Bihar Anjuman believes in self-help rather than charity

Project proposal: Coaching of school students to minimize drop-out levels

This project is inspired by Sir Syed Ahmad khan's Aligarh Movement, and sponsored by TheAligarhForum (2 centres) and Bihar Anjuman (5 centres). For latest update, click here.

We are hiring part-time teachers for Science and Maths [teach 3 hours, before or after school afters, to earn Rs. 3,000 per month]. Send your CV to myrahbar@gmail.com with subject line [Application for part-time teacher's position at Patna*], or submit your CV to Mr. Enam Khan, 30-Haroon Nagar, Sector-2, Patna-801505. [For more detais, click here]
* For all districts of Bihar & Jharkhand, other than Samastipur and Darbhanga, send your CV to the same address, by replacing "Patna" with your preferred district

Vision: Educational empowerment of deprived sections of the society.

Mission: Provide at least one centre of coaching in every district of Bihar and Jharkhand

Commit your contribution, by filling-up a simple online form (click here) or by sending email to myrahbar@gmail.com [Subject Line: "Donation for RAHBAR Coaching Projects"]

 

Primary Objective:

The primary objective is to stop the dropping-out of school students, which is at an alarming level in the minority and other Dalit communities.

 

Shikwa-e-zulmat-e-shab se to kahin behtar tha;
Apne hissey ki koi shamm'a jalaate jaatey. [Ahmad Faraz]

Better light a candle than curse the darkness

better-light-a-candle-than-curse-the-darkness

 

Detailed Objectives:

Minimize the level of drop-out among the school-going students of the minority community and other Dalit communities, gradually, to a zero-level, within ten years of launching this project. This is expected to inspire the large percentage of boys and girls to go to school and madarsas rather than sit at home or engage in menial work. As per Sachar Report, more than 50% of the Muslim boys and girls in rural areas and more than 60% of those in urban areas neither go to schools nor to madarsas. The situation is better among Dalits of the majority community. Twenty-five percent (25%) of Muslim children in the 6-14 years age group have either never attended school or have dropped out. Drop out rates among Muslims are higher at the level of primary, middle, and higher secondary. In premier colleges, only one out of twenty-five (4%) under-graduate students and one out of fifty post- graduate (2%) students are Muslims. How can we demand more than 4% jobs in any sector?

The main reason for high dropout level is poverty, and lack of community support. Parents fear that their wards may ultimately have to dropout, because of (a) poor academic performance, and (b) lack of financial support. The immediate loss of earnings that their wards may currently be bringing may be a great driving force. Some experiments by themselves or by those they know might have resulted in their wards' failure in terminal or yearly exams. This validation of their fear adds to the perception that it is worthless wasting the time of their wards in educational pursuits.


The objective, therefore, is to engage the wards of the poor (sections that cannot afford private tuitions)
(a) school-going students in part-time quality coaching, so as to improve their academic performance,
(b) boost their confidence levels, and raise their hope for making-it-big-someday.
(c) non-school-going boys and girls in efforts to make them literate, so that they could be sent to some school, soon.

The ultimate objective is to attain 100% literacy, for all the communities, and bring the deprived sections of the communities at par with the priviledged sections.

 

Districts to be covered:

All localities dominated by the minority community, in all districts of Bihar and Jharkhand, starting with a pilot project in seven districts of Patna, West Singhbhum, Samastipur, Muzaffarpur, Sasaram, and Darbhanga ... seventh one will be proposed, soon.

