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Pratham - Mumbai Education

Initiative(A Citizen’s Effort for Universalizing Primary

Education in Mumbai)

An inquiry into the nature of a city-based venture seeking to ensure that “Every school is beautiful,

Every child is in school, Every child is learning”

Case StudyCivil Society & Governance

ProjectFebruary 2000

byVinita Tatke

GreenEarth Consulting “Kalyan”, 32, Natraj Society, Karve Nagar, Pune 411 052.

Pratham - Mumbai Education Initiative - A Case Study

Tel : 544 4663, 544 3134. e-mail : [email protected], [email protected]

Declaration of Will of Greater Mumbai

We, the people of Mumbai, on the eve of the 48th Republic Day, dedicate ourselves, with a strong will, careful thought and vigor, to implement in spirit and in letter, Article 45 of

the Constitution of India, in every region, ward and community of Mumbai, for children up to the age of 10 years,

before January 25, 2000, the eve of the 51st Republic Day.

In order to achieve the above, we shall ensure that the voluntary sector, institutions of education, the corporate

sector and the governmental bodies shall work together to eliminate all hurdles in ensuring that every child has easy

and safe access to a school, that every child can attend the school regularly, and that every child masters the prescribed

minimum learning competencies through Joyful learning.

Signed1 on this 25th Day of January, 1997

Municipal Commissioner Mayor of Mumbai Chairperson, Pratham

Secretary, Education Minister for Human Minister for Education Resource Development

Leaders of the Opposition (MCGM2 / VIdhan Sabha3)

People coming together to solve their own problems or those of their fellow citizens is always an extremely fascinating and profound phenomenon, and has invariably intrigued social scientists. In today’s world, when democracy and human rights have been recognized as of being paramount value, when most of the countries have signed various treaties committing themselves to ensure the dignity, liberty and equality and a minimum standard of living for their citizenry, this phenomenon has assumed even greater importance.

1 The signing of this Declaration of Will was dropped by Pratham at the last minute, and the Will was not circulated. However, on 28th May, a number of leading industrialists, led by Mr. Vaghul of ICICI, a leading financial institution, did sign a different version of this draft, committing themselves to the goal of putting every child in Mumbai in school. 2 MCGM : Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.3 Vidhan Sabha : Assembly House of the elected representatives of the State Government.

Civil Society & Governance Project2


The question of interest is whether this phenomenon helps to empower people, to strengthen their ability to participate in processes which affect them and define their future.

This case study is an attempt to delve into how different people and institutions in Mumbai came together in partnership to work for ensuring access to primary education for every child in the city, what strengthened this partnership and to what extent and in what manner the partnership moved forward to achieve this goal. Most importantly, it examines whether the poor, whose children this partnership was to benefit, were empowered to participate and work for this goal.Contents

Page No

Declaration of Will of Greater Mumbai 2List of Abbreviations 4List of Figures, Tables & Boxes 4Acknowledgements 5A Note on Research Methodology

6Rafi Nagar 8Mumbai - A City of Contrasts 9Pratham in Making 10Universalizing Primary Education in Mumbai 12

Approach 13Programs 14The Balwadi Model 16Achievements 17

The Strategy for Achieving UPE 18Pratham : The Organization 19

Ethos 19Working Principles 20Mandate 20Organizational Structure and Decision-making 21Working with the Government - Building Trust 22Partnership with the Corporate Sector 25Listening from the People 27Sustainability 28

The Outcome : A Societal Mission ? 29

Civil Society & Governance Project 3


A Comment on ‘Civil Society’ 30Meaning of Governance 31The Environment 32

Civil Society Initiatives 33Impact on Governance 34Conclusions 39

List of Abbreviations

BCPT Bombay Community Public TrustBEI Bombay Education InitiativeCBO Community Based OrganizationCDO Community Development OfficerCORO Committee of Resource Organizations for LiteracyEO Education OfficerEP Education PostICICI Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of

IndiaMCGM Municipal Corporation of Greater MumbaiMIS Management Information SystemMOU Memorandum of UnderstandingNGO Non-Governmental OrganizationNN Nirmala NiketanTISS Tata Institute of Social SciencesUDCT University Department of Chemical TechnologyUN United NationsUNICEF United Nations’ Children’s FundUPE Universalization of Primary EducationUPEFA Urban Primary Education for All

List of Figures, Tables & Boxes



Figure 1 The Organizational Structure for Balwadis.................................................................16Figure 2 Pratham : Organogram..............................................................................................21

Table 1 Primary Education in Mumbai : MCGM’s Infrastructure.............................................183

Box 1 The Concept of ‘Sociatal Mission’....................................................................................9Box 2 Lessons learned from earlier experiences .....................................................................10Box 3 Education Officer’s comments about the partnership with Pratham..............................21Box 4 Partnership with Government : Do’s and Don’ts............................................................22

Acknowledgements

I wish to gratefully acknowledge the opportunity given to me by Dr. Madhav Chavan and PRIA to carry out this case study on Pratham.

Through out the study, the entire Pratham team cooperated with me without holding any bars, gave me free access to all records, allowed discussions and visits without withholding any information. I sincerely acknowledge this transparency in the team, and hope that this documentation will do justice to their openness.

Dr. Chavan has been kind enough to share with me drafts of a book on Pratham he is in the process of writing. This documentation, although in the early stages of writing, has been immensely helpful to me for gaining an initial understanding of Pratham and for evolving a more in-depth line of inquiry.

Usha and Madhukar acted as sounding boards with whom I could confirm and cross-check my understanding about various aspects of Pratham. Kirtee offered to facilitate my visits and gave me hints for spotting information. I am grateful to all three of them.

I would also like to thank all those with whom it was possible to discuss various aspects of Pratham. A number of these interactions were intense and are well remembered. It will be difficult to name everyone who participated in these discussions.

I would also like to gratefully acknowledge the support given me by my colleagues in GreenEarth Consulting, the numerous debates I have had with them and the critical comments they have been so happy to come up with.



Without this constructive criticism, this report would not have carried as much flavor.

This is not an evaluation, nor a statement about the successes and failures of Pratham. None of the comments made in this document are intended in any way to undermine the sincerity, commitment and subsequent effort of the Pratham team, as well as the genuineness of purpose, but rather to examine Pratham within the defined framework of the subject under discussion. I hope that this documentation will be taken in that spirit. This critical examination is only possible with the support of the Pratham team, and I am confident that it will help not only them but others involved in similar work to learn from the vast experience of Pratham.

Vinita Tatke,GreenEarth Consulting,Pune.12th February, 2000.

A Note on Research Methodology

At the onset of the study, certain key research questions were identified from the point of view of examining the impact of Pratham’s work on governance. These were :

a. In what way has the relation between government (here, the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai) and Pratham developed ? What are the areas of cooperation and consultation and of independent action ? What are the strategies and the methodology used for developing this relationship ? To what extent and in what way are people who are directly affected involved in this relationship with the government ?

b. What strategies have been used by Pratham to involve as many individuals and institutions as possible in this mission ? What has been the result as regards governance ?

c. How has Pratham’s work affected the people ? Has it helped the people to carve out a space for themselves ? Has it resulted in not only raising the



hopes of the people, but also in developing their capacities to find solutions for themselves ?

Keeping in mind these questions, the following methodology was worked out.

a. Continue to re-frame the key research questions.b. Identify the civil society ‘actors’ in the Pratham story. Document the role

played by these actors and the impact they have had on governance.c. Review of documents, background preparation for the research.d. Select the centers to be visited, people to be interviewed.e. Field visits and interviews followed by documentation, followed by visits

and interviews again.

The areas to be visited and the persons to be interviewed were identified mostly after discussion with Pratham team. The field visits were mostly for observation, and usually the staff was accompanied on their routine visits. The visits were usually followed by discussions, individual as well as in a group, with the field staff. All discussions were participatory.

A total of 25 days were spent on visits.

The individuals to be interviewed were selected so as to cover government officials at all levels, trustees, education committee members, balwadi instructors and other local staff, Pratham staff and supporters, local people and beneficiaries, direct and indirect. The interviews were conducted in an informal manner and were in the form of a chat. Notes were taken during the chat, however.

Documents such as the trust deed, program notes, various brochures and folders printed by Pratham, reports etc. were reviewed from Pratham’s earlier files. Academic literature on civil society and governance was also reviewed, mostly from papers available on the web-sites of various organizations.

The following is a list of the centers visited, and people interviewed :

1. G (North) ward, covering slums from Labor Camp, Matunga to Transit Camp, Dharavi (Bridge Courses at Shantinagar and Senapati Bapat Marg, balwadis and bridge courses in Dharavi, Urdu medium school in the heart of Dharavi, discussions with EP In-Charge, TM, Bridge Course In-Charge and Bridge Course team, review of files).

2. K (East) ward, covering Jogeshwari, Koliwada, Marol (8 schools, discussions with Pratham staff, teachers and school heads, balsakhis and students of Nirmala Niketan).

3. Discussion with Dr. Madhav Chavan, Pratham trustee, in different slots.4. Discussion with Usha Rane and C.V. Madhukar, members of Executive

Committee, Pratham in different slots.



5. Discussion with Yuvashakti team.6. Discussion with Superintendent, MCGM.7. Interview of Mrs. Farida Lambay, Pratham trustee.8. Interview of Meera Tendolkar, Production In-Charge.9. Interview of Meenal Joshi and Kirtee Bhosekar, members, extended

Executive Committee.10.Interview of Suvarna Phadatare, Training Group. 11.Interview of Education Officer, MCGM.12.Meeting with ex-additional Commissioner, MCGM.13.Attended training of trainers, Mrs. Lambay’s lecture.14.Mr. Vaghul’s address to a meeting of leading industrialists of Pune

organized to launch Pratham, Pune.15.Attended a 2-day workshop-meeting in Mumbai of senior IAS officers of

the central government.

Apart from this list, there were small but numerous interactions with a wide range of Pratham staff and beneficiaries and other individuals involved directly or indirectly with Pratham’s work, as well as distant observers of Pratham. It will be difficult to list all of these.

The speed with which Pratham continues to evolve puts the researcher in a quandary as to the coverage of the report. This problem has been solved by restricting the scope of inquiry to the city of Mumbai and by restricting the period of coverage up to the end of September 1999. Efforts have been made to incorporate relevant and important information and progress made by Pratham after this period, however. In spite of this, errors that may have been left in the report are the researcher’s responsibility entirely.


“Rafi Nagar. A very poor non-recognized slum on the edge of Mumbai's largest dumping ground in Gowandi. For most of their lives, the children in Rafi Nagar have lived under plastic sheets in makeshift homes in the worst urban slums in the city. Frequently, they go into the dumping ground, pick through garbage to find things to sell. In the monsoon, water from the nearby sewage canal seeps into their homes. Often bulldozers demolish their homes, as happened on the morning of 12 th February. On this morning, the teacher, Farida was with the ‘bridge course’ children. She looked like a haunted soul, but she was trying to hide her own insecurity and sang songs with the children. Outside, the bulldozer was wreaking havoc. People were scrambling to save whatever they could of their meager belongings…. as a full demolition squad, accompanied by at least 50 policemen, stood ready with canes in case anyone revolted.

Amidst this stood the balwadi4, where Farida was teaching. Amongst the muck, the slimy filth, the garbage and the rubble. A simple, separate structure. Built by the joint efforts of the poorest of the poor and Pratham activists. Clean and colorful, and visited daily by 120 happy, though grimy, children. The residents of the Rafi Nagar slum on the dumping ground of the city saw it as a place to respect. A symbol of the hope that education holds…..of welfare, of better times to come…..

Rukmini tried frantically on her mobile phone to reach out, buy time, revive the one-day old promise made by the ward officer that the structure would not be demolished, but all was in vain. Even as we watched, stunned into disbelief, the children were dragged out and materials thrown out. Every bit of the beautiful balwadi was ripped apart and chopped down. Like an angry, hungry demon of destruction, the bulldozer then razed it to the ground completely, leaving no sign of its existence.

