badgaon Branch, Udaipur
ICICI Bank Ltd., Madhuban Branch, Udaipur
The Bank of Rajasthan Ltd., Fatehpura Branch, Udaipur
Auditors:
M/s. Shashi Kant Mehta & Co.
Inside Surajpole, Udaipur, Rajasthan.
Distribution of staff according to salary levels:
Slab of gross salary plus benefits paid to staff(in Rs. per month) |
Male staff |
Female staff |
Total staff |
Less than 5,000 |
106 |
37 |
143 |
5,000 - 10,000 |
156 |
48 |
204 |
10,000 - 25,000 |
95 |
53 |
148 |
25,000 - 50,000 |
15 |
17 |
32 |
50,000 - 1,00,000 |
1 |
- |
1 |
Greater than 1,00,000 |
- |
- |
- |
Total |
373 |
155 |
528 |
Staff remuneration [Gross salary + benefits] in Rupees:
Head of the organisation: |
Rs. Nil (honorary service) |
Highest paid: |
Rs. 52752/- per month |
Lowest paid: |
Rs. 2927/- per month |
Staff International Travel:
Name |
Nil |
Gross expense (Rs) |
Nil |
Sponsored by external organisation |
Nil |
Staff remuneration [Gross salary + benefits] in Rupees:
No. |
Name |
Gross Remuneration Per Annum (Rs.) |
1 |
ZERO |
ZERO |
Financial Statements (1st April,08 to 31st March,09)
Audit Report
We have audited the attached Balance Sheet of Vidya Bhawan Society, Udaipur as at 31st March, 2009 and Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended on that date and annexed thereto. These financial statements are the responsibility of the Society’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit.
We conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in India. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatements. An audit includes examining, on test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
- We have obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purpose of our audit.
- The Balance Sheet and Income and Expenditure Account dealt with by this report are in agreement with the Books of Account maintained, and
- In our opinion and to the best of our information and according to the explanations given to us the accounts read together with the schedules thereon give a true and fair view.
- In the case of the Balance Sheet of the state of affairs of the Society as at 31st March, 2009 and
- In the case of the Income and Expenditure Account “excess of Income over Expenditure” for the year ended on that date.
For SHASHI KANT MEHTA & CO.
Chartered Accountants
S. K. MEHTA
Proprietor
UdaipurChartered Accountants
S. K. MEHTA
Proprietor
Sept. 24, 2009
Vidya Bhawan Society, © 2009. All rights reserved.
Webmaster
Webmaster