Locations for Pilot project, and proposed project leaders:
1. Patna: Najam High School, Phulwari Sharif (Boys and Girls), Project leaders: Dr. Shamim Balkhi Sb and Mohd Enam Khan Sb.
2. Singhbhum: in the city of Chakradharpur, specific school/ premises to be finalized in September 2009, Project leader: Mohd Aslam (belongs to Chakradharpur, is based in Dubai, UAE)
3. Samastipur: Madarsa Islamia, Shahpur Baghauni village, near Tajpur Bazaar, Project leader: Shakeel Ahmad (belongs to Samastipur, is based in Dubai, UAE)
4. Muzaffarpur: Mohalla Brahmpura, near Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology (MIT), Project leaders: Anwar Bari (belongs to Muzaffarpur, is based in Dubai, UAE), Bazme Adab (students of MIT), and Dr. Sohail Ahmad (belongs to Muzaffarpur, is based in Abha, KSA)
5. Darbhanga: Madarsa Salfia, Laheria Sarai or Soghra Urdu Girls High School, Project leaders: Shabi Hashmi and Hassan Arshad (belong to Darbhanga, based in UK and Qatar respectively)

6. Bhabua: Al-Makhdoom School Campus, Chainpur town,

Project Leader: Shakil Ahmad (shakilahma@gmail.com), Web Librarian in Riyadh, and his brother, Rushtam Khan (rustamkhan80@gmail.com), Engineer (AMU-2004) in Gurgaon

 

Curriculum to be covered, in the pilot project:

CBSE (NCERT)

 

Grades of students to be coached, in the pilot project:

Stage-1: Grades 8, 9 and 10, to start with. Government support may be utilized to make the non-school-going children literate.

 

The number of students, at centre, will slowly grow, as people come to know of the quality of education. Centres in urban settings, like Patna, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur, etc. would be able to get quality teachers, who would attract students to the centres more easily. Rural centres like Rahimabad, would face the challenge of getting quality teachers, and therefore, the task of attracting students to centres like these is much more daunting. But, of course, a pilot project in a rural area must be taken up, because of the simple fact that much more needs to be done, in the rural settings, if we have to empower the community educationally.

 

Patna

Chakradharpur (Singhbhum)

Rahimabad (Samastipur)

Muzaffarpur

Darbhanga

Expected No. of students

Yr1

50

30

15

30

40

Yr2

70

50

30

50

60

Yr3

100

70

50

70

100

 

Future Stage-2: With increasing awareness among the local populace, and support from various organizations, the classes to be expanded downstream (towards grades 7,6, etc).
Future Stage-3: Expand upstream, i.e., include 11th and 12th so as to prepare the students for diploma or engineering entrance exams.

 

Timing of classes:

After-school hours, which may be different in different locations depending on the availability of power-supply.

 

Fees to be charged to students:

The tuition is absolutely free to students. They are to be drawn from the families that are not in a position to pay for their education – All of them would be going to government schools or madarsas. However, if the esteemed foum decides to make the project open for fees-based coaching as well, there is a chance to divert from the main focus on motivating the deprived sections to continue their studies and trurn towards generating income from the project. We have great hope in the abilities, knowledge, and experience of members of this forum, so we would honour any decisions that are ultimately taken by the forum.

 

Other Partners in the project:

1. Bihar Anjuman, www.biharanjuman.org, its various chapters around the world and in India through its yahoogroup http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RAHBARinternational/ with more than 5,770 members.
2. TheAligarhForum, and its affiliates,
3. Imarat Sharia, Patna, http://www.imaratshariah.org/
4. Qaumi Tanzeem, most popular Urdu daily of Bihar and Jharkhand
5. Bazme Adab, an organization managed by students of MIT, Muzaffarpur, assisted by Bihar Anjuman
6. Najm High School, Patna
7. RAHBAR-Aligarh, a chapter of Bihar Anjuman, headed by Dr. Mubarak Hussain Sb, senior faculty of JNMC.
8. Any organization that is ready to cooperate or collaborate, either at the local level or at national or international level.

 

Level of involvement of Partner organizations:

Provision of infrastructure and related facilities (e.g., the madarsas and school quoted above), financial support (e.g., Bihar Anjuman), logistical support and guidance (e.g., Bihar Anjuman and Imarat Sharia), media support (Imarat Sharia and Qaumi Tanzeem).