Then the slum dwellers came to us. I would not have believed it if I had not heard it myself, but they said, ‘teacher, aap paani pee lo, hum aap ke liye chay banate hain, aap baith jaao 5…’etc. On a day when they had lost their homes, they were more concerned about us! And incredibly, several of them said, ‘hamare ghar toot gaye, koi baat nahin, hamari balwadi nahin tootni thi!’ (our houses are demolished, that’s okay, but the balwadi should not have been demolished) A little child, Arif, came running to Rukmini, saying, ‘teacher, ham balwadi phir se banayenge!’(We will re-construct the balwadi).

The temporary structure was gone. But the value of education had been permanently established in the minds of these slum-dwellers, children and adults alike. Probably strengthened because it could not be taken for granted. Tragedy had struck. But turn the kid glove inside out. It was a triumph for education.6”

This was the story narrated by Mushira and Rukmini, Pratham volunteers, who were visiting Rafi Nagar on that ill-fated day. On the background of the huge slum demolition drive taken up by the Shiv Sena - BJP Government and the transformation of Mumbai into India’s Singapore, Pratham has constantly lobbied to ensure that children from Rafi Nagar do not lose out on their primary education. As a result, a two storied building has been constructed by Pratham at the cost of Rs. 20 lakh. The building was handed over to MCGM in a public ceremony on 12th January, 2000.

Concerned about the poor levels of literacy and primary education in the society, Pratham - Mumbai Education Initiative, was launched in 1995 to universalize primary education - to ensure that every child in the city is in school and is learning. Not believing in working in a small pocket, Pratham

4 Kindergarten, or pre-school for children under 5 years of age.5 Translated, it means “Have a drink of water, sit down, we will make tea for you…”6 Adapted from “Pratham - person singular” Vol. 7 & 8, by Mushira Shamsi & Dr. Rukmini Banerji. “Pratham - person singular” are a series of articles by Pratham activists and supporters, circulated widely among friends and donors in order to share experiences of Pratham’s work.


targeted the entire city of Mumbai and took on the great challenge of putting every child in the city in school, and learning, by December 2000.

How did this come about ? Who were these people who came together in Pratham and who felt confident that such a target could be achieved ? Why did it happen in Mumbai ?Mumbai – A City of ContrastsGreater Mumbai - the business capital of the country - is a metropolitan city with a huge population of 99.26 lakhs as per the 1991 census, currently estimated at 1 crore 20 lakhs, with 60% of its population in the slums. Administratively, Mumbai has been divided into a total of 23 municipal wards forming the city and the suburbs, spread over an area of 603 sq. km. Earlier a group of seven islands off the Western coast, the city has grown as a result of huge land reclamation carried out for expansion.

Mumbai has originally been the village of fishermen. The city saw tremendous growth in the 19th century, when cotton was exported to America during the American Civil War. The textile industry experienced an economic boom, and several industrial centers mushroomed to keep up with the demand.

Today, it is the financial capital of the country, epitomizing the peak of industrialized India, with every possible civic amenity, the best developed airports, ports, communications and transportation systems, the hub of India's commercial activity as possibly no other city in the country. The metro has a thick concentration of population within its limits and huge slums, throbbing with life and struggling to survive.

The industry here alone employs nearly 20% of the total population in India's organized industry. Apart from being a traditional textile center, Mumbai has also developed as a major export and import city. It houses the country's major film industry as well as the head offices of the country's major financial institutions. That it is the commercial and financial nerve center of the country can be well appreciated from the fact that it's people pay nearly 33% of the country's income tax, 20% of central excise and 60% of all custom duties. The overall trade in the city is estimated to be over Rs. 25,000 crores per annum.

It is a city of contrasts, with a upper class and higher upper class cosmopolitan population living in luxurious residential places on one hand and a poverty-ridden populace in its slums, on the streets and along railway tracks. The people in the slums are either the original residents of the city, or people who have migrated to the city from literally all corners of the country in search of employment. For them, survival means a daily struggle, and one has to be constantly alert. In their fight for survival, people have found the most innovative ways to do business and earn a living. This permanent



struggle has made the people extremely hard working, ambitious and competitive. Indeed, without these characteristics, it would be difficult to survive in the city.

The people are always short of time, shuttling and bustling from one corner of the city to the other for work, and tempers are short and inhumane at times. At other times, one would encounter the most friendly and helpful people, sensitive to the least bit of suffering and injustice, promptly willing to do their bit. Examples of voluntarism abound, and the moment a problem is identified, one can be sure of a voluntary group coming forward to deal with it, be it garbage, help for senior citizens or the city's numerous street children.

This dense congregation of different communities like the Hindus of all castes, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Parsis, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists etc., and more than this, the volatile nature of society because of fierce competitiveness and a struggle for survival, often leads to communal dissension, arguably politically motivated. Yet, the society is tightly knit, with an inherent characteristic to find its own solutions. As a result, people and organizations are quick to respond in an organized manner, benefiting from the resources that Mumbai has at its command.

It was therefore no wonder that the initiators of Pratham felt that the target of Universalization could be achieved in this city of contrasts, and the city could set an example for the rest of the country.

Pratham in MakingThe idea of a Bombay Education Initiative (BEI - or Pratham - Mumbai Educa-tion Initiative) took shape in the minds of UNICEF officials in Maharashtra in 1993, who felt that without a sound base in education among the masses, the country could not hope to withstand the economic liberalization process which it had initiated. The BEI was thought of as a model program to be owned and run by the residents of Mumbai, the financial capital of the coun-try, to demonstrate and stress to the rest of the country the need for primary education for all and how to achieve it. UNICEF was the facilitator, willing to contribute the initial expenses while the initiative took off, but expecting to be independent of it soon. It was searching for an entity which would own the idea and make it a reality.

A precursor to this was the program Urban Primary Education for All (UPEFA) initiated by UNICEF in Mumbai in 1991, in collaboration with the Government of Maharashtra and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). The program failed to find roots and as a result, did not move forward.

There were a number of actors who were involved and active in the area of literacy, primary education etc. in Mumbai at the time. Among them were Mrs. Farida Lambay, then faculty and now Vice Principal of the Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work (NN) and Dr. Madhav Chavan, faculty at the


Box 1 The Concept of ‘Societal Mission’

A 'societal mission' was necessary to achieve Universalisation of Primary Education (UPE) and to ensure that the program reaches all.

A 'societal mission' meant that the responsibility of the task should be shouldered by all sectors of the society (individuals or institutions). The objective of UPE should be 'owned' by these sections of the society.

Without the ‘ownership’ of the idea by members of society, UPE cannot be achieved.

A mass movement was needed to mobilize resources, both human and financial, and to drive in the goal of Universalisation.


University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT). As a part of the college's "Social Work in Schools" project7, Mrs. Lambay had been closely associated with the Education Department of MCGM since 1970 and was hence familiar with the problems facing the municipal schools and the education system as well as the needs of the children in these schools. Dr. Chavan was the founder member of two initiatives set up to tackle the problems of literacy in the city, Committee of Resource Organizations for Literacy (CORO) and SAHAS - Saksharata Hakk Samiti (Literacy Right Committee). He had been active in the area of literacy since he founded the Total Literacy Campaign in 1991 together with Mrs. Lambay and a number of other NGOs.

Before the launch of BEI, UNICEF had organized a number of meetings to which active members and well-known individuals of the society were invited. Out of these meetings emerged a small group of concerned citizens interested in addressing the issue of primary education in the city. It was during this facilitating process initiated by UNICEF that this duo, who were willing to lead the BEI program actively, were found.

Dr. Chavan and Mrs. Lambay were of the opinion that the failure of UPEFA was because it was not launched as a ‘societal mission’ (See Box 1). The two of them understood and appreciated the concept of 'societal mission' and were willing to take up active responsibility of Universalisation of Primary Education (UPE), a program necessarily focusing on the municipal schools.

“We are trying to build a societal mission and in the process we are also attempting to discover what it is. Clearly, it should be the mission of the society as a whole. But what vehicle does the entire society use to build and drive this mission ? Can it be a narrow project-based organization ? Can it be a “movement” which does not have defined targets to achieve ? Or is it a combination of both ?

It is almost impossible that the entire population of the city will actively involve itself in a mission. But perhaps, it is possible to have practically every citizen to consciously adopt a mind-set which accepts as her or his own the goals of the mission. ……………Such a mind-set can be created by actually taking up this task of solving the problem and by demonstrating that no great wealth is needed to make a parent more responsible, that huge financial investments are not required to enthuse a teacher, that a community can take initiatives to overcome problems arising out of shortage of resources. It is essential that the demonstration is replicable, and not individual specific. It must have features which easily convince large numbers of ordinary people, opinion-makers and policy-makers of its viability. The solution must address problems on a large scale. This can be done through multi-angular partnerships which create a foundation of a societal mission”

…Adapted from text under the title ‘Mission’ in Pratham’s web-site www.pratham.org.

Through their individual and collective experience for working in the field of education, Dr. Chavan and Mrs. Lambay had formed an understanding of how such a task could be achieved. Dr. Chavan had considerable experience in or-ganizational work and was equipped with the skills and techniques essential for creating a mass movement. Mrs. Lambay was well known to the munici-

7 ‘Social Work in Schools’ - Annual Report, College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan, 1979-80 & 1980-81.



pal and the state government authorities, was closely acquainted with the 'system' and of the problems facing the education system (See Box 2). To-gether, they were a combination which complemented each other's skills.

This duo was convinced and strongly believed that the target of UPE needed to be set and achieved in a given time frame and for the whole of Mumbai, and that it could be achieved. They also believed that the necessary resources, both human and capital, could be raised from within the city and a network to implement the activities could also be created across the city.

This attitude has been crucial in laying the foundations of Pratham. The willingness to set a target to be achieved, in a given time-frame and that too for an entire city like Mumbai, without an assurance for the resources required, requires an immense confidence in the goal and one's own organizational capacity to achieve this goal.

At this point, there was a group of people committed to the idea of a 'societal mission' for UPE, and a commitment from UNICEF to provide the initial funds and cover the cost of the secretariat. There were a few options regarding how to proceed further. Clearly, a trust was needed, and either a new trust could be set up, or help could be taken from an existing one, at least for the purpose of providing the legal vehicle for the financial aspects. Human resources were also needed. They could be either mobilized afresh or existing NGOs could be roped in.

An attempt to take the help of existing agencies was made with not much success. It became evident that the necessary conviction to achieve UPE by covering entire Mumbai was lacking, and that a new 'vehicle' would be needed.

The decision to form a new trust to shoulder the responsibilities of the BEI was taken in a meeting called by UNICEF and MCGM and held at the Committee Halls of MCGM in December '93. The meeting was attended by the MCGM Commissioner, state and national UNICEF officials, corporate representatives, senior and key government staff, the Secretary of Education of the Government of Maharashtra, other senior personalities and socially conscious citizens of Mumbai and social workers. In this meeting, key decisions were taken about the trustees and the functioning of the trust. The MCGM Commissioner would be the ex-officio Vice Chairperson, as would be the Education Secretary, Government of Maharashtra. Dr. Chavan and Mrs. Lambay were also to be trustees, and Dr. Chavan was appointed the Executive Secretary. It was decided that the state representative of UNICEF would also be an ex-officio trustee, and the Education Officer (EO) of MCGM would be an invitee member of the board.

The search for the other trustees was launched. It was thought that the trustees would bring with them their own individual networks which would aid in the task of resource mobilization. Another consideration was that the trustees should give credibility to the trust and endorse it by lending their


Box 2 Lessons learned from earlier experiences :

Participation of the people was required at a massive scale to achieve UPE. People are capable and willing to solve their problems, and it is usually best to let them do so.

