Aaranyak: A Rural Alternative Learning Space

Introduction: The Pandemic has affected lives and livelihood all over the world. India, in its efforts to contain the spread of the virus on March 22nd, the Prime Minister ordered a lockdown. It’s been 8 months since India is still battling with the Pandemic and is the 2nd worst affected country in the World. 

In Bhavnagar, Shaishav being involved in training children in Child Rights, Child safety and prevention of Child Labour among the most marginalized section who faced huge challenges during the Pandemic. Financially, the families experienced a crisis due to job losses. The Pandemic has caused high mortality rates which led to social, mental and physical stress. 

The people were confined to their homes with monotonous / no activity which gives a sense of being trapped. Although homes may be considered as a safe place for some, it is not the safest place for all. In-fact with Covid-19 lockdown, there has been a hike in cases of domestic violence, child labour and other forms of violence. Children too have increased vulnerability to domestic violence during this time. Increased job insecurity, financial worry and other such emotions of parents can be a predictor of abuse. 

Lockdown and its impact on education:

Reducing physical contact has been the most common strategy adopted by the government to contain the spread of Covid-19. It has led most countries around the world to close down their schools for long periods of time. Covid-19 struck us without warning and left the education system scrambling, children were affected as the entire system came to a standstill. Knowing that this deadly virus wouldn’t leave so soon, the education system decided to move to the so-called “digital world” which led to online teaching, exams, lectures etc. 

The world of online education basically meant having sophisticated phones/laptops, strong networks etc. India, having caste and class dynamics, not everyone has access to smartphones. Lack of access to the internet and devices has created a gap in digital literacy, and to worsen the situation, India faces frequent power cuts, when compared to face-face education, online education brings forth significant deficiencies such as absence of opportunities of collaborative learning, lack of human connection and teacher’s supervision. Our Education system is forcing children to do rot learning instead of learning through concept clarity. Children are never taught “How to Learn” so they always remain dependent on schools, teachers, books for learning rather than learning independently.

Throughout the lockdown, Shaishav team members ensured that the children and their families had support through home visits and phone calls. At any time, be it day or night, the Childline team reached out to those facing any distress. The commitment and dedication of the team members in delivering their services was not time-bound because Childline works round the clock. For Shaishav, “Sky is the Limit”.

Training of Trainers:

Shaishav team attending various training session online which could help them and broaden their idea on the development of activities. Various activities were taught to the team which could help the, develop the Activity Resource kits.

Manish Freeman was one among the trainers who had innovative ideas about the activities which would benefit the child in their learning as well as keep them engaged.

In the absence of “formal Schooling”, The Child Rights training & Resource Centre team, along with other team members brainstormed on the idea of “learning through activity”. Thus, activity resource kits were prepared which aimed at engaging children between the age group of 8-18 with games which would enhance their knowledge.

The activity kit which was distributed to its beneficiaries. The team would go twice a week on field to conduct and train children on how to use the Activity Resource kit. If children are unable to follow the game, the facilitators teach 1 activity per week in the community.

AARANYAK

Lockdown has become a new normal in our lives. At Narmada, due to lockdown, schools were shut, home quarantined was imposed which didn’t allow the facilitators to go on field and work. The child would wait anxiously for the facilitators to come. In fact the children would go to the facilitators house and call them and have some activities. Aaranyak being so committed to their work, they began going on field after a month taking all the precaution and physical distancing.

The team recreated the “fun games” into “learning tools”. Concepts of child rights, family/individual values, decision making, confidence/capacity building, secularism were innovatively designed into these games. One such example is “snakes & ladders”, in which each step taught the children about their rights and exploitation against these rights.

A Manual was prepared as a guide to direct children about the games and a wealth of information based on the themes. The first and the last page of the manual, covered all rights that the child is entitled to. The stationary required for the games was also provided to the children.

