Project review and site visit report

Project: Partial support of bus transport for underprivileged children between home and school and back. Door Step Schools, Pune, IndiaFunded by: Asha-CanadaProject review and site visit by: Premnath Venugopalan, premnathv@gmail.comSite visit date: 19 April 2013

Background

Asha-Canada has been providing financial support to Door Step Schools, Pune all through FY10-11, FY11-12, FY 12-13. The support has been towards driver’s salary for one of the vehicles that Door Step Schools operate for transporting underprivileged children (especially, from makeshift homes at construction sites) to schools (both Door Step Schools’ and also Municipal Schools). The support committed in FY 2012-13 was C$ 3000.

The last review and visit was by Asma Tamboli of Asha-Pune on 17 March 2012. The report recommended continued funding support.

The purpose of this visit and review was to study how the funds were spent in FY2012-13, review if the project is meeting its intended goals and to recommend funding support for the FY2013-14.

About Door Step Schools

Door Step Schools (DSS), Pune is a well known and reputed NGO in Pune that focuses on ensuring basic education for urban poor in Pune – in particular, children of migrant construction workers and urban slums. The school has a growing network of small schools all over the Pune city ---- most are located in major construction sites. Sites may have a combination of crèche, balwadi (pre-primary), NFEs/ reading classes and libraries depending upon the local need. The general idea is to a) provide basic education and literacy, b) prepare the children for mainstreaming and admission into municipal schools, c) crèche to ensure that the girl child (esp elder sisters) can also study, d) assist in admission into municipal schools, e) ensure continuity of education if the family moves from one construction site to another, f) help keep children in schools by supplementing municipal school education via reading classes and libraries. DSS also runs a School-on-wheels (20 seater bus that has been adapted into a classroom) which acts as a mobile school especially for children who may not be close to any site school.

A DSS class in progress at Windsor Residency construction site on Baner Road, Pune, India. This site is on the Tata Star/Marcopolo route and is one of the key stop points for collecting the children. The classroom is actually a car parking area which has been boarded from all sides by the builder so that DSS can run

their classes.

Manju, her little brother and 8 other children had just arrived from Chattisgarh with their parents. Their parents work as laborers in a nearby construction site.

The local DSS coordinator (Anuradha) was telling me that they had arrived in rather unkempt shape and had to provided soaps to take a bath, wash their

clothes and come to school. Manju looked delighted to be in the school. She did not seem to have studied earlier (although DSS is happily finding that an

increasing number of children are now coming with some village level basic education)

You can see one of the construction sites at a distance in the middle of this photograph. The bus used to go down to the site earlier but now it is not possible

due to road work in progress. The kids walk out to the main road. This was probably the Yuthika site.

This is a shot of the Hotel Sadanand/ D-Mart site. The blue tent on the right behind the tree is actually the make shift DSS school allowed by the builder. You

can see the slums also in the picture.

Transportation project

DSS has also been providing transport to children in their network (currently enrolled in their schools or those who were enrolled earlier but now have been admitted to the municipal schools) between their home and the school, and back. The motivation behind this is to reduce the chance of kids not going to school or not being sent to school by kids due the distance, transport costs or fear of safety. For this purpose, DSS currently owns 3 vehicles ( 1 van, 1 Tata Magic, 1 Tata Star/ Marcopolo). Typically, these vehicles have been donated or DSS has bought at a deeply discounted price. The running cost is covered through donations from donors including Asha-Canada.

For clarifications, please note the following: When Asma visited DSS in March 2012, DSS had an old Tata Winger vehicle (which was costing quite a bit in maintenance and had poor mileage). The DSS proposal for FY 2012-13 was also based on this Tata Winger. However, in June 2012 or so, DSS had an opportunity to buy a Tata Star/ Marcopolo from the Tatas at 50% price. So, they sold the Tata Winger and bought the Tata Star/ Marcopolo vehicle which has room for 40 children or so, consumes less diesel and has lower maintenance cost. So, the current proposal from DSS for FY2013-14 is for the Tata Star/ Marcopolo vehicle. The driver of this vehicle is Mr Navnath Bhosale. (The driver Asma met, Mr Saudagar, does not have a license for this bus and hence this change).

Mr Navnath Bhosale in front of the Tata Star/Marcopolo that he drives. Mr Bhosale is an experienced and careful driver.

The Tata Star/Marcopolo bus which plies on Baner Road route. The bus is in good shape and well maintained. The last picture has Mr Mahamuni, Assistant

Director – Project Foundation (who accompanied me on the bus along the route)

Currently, Asha-Canada’s funding is going towards driver’s salary (Mr Navnath Bhosale’s salary). The Tata Star/Marcopolo bus has been assigned the following route. (as provided by DSS to me)

Time Places visited(as provided by DSS; has

spelling mistakes) Distance

Premnath’s comments

From To

6.45 a.m.

8.00 a.m.

Aundh office --> Ralicon --> Vasant Vihar --> Yuthika --> Hotel Sadanand --> D Mart --> Ganaraj mangal karyalaya --> State bank of Hydrabad --> Windsor Residancy --> DSK Gandhkosh --> Ira Backery --> laxmi mata mandir --> Oravi --> Golder Trallies --> PMC School Balewadi --> PMC School Baner --> Aundh Office. 25

Locations in red are places where DSS has study classes. In other points, the school may have been closed due construction coming to a close but kids are still there.

This trip is primarily to drop kids at PMC (municipal) schools for Shift 1 which starts around 8 am

8.30 a.m

9.45 a.m.