Instead of providing solutions, what you can do is to provide them with the means (the skills, the resources and the environment) to solve the problem.

The principle of ‘market economy’ pervades. People in the slums are usually willing to pay for the services they really want.

However, in order to get the whole-hearted participation of the people, it is necessary to convince them that the services being provided are for their benefit only and that no third group or individual stands to benefit in any way (either financially or politically). This can only be done by keeping the accounts books open, and practicing an open culture within the organization.

Ultimately, sensitivity to the reality on hand and flexibility of approach in problem solving are critical.


name to it. Thus, respected and well known citizens in Mumbai were con-tacted and taken aboard. The trust was finally registered and the formalities completed in January 1995.

Universalizing Primary Education in MumbaiA programmatic framework

What exactly was implied by Universalization ? What was preventing the chil-dren in Mumbai from completing their primary education ? Was it a difficulty in the enrollment procedure, or was it a difficulty in learning ? What were the problems facing the municipal schools which hindered the delivery of quality education ?

While the trust was being registered, Dr. Chavan & Mrs. Lambay set about finding answers to these questions and organizing a small team which would work for universalisation.

The following paragraphs describe the concept of UPE as understood by Pratham, the hurdles facing UPE, and the programmatic framework adopted by the Pratham team to achieve the goal of UPE. This understanding was developed from hands-on experience of the Pratham team and through discussions with UNICEF, MCGM officials and a diverse group of individuals working in the field of education. A Rapid Appraisal carried out with the help of UNICEF helped to identify specific problems.

Approach

Universalizing primary education basically meant that every single child in the city of Mumbai should be able to complete primary school and achieve the minimum levels of learning as set out and accepted by the government guidelines.

The objective of UPE was broken down into a three-pronged approach : a. Access, b. Attendance & c. Achievement. First and foremost, it was necessary to ensure that every child in Mumbai had access to a primary school, then to ensure that the child attended the school regularly and finally that the child actually ‘learnt’. Given the diverse society in Mumbai, it was also necessary to focus attention on the most vulnerable population group. Thus, the target group was identified as those children who had no access to private schools and therefore were solely dependent on the municipal schools for their education.



Access For children in the slums of the city, it was a question of whether the school was within a walking distance and whether the child could reach safely, whether the enrolment procedure was simple, and so on. Access to a primary school was the most critical issue for the ‘high risk’ group of children, viz. the children of pavement dwellers, street children, children of rag-pickers, beggars, children of construction workers, working children and children of a migrating population.

Attendance Unless a child liked the school and enjoyed being in school, (s)he will not be regular in the school. Unless the child is regular, the child will not learn. If the child does not learn, then it is more likely that (s)he will drop out of school, thus not completing even primary schooling. Thus, attendance was closely related with whether the school was an enjoyable place and whether the child liked the teacher. The Pratham team discovered that a very low percentage of children did not come to school because they were poor or because they were working (Child Labor). The most common reason given for dropping out of school was that the child shared in the household responsibilities.

Achievement For the parents to be committed to completing the child’s schooling, they must believe that the school was useful and beneficial to the child and to themselves. ‘Learning’ must take place in the school. At the very minimum, literacy and numeric skills must be achieved, followed by the various skills as per government norms. Weak students must be helped to achieve these levels, and the school must be the place which provides the child this help.

Thus, ‘access’ became the first and foremost priority, followed closely by ‘achievement’. The objectives for achieving UPE were defined in the order of priority as follows :

1. To ensure that every single child in the city of Mumbai was enrolled in school.

2. To ensure that the child attended school regularly. (This could be achieved by improving the school environment and improving the quality of teaching).

3. To ensure that the child achieved the minimum levels of learning.

It was also decided that less efforts would be made on developing an alternative pedagogy and going into the theoretical aspects of education in the earlier period. This aspect would be dealt with in the later stages, after it was ensured that every child was in school.

Programs

Although the Rapid Appraisal conducted earlier with the help of UNICEF helped to identify the problems, there was no clear idea about the programs or activities which could be taken up to achieve these objectives. Correct es-



timates of ‘out of school’ children or the drop-out rate were not known. In the process of exploration, it was decided to undertake initial surveys to under-stand the exact nature of problems facing the municipal schools. One such survey was conducted to look at the situation of health and hygiene in the municipal schools, and was conducted by the doctors in the city. A small Pratham team assembled from among volunteers and staff of CORO and the students of NN helped to organize the survey.

The survey helped to break the ice between MCGM and the Pratham team, and the EO asked Pratham to help in conducting 300 Vasantik Vargas (sum-mer classes, which served as school-preparatory classes) in addition to those already being conducted by MCGM. The small Pratham team set about orga-nizing these classes, and recruited and trained teachers to conduct these classes. In the process, the team came to know about the efforts of the Com-munity Development Officers (CDO) to organize pre-schooling for children.

# Municipal Wards : 23Total population : 120 lakh (Approximately)

Total Children (6 to 14 years) : 8 lakh (estimated)Population of out-of-school children : 30000 to 40000 (estimated)

# Education Posts : 450 (Each covering a population of about 20000)

# Primary Schools : 1234 (In 8 languages : Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Urdu, Gujrati, Tamil, Kannada & English)

# School Buildings : 500 (approximately)# Primary School Teachers : 15788

# Children in Primary Schools : 678451MCGM Annual Budget for Education : Rs. 410 Crores (1999-2000)

(Approximately 90% of this is the salary component)

Table 2 Primary Education in Mumbai : MCGM’s Infrastructure (Adapted from “Universal Primary Education - A Primer”, by Pratham).

It was at this time that the idea of Universalization of pre-schooling came forward. Education experts have established the necessity of pre-schooling for a child, since it not only prepares the child for school, but provides critical inputs essential for the future healthy growth of the child. MCGM had no provision for pre-schooling for the children in Mumbai. The lack of pre-schooling of the children of the vulnerable population of Mumbai was identified as a major lacuna in MCGM’s program for primary education, and since MCGM did not wish to take up this responsibility (it did not feel responsible for children under 6 years, and it did not wish to risk the instructors asking for payment as per MCGM standards and face additional financial burden), Pratham decided to take it up. To date, running balwadis is one of the core activities of Pratham (See The Balwadi Model).



After successfully running the summer classes, a number of other activities were experimented with. In order to establish credibility by the successful demonstration of a model for UPE, in the initial stages the Pratham team de-cided to restrict its work to 6 municipal wards to which it was familiar with. In order to make classroom learning interesting and to improve attendance and achievement standards, the concept of joyful learning and learning while do-ing were also tried out in a number of ways. Programs like Shatak Zhep (Maths revolution - learning numeric skills with the help of games), Gammat Jatra (introducing games for easy learning) were targeted towards motivating teachers to use these methods and to make learning interesting to children. Bol Vachan, Shishu Vachan (reading and story telling) were also tried out.

These attempts helped not only to develop an understanding of the obstacles in achieving UPE, but also to find out specific activities which would supplement and enhance the efforts of MCGM. As the team grew in size and gained confidence and experience, the work slowly spread to other wards. In 1998, Every child in school, every school beautiful, every child learning became the slogan for the UPE program. December 2000 was set as the deadline by which the Pratham team would try to cover the entire city of Mumbai and achieve universalization.

The program for achieving UPE, which is presently being implemented and which evolved after continuous experimentation and research, is briefly presented below :

1. Make pre-schooling available for every single child in Mumbai through balwadis, which would be conducted within the locality for not more than 20 children and by a local person who is known to the children and the parents.

2. Run Remedial Classes for academically weak children. In these classes conducted within the school campus, children identified on a three-point scale of achievement by the school teachers would be given special attention by a Pratham staff (usually balsakhi).

3. Run School Readiness Classes for school drop-outs. These classes would be thus a stepping stone for those children who had dropped out of school for a long period and who needed to be made familiar with the school environment. It was expected that these children would subsequently be accepted by the school as regular students.

4. Run Bridge Courses for those children who have never enrolled in school and for the high risk group. Street children and working children would be prepared for the school in these classes and would subsequently enroll in the school in the appropriate class.

5. Run Khelwadis (play groups) for children in extra difficult circumstances who have never entered a school. The khelwadis would help to remove the fear which children in the high risk group felt for the school.

6. Provide support to the school administration for handling difficult and weak children and to conduct classes in the absence of teachers with the help of a balsakhi. The balsakhi would work for 4 hours every day and focus on improving the achievement levels of children who lag behind.



7. Initiate computer-aided learning centers for easy and joyful learning. Such centers, equipped with games for children and targeted towards improving their language and numerical skills, would be opened in each ward.

8. Provide infrastructure support in the form of telephones, repairs, etc.9. Provide support for administration and planning in municipal schools

through Information Cells, a computerized MIS. This would ultimately aid the decentralized planning necessary for improving the quality of education at the level of Education Post (EP).

10.Activate the Education Advisory Committee, which would encourage and provide a forum for the involvement of the parents and interested citizens, making the school accountable to the community thereby leading to the improvement of the school itself and the quality of education provided in the school.

Thus, the program was directed at two levels : on one hand, at providing support and strengthening MCGM’s efforts, and on the other hand, at filling the lacunae in MCGM’s work. The later involved undertaking the responsibility of improving the status of academically weak children, reaching out to the children in difficult circumstances who did not have access to primary schooling, and in particular, pre-schooling of all children. Universalization of pre-schooling emerged as a major program and the balwadi model evolved as a result of this.

The Balwadi Model

The discovery of the Balwadi model being implemented by the MCGM CDOs provided an opportunity for Pratham not only to work for the universalization of pre-primary education, but also to create a wide network of individuals who would spread the message of UPE in the city. It provided the impetus for Pratham to develop its own organizational structure, and a replicable program which could be implemented on a mass scale in every corner of the city, with demonstrable success. The financial requirements were also worked out so that it would be a ’marketable‘ program, relatively simple to understand and therefore, making it easy to mobilize finances for it on a large scale (at a total cost of Rs. 6000 per balwadi, which includes the assistance given to the instructor, the cost of the teaching aids, supervision, training and administrative cost).

Civil Society & Governance Project

Figure 1 The Organizational Structure for Balwadis (The numbers in the brackets denote the staff managed.)

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The balwadi model was simple. A local in-structor would be identified. This person may not be highly ed-ucated, but would be trained by the Pratham team in the basics of child psy-chology, techniques of teaching at the pre-

school level, developing teaching aids suitable for this age group and in maintaining an environment to make the children comfortable. The instructor would identify each and every child in the age group 3 to 5 years in the local -ity and enroll them in the balwadi. Pratham staff would help in procuring space for the balwadi. This would be the home of the instructor 50% of the times, a space provided by the community (the office of a community group or a political party, a place of worship, regardless of the religion) - 40% or a municipal school - 10%. It would be the responsibility of the community to provide the space, and Pratham would not pay any rent.

The instructor was encouraged to charge fees, but could not refuse a child if the child could not afford to or did not want to pay the fees. For this, Pratham contributed an amount of Rs. 200 towards the cost of the fees, apart from providing the teaching material and other equipment. The strength of the balwadi would be ideally 20, but in reality, it varied from 10 to 40. If the num-ber of children were more, another instructor was found and encouraged to start a new balwadi.

Pratham’s approach was that there was a need for balwadis (as understood by the Pratham team), hence the community should take the initiative in starting a balwadi. Pratham believes that the ownership of the balwadi should be with the community. It was only then that the program would become sustainable. Encouraging the instructor to charge fees and to obtain the space from the community were efforts in this direction. The balwadi instructor was the first representative of the community and the ‘entrepreneur’ for making the balwadi popular. Another assumption was that although people are not used to the concept of pre-schooling, when people develop a habit of leaving their children in the balwadi, the ‘need’ for balwadis would grow and would be felt by the slum dwellers, who would then take up the ownership of the balwadi and pay the necessary fees.