The Activity Resource Kit was prepared after rigorous reading from various books, in order to get information. The activities were recreated in an interesting manner that would grab the attention of the children to learn through the play way method. The kit was designed in a manner that could involve the siblings, parents, friends and relatives to play along.

Around 315 kits were distributed to its beneficiaries.

Alpesh Bhai conducted training with the Aaranyak trainers about scientific activities with easily available material from home. Activities like, dancing candle by using thread and coin, glass and paper etc. He also trained on how to create various resource material represented pictorially.

Aayanyak team have a meeting on every Saturdays and plan for the entire week. 1 activity is taught per week from the activity resource kit to a small group which covers all the community adopted by Shaishav. The children very happy with the kit because it helped them expand their creativity beyond horizon, learnt about child rights and many more topics. The parents also appreciated the work done by Shaishav. The parents also used to get involved when the facilitators would come to the field and teach the children.

On 10^th November, Parulben, Falgun Bhai and Ishaben Visited the field. They interacted with the children and parents and took a feedback about the Activity Resource kits.

Parulben also conducted few activities and created awareness about the Corona Virus, its impact and how to take safety precautions which ensured the safety of its beneficiaries.

Baldost:

Aaranyak team formed Baldost committee. These Baldost would ensure that the child was not prey to violence, abuse, exploitation, child labour etc. If Found, the Baldost would report immediately to Aaranyak team who would then refer the case to childline team for further interventions. Baldost committee will further be worked upon with appropriate training and policies. Frequent meetings will be held to strengthen the team.

Survey:

Aaranyak team conducted a survey in order to understand the background of the children. Based on this survey, the team will plan for further intervention at Narmada. Accordingly, Shaishav will develop resource materials, activities etc to resolve the issue and help bring change in the community.

The team developed tools to understand the magnitude of the problem;

Place:               Single parents        Orphan        Child Labour          Sickle cell

1) Pomlapada          3                              3                     8                               2

2) Shajepur              3                              0                     1                              0

3) Thappavi             5                              0                      1                             1

At Thappavi, 1 child had vision problem (white spot in 1 eye)

4) Samarpada       0                              2                        1                             0

(Navivasahat)

5) Samarpada        9                            0                       4                             2

(Junivasahat)

The information obtained from the survey will be analysed and further intervention will be planned. Along with this data, the team also obtained information on the living situation of this community.

Shaishav intends to initiate an innovative yet sustainable model of education for tribal and

other children through a learning and living space at “Aaranyak.” At the same time, ensuring that the children who are facing extreme issues, are given importance and resolved through quick interventions.

Updates about Shaishav’s Response to Covid -19

From March 2020 to 15^th July 2020

As we all know that the situation across the globe is very challenging due to Covid -19 pandemic. Every individual and organization are affected by it and it has a huge socio-economic-political -cultural impact on every sections of society.

Shaishav’s work is also hugely impacted by the pandemic and we have tried to respond to the situation to best of our capacity. Following is the brief from March 2020 until 15^th July 2020. We have tried to outline here about what we have done so far, what we are doing at present and the upcoming plans for the weeks to come.

Considering our experiences of working with children over past twenty six years, we have focused our work with marginalized children living in slums of Bhavnagar and tribal villages of Dediapada block of Narmada district which is declared as one of the aspirational districts by NITI Aayog. Depending on the needs, the work is different at both places.

Updates of what we have done so far:

• Awareness about the Covid -19:

We started responding to Covid -19 much early on from the end of February, early March. We first learnt ourselves and then provided training to our team about what is Corona, how it spreads and affects people? What are different ways to protect ourselves from it by sanitizing, frequent hand washing, wearing masks, physical distancing etc. We did the home visits and met all our children of Balsena community points at Bhavnagar and villages under Aaranyak project in Narmada at their doorsteps and explained to children and their family members about the seriousness about Corona, how to prevent it and stay safe.

