Centered at the Municipal Primary school, the education progamme aims to provide access to quality education to the children of the Basti, as part of the larger MoU with the SDMC. Following a major renovation of the school building which required large scale rebuilding, providing segregated toilets, creating open spaces for play, performances and gathering, coupled with a faculty development, providing community teachers and introducing improved school management systems, enrolment has increased significantly and attendance is stabilizing at over 75% of the enrolment. The methodology followed to bring about change was based on the assessment of the situation by the project team, followed by discussion with key SDMC functionaries. Most important was observations of the functioning of the school and engagement with the parents and students. The school management is improved with a regular morning assembly, time-table and inclusion of art and physical education. Secondary school children who go to schools outside the basti are helped in subjects that are considered difficult including English, Maths and Science through the subject enrichment programme.500 adolescent children have been or are part of the English programme to improve their confidence levels and ultimately, employability. It was dialogue with the community that helped us decided the roadmap to improve the school and functioning. With the implementation of the Right to Educa tion Act, the project has tried to comply with norms, with a special focus on engaging with the community. The major strategy has been to demonstrate within the school, ‘in-situ’, and support the School Management Committee to monitor the functioning of the school as mandated by the RtE.

The school programme began with a dialogue with the SDMC school team and the community. The gaps that were identified were poor infrastructure, low enrolment, poor organization of the school, lack of resources and poor engagement of the community. The project has worked systematically on each front by improving the physical environment so that the building is a learning aid, appointing additional teachers from the community, working with the SDMC to improve the school operations, capacity enhancement of teachers, enriching the curriculum with missing subjects/themes, more and improved engagement with the community and supporting community based monitoring of the school. The project has also organized celebrations of national festivals and bal sabhas to enrich the curriculum and as a confidence building measure for children.