10 balwadi instructors would be managed by a Supervisor, who in turn would be managed by the Unit in Charge. The Unit in Charge would have 30 supervisors under him / her (Refer Figure 1). On similar lines, the bridge course instructors and other staff has been placed in a clearly defined hierarchical order.

Achievements



In 5 years’ time, a lot was achieved, especially in terms of the scale and spread. After a comparatively slow growth phase in which a model program was successfully demonstrated, the expansion was exponential. By the end of September 1999,

Pre-school education was being provided to approximately 50 thousand children in the 3-5 age group in over 50% of Mumbai through 2700 balwadis. To-date, most children in the 3-5 years age group in 10 out of 23 wards in Mumbai have been covered. By the end of 1999, Pratham was expecting to ensure that every child in the city is in a balwadi (about 75 thousand children in Pratham-run balwadis and another 100 thousand in private balwadis, or those of other NGOs/ CBOs and aanganwadis).

A Balsakhi has been appointed in 900 schools to provide support to the school teachers and to engage the children in the absence of a teacher.

380 Remedial Education Classes have been started for children lagging behind the others in Std. III & IV. Approximately 7500 children are being covered through these classes. Games have been developed for joyful learning and are being used in these classes.

More than 100 Bridge Courses have been started for drop-outs, to help them re-join the formal education system.

A number of Khelwadis for children living in difficult circumstances have been started - a step before bringing the child into the formal education system.

11 Computer Centers have been set up for children where the children play games in Indian languages and learn basic skills. Through these centers, around 8 thousand students have access to computer-aided learning for 2 hours every week, as a part of the curriculum.

At the beginning of the academic year, an enrolment drive is organized in support of the teachers in 6 wards to ensure that each and every child is brought into school.

Attempts are being made to make the Education Advisory Committees in all municipal schools functional.

Infrastructure Support : Computers have been provided in a large number of schools for easier administration, telephones provided to 473 schools have improved communication, school rooms have eased the over-crowding in some of the schools, and so on.

MCGM is supported by over 4500 grassroots activists of Pratham, who are involved in the mission of UPE as balwadi instructors, volunteers, balsakhis, etc.

Today, Pratham has reached each and every MCGM school in Mumbai, and is working very closely with the school administration and the education department of MCGM. For running such a huge program, it has been successful in mobilizing financial resources from within the city of Mumbai and to pull together a huge team of more than 4000 people.

How has this growth been possible ? What strategies have been used ? How did Pratham cope with this growth ? In what way has Pratham evolved to steer and manage this growth ? These are some of the questions that come



to mind as one thinks of the monumental work that has been achieved within a relatively short time span.

The following paragraphs attempt to find answers to these questions.

The Strategy for Achieving UPEThe evolution of Pratham to its present form was guided by the search for individuals who would undertake specific tasks which would take the goal of UPE forward, the urgent need for developing a partnership with the government and to mobilize urgently needed resources in order to cover the entire city of Mumbai. The pressing need was to create a team which would spearhead the UPE mission and to establish an effective partnership with MCGM and Mumbai’s corporate sector. Such a partnership would ensure the effective implementation of the program and would take the responsibility of raising the required resources.

The small team which started work in 1994 was clear of the objectives to be achieved and was guided by a well-defined strategy, and the organization developed around this strategy. This key strategy was as follows8:

1. The satyagraha of cooperation : Build partnerships with the government, corporate and voluntary sector by involving more and more individuals who own the objectives - develop programs around individuals and by assigning them specific tasks.

Pratham has insisted on working with the government and trying to make the government work with it. It has attempted to build a strong and trusting relationship with the municipal corporation.

For the education of children of Mumbai, Pratham believes that resources should be primarily mobilized from within Mumbai itself. In order to do this, representatives of donor agencies, mainly from the corporate sector have been co-opted as permanent invitees in the mission.

The concept of triangular partnership between Pratham, MCGM and the corporate sector and how it evolved has been dealt with in the following pages (Also See Pratham in Making). Pratham has been successful in developing this partnership. However, it has been only marginally successful in developing linkages with other NGOs and voluntary organizations in Mumbai. A few organizations in Mumbai have in fact preferred to keep their distance from the effort, while others have joined in.

8 From “Pratham Mumbai Education Initiative - A City Mission”, a presentation by Dr. Madhav Chavan, 20 th May ‘99.



Attracting individuals who would own the idea and work for UPE has also been a part of this strategy. This has resulted in a few well-educated professionals being associated with Pratham on an assignment basis. Some of this work has been voluntary. In case of others, Pratham has endeavored successfully to raise sponsorship for their time.

2. Create new community based network by setting up needed educational activities.

The emphasis has been on creating a new network, rather than to make the network more community driven. Certainly, individuals from the community are involved as staff. Decision-making is however in Pratham rather than within the community.

3. Build systemic bridges between parents and teachers, communities and schools, administration and people by setting up activity-based mechanisms of parental / community participation.

The direct involvement and participation of the community requires patient and persistent efforts. This has not been possible within the time frame set by Pratham. Pratham has been an organization in an hurry to achieve UPE, and the priority has been on putting every single child in school before December 2000 as against procuring the whole-hearted involvement of the community, which is a slow process.

It was as a result of this strategy that a priority was given to developing the concept of triangular partnership and to achieve universalisation of pre-schooling within a specified time frame. Pratham not only developed a trusting relationship with the government, but it was able to rope in several leading corporate houses into the mission of UPE. It was also successful in developing a replicable model of pre-schooling.

The following paragraphs seek to explain the growth of Pratham and its characteristics and to understand the pulse of this giant organization.

Pratham : The OrganizationWith the limited resources at hand when Pratham started its work, the strategy was to identify the task that needed to be done, look for the person who would do it, but until the person is found, essentially wait. Pratham as it exists today is very much a result of this effortless growth, spreading as the process allowed it to. This strategy was very necessary for developing a societal mission. For getting the involvement of people in actually ‘doing’, and not as supporters and believers only, this strategy was imperative.



Setting a target to cover the entire city of Mumbai, which is to be achieved in a set time frame was itself a strong motivation and a driving force. However, the challenges were many. The concept of a societal mission required that UPE as a goal be taken up by the citizens of Mumbai. The principle that Pratham would play a catalytic role and improve the services of MCGM rather than developing its own, independent program, also meant developing a working relationship with the government, shaking it awake and moving with it at its own pace. The question of resources, both human and financial, was also critical, having accepted that these would have to be raised from within Mumbai.

Clearly, the initiators of Pratham would have to work on many fronts. Firstly, with the bureaucrats, to establish credibility, a relationship of trust and to lobby for more effective ways of achieving UPE. Secondly, with the teachers, to help them to carry out their duties and to improve their productivity without discrediting them. Thirdly, with the parents and children, to convince them of the need for attending MCGM schools and to help the child to learn. Apart from convincing the parents to put their children in the MCGM school, it would also be necessary to ensure their involvement and participation in their child’s schooling. Fourthly, with the citizens of Mumbai, to convince them of the need for UPE and to get them to act for achieving this goal.

Ethos

The Pratham team also had a very clear set of principles, and shared a cer-tain mindset. The team’s ethos was based on certain premises, and these were shared and strictly followed by every single individual in the entire or-ganization.

The team strongly believed that

providing primary education is the government’s job; Pratham’s role is to help.

primary education is to be provided to all, regardless of caste, religion, sex or political affiliations.

Pratham is not working for the underprivileged but for all children who are denied primary education.

education is neither charity nor social work. It is an investment in our future. Ensuring primary education for all is a job that needs to be done.

Working Principles

The drive to achieve UPE within a set time frame and across a vast region such as the city of Mumbai reflected a certain mindset, and a strong urge to succeed in the task. It has provided the driving force and has shaped



Pratham’s work. This mindset has been critical to the way Pratham evolved over the years. Some characteristics of this mindset9 were :

The current situation is absolutely unacceptable. It can be changed, it has to change, NOW. The question is not what to do as much as how to do it. Small is beautiful, but BIG is useful. Do not create models which cannot be replicated. Don’t talk about why it cannot be done or why it has not been done.

Talk about how it can be done. When a problem comes, find a solution. Don’t bring political ideologies into this job, and don’t question

anyone’s religion or caste. Start with the easy, lay a strong foundation, and then reach for the

difficult. Don’t try to make a 5-year plan, but think only of today and tomorrow. Have patience with the government structure. Be flexible, and allow for experimentation. If there is a person ready to do a job that needs to be done, then do it.

Until then, find the person. Don’t tolerate nonsense, but be practical. Once a problem is identified and the solution clear, then don't wait for

formalities, unless they present a real problem.

Mandate

In December 1992, the Indian government signed the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) in 1989. By virtue of this, it is responsible for ensuring that every single child in the country has access to primary education and is therefore required to make primary education free and compulsory for all. Thus, in the city of Mumbai, it is the responsibility of MCGM to make primary education compulsory and provide it free of cost to all children in the city.

UNICEF, as the autonomous institution of the UN, is responsible for supporting the governments of developing countries to achieve this goal, and it was thus in India, and particularly in Mumbai, that UNICEF sought to demonstrate a model of universalisation of primary education. As has been explained earlier, UNICEF believed that the local government institutions could not achieve this goal independently and that the active support of the society would be needed.

The process of formation of Pratham has been dealt with in detail earlier. From this, it is clear that Pratham was registered as a trust as a result of the facilitation of UNICEF and with initiative from MCGM. The goal of UPE was clearly spelt out and detailed in the trust deed. Apart from helping MCGM to achieve UPE, Pratham was also given the mandate to raise the necessary

9 Adapted from various presentations about Pratham given by Dr. Madhav Chavan, trustee of Pratham, and interview with C. V. Madhukar, member, Executive Committee, Pratham.



financial resources to support MCGM and to provide support from improving its infrastructure. UNICEF and MCGM officials were appointed as ex-officio trustees, entrusted with the mission to raise public support and create awareness for achieving UPE.

Thus, Pratham clearly derives its mandate from within the sphere of the government.

Organizational Structure and Decision-making

At the time the trust was registered, there were only two people who owned the mission of UPE : Dr. Chavan and Mrs. Lambay. Pratham worked from Dr. Chavan’s cabin in the University campus, until Sharad Pawar, then Chief Minister of the State, provided office space in the commercial center of Mumbai. Both Dr. Chavan and Mrs. Lambay were able to bring with them a small team from CORO and NN for initiating Pratham’s program in 6 wards of Mumbai. As Pratham established a model program, the word spread, and attracted a number of individuals, mostly young social work graduates from NN, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and other colleges and highly trained and skilled professionals who were discontent with their jobs and were looking for something interesting to do. Individuals joined Pratham, took on certain assignments or specific tasks, and then left. From among those who continued to be with Pratham, emerged the present organizational structure. The team of Yuvashakti Pratishthan, an NGO which was instrumental in reaching out to women from the poor communities and providing them with work, joined forces with the Pratham team, adding a fresh dimension.

The core team of Pratham consisting of Dr. Chavan and Mrs. Lambay also grew, and took on the executive responsibility of Pratham. This group came to be called the Executive Committee (or Executive Group), and it is this group who owns the mission of UPE. The group remains at the steering-end of Pratham, making policy decisions and directing the program ahead. Two members of this group are volunteers in the true sense, while the others have been deputed by their respective companies to work for Pratham for a pre-defined period.

As the number of balwadis grew from 125 in 1994-95 to 250 in the next year, and increased exponentially until it reached almost 4000 in the year 1999-00, the need for an organizational structure grew (Refer Figure 2). In the initial phase, Pratham appointed supervisors over a group of balwadis. However, the need for training these instructors and supervisors also became urgent. Growing as per the need every year, today it has assumed the structure of a separate Training and Monitoring Group, responsible for the training of the balwadi instructors and other staff and volunteers of Pratham. At the same time, this group is also responsible for monitoring the program and improving

Civil Society & Governance Project

Figure 2 Pratham : Organogram

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on its quality. A policy of payment on the basis of work done (# balwadis ini-tiated and monitored) is followed as motivation to identify every single child in the community who is eligible for the balwadi and as incentive to ensure accountability.