• Child Line Operations:

Childline is 24X7 free helpline for the children who are in need of care and protection. It is Government of India, Ministry of Women and Child Development supported project. In India there are over 500 childlines. Shaishav is running Childline at Bhavnagar since 2011. Considering the nature of its work, Childline is considered as an essential service hence was running even during the lockdown period. Just during the lockdown period (25^th March to 31^st May, 2020), we got 37 new cases. While, after the lockdown is lifted from 1^st June and Unlock 1 has begun, we have received other 49 new cases. So since lockdown we have received 86 new cases. At the beginning of the lockdown, we had 43 cases to follow up. In the month of July, when I am writing this report, we have got 16 cases. We have resolved many cases and as on 15^th July, we have 42 cases to follow up.

Shaishav has done many innovations in running Childline. We have established a Child Rights Committees or Child Protection Committees in every communities where we work which is consisting of Adults, Youth and Children. Many children raise their issues in these meetings.

Besides, we have also established Child Safety Net. This Safety Net is consisting of volunteers from across the city who are willing to support these children who are in need of care and protection. If they come across any such child, they immediately call the Childline and by the time the members reach there, they take care of the child. If we identify any case in their area, we call and request them to support our members because they are familiar with their own area and also know many people there who can support to us. These Child Safety Net members are anyone like shopkeepers, vendors, auto rickshaw drivers to any youth and of course our Balsena and Tarunsena members. We called up 596 Child Safety Net members during the lockdown and informed them that Childline is running and they can contact anytime for any child who may need any support. The whole Shaishav team is always ready to provide support to any child, in case of emergency and not just the Childline team.

• Connection with Children:

Mental Health of children is one of the biggest side effects of this lockdown. Our facilitators were calling all the children of Balsena and Aaranyakshalas in Bhavnagar as well as Narmada respectively to get updates about their wellbeing. We also found out if their family is facing any challenges or whether children are facing any domestic violence. During the calls facilitators were also explaining the children and their family members about how to stay safe, what to do and what not to do. During the lock down we called around 1300 Balsena children and over 250 Aaranyakshala children. Most of the children are doing fine but they are tired of the lockdown and eagerly waiting for Balsena point and schools to resume. They are doing their studies and watching TV and playing around. However, girls shared that their workload has increased since they don’t go to school anymore. In the few cases where we felt the need for intervention we referred the cases to emergency helpline for children-Childline. During the call facilitators also encouraged children to bring out their creativity and create stories, do paper craft or drawing, etc. Facilitators shared that in the second round of the calls many children had experimented and created new things.

• Relief Operations:

In middle of the crisis and at this trying time we also did relief and rehabilitation operations. We distributed about 550 ration kits to most poor and deserving families in Bhavnagar and Narmda district. For this we mobilized the local support from local well-wishers in Narmada district and from Divya Bhaskar Foundation in Bhavnagar. We reached out mostly to those who didn’t get any support from any other source including the government thus far. We got very positive feedback and blessings from these families. Our Balsena and Tarunsena members did a commendable job in identifying families and distributing the ration kits alongside Shaishav team members who went around all the areas and distributed the kits.

• Home Visits and Surveys about Access to Phones:

Once the Unlock 1 has started, our team started visiting the children at their doorsteps. We are finding out from children if they have any issues, concerns or problems. If there are any serious issues, we can refer these cases to our Childline for the further follow up.

The children who go to the government schools and some high-end private schools have started learning through various online mediums such as T.V. and what’s app messages.

Out of 536 families we surveyed at Bhavnagar, 21 families (4%) don’t have any phones, 143 families (27%) have simple phones and 372 families (69%) have smartphones. We discover that none of the children have their own phones.

In Narmada district, the situation is even worse. Out of 307 families we surveyed at Narmada, 16 families (5%) don’t have any phones, 78 families (25%) have simple phones and 213 families (69%) have simple smartphones where some features are there but they are not touchscreen or other latest features. Needless to mention that none of these children with whom we work in Bhavnagar or Narmada have any access to Laptops or Tablets or Wifi.