Chikhalwadi --> Balewadi phata --> Vasant Vihar --> Hotel Sadanand --> D Mart --> Ganraj --> Ira Beckary --> Windsor . 16

This trip is to gather DSS kids outside construction sites and bring them to Windsor site

11.45 a.m.

1.00.p.m.

Hotel Sadanand --> Relicon --> Windsor --> PMC School Baner --> DSK Gandhkosh --> Ira backery --> PMC School Balewadi --> Oravi --> Golder Trallies --> PMC School Balewadi --> Windsor Residancy 20

This trip is to drop children at PMC schools for Shift 2 which starts around 12 noon.

And to pick up kids from Shift 1 and drop them back at home or Windsor site.

4.45 p.m.

6.00.p.m

PMC School Baner --> Raliccon --> Vasant Vihar --> Yuthika --> Hotel sadanand --> D Mart --> Ganraj mangal karyalaya --> State bank of Hydrabad --> Windsor Residancy --> DSK Gandhkosh --> Ira Backery --> laxmi mata mandir --> Oravi --> Golder Trallies --> PMC School Balewadi --> Ambedkar Chowk --> Aundh Office. 35

This trip is to pick up Shift 2 kids from PMC school and drop them back at home.

Total running 96

DSS maintains good records of the children travelling in the bus. The numbers indicate that around 50-150 children benefit from the regular bus route every month. DSS has provided numbers (which is attached). I was told that roughly 50% are girls. The kids are also accompanied by 1 lady teacher (typically, she

will also double up as a balwadi teacher). For the route that Asha-Canada is supporting, the accompanying lady teachers are:

Vanisha S (accompanies children in bus in morning session; is also a balwadi teacher at Windsor site)

Manisha More and Malati Gaikwad (one of them accompanies children in afternoon trips; they are also balwadi teachers)

The teachers who accompany the children in the bus route funded by Asha-Canada. From left – Malati Gaikwad, Manisha More, Vanisha S. The picture is

taken outside the Windsor Residency DSS site school.

Besides this daily trip, the vehicle has also been used by DSS for: 4 trips per week of kids from various site schools to QUEST – a science

popularization activity for children in Pune (see http://www.sakaaltimes.com/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsId=4676103091797339532&SectionId=5171561142064258099&SectionName=Pune&NewsDate=20130227&NewsTitle=‘Quest’%20laboratory%20makes%20science%20easy%20and%20fun%20for%20students )

Occasionally the bus is also used for study trips or picnics to nearby parks for the children.

My site visit and observations

I visited DSS’s Aundh office on 19th April 2013 at around 1015 am. The following were available at the office for discussions:

Mrs Paranjape (Founder) Mrs Jayashree Joglekar, Director Mrs Varsha Jadhav, Assistant Director, Finance Mr Ravindra Mahamuni, Assistant Director, Project Foundation (basically,

all construction site schools)

I spent a little more than an hour at the office reviewing their records and reports. Most of my discussion was with Mrs Joglekar and Mrs Jadhav. We reviewed the following:

FY12-13 Budget Estimate FY12-13 Expenses (actual) FY 13-14 Budget Estimates Bus route details Children benefiting from the bus route Possible funding heads for FY13-14 Other emerging funding needs

In general, I think the organization is run very well. All records have been maintained systematically and were available for review. The expenses show for FY12-13 were only as agreed --- all numbers were reasonable and justified.

I also went through the budget for FY13-14. The costs are reasonable and roughly represent a 10% increase which I think is reasonable and conservative.

On the financial side, I recommend the following: Asha-Canada had provided DSS with C$ 3000 for FY2012-13. Of this DSS

has not spent roughly Rs 18000. I think they should be allowed to carry forward this amount for spending in FY 2013-14.

For FY2013-14, I understand that Asha-Canada is willing to fund up to C$8300. I think the increased funding levels is a good idea and merited given the good performance of DSS. The funding heads that can be included so that the total roughly comes to above C$8000 are:

1. Driver’s salary2. Insurance3. RTO tax4. Maintenance5. Diesel cost

I also think that Asha-Canada can consider providing a small contingency amount with some flexibility of spending to DSS (especially given that they are being very responsible n reporting their expenses). This can include the FY12-13 carry forward and remaining funds after accounting for the above 5 heads. My rough calculation indicates that this should be around c$500. This contingency can take care of:

o Fluctuations in fuel prices and other costs (given inflationary pressures in India)

o Communication and coordination costs (such as for phone calls etc to ensure vehicles are on time an at right location etc)

o Some admin and overheads costs

After my meeting at the DSS office, I set out with Mr Mahamuni on the Tata Star/ Marcopolo bus along the bus route. We went along the route followed by the bus between 645 am and 800 am during a school day. The PMC schools have now closed and so I could not meet the kids being picked up for the PMC schools but could visit the DSS’s site school at Windsor. I have previously reviewed the NFEs and met some PMC school going kids in previous visits to Door Step Schools --- so I can vouch for the success of that program. On the way, we did pick up the three teachers and Ms Anuradha (DSS coordinator for the Baner-Balewadi area) who pointed to construction sites on the way, described who they pick up at each location etc. They also described the status of site schools at each location --- at some places site schools close down as the construction ends. Simultaneously new site schools have been coming up at other locations. I met children and teachers at the Windsor Residency site and then returned back to the Aundh office around 1230.

Overall, I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of construction activity happening and the number of construction workers contributing to it. DSS must have quite a challenge keeping up with the new sites cropping up, negotiating with builders to set up a local school, trying to keep the kids in school, motivating and assisting them to join the municipal schools etc. The dedication of DSS staff and the enthusiasm (and connect to the children) of the teachers lifts ones spirits. I think DSS is doing a great job and we should continue supporting DSS as far as reasonably possible.