In addition, there is the production team which continues to be involved with developing and producing teaching aids, games etc. There is a tremendous overlap between the staff in terms of the functions performed. However, these two groups constitute a large part of Pratham.

There is a clear hierarchy in the structure, which works almost in parallel with the top-down hierarchy in the government machinery. The work environment is competitive, with rewards and growth for work well done and an ouster for a poor, irresponsible job.Pratham has followed the principle of developing independent groups for unrelated tasks. Thus, the Management Information System (MIS) being developed for MCGM and the computer-aided learning centers are independently run and managed by Pratham staff. Pratham has approximately 10 people in each EP, which constitutes the core staff of Pratham.

Most of the running expenses and the salaries of the core staff are paid for directly by the parent organization, i.e., ICICI, and are not reflected in the financial statements of Pratham. Since ICICI has committed itself to the parental role of Pratham, Pratham does not need to mobilize resources for this critical and core ‘venture10’ support at present.

Planning and implementation is decentralized and the concerned staff of Pratham is encouraged to adapt as per need. Within the well-defined objectives of UPE, all major policy and administrative decisions are taken by the Executive Group. The Resource Center Organizers are entrusted with making decisions within their geographical ambit under the common guidelines provided by the Executive Group. However, administrative and accounting procedures and standards of work are set by the Executive Group and strictly monitored by Pratham staff to the extent of being regimental.

The leadership of Pratham vests with the Executive Group, and Dr. Chavan is the accepted leader of that group and of Pratham. Within the corporate sec-tor, ICICI is providing the leadership by setting an example, encouraging and almost pushing other corporate houses to join in the mission and contribute their bit.

Working with the Government : Building Trust

Pratham’s relationship with the municipal corporation has been a crucial aspect of the efforts to achieve UPE. Although this relationship was built as the program developed, there was a strong foundation of the earlier work of

10 Encouraging ‘social entrepreneurs’ to work out ideas and establish the feasibility of these ideas. For details, refer Partnership with the Corporate Sector.



one of the founder members which contributed towards building this relationship. The role of UNICEF in the formation of Pratham and Mrs. Lambay’s association with MCGM in the capacity of program in-charge of Nirmala Niketan’s program in schools were two of the critical factors.

In the initial stages, the initiative taken by UNICEF and its financial support caused Pratham to be perceived as UNICEF’s program for strengthening the education department. The Pratham team thus gained a comfortable entry in MCGM, and was welcomed by the senior officials. The fact that two of the senior officials of MCGM were trustees of Pratham certainly enhanced this feeling among the MCGM staff11 (See Box 3). Apart from this, one of the objectives in the trust deed was to raise funds in order to assist MCGM and the government to achieve UPE, even to the extent of generating resources for infrastructure (for example, the MIS being developed by Pratham for MCGM). Thus, it was not surprising that Pratham was thought of as a part of MCGM’s efforts to improve the education department of MCGM, although it cannot be said that this feeling existed among all MCGM staff.

Mrs. Lambay was well known to the MCGM officials as a result of her earlier work (of nearly 20 years). As an individual, she was well known and trusted by MCGM. The Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work’s program "Social Work in Schools", which it has been running since 1970 under the leadership of Mrs. Lambay, helped to lay the foundations for this relationship. Her approach that the relationship with the government should be that of a partnership and the strategies that she had developed over the years to build and strengthen this partnership contributed tremendously to Pratham’s work (See Box 4). Her experience thus proved to be the critical deciding factor and has ensured that this relationship would be that of a partnership.

An example of how this partnership was built and developed would give an idea of the process.

In the initial stages of the search for a program for achieving UPE, it was felt necessary to study the facilities of the municipal schools from the health and hygiene point of view. The idea was in fact suggested by the then Commissioner of MCGM in the first meeting of the trustees. The survey was carried out with the help of the doctors from the Indian Medical Association, the Indian Pediatrics Association and the National Integrated Medical Association.

This was probably the first test of trust which was to be built between MCGM and Pratham. The permission to conduct such a survey was granted by the EO only after Pratham assured MCGM in writing that the findings would not be made public, even by the doctors conducting the survey. The doctors were told that conditions could not be improved by criticizing MCGM but by sharing the findings with MCGM and working out the solutions together. This line was followed later by

11 Reference : Interview with the present Education Officer Shri Bhau Gawande


Box 4 Partnership with Government : Do’s and Don’ts

1. Identify a person to liaison with. This person must have the authority to take decisions which are relevant to your work.

2. Approach with help and supplement.3. Do something feasible which will help to establish the

person’s trust. Work on the relationship.4. Keep the relationship informal and friendly.5. Never put the person on the defensive. Have a positive

approach.6. Be constructive in your criticism. Always suggest

alternatives when criticizing. 7. Avoid negative media publicity about the state of affairs.8. Never compromise on your principles.9. Find the person’s area of discomfort and work on it.10. Let the person feel that (s)he is in the driver’s seat.

Box 3 Education Officer’s comments about the partnership with Pratham

“A partnership is possible only if NGOs change their view that government officials do not work”.

“An agreement between the NGO and the senior officials helps. It is critical to a smooth relationship”.

“Pratham is our organization. We feel confident of requesting Pratham for help”.

“It is difficult to motivate government staff, while the NGO volunteers are self-motivated”.

“Government staff works if pressurized. Pratham helps to maintain pressure”


Pratham team, and formed the crucial approach on which the relationship with MCGM was build.

The survey helped to boost the confidence of the MCGM staff in the Pratham team and established the credibility of Pratham in the eyes of MCGM. Enthused by the manner in which the survey was conducted and the results dealt with, the EO asked Pratham to help out with the summer classes run by MCGM.

This was the first instance where MCGM requested the Pratham team to help in a particular respect. Another request made subsequently by MCGM was of financial assistance for improving the Class X results.

Pratham has housed its offices in specially allocated rooms in almost every school building. In others, Pratham runs various programs. Thus, Pratham’s presence is in every school. This has facilitated the daily and continuous interaction of Pratham and MCGM staff at all levels. There is direct communication of Pratham staff with the entire hierarchy of the education department of MCGM. Discussions range from the repair of a faulty water tap, achievement levels of children to the work review of teachers and other staff, something which is usually done informally. Pratham staff actually acts as a monitor of the school teachers, headmasters and sometimes even the supervisors, and the senior officials are glad to receive this additional input from a third ‘uninterested’ party. Every Pratham staff has access to the senior officials, and need-based meetings are also sought with the EO and the MCGM Commissioner, apart from the weekly review meetings.

This naturally leads to friction. Teachers have to be more accountable, corruption is checked, giving cause to the teachers to be up in arms against Pratham. The teachers cannot openly voice their feelings against Pratham since Pratham is actually a part of MCGM and is accepted by the senior officials, however, there is an organized protest from the teacher’s union against Pratham.

Teachers and headmasters who are sincere in their work appreciate Pratham’s support, and feel that they have an ally to help them in their work. They feel comfortable to share their difficulties with Pratham staff, and often make use of Pratham’s direct contact with the seniors MCGM officials to find solutions to their difficulties.

Apart from this daily interaction, most of the decisions regarding Pratham’s activities are taken in meetings with the senior bureaucrats. All activities to be carried out by Pratham are communicated to the school staff through an official circular signed by the EO or the MCGM Commissioner, thus making it extremely difficult to refute or ignore Pratham’s presence. These added instructions are often perceived as additional responsibility and an increase in an already over-burdened workload. Since the teachers do not feel involved in the decision-making, there is a detectable unwillingness among a part of the MCGM staff to participate actively in the programs in a spirit of partnership.



There is another area where the MCGM staff feels justified in defending its position against Pratham. The MCGM teachers are highly trained and well qualified to teach children, but the Pratham staff is not. The introduction of the Balsakhi, who according to the them, is only an unqualified, not so highly educated volunteer, but yet is expected to teach academically weak children and conduct classes in the absence of the school teacher was highly disliked by the staff. As a result, there is a perception of threat to their job.

The strong teacher’s union has been more vocal in its protests against Pratham. This has been expressed through articles in the print media, its own periodicals and through a stance of non-cooperation being adopted by some. As of now, Pratham has been unable to overcome this opposition even though it has striven to minimize it. As long as the opposition continues, the partnership cannot be termed as mature and complete.

It will thus not be incorrect to say that the feeling of partnership is genuine only among the senior MCGM staff and other staff who are committed to their job and self-motivated. Senior officers are more easily convinced of the need for a support organization like Pratham since they are aware of the role that highly motivated social workers in an NGO can play in helping them to achieve their own objectives. NGOs are also flexible in nature, while there are restrictions to the bureaucracy. Thus, there is a definite role for NGOs.

The exact nature of partnership and the areas of cooperation were worked out in a joint meeting between Dr. Chavan, Mrs. Lambay, the EO and the MCGM Commissioner12. Although an MOU was never officially signed (it was discussed, and probably the need to formalize the relationship was not as sharp as the relationship developed), these discussions helped to crystallize the roles that Pratham and MCGM would play in achieving UPE. The role played by UNICEF in the initial stages also contributed to clarifying this understanding.

UNICEF’s grant to Pratham was seen as a supportive grant to MCGM by the MCGM officials. To some extent, this ensured that MCGM and Pratham would have a smooth relationship. In this period, the decision-making process involved both the concerned MCGM staff and Pratham representatives. As the situation changed and Pratham strengthened its relationship with the corporate sector, Pratham became an independent identity and the decision-making shifted to the Executive Committee of Pratham13.

The change of officials has been another factor in defining Pratham’s relationship with MCGM. The enthusiasm and commitment of the individual in the position of MCGM Commissioner and the EO has influenced this relationship to an extent.

12 Reference : Draft minutes of the meeting held on 4 th November, 1997.13 See Organizational Structure and Decision-making.



Partnership with the Corporate Sector

In order to make UPE a societal mission, Pratham was convinced that the resources required to achieve UPE would have to be raised from within Mumbai itself. This led to the involvement of various well known and respected citizens as trustees of Pratham. At the time of formation of the Pratham trust, at least two of the trustees were leading industrialists or leaders of major financing institutions.

The initial years were spent on developing and demonstrating successful pro-grams on a small scale and establishing the credibility of the Pratham team. UNICEF’s commitment to ensure financial assistance during these years was crucial. In addition, Pratham approached local foundations and trusts to take care of the overheads, and the Bombay Community Public Trust (BCPT) came forward with the extra assistance. This ‘venture funding’, encouraging ‘social entrepreneurs’ to work out ideas and establish the feasibility of these ideas, helped to create a launching pad for mobilizing further resources.

The universalization of pre-schooling, or the balwadi program proved useful in this respect. It was relatively easy to establish an association of a donor with any number of balwadis supported by the donor by assigning the balwadis to them, sending periodical reports with pictures and utilization statements and encouraging the donors or their representatives to visit and gain first-hand experience. Having senior corporate members as trustees also helped.

In the second year, Pratham was able to involve 3 other corporate donors, including ICICI. The involvement of ICICI was to prove crucial. Starting with adopting a ward to be covered under the balwadi scheme, ICICI soon became deeply involved in Pratham. The Chairman of ICICI, Mr. N. Vaghul, was a person known for his social commitment and vision, and was quick to appreciate the importance of UPE and the vision defined by Pratham. He agreed to became a trustee, and became a true partner in the movement. ICICI agreed to take on the parental role of Pratham from UNICEF, and itself became a champion of the cause.

Pratham believed in motivating an individual within an institution so that the person becomes the champion of the cause within the institution, and this strategy was used very successfully in the case of Mr. Vaghul, as can be seen.