 

Immediate Requirements:


1. Each centre will have 3 teachers [one each of Science, Maths, and English], to start with. It is proposed to appoint teachers to teach part-time, to start with. The strength should increase to 6 ultimately.
2. Infrastructure – class-rooms with minimum teaching facilities. The pilot project will utilize existing facilities, for free.
3. Books, notebooks, stationery material, for each student. Textbooks should already be available with school-going children. If not available, it will have to be provided.
4. Transport to bring students (possibly teachers, also) from areas that are a little far off from the coaching centres.
5. Communications: use of telephone to update the project in-charge, use of net cafes or courier services, etc.
6. Weekly, monthly, annual prize to best-performing students to motivate them.
7. Some financial support to the parents of really poor students … not to be taken up initially, but will be part of a long-term plan. This should compensate the parents for the loss from their wards not earning for them.

 

Immediate Financial Requirements:

Most of the financial requirements will cover the above immediate requirements. A tentative assessment is presented below, as per discussion with some associates:
1. Teachers: Rs. 3,000 per month for part-time services [may vary between Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 6,000] depending upon the locality, and the reputation of the teacher being engaged – those known for quality tuitions will need much more, and would like to be compensated for the loss of their existing revenue. Their reputation can bring in more students to the coaching centres, and bring quicker success through quality teaching. Each centre will need an average of Rs. 9,000 per month for three proposed teachers.
2. Other Monthly expenses listed above: Rs. 2,000 per month, initially. Some monthly expenses may be earmarked for maintaining hygiene in the premises and for promoting hygiene among the students.
3. Annual expenses on books etc: Rs. 300 per student
4. One time establishment expenses: Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 5,000 for facilities that may not exist at the centres.

 

Per centre summary of immediate financial requirements: Total monthly expenses: Rs. 11,000 per centre
Total annual expenses: Rs. 5,000 to 15,000 per centre, depending upon the number of students, and requirements of books.

Total immediate financial requirements for the pilot projects:

For 5 centres: Rs. 55,000 per month, Rs. 25,000 to 75,000 (avg. Rs. 50,000) annually, and Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 25,000 (avg Rs. 15,000) one-time establishment expenses.
Total, in the first year: Rs. 55,000 per month x 12 months + Rs. 50,000 per year + Rs. 15,000 one-time = Rs. 7,25,000 (Rupess Seven lakhs twenty-five thousands), for 5 centres

The above figure is just $15,140 per year for all 5 centres, or,

Just $1,262 per month for all the 5 centres [Just $250 per month per centre]

Share of Bihar Anjuman and TheAligarhForum, in the financing of project:

Moderators of Bihar Anjuman commit to arrange Bihar Anjuman's sponsorship of one centre for every centre sponsored by TheAligarhForum. So, for example, if TheAligarhForum is able to sponsor 5 centres, Bihar Anjuman will sponsor at least 5 centres, insha-Allah.

So, if TheAligarhForum approves the project for sponsoring 5 centres, then we expect TheAligarhForum to raise Rs. 55,000 per month, Rs. 25,000 to 75,000 (avg. Rs. 50,000) annually, and Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 25,000 (avg Rs. 15,000) one-time establishment expenses.
[total, in the first year: Rs. 55,000 x 12 + Rs. 50,000 + Rs. 15,000 = Rs. 7,25,000 (Rupess Seven lakhs twenty-five thousands), for 5 centres]

and the same amount (Rs. 7,25,000 in the first year) is to be raised by Bihar Anjuman, for the 5 centres under its sponsorship.

How long this project will continue?

This project is proposed to continue forever. We propose expanding the project (a) geographically, to more centres, and (b) adding the target classes, in stages, as proposed in the original project proposal, i.e., expanding downstream first, in stage-2, and then expanding upstream, in stage-3. We propose to reach out to more and more students, every year.

With more benefactors adding up to the TheAligarhForum group and Bihar Anjuman group (two primary sponsors), we need to try harder and harder to raise the performance of more and more students qualitatively.

