SUMMER INTERNSHIP

DIRECTORATE OF SCHOOL EDUCATION, KASHMIR

KUPWARA (JAMMU AND KASHMIR)

Date (20-05-2016 to 11-07-2016) 7 weeks

SUBMITTED BY: IFTIKHAR HUSSAIN SHAH

MAD15094

AZIM PREMJI UNIVERSITY

Figure 1Training session Regarding, Health, Education and Establishment of Play Schools.

• The organization/domain

The Directorate of School Education Kashmir had carried the task of the opening

of internship opportunity for young and motivated people who can add positive

changes to the education arena of the area. As the name suggest DSEK (Directorate

of School education Kashmir) specifically opened this internship for the purpose of

making positive changes in school education. The name of the internship initiative

is XUANZANG INTERNATIONAL INTERNSHIP IN EDUCATION .

The objective of the internship track was;

1) To enrich the education system of Kashmir with the experience and expertise

of talented youth from eminent educational institutions and organizations

across the world.

2) To sensitize talented youth to the education system of one of the most socio -

economically backward parts of the country and to gain an understanding of

issues faced in Rural Kashmir.

3. To develop skills of working with Government in Social Sector, helping in the

creation of future leaders in Education.

The internship provided different learning tracks to the intern’s e.g. teaching

track, pedagogy content development and training track, community engagement

track, administration and policy track and many other tracks, which were

unwritten in the document. Importantly the work between the social welfare

department (ICDS) and department of school education in district Kupwara, which

I took on reaching the district.

Background of Intervention

District Kupwara is located at the north of the Jammu and Kashmir on LOC. Having

literacy of almost 67 percent as per 2011 census

District Census 2011

Male Female Total

Kupwara 77.1 54.79 66.92

Source: http://www.dsek.nic.in/viStat.html

Number of Govt. Institutions in Kashmir Division

S.No District PS MS HS HSS

No. of

KGBVs

Mobile

School Total

1 Srinagar 215 209 74 30 2 0 530

2 Budgam 709 430 105 34 8 8 1294

3 Anantnag 695 677 124 45 8 15 1564

4 Pulwama 516 246 71 30 5 3 871

5 Baramulla 1110 646 165 44 10 8 1983

6 Kupwara 994 709 103 40 10 14 1870

7 Leh 187 138 33 14 4 0 376

8 Kargil 218 257 44 14 6 0 539

9 Ganderbal 351 171 40 15 3 7 587

10 Shopian 331 138 37 10 1 8 525

11 Kulgam 374 357 52 21 3 4 811

12 Bandipora 404 335 49 18 4 6 816

Total 6104 4313 897 315 64 73 11766

Source: http://www.dsek.nic.in/viStat.html

By looking at table, Kupwara performs well in terms of having govt. schools than many

bigger districts in the Kashmir divisions. It is worth noting that these numbers, which are

1870 government schools in the population of 8, 40,000 lakhs, is a new number. Not

because these are latest, numbers achieved but these numbers are achieved after the

process of Rationalization, (the word used in the department for merging of schools),

which means a number of govt. schools are actually closed down and number reduced to

1870. The justification for the process was that Kupwara has a very good teacher-student

ratio, now, which stands at 1:20 around the main town, but around other areas, it is much

lower. Because there was an uneven ratio of teacher-students in many schools, and in

some areas, there was extremely lower number students were going to schools.

By doing away with the problem of uneven teacher-student ratio the department

introduced the policy of Rationalization, which means the merger of schools where there

are few children going to a school where there are enough students. There were other

reasons for rationalization because many schools opened under the SSA in many areas

were very close to each other.

Area of Interest: Early Childhood Education

It is estimated that Anganwadi Workers are spending 39 percent of their time on pre-

school education and in 2003 the Government of India reported that the total coverage

of the program for children in the 3–6 age group was nearly 170 million (MHRD, 2003).