Soon, there was a team within Pratham which devoted itself to maintaining contact with donors, giving out information, organizing visits and encouraging more participation from them in Pratham’s work. The number of corporate donors went up to 20 in the 4th year, and this made it possible for Pratham to widen its coverage in the city. In the financial year 1997-98, Pratham was able to mobilize Rs. 1 crore from the corporate sector.

On 28th May, 1999, four leading industrialists in the city, namely Dr. A.S. Ganguly, Chairman, ICI India Limited, Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Sons


Box 5 Strategies used for Resource Mobilization: The technique to involve institutions : Activate an

individual within the institution and convince him of your cause. The individual then becomes the driving force himself and the champion of the cause within the institution.

Need-based resource mobilization : Decide the activity first, then raise the funds for it.

First establish the success of a model : The principle of demonstrating a model plan by actually carrying it out and then to use it as a show case for generating more fund, for expanding the scale of activities, is effective.

Adopting a ward : Encourage corporate houses to ‘adopt’ a ward. Mobilize resource for a ward or for a few activities in the ward.

Link up the donor with the final beneficiaries : Give the donor specific information about how the donation is being used. Give photos of the particular balwadi / other program being supported by the donor, provide names and other details. Encourage the donor to visit and understand for himself.

Encourage involvement of individuals : Encourage individuals within the institution to get involved in a personal capacity, doing what they can to advance the goal of UPE.


Limited and Keshub Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, under the leadership of Mr. Vaghul, signed an appeal letter, asking corporate bodies to come forward and join in this mission. The appeal letter endorsed Pratham’s work and asked the corporate bodies to join in the triangular partnership to achieve UPE.

On this day, over a cup of tea in a meeting hosted by ICICI at the Vista Hall, World Trade Center, corporate partners of Pratham shared their experience with others in the corporate sector. This appeal not only opened up the possibility of partnership with several other donors, but also encouraged employees to get individually involved in Pratham’s work. Pratham encouraged such involvement, and contributions came forward in the form of small jobs being taken care of, such as the Pratham web-site which was hosted and is being maintained by Tulip Communications, and free consultations regarding the management of Pratham’s finance.

Pratham’s name also spread by the word of mouth. In fact, the personal and informal conversations which Mr. Vaghul and others had with their colleagues helped to champion the cause and Pratham found growing number of supporters among the business community. As this support grows, it is the intention of Pratham to move away from depending on large support from a few organizations to small donations from a larger number of individuals and smaller businesses.

A number of highly educated individuals from the corporate sector got ‘sucked’ into the net which Pratham drew around them. These individuals were attracted by the well defined objectives of UPE to be achieved within a short time frame and felt challenged and motivated by the daunting task of covering the entire city of Mumbai. The professional environment in Pratham with built-in accountability compelled them to join in the mission. Pratham actively sought the permission of the seniors of such individuals to allow them to work full-time for Pratham. Thus, these individuals would work for Pratham while drawing their salaries from their respective companies. After UPE was achieved, they could re-join their duties.

Thus, Pratham was also able to mobilize highly qualified human resource from the corporate sector. This was also an interesting way for corporate houses to contribute their brain to Pratham.

Listening from the People

A ‘societal mission’ in the true sense would need to have a sound mechanism for understanding the pulse of the people who stand to be affected, their aspirations and their priorities. Such a mechanism would ideally devolve the decision-making and place the resources in the hands of these people, allowing them to plan their own program. At the very least, it would need to ensure that they are not only heard but also taken seriously, and that their opinion has a value. This is most critical.



People who stood to be most affected by the UPE mission and by Pratham’s work were the parents and the community on one side and the teachers and school staff on the other side.

In the case of Pratham, attempts to involve the teachers and other MCGM staff in the UPE mission seem to have been restricted to a number of workshops & seminars organized in the initial stages. These workshops, to which the Superintendents and Beat Officers, or the teachers and head-masters would be invited, would discuss various aspects of their work, analyze it and come up with ideas of improving it. The EO and other senior staff would also be present and facilitate the discussion with the help of Pratham representatives.

A few programs like Gammat Jatra did emerge as a result of these workshops. However, the Gammat Jatra was engineered and led to a large extent, by the Pratham team. As a result of these efforts, self-motivated teachers were encouraged to implement new ideas. Such cases were almost marginal, and on the whole, the workshops failed to close the distance between the teachers and Pratham or to improve the teaching-learning process in the classroom.

The parents and the community do not seem to have been involved in planning the mission of UPE. Most of the information that has been gathered, including their opinions about various issues, has been with the help of surveys carried out at various times. In the cases where the community has contributed space for the balwadi, it has done so at the request made by Pratham’s representative in a meeting with the entire community or individually with the community leaders. Extensive discussions, however, have been held with community-based organizations and local people on the issue of ‘coverage’ (bringing every child to school), with the purpose of involving them in the UPE drive.

The balwadi instructors, who have been motivated to actively participate in the universalization of pre-primary education, and according to Pratham, are the representatives of the community, also form an important source of information. To what extent they represent the community can be questioned. However, they are certainly the interface between Pratham and the community.

One opportunity to encourage the involvement of the parents and the community was through the School Committees or the Education Advisory Committees. Pratham tried to enlist the support of volunteers in the neighborhood of the school who would participate in the committee’s work as members. One Pratham representative was appointed as a member of the committee by a circular issued by MCGM. However, the reluctance of the head masters to call these meetings and to derive any benefit from them could not be overcome. Efforts to muster the support of the local corporator, who is the head of the Shala Sudhar Samiti (School Improvement Committee) and is responsible for the care of the school building and other infrastructure-related matters, also did not bear fruit.



Sustainability

In a letter dated 25th January, 1999, introducing Pratham to Mrs. Sadhana Mane, the President of Education Committee and member of the Mayor-in-Council, Dr. Chavan explained that it is Pratham’s wish to become redundant. If Pratham is able to create such a situation wherein, if a citizen of Mumbai finds a child who does not attend school or who is not learning, then (s)he would take the necessary steps to take the child to the nearest EP and to ensure that the situation is immediately remedied, then there will not be a need for a Pratham-like organization. Pratham would continue to work as a catalyst until the teachers and MCGM staff would respond quickly to such a situation and would take on the responsibility of solving the child’s problem, with the help of citizens.

However, as the program evolved, Pratham has found several niches which support MCGM’s work and make it more productive, and from which it will be difficult for Pratham to withdraw completely. The pre-school program is one such area, the others being Information Cells, the MIS for decentralized planning of EPs, the production unit, which develops games and teaching aids for joyful learning and the training and monitoring unit, which provides training to the balwadi instructors, continuously up-dating their skills and monitoring their performance in order to maintain quality.

Pratham believes that UPE can be achieved without spending large amounts of money. In order to ensure the replicability of the model, Pratham decided to keep expenditure below 2% of the government expenditure on primary education. It was a self-imposed restriction. By demonstrating to the government that UPE can be achieved and sustained without spending large amounts of money, Pratham is seeking to convince the government of accepting long term responsibility of sustaining or financially supporting the projects started by Pratham.

In the last couple of years, Pratham’s core team has been concerned about ensuring that these activities set up by Pratham continue to run independently, are able to raise and manage their own funds and grow and evolve as per need. The solution has been to set up independent institutions, either trusts or non-profit companies. Thus, the balwadi instructors and supervisors were encouraged to organize themselves into Mahila Mandals (women’s groups), which would mobilize their own grants, either from MCGM or from the public. These grants would be supported by the nominal fees which the instructors would recover directly from the parents.

The Trainers-Monitors (TMs) would form a separate training-monitoring institute, and would charge fees for their work. The formation of such an institute at the national level is being considered at present. The production unit, which already has a huge capital in the form of computers, raised through grants, could form another such non-profit company, charging fees for its work. It could supplement its income by running computer literacy



classes for slum youth at nominal fees during vacations and outside school hours, a practice which has already come into existence.

As this is being written, efforts are already on to institutionalize these efforts. Wide ranging discussions and debates are on through the rank and file of Pratham, and it remains to be seen whether the strategy for sustainability is successful.

The Outcome : A Societal Mission ?An Analytical Comment

The question that needs to be asked is : How far ahead has Pratham moved in the achievement of UPE ? Has it been successful in creating a ‘societal mission’ ?

In Indian society, children’s education has been traditionally a responsibility of the society. Not only in the limited sense of inducting a child into the norms of the society, in order to perpetuate itself and to maintain order, but also to provide an enabling situation which encourages the child to develop and grow at his or her own pace, giving space for the child to discover his or her areas of interest and skills. This tradition is perhaps at its best in the Ghotul system of the tribal people. In addition, several Indian social leaders and reformers have contributed to developing and understanding the role of the society in the education of a child, Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhiji, J. Krishnamurthy, to name but a few. Several experiments which are based on the principles put forward by these people continue to flower and grow across the country.

In the vision that Pratham has placed before MCGM, it has put forward the concept of schools owned by the parents rather than state-run schools. In today’s world, this may seem impractical, and a dream for the future. However, creating citizens who are aware, conscious of their responsibility towards the education of the city’s children and are willing and able to act for it, may be an achievable goal.

In this context, Pratham’s effort to ensure the access of education to each and every child in Mumbai is extremely important. One of the arguments that has been used to stress the importance of UPE has been that it is critical to ensure that every citizen is literate and has the basic education in order to ensure a whole society. Pratham’s formation and its subsequent growth has been as a result of this recognition of it’s responsibility by members of civil society.

The critical questions that need to be asked are :



In what way has the society interpreted this responsibility ? To what extent has this responsibility been shouldered by citizens and the society ? What were the limiting factors which restricted the society from taking up the responsibility, the obstacles which the society was unable to overcome ? Was Pratham able, in any way, to empower and equip the society to take on this responsibility in a better way ?

Before answering these questions and analyzing Pratham’s role in this respect, it would be interesting to look at the concept of ‘civil society’ and ‘governance’.

A Comment on ‘Civil Society’An Alternative Definition

The word ‘society’ is derived from ‘socius’ - meaning a companion. The Webster’s dictionary defines society as a number of persons united together by common consent to debate, determine and act conjointly for some purpose or objective. A ‘society’ is a state of living in association with other individuals or the set of customs and the organization of an ordered community14. The Webster’s dictionary defines the word ‘civil’ to mean that relating to the community or to the state policy and government and the rights of people.

A ‘civil society’ is thus a society which is reduced to order and rule and governed by a regular administration.

The concept of civil society can be more easily understood in the context of the manner in which society is ordered for the benefit of its individual members and collectively. In prehistoric times, there were the savage tribes of humans, followed by the agrarian society which was organized around agriculture. In modern times, society is organized in an extremely complex manner. A particular civil society can be distinguished from other civil societies by it’s sovereign ruler or it’s political head or by a set of governing system and rules under which it is organized.

Thus, geographical distances or natural boundaries do not separate a civil society unless it is governed by a different set of systems. It is a society which has accepted the sovereignty of a particular ruler or a form of government and its members are bound by the rules and laws of this government, and have the rights and responsibilities as are bestowed upon them by the particular system of governance.14 Reader’s Digest Encyclopedia : The meaning of ‘society’.



Civil society is a congregation of different communities of different races, religion, and political affiliations. It is an amalgamation of different diverse groups, sometimes working for a common purpose, sometimes at cross purposes or for different interests. It is a collective of such institutions and organized groups all contributing to the growth or otherwise of that civil society, in which different bodies are responsible for fulfilling various functions necessary for the conduct of civil life. Civil society is dynamic and constantly changing, as a result of the evolving economic, social and political aspects of life, influenced continuously by its various parts.

Thus, civil society can be studied by firstly understanding the conditions under which it is united and whole, the forces or systems that introduce diversity, cause friction, make it cohesive or divide it and then by looking at its various characteristic features such as the nature and system of governance, the rights granted to citizens, the kinds of formal and informal organizations which exist within this whole and the purpose for which they work, the set of values and cultural practices prominent within it and finally, the kind of growth potential for individuals as well as collectively for the society that is available.