Monitoring mechanism:

From Bihar Anjuman side, in our original project proposal, we have already put forward names of people who will lead the project in each location. Bihar Anjuman has chapters in various places, and a three-layer monitoring will happen.

First layer of monitoring: Local chapters would monitor the project, as first layer.

Second layer of monitoring: Patna, Delhi and Aligarh chapters would monitor the project, as second layer.

Third layer of monitoring: Mentors from online group visiting their native places will visit the centres, check the account-books, academic performance, and other arrangements, etc, apart from teaching the students on a short-term basis, and guiding students, teachers as well as the organizing teams.

From TheAligarhForum side, it's for you to decide how you would do the monitoring. We will have no objection to any proposal from the group. We propose that TheAligarhForum appoints mentors from among the group members, and a committee to audit the whole mechanism, at least once a year.

What would be the scale of success?

continuous improvement in academic performance, to be assessed through weekly, monthly tests, at our centres and through annual exams, in their parent schools. At the project level, we propose that the results of their annual exams, in their respective parent schools be considered as the scale of success (continuous improvement).

Student's scale of success: incremental improvement (percent increase w.r.t previous exam) in scores at the half-yearly and annual exams.

Centre's scale of success: incremental improvement (percent increase w.r.t previous exam) in average scores of all students at the respective centre, in the half-yearly and annual exams.

Advertizing:

Free advertizing through local community leaders, madarsas, schools, masajid, and other community centres.

Local volunteers:

It is proposed to initially launch these centres only in localities where some free voluntary support is available, either from individuals, or from local organizations, community leaders.

Account-keeping:

To be handled by the accountant of the school/ madarsa in whose premises the centres are located. Where the premises of existing institutions are not being used, the responsibility will be handed over to some volunteer from the local community or to one of the teachers appointed for the centre.

Audit:

Account-books would be made available, for audit, to any member of TheAligarhForum, Bihar Anjuman, or partner organization, whenever they approach the centre, with such a request. Visiting members would be requested to audit the entire operations of these centres, including the coaching processes.

Counselling:

Regular counseling programs would be conducted by engaging respectable figures from the local community. Visiting members of online forums would be requested to inform about their visit of the region, so that their services may be availed of. Services of some reputed counsellers may be availed of, at least once-a-year, on a payment basis or otherwise.

How Bihar Anjuman operates?

We do not raise funds to keep in a bank account. We work without bank accounts, without any overhead expenses. The funds we raise goes straight from the contributor's accounts to the project or to the supported individual. We only raise project-based funding. I urge you to pls go through some of the pages on our website, e.g.:
http://www.biharanjuman.org/scholarship.html
http://www.banee.org/BANEE_Beneficiaries.htm#List ... we provide scholarship to students, also to AMU students.
http://www.biharanjuman.org/sponsor_a_teacher.htm ... we sponsor quality teachers and depute them in monirity schools/ madarsas to improve the quality of education.
Last year, for flood relief, in flood-affected areas of Bihar, we raised approx. Rs. 40 lakhs, alhamdolillah. Pls have a look at some of the pages:
http://www.biharanjuman.org/flood_relief_2008.htm
http://www.biharanjuman.org/flood_relief_2008-RAHBAR-report.htm
http://www.biharanjuman.org/flood_relief_2008_gulf-news.htm
http://www.biharanjuman.org/flood_relief_2008_rahbar-camp-pics.htm

Our fund-raising for this coaching project would be like this only - some individuals or groups of individuals or chapters of Bihar Anjuman would come forward, raise funds regularly to send directly to the centres under their respective sponsorships, and update us.
We do far little than the potential we hold. This is nothing unique about us. This is the fact with all such discussion groups whereinwhich members like gap-shap and debates over non-issues far more than any real work. We have hardly done anything until now, but we are statisfied that whatever little we have done, we have done with accountability and with total transparency.

 

Copyright © 2006 Bihar Anjuman