The ICDS program runs Anganwadi centers in villages with a population above 1000 in

selected blocks with a relaxed norm of 700 for tribal areas (Ward) . The National

University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) reports that in January

2006, 17 percent of all schools in rural areas had pre-primary facilities (NUEPA, 2006).

Proposals for the reform of ICDS are currently being considered. With regard to ECE,

among these proposals is one that the demand for pre-school education, and for feeding

the older children, could be met by devolving these responsibilities to the Department of

Education or to local authorities. The DPEP and SSA already deliver pre-school education

services in some districts, and the feeding of four to six-year-olds could become part of

the National Mid-Day Meals Programme. In this manner, more of the AWW’s time could

be freed up for nutrition and health education and growth promotion, increasing the

prospect of achieving better nutrition outcomes. If this kind of reform is not possible,

there should, at any rate, be more emphasis given by the managers of primary education

and ICDS to convergence between the two services. The potential benefits of greater

convergence are enormous. (Ward)

Michael Ward is Senior Education Adviser for the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) India

Country Programme, based in Delhi

The activities/strategies/execution/impact etc

The intervention which we did with the help of Social welfare department and

department of education in district Kupwara resembles the proposal for the reforms of

ICDS (given above). But we worked in a little different way.

We adopted this approach for our Intervention for the purpose of early childhood

education

Approach/Activities;

For the first few day, I conducted eight surveys in the area to get more concrete

information regarding the functioning of Anganwadi centers and discharge of duties by

the Anganwadi workers. Sample information available here.

(.https://docs.google.com/a/apu.edu.in/document/d/12jgHSHdxMIpVP919y37UTux3J

3v-g4TZ22KtIP-y_ck/edit?usp=sharing,

https://docs.google.com/a/apu.edu.in/document/d/1hIAMIxHmOrcPh8hIm3xqWE1w

KGAP9TwRVybSWUVp61I/edit?usp=sharing.)

Govt. School

Anganwadi centre

anganwadi centre

anganwadi centre

anganwadi centre

I was not surprised to see almost negligible attendance of preschoolers in Anganwadis

during my visits. Furthermore what I heard as excuses for nonattendance of

preschoolers. The timing of Anganwadis from 10 am morning to afternoon 2 pm.

Nevertheless, hardly I was able to see any child present during my visit even if I visited

before the warping up of Anganwadi centers’. However, to my surprise, the Rolls and

Registers were perfectly kept and marked according to each day. I was not able to see or

locate any entry which shows that any of the children was absent during that day. All

the children’s were present (which is shown in the registers) and no one was absent

from the day they had registered with the Anganwadi center.

Furthermore, one can easily understand the numbers of fake names on the register by

looking at their surnames, which, not done that smartly. Anganwadi workers and

Supervisors know that children only come in the morning to get their share of nutrition

only, after taking food they will not stay at Anganwadi centers. The thing, which I heard

most during my surveys is that children only come to have food at the Anganwadi,

centers, after that they don’t stay at the centers. There are also many problems which

they are facing they were saying, like Ration don’t come on time and comes once a year

so there is no incentive to make children stay at the Anganwadi centers. After two or

three months, but the same argument contradicted when I talked to other community

members about the Ration, they said that the Anganwadi workers usually sells ration in

the market.

For working on the establishment of play-school in the district and that too for the first

time by the district administration. We need to have a proper plan, for this, I was lucky

to have to more interns who worked with me for 15 days. For the first 6 days, we

straightaway went to the training of Anganwadi workers in 2 blocks (Kalaroos and

Sogam in Kupwara). We gave them information regarding issues relating to health,

education and the changes by the way of the establishment of play schools. Side by side

we also started to prepare a teaching manual and teaching plan (curriculum), links to

the files are given here, (teaching manual,

https://docs.google.com/a/apu.edu.in/document/d/1ja_HX7feTsfhZKt_BYiThbqy8Kt4i

wWA70gQxbPWZG8/edit?usp=sharing) (teaching Plan, curriculum

https://docs.google.com/a/apu.edu.in/document/d/1Zton5SogecH1UTbDE4FZbQzEbO

K2fEmdGyU5XkOefWQ/edit?usp=sharing). For first 6 days, we gave training to AWW’s

(Anganwadi worker) and talk to them about the issues they were raising during our

interaction with them. As we ask, what are the problems they are facing? In addition,

one of the question that came everywhere we went was that how to stop children from

leaving AWC (Anganwadi center) earlier? We had long discussions on issues, relating to

study kits for preschoolers, clearing doubts on their nutrition and their responsibilities

and their new duties, which will be coming up with the establishment of play schools.