The ‘state’ and the nature of the particular government specifies the broad framework within which civil society organizes itself. While the various components of civil society are bound by these rules, they themselves act on the state, exerting influence to further their own goals. Thus, civil society is shaped by the extent and manner in which the two exert and push against each other. These are the forces of change, and are what make civil society dynamic.

Many social scientists have demarcated the state and the private sector as being two major components of civil society which are separate from civil society itself15. While the state certainly needs to be thus separated, primarily because it lays down the rules around which civil society is organized, it could be argued that the private sector is a major component of civil society itself.

Apart from the broad framework defined by the governing system, a lot is to be said about the nature and character of the other members of the society and their actions. Often, the space available for their independent action is restricted by the framework; this notwithstanding, the use of this space is left to the creative imagination of the various actors within civil society, which further shapes the whole.

It is this initiative of the various components of the civil society which has been of interest to the social scientists. It is generally believed that the ability to improve its lot is inherent to civil society, and this quality has been under keen observation and study by these scientists. In what manner do various civil society actors come

15 “Civil Society in Canada: An Overview” - By Karen Sawatsky, on the Internet.



together, for what purpose, what is the impact on the lives of the members of the civil society, does the system of governance improve and are the different elements of civil society itself benefited from this effort and how are some of the questions to which such studies seek answers to.

It is this background against which this particular case study has been carried out. It examines the effort of Pratham - Mumbai Education Initiative, an organization which is working to universalize primary education in Mumbai, its impact on governance and the manner in which this impact has been achieved.

The words ‘civil society organization’ are being used to indicate initiatives, formal or informal, taken by a one or more of civil society ‘actors’ for the purpose of furthering the cause of certain sections of civil society itself or the whole of it. For the purpose of this study, a civil society organization has been defined as “an intermediate realm situated between state and household, populated by organized groups or associations which are separate from the state, enjoy some autonomy in relations with the state, and are formed voluntarily by members of society to protect or extend their interests, values or identities”.

Meaning of Governance ‘Governance’ has been understood for the purpose of this paper as a broad term, transcending ‘government’ and the ‘state’, and referring to the ability of the people to “articulate their interests, mediate their differences and exercise their legal rights and obligations”16, and the complex mechanisms, processes and institutions through which people do so.

“Good governance occurs when societal norms and practices empower and encourage people to take increasingly greater control over their own development in a manner that does not impinge upon the accepted rights of others”17. It is the ‘state’ that creates a conducive political and legal environment, while it is the ‘civil society’ which facilitates political and social interaction, mobilizing groups to participate in economic, social and political activities.

Thus, while a democratic government may lay the foundation for good governance, it is a vigilant and active citizenry which drives and sustains it. The onus is therefore on ‘civil society’ to have good governance, and while it is expected that the ‘state’ will be responsive to its citizens, it is also expected that the citizens will keep themselves better informed and be responsible citizens.16 From the UNDP Internet Conference Forum on “Public Private Interface in Urban Environmental Management”17 Ibid



Some of the qualities of good governance are that :

a. it is participatory, b. It is transparent, c. It is accountable, d. it is just and promotes an impartial rule of law,e. it assures that social, political and economic priorities are based on

broad consensus in society,f. and that the poorest and the most vulnerable have a say in

decision-making and in matters that affect their lives and their interests are protected.

Before proceeding into the examination of the subject at hand, it would be useful to understand the environment in which Pratham has been active.

The EnvironmentThe Nature of Civil Society - A Contextual Framework

Civil Society in India, as it exists today, came into being when India gained her independence from British colonialism in 1947. The leaders of the nation at the time ensured a very positive political environment for the growth of civil society by the adoption of its constitution. The leaders of India who led the country to freedom believed in the principles of equality and justice, in freedom of speech and the protection of human rights. It will not be an exag-geration to say that the constitutional framework has not only protected the interests of the individual and of the minority groups but has also provided a critical space for people’s action.

The President of India is the head of the state, the sovereign ruler, in whose name the elected representatives, under the leadership of the Prime Minister and his/her cabinet, govern the country. The Constitution provides the legal framework. They function under the parliamentary system of governance, which provides the space for debate and discussion. The government is made accountable to the parliament, which is the decision-making body. The people can directly participate only by voting for the elected representatives, who are thus made accountable to the people. Thus, there is political democracy.

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the leader of the Constituent Assembly which drafted the constitution, has explained the intention of the Constituent Assembly, nature of the Constitution and it’s key features when he presented it to the parliament for adoption18. In his speech, he has made it clear that “the ‘State’ is for the individual, and not the individual for the ‘State’”. 18 “Motion for the adoption of the Constitution” : Speech by Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, as Chairman of the

Constituent Assembly, from the book ‘One Hundred Parliamentary Speeches’ - A compilation of the best speeches since independence.



Referring to the condition of society in the country, especially to the segregation of society on the basis of caste and poverty, he said that by the adoption of the Constitution, “we have political democracy, but we do not have social democracy nor economic democracy”. He goes on to explain the various provisions made in the Constitution for the protection of the interests and rights of the marginalised in the country and the effort of the Constituent Assembly to provide for every situation. The Constituent Assembly had not only underlined the need for wider social and economic reforms before the rights provided for within the Constitution could be realized, but had accepted that it would be possible only with the help of people’s initiatives. In his speech, Dr. Ambedkar went so far as to appeal to the people to “hold ourselves true to constitutional means for achieving our social and economic objectives and abandon satyagrah and civil disobedience”.

While Dr. Ambedkar’s speech could be interpreted in a number of ways, it is clearly indicative of the mindset of the Constitution makers and our leaders at the time. With reference to the subject at hand, certain key points can be highlighted :

a. The liberal approach in-built within the governing system.b. An acceptance of the role and necessity of people’s initiatives and

actions for the improvement of governance.c. A provision of a legal framework for redressal of problems and bringing

about policy change.d. Acceptance of the State’s role in protecting the interests of the

marginalised (welfare state) and it’s responsibility to ensure equal development for all.

The subsequent amendments to the constitution (the 73rd and 74th

Amendments) have taken the concept of participation of the people in governance even further.

Civil Society Initiatives

In the last 20 years or so, unsatisfied with the speed of development and with the government’s efforts, several initiatives emerged, addressing a range of problems. Although some of the earlier such initiatives evolved out of a disillusionment of the role of the state and its inability to care for the interests of the marginalised groups, it was not long before these initiatives took on the role of the government themselves. From representing the interests of minority groups, they became involved in delivery of essential services and in developmental work.

They formed themselves into institutions, and came to be known as voluntary organizations or non-governmental organizations. Many were started as voluntary groups; however, they soon lost their voluntary nature and became bread-earners for their members. The number and size of these organizations became significant enough for them to emerge as a separate sector, with it’s own identity and distinct from other components of civil society.



These organizations grew in size mainly with the help of huge grants from the foreign agencies. More often than not, they became the implementers of the agenda set by these aid agencies and as a result, much less responsive to the immediate needs of the people. Some became service-oriented, restricting themselves to the professional delivery of certain services. Others took on the task of development and economic progress at a micro level. Most of these organizations became institutionalized, creating huge infrastructure for themselves and hired the services of professional experts.

It is only in the last few years that the government has accepted the role of NGOs in the developmental process. The Maharashtra state government has even been discussing a NGO policy, and the administration is increasingly being asked to make an effort to forget the anti-government stance taken earlier by the NGOs and to extend a hand of cooperation.

Apart from these NGOs who have become synonymous with civil society initiatives, a wide range of diverse initiatives continue to flourish. These initiatives have been reviewed in the background paper prepared by PRIA for this research19. Their diversity is evident in the issues they address, their formation and approach to problems, their nature and membership, and in a number of other aspects.

The NGOs referred to earlier, because of their sheer size, eclipsed a number of smaller initiatives which continue to flourish in the society even today. There is considerable difference not only in the agendas of the two types, but also in the manner in which their members are actually motivated towards social service. In an attempt to understand the impact made by an organization on governance, it is vital to examine it from this point of view also.

Another critical aspect to consider is the process of economic liberalization in the country and the introduction of market economy. This has resulted in considerable fragmentation within the society, a highly educated, skilled and well-paid elite at the one end and a large population without access to even basic facilities. With survival highly dependent on education and sophisticated skills unavailable to the poor and marginalized in the country, it is likely that this gap will be even further widened. It is indicative of a change in the role of the government, from a welfare state to a merely administering state. The marginalized are thus left to the mercies of the market economy, and not only deprived of the basic services but also the means to claim them.

The government’s fascination about NGOs is thus because it sees for itself a reduction in it’s role as a welfare state and the NGOs taking up the delivery of basic services.

19 “Civil Society and Governance - A Research Paper” - Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), New Delhi, Febryary 1999.



The state of Maharashtra has always been progressive. There exists in the state an atmosphere in which civil society initiatives would find a friendly environment and where the state recognizes the importance of their role. If such is the case, there is greater space for civil society action. In this circumstance, what then, is the impact that Pratham has made on civil society and governance issues ?

Impact on GovernanceAs has been mentioned earlier, primary education of children has been the responsibility of the society in traditional Indian society. The case of Pratham is an example of the society taking on the responsibility of improving access of the poor and vulnerable section of the city to primary education, and how it has interpreted this responsibility.Has Pratham’s work brought the poor and vulnerable population in the city of Mumbai closer to being in control of their lives, with better access to primary education ? Has the quality of service of MCGM improved to the point of becoming more accountable to the poor ? Does this section of the population have a say in the kind of education they want, the method by which they want it ? Has Pratham helped in any way to develop the understanding of the society about its role in the education of its children ?These questions can be answered by going back to the manner in which the problem of UPE was understood by Pratham(See Universalizing Primary Education in Mumbai).

MCGM deals with the problem of access by undertaking enrollment drives at the start of the academic year. This would entail that the school teachers would survey the community and enroll the names of the children who are eligible. This practice is being followed all over the state. The children who escaped this net were usually those belonging to the families who migrated often in search of livelihoods or as a result of demolitions, street children who did not have an address, working children, children of pavement dwellers, beggars, rag-pickers and construction laborers (the high risk group). Even if these children were enrolled, there was the risk that they would drop out at the slightest cause. It is the duty of the teacher to follow up drop-outs with the help of CDOs.

According to a survey conducted by Pratham, migration and poor record keeping (such as incorrect address noted by the teacher, or the child dropping out of one school to join another municipal school) were two major factors (76%) contributing to the child dropping out of school. Loss of interest or a dull and boring atmosphere in the school were some of the other reasons. Very few children were not in school because they were child



laborers. According to Pratham’s own estimates, the number of children who are out of primary school for various reasons is about 30,000.

It is believed that Pratham’s balwadis, where children are enrolled early at the age of 3 years and the habit of attending school is inculcated in them, are helping to improve enrollment levels and attendance. Pratham’s staff and the balwadi instructors help the teachers in the enrollment drive, and to this extent, there is community involvement. However, the high risk group still continues to elude both Pratham and MCGM at present. The situation is similar in the case of the balwadi, where Pratham is attempting universalization of pre-primary education, and it is not clear whether Pratham is able to enroll every single child in the balwadi.

A report of the Chief Municipal Auditor20 which has been recently published has pointed out that 65,866 students have dropped out of civic primary schools in the period 1993 to ’98. It also points out that only 4,472 children enrolled in MCGM schools in the city in the current academic year as against the enrollment figure of 5,084 recorded last year.