Usually the phones are with the father and children get access to it only in the late evening after the father comes back from work. If there are more children in the families, the access time per child is much less. The girls get minimum or no access to phones. They have no other activities besides supporting mothers in household chores.

Due to their limited access smart phones their learning is stopped. We keep getting news in the newspapers that in different parts of India, few children committed suicide or made attempts because they didn’t have smart phones or they are fed up with online studies. Luckily, in our areas none of such cases are reported.

• Survey about Child Labour

Once the unlock 1 is started, bringing economy back to the track pressure is prevailing from household to national to global economy. It can pull these children from marginalized families to child labour, child trafficking, child marriage etc. Online Child Sex Abuse can be very dangerous for children form any background. So we did follow up with children of our Balsena and Aaranyakshlas to ensure that they don’t get into child labour. In Bhavnagar we visited 550 households and identified that 14 children have started working, three have left schools and one case of abuse. We have referred all these cases to our child helpline. In Narmada, we have visited 308 households and identified that 10 children are working outside home. Some children are working at their own farms because the schools are closed during this time.

• Baseline Survey

We conducted Baseline survey in Bhavnagar as well as Narmada. In Bhavnagar we could visit 488 children (268 boys and 220 girls) in communities. We could not visit all the households because few children are living in cantonment zones so we can’t enter that areas. Few children have migrated, few have changed their homes and few wished to discontinue in Balsena because they are in 10^th grade now so they have too much pressure of studies from their schools and tuitions. Since the schools are closed we could not do the baseline of the Balsena members in the schools either.

In Narmada, we could do baseline with 306 children (156 boys and 150 girls) from 4 villages and 2 hamlets. Here also since the schools are closed, we could not do the baselines with the children of Aashramshalas or schools.

• Staff Safety

For us safety of our staff and children are of utmost importance. So we take all the precautions and care as per the government guidelines and more. We sanitize our entire office twice a day. When anyone (staff or any outsiders) enters the office, they have to sanitize themselves before approaching anywhere in the office. If any outsider comes, s/he has to sanitize immediately. We also clean and sanitize all the doors, windows and knobs multiple times. We provide multiple reusable 3 layers masks to all our staff so they can use it alternatively.

When the staff goes to the field, we also provide sanitizer bottles so they can keep sanitizing themselves and stay safe. We have also helped them take health insurance policies of all the staff so in case if someone gets infected with Corona, they have some support to fall back on. We have provided all the personal protection care such as masks, sanitizers etc. We also provide them Vitamine C and Ayurvedic herbal kadha every day in the office so their immunity increases.

Other Work done during the Lockdown:

• We are also using this time in clearing our pending tasks, do capacity building training of our staff and do detail planning of all our programmes.
• We are in touch with our Trustee Board members and get their feedback and suggestions from time to time.
• We are also making our Succession Plans so we can step down and new team of young people can take over the leadership in the years to come. This will ensure the sustainability of the organization.
• We are also trying to mobilize some financial resources to sustain our work in this difficult time.
• We finished all our Donor Progress reports and Annual Report in Gujarati.
• During the lockdown our team worked from home. Our team members attended many Webinars, read very useful books, searched lots of materials online and learnt many things which are very useful for our work. They also created many models of different activities.
• We also created short videos of activities which can be shared with children online or do these activities offline once we resume our work.
• We also cleaned up and organize our office, reorganize our papers, documents, books etc. We also did major clean up when we began our office after the lockdown.
• We stayed in touch with all our partners and sent them updates about our work. We attended various webinars organized by our partners such as Laureus Sports for Good at the national and Asia level. It was a great learning and sharing platform and opportunity for us.
• We attended many national networks meetings of which we are part such as Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL), Right To Education Forum, National Action and Coordination Group to End Violence Against Children etc. We did the survey of Child Labour based as part of the National survey and it will be contributed to the national report.
• We also attended various webinars where we learnt about how the pandemic is going to affect the sustainability of the organizations and how to be prepared for it and what efforts can be done to overcome this critical situations