Establishment of play schools;

After 15 days, I was again alone and moved straightaway for the establishment of play

schools in Block Khumriyal, Kalaroos. At the end of my internship until July 1st I was

able to establish 7 play schools in Khumriyal, Kalaroos. Furthermore, I myself prepared

the list of schools and nearest Anganwadi center, which has to take its preschoolers to

the designated schools. A total number of 52 play schools recommended for the process

of establishment after giving training to the Anganwadi workers in Block Sogam, Lolab

area of Kupwara. Also, there was a recommendation of 25 play schools provided to

establish in block Khumriyal, Kalaroos area of Kupwara. Of which 7 (7 out of 25) were

established by me while doing my work and remaining if possible in future, because

there is an acute shortage of qualified person to look after the Intervention in the area

plus you need to be continuously motivated throughout all the time despite having a

workload of the whole team. The list of schools established and recommended by me

can be located here, for Khumriyal, Kalaroos,

(https://docs.google.com/a/apu.edu.in/document/d/1LkvkMnDMi6X_twF6hws8fQqbN

ZEbxP-CR1DKkLZU3qE/edit?usp=sharing) and for Sogam, Lolab area here,

(https://docs.google.com/a/apu.edu.in/document/d/1x4E3SKqDlgltQBjwFeswzDNB_Y

KglAIG3MUTFzQbHmY/edit?usp=sharing).

List of Play Schools established and Recommended during the

Internship;

OFFICE OF THE ZONAL EDUCATIONAL OFFICE KHUMERIYAL

LIST OF GOVERNMENTS SCHOOLS PREPOSED FOR PLAY-SCHOOLS

SERIAL NUMBER NAME OF THE SCHOOL ADDRESS (VILLAGE)

1. PS NAWABAZAR NAWABAZAR KHUMRIYAL

2. PS ISSGUND MAINDANPORA ISSGUND

KHUMRIYAL

3. UPS TANKIPORA ISSGUND KHUMRIYAL

4. PS DHAL PAYEEN DHAL PAYEEN

5. PS RUNGDARA MADMADOW RANGDARA MADMADOW

6. RANGER PORA KALAROOS RANGERPORA KALAROOS

7. PS DOGGERPORA DOGGERPORA KALAROOS

8. PS SINJA SHUND SHUNDI

9. PS TEEDA TEEDA NAGSARI

10. UPS LADAH LADDA PAYEEN

11. HS MOORI MOORI

12. UPS DARMOHALLA THAYAN THAYAN

13. PS CHEECHEE MOHALLA NARIZAB

14. UPS PARRYPORA PARRYPORA

15. PS JAKADNAKA JAKADNAKA

16. PSDAMNIBALA DANMI

17. HS MACHIL PROPER MACHIL

18. UPS PUSHWARI PUSHWARI

19. UPS THALLY THALLI DUDDI

20. UPS KATWARA KATWARA DAPPAL

21. UPS MIRMOHALLA MISRIBEHAK MIRMOHALL MISRIBEHAK

22. PS CHOUNTYWARI CHOUNTYWARI PAYEEN

23. PS HAJI MOHALLA HAJI MOHALLA CHOUNTWARI

24. UPS TANTARY BASTI RING PAYEEN TANTRAY BASTI

25. UPS RINGBALA RING BALA

26 MS DALL BALLA KHUMRIYA KALAROOS

Established Play-Schools boxes are colored Blue and all other are recommended.

Figure 2first day at play school established Dal Payeen Govt. primary School, Kalaroos, Kupwara.

Learning’s, Reflections and Challenges;

On working with the govt. department one thing that I saw otherwise I will never be

able to see those complexities, time pressure, completion of documents and

uncountable numerous activities a govt. official have to do. First at the start of my

internship I was meet with the strike called by education department because of non-

payment of salaries by the state govt. and when I was able to join the internship, on

reaching my destination in Kupwara I was not able to find any place to stay for 4 days as

promised by the administration. However, these problems were short terms we sorted

out them. Nevertheless, the problems I faced during the establishment was immense

like non-cooperation from the side of social welfare departments Supervisors and non -

compliance on the information provided to them by me. First supervisors were so busy

that after reminding so many time to them that from next day they have to make sure

that the Anganwadi workers will be present at the school allocated to them and

accordingly the list of information provided to them. However, after telling them

everything and detail written information Anganwadi workers, whenever I reached in

the school I myself have to call and search for Anganwadi workers and the preschoolers

to come to play schools. Furthermore, I was alone and had to reach in many locations

physical and had to make contact with many departments (e.g. School education

department, Social welfare department, District Administration which is D.C office.) I

had to run from one department to another and to call one in charge of the department

to another.

However, one thing, which impressed me most, was the attitude of the district

commissioner, actually, he was alone leading the whole district, be it education

department, be it rural department, be it social welfare department and almost every

other activity he was involved. However, he is mostly concerned about the education

department, which he was saying that is most corrupt in the district. One thing, which I

learned and will going to stay with me forever, is that you need motivation. This word

may seem a non-deal breaker but I heard uncountable times from the district

commissioner’s mouth that you can not do anything if your man force is not motivated.

And that I faced during the establishment of play schools when I had to run from

education department to social welfare department for reducing confusion. I had to run

for the written order that should be taken from the Zonal Education Officer to show that

order to the schools so that they can arrange a room for the preschoolers. Furthermore,

I myself many times got demotivated, to see that nobody wants to work and want to

care and even accept that the problem can be solvable. Sometimes I felt like to just-pass

the time, but fortunately, I was not that fortunate to run away from my responsibilities,

either way, I had to complete my target of establishment of seven play schools.

Anganwadi workers mostly pre-occupied by the paperwosrk because the supervisor

only cares about if the paperwork is complete or not. The only function of supervision

regarding Anganwadi centers a supervisor does is just to sign registers so that they can

take their salaries.

Suggestions:

During my whole Internship with the Social Welfare Department and District

Administration one thing, we saw that it is not the lower level employee but the upper

level (middle level, like supervisors) employee who don’t discharge their work honestly,

that is because of the overburden of clerical work they have to do in their daily routine.

One can find numerous problems and give hundreds of suggestions if s/he pick and

point on every other thing. Broadly suggestions, which I found to be adequate, are;

1) The training part comes repeatedly if you interact with Anganwadi workers.

Anganwadi workers whom we meet said that they had never trained in their

whole service. That’s because of many reasons,

First, the training center are not even in their district, as for district Kupwara the

training center is in Baramulla, which is another district.

Second, the Training center usually occupied by other departments or don’t have

the capacity to train the required numbers of Anganwadi workers.

Third, no availability of trainers and supervisors are not qualified to train

Anganwadi workers.

Fourth, the most important, the Anganwadi workers don’t consider training for

their benefits.

2) There is a complete lack of motivation in the middle level staff; the supervisors

are not enough motivated to even check the fake rolls on registers. To get rid of

visiting each Anganwadi center the supervisors organize a meeting once a week

to sign on the registers brought by Anganwadi workers and release salaries. The

CDPO’s (Child Development Program Officer’s) can easily look after the job of

supervisors but hardly we had seen any CDPO while doing my internship, even

though I meet DSWO (District Social Welfare Office) many times who was

immensely helpful.

IFTIKHAR HUSSAIN SHAH

MA DEVELOPMENT

AZIM PREMJI UNIVERSITY

SUMMER INTERSHIP REPORT