Thus, to what extent Pratham has succeeded in improving enrolment and attendance in MCGM schools is as yet unclear. A study which will trace and follow the progress of children in Pratham-run balwadis has been initiated. Whether Pratham has affected any significant improvement in the situation can only be established after the results of this study are available.A different approach, which emphasized a more direct involvement of the community and its participation in the planning and decision-making would have helped to check and verify the extent of progress being made in the UPE mission. The community’s participation and ownership of the UPE mission would have ensured the easy and quick identification of ‘out of school’ children and made the follow-up of school drop-outs simple.Programs like bridge courses, khelwadis, school readiness classes, remedial classes and balsakhis are all attempts at reaching out to this high risk group and improving attendance and achievement levels in schools. The classification of children according to their skill levels is being followed under continuous pressure and monitoring by Pratham. Attempts to improve the quality of teaching through the introduction of joyful learning techniques (programs such as Gammat Jatra and Shatak Zep) have been temporary. Pratham has been unable to bring about any change in the teaching-learning process in the schools.

Pratham’s most important contribution to governance is perhaps the empowerment of the huge force of about 5000 individuals which constitutes the Pratham team. This force, including balwadi and bridge course instructors, TMs (Training & Monitoring persons) and balsakhis has been trained and motivated as a result of Pratham’s effort to achieve UPE. All of

20 Quoted from “Attendance in municipal schools on the decline”, an article by Nauzer Bharucha in the Times of India dated 26th January ’00.



these people are young, most below 35 years of age, and this group covers a wide cross-section of the society. People from all castes and religion have come forward to work for the goal of UPE. A huge number of these are girls and young women, who have seen this as an opportunity to step out of the house to do something independent. Many of them have excelled in their work, and have been given the opportunity to grow.

Pratham has made critical impact on them, both in terms of motivating them towards the goal of UPE as well as for their individual personal growth. It can be listed as follows :

a. This group has learned several skills, from presenting themselves, putting forward their views, and to organizational and management skills like accounting, staff management etc. Working with Pratham has provided them with an opportunity to learn on the job, and a work culture comparable to the best in the industry. As such, a positive, fostering work environment which recognizes good work, allows for creativity and innovation, has no gender bias and treats all castes and religion the same is a rarity in itself, and has helped to highly motivate the Pratham staff.

b. This group has also been empowered with a purpose that all children must receive primary education, and a direction as to how to go about it. This would go a long way towards creating responsible citizens, especially women, a necessity for a civil society.

c. They have been gainfully employed. Although the balwadi instructors do not earn a substantial sum, with their qualifications, they may not have been employed elsewhere. As such, Pratham offers an opportunity for upward mobility regardless of your educational qualifications (a minimum qualification is, however, expected) provided you show potential for growth and the capacity to handle responsibilities.

d. This group has learnt well how to deal with the local government staff (Teachers, Headmasters, Beat Officers, Superintendents, up to the level of the Education Officer). They are also able to exercise their access to the senior officers like the EO and the MCGM Commissioner, if need be.

e. This group has developed a good working knowledge of the system, which has been instilled into them through a well-planned training schedule as well as through daily practical work.

This group is however still a long way from taking an independent leadership of the program. The balwadi instructors and the instructors of the study classes are being seen as the first representative of the community and the media for transferring the ownership of the balwadi to the community (See The Balwadi Model). By establishing Mahila Mandals which would mobilize resources from the community or the government (See Sustainability), Pratham seeks to make this a reality and devolve decision-making and ownership. The involvement of the community in the UPE mission from the inception stage would have directly ensured the community’s ownership of the balwadi. The community would then have also provided the leadership to the program. It would also have been a



strategy that would have increased the confidence of the community in dealing directly with the government, ultimately leading to the devolution of power to the people, and thus, improved governance.In the community, Pratham has attempted to cross the boundaries of religion, caste and sex while identifying children and at the time of recruiting staff. In the community, Pratham has been seen as a service provider, rather than as a member and part of the community. It has, however, succeeded in creating an awareness in the community about education, and in instilling a confidence that their children can go to school and learn. This has meant an increase in their self-confidence, self-esteem and a hope for a better future.

As has been seen in the section Working with the Government - Building Trust, Pratham has been unable to avoid friction between itself and the teachers. This friction was certainly unnecessary and unwanted. Since Pratham was primarily set-up to help MCGM to achieve its own goal of UPE, it may even have been avoided by taking the teachers into confidence. A policy of ‘placing the teachers at the helm of the mission to achieve UPE’ could perhaps have succeeded better in gaining the confidence of the teachers and other staff. This strategy would also have motivated the teachers to take initiative in achieving the goals of UPE.

Certainly, MCGM has become more accountable and transparent. Pratham staff has access to information within MCGM to a great extent, and the MIS being developed by Pratham has demonstrated the trust and confidence which MCGM has in Pratham. Corruption and inefficiency has been checked to an extent.However, this process has not yet made MCGM more transparent and accountable to the people who are directly concerned with this service. Pratham’s present efforts to activate the school committees which provide a forum for the school to share its difficulties with the parents and the community and to enlist their support, may how-ever, change the situation and bring MCGM closer to being account-able and transparent to the people.The partnership between Pratham and MCGM has brought about a number of positive changes within MCGM. MCGM has allowed its premises to be used for education-related purpose (running balwadis, bridge courses etc. in the school buildings) and is willing to admit out-of-school children in the classrooms after they have completed a remedial education course conducted by Pratham. MCGM has also agreed to and undertaken the reorganization of the schools around ‘Education Posts (EP)’, which would aid decentralized planning and management. Thus, the entire education department is currently being organized around 448 EPs, and Pratham is actively providing support. These are important changes in the system brought about by Pratham.

The Pratham ‘model’ of involving the society in the achievement of the objectives of UPE has been accepted by the Government of India and several other local governing bodies. Similar missions have been initiated in other



cities and in rural areas. The Government of India has chosen the ‘Pratham model’ as the norm by which funding will be made available under the newly instituted scheme of Innovative and Alternative Schooling to all NGOs working in the urban areas.These are no doubt major contributions. Pratham has successfully demonstrated that the society can be involved in a partnership with the government in achieving the objectives set up by the government. Pratham has demonstrated an effective way of developing such a partnership with the government and of creating a space for the participation of the society.While elaborating on the concept of ‘societal mission’, Pratham has talked of individuals and various sections of the society taking the responsibility of UPE. By these individuals and sections of the society Pratham has implied corporate individuals and government officials who are leaders and opinion-makers in their own spheres. Pratham has targeted the corporate sector as a key player in shaping the future of the society and has sought to involve this sector in a mission for the benefit of the society.

With the excuse of mobilizing financial resources from the corporate sector, Pratham has initiated a dialogue with the leaders of this sector regarding aspects which involve the vulnerable sections of the society. This has created an awareness among them about the situation of the vulnerable sections of the society in the city of Mumbai, which stands in contrast to the fast and sophisticated world of the corporate individual. By encouraging representatives of the corporate houses to visit the balwadis supported by them and to participate actively in the UPE mission, Pratham has brought two entirely different worlds face to face with each other. By advancing the cause of the weaker sections of the society, Pratham has succeeded in mobilizing vast financial resources for the purpose of improving their condition. This intellectual and financial resource tapped by Pratham from within the city is bound to set an example not only for local resource mobilization by voluntary groups but also a practice of active giving in the corporate world. This is one of the most important contributions of Pratham.What has convinced these business houses and professionals to support Pratham ?In the later half of 1999, several corporate houses were asked about this by two researchers interested in studying this phenomenon. According to Radhika Piramal, one of the researchers from the Piramal Enterprises, most corporate houses identified the need for literacy to be one of India’s most pressing needs, believing that better citizens would lead to a better country, which would be more conducive to corporate activity. According to her, however, it was enough that somebody in the industrial world had appealed on behalf of Pratham for them to donate to Pratham. It was only ICICI, HSBC, the Piramal Enterprises Ltd. and British Airways, and possibly a few others, who had put some thought behind Pratham and donated knowingly.

The other researcher, an American student by the name of Martha, found that there was definitely a conscious awareness among the sponsors



interviewed by her that :

a. education is vital and a worthy investment,b. that there are many gaps within the system which need to be filled in,c. that as companies who reap profits from the society, they have a ‘duty’ to

give back, andd. by contributing to an educational initiative, they are fostering corporate

social responsibility.

Again, she too found that since Pratham was backed by well-known individuals in the industrial world and was seen to be succeeding on a large scale, most of the businesses were eager to support and get involved in a ‘partnership’ on a longer term.

Certainly, it is only now that the relationship with the corporate sector is developing as a true partnership, with an ownership of the program being shared and corporate houses coming forward to play a more active role in Pratham’s work.

With the corporate sector financing a major part of the programs, it is slowly taking up the leadership of the UPE mission, as was envisaged by the founders of Pratham. This has meant an active involvement of a number of individuals from the corporate houses in decision-making and planning. In effect, another power structure has been created, albeit one that is friendly and more sympathetic to the needs of the weaker sections of the society, but which is equally distant and almost as unapproachable for the people it seeks to help as that of MCGM. Participation of people in the very things that concern them is the soul of democracy. The ethos of good governance implies that people are in control of their own development and can participate and take decisions about ev-erything that affects their lives. It means that the governing system is trans-parent and accountable to the people for whom it is created.

Pratham needs to go one step forward and devolve the decision-making from the chambers of high commerce to the crumbling balwadi in Rafi Nagar. As the interface between the intellectual and economic ‘capital’ of the city and the city’s marginalized people, Pratham needs to affect a change in the chari-table and philanthropic approach of the corporate world to one where there is listening to the voice of the marginalized. Only then will true partnership ex-ist, and good governance take place. In the above discussion, Pratham’s role in improving the access and accountability of the primary education being provided by MCGM has been analyzed against each of these criteria. There are several learning points, and these are summed up in the following paragraphs.

Conclusions



Pratham has been established to provide support to MCGM in the goal of universalization, to help improve the efficiency and reach of MCGM primary schools and to strengthen the efforts of MCGM in this respect. For this purpose, Pratham has been entrusted with the responsibility of creating a ‘societal mission’, thereby procuring the help of the society in the UPE mission.

The extent to which Pratham has succeeded in improving access and attendance in MCGM schools is yet to be established. Efforts to improve achievement levels of children with the help of the Balsakhi program have chafed the teachers and created waves of resistance from them. The empowerment of a large group of women from the community has been achieved and they have been charged with the purpose of achieving UPE. Efforts are under way to establish independent structures which would implement these programs and would perhaps create community ownership, perhaps lead to privatization.

While creating a ‘societal mission’, the involvement of those who stand to be most affected by it, namely the parents, the community as a whole and the teachers, has not been sought or has not been accomplished. Pratham has succeeded in creating a structure to which MCGM is more accountable, and having achieved this, Pratham now needs to take steps whereby this accountability will be transferred to the parents and the community in general. Thus, the mission of UPE is not being led by these people as of now, and the ‘societal’ nature of the mission is as yet incomplete. Pratham’s efforts to activate the school education committees may correct this situation in the future.

By successfully demonstrating to the government that the people can be involved effectively in helping the government has paved the way for a partnership with the government and has created a space for the participation of the society in the government. Pratham has also demonstrated to the society how the society itself can work effectively with the government.

Pratham has shown that the intellectual and economic ‘capital’ within the society can be harnessed successfully for addressing the problems of the society and to bring about a change in the situation of the marginalized. Pratham’s effort to mobilize this resource has created an environment in the city which encourages the corporate sector to be more directly involved in community work. What remains to be done as yet is to bring about a direct dialogue between these two communities at the two ends of the spectrum in such a way that there is free and open discussion, effective listening and a feeling of friendship and concern for each other. It will be only then that the concept of ‘societal mission’ will be a reality.

Unless the people are empowered and encouraged to take increasingly greater control over things that concern and affect them, effective gover-nance will not take place. Pratham is yet to make any impact in this critical



sphere of governance. However, Pratham continues to evolve and change, and in the years to come, this situation may change.

The story of Pratham is not complete. A lot remains to be accomplished, a number of problems need to be addressed. In its brief history, Pratham has demonstrated new ways of working, and it is these that provide opportunities for learning. As the mission of UPE spreads to other states in the country, there is no doubt that Pratham’s experience in Mumbai will show the direction.


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