From:  Sumathi V Iyengar <[20]sumathivinay@y...>
   Date:  Sat Sep 22, 2001  11:16 pm
   Subject:  Minutes of meeting held on 09/15/2001

   
   Attendees - Sriranjani, Sridhar Desikan, Amrish Garg,
   Pradeep Bhatta, Sahana Gupta, Amit Sahai, Anirban
   Hazra, Madhav Acharya, Vikas Sawant, Sumathi Iyengar
   FODRA :
   Some background : NFE - Non formal education; Used an
   an alternate form of education for children for whom
   formal education is inaccessible
   REC - Remedial Education Center - Supplements govt.
   school education. Gives additional tuition to students
   to keep them from dropping out of school.
   Madhav presented the current status of FODRA
   education-related projects.
   FODRA has closed down the NFE(Non-formal education)
   center due to under performance. They are running a
   few RECs(Remedial Education Centers) currently. There
   is an application for permission to start 6 more RECs
   pending with the local govt.
   FODRA has started a commercial school called
   BALANIKETAN, in April 2001. This one is intended to be
   self-sustaining, so charges students a monthly fee of
   40 - 50 Rupees. It competes with several other schools
   in the area including a govt. school. FODRA claims
   that they have better teaching methods and lesser
   fees, and so attract more students.
   There was a concern raised among attendees: will the
   RECs be effective with the start of BalaNiketan. Mr.
   Joshi and Mr. Anand who used to monitor the NFEs and
   RECs previously, are now allocated work in other
   project areas(health etc).
   Currently there is a request from FODRA for funds to
   hire more teachers. For this, we decided that we
   should first make sure that the teachers are paid the
   amount which FODRA claims to be paying them.(There was
   a site visit by Ms. Sangeeta a few months ago. and she
   was concerned that the teachers were being paid
   lesser) Also we need to get the total account
   information from FODRA.
   We were also concerned about FODRA's focus on
   education, the priority it gives to this aspect.
   We decided that we will try to clear these concerns
   before we release any more funds to them. There are
   many other projects, more dedicated to the cause of
   education, who deserve our support. A patron of Asha,
   Mr. Gupta who resides in Delhi was willing to make
   site visits to FODRA.We can take his help to get some
   of our concerns cleared.
   AAJ Project :
   Vikas presented this new project located in Aajgaon in
   Southern Maharashtra.
   Aajgaon has a rich resource of clay. Pottery has been
   a traditional occupation here. But of late, pottery as
   an art is diminishing, as there is no much income. The
   potters in the village use traditional schemes to make
   their products which don't compete well enough in the
   market. parents do not want their children to be
   potters. they send their children to schools so that
   they will use their formal education to get good jobs.
   But the fact is that the youth who pass 12th grade
   don't get many job opportunities. They either have to
   become rickshaw-wallas/bus drivers/migrate to bombay
   in search of petty jobs. Its a sad situation.
   Traditional art in the village is dying down, natural
   resource of clay is not being used, and the youth in
   the village are unemployed.
   Lok Kalyan Shikshan Sanstha(LKSS) is runs Vidhya Vihar
   English school(5st to 10th grades) and a teacher's
   training college in Aajgaon since 1960. A local
   self-taught sculptor, Mr. Aajgaonkar, and LKSS, want
   to change this situation in the village by starting a
   vocational training course in pottery for high-school
   students(9th and 10th grade). This course will teach
   students, modern schemes in pottery using
   state-of-the-art equipment. This course will teach
   students a very useful skill, using which they may
   earn a livelihood in the future.
   As a start the course will target currently unemployed
   youth. LKSS is also talking to parents trying to
   persuade them about the course, and counter the stigma
   among parents against pottery.
   SriRanjani also pointed that the local potters should
   be allowed to use the modern equipment, thus helping
   them improve their own business. Anirban pointed out
   that this project would indeed help to bring about
   social change in the area and also keep alive a
   traditional art. Sridhar suggested that we can use the
   skills in the AAJ project to make some Asha
   merchantise like diyas, mugs etc.
   Mr. Dubashi, a board member of LKSS is our contact. He
   has invited Srikant Mulik, a former Asha-CNJ
   volunteer, who works in Bombay, to work with them on a
   regular basis.
   In order to start the course, the center needs the
   following :
   One traditional manually operated wheel 2,000 Rs
   One Ball Mill, 50 46,000 Rs
   One test kiln (electric) 20,000 Rs
   One studio kiln(electric)
   2 cu.feet 2X2X2(L.W.H) - 2,50,000 Rs
   Salaries (2 teachersX12 months X Rs.2000) 48,000 Rs
   ------------
   3,66,000 Rs
   ~ $8,000
   Volunteers in the chapter supported the AAJ project,
   as its a good cause, 3-site visits have been made(one
   by Vikas himself) and we can actively monitor the
   project through Srikant Mulik. We decided to fund 1/2
   of the requirement - $4,000 . Anirban volunteered to
   introduce the project to people in Asha- Silicon
   Valley to get the remaining funding.
   We were unable to discuss Agami, due to lack of time.
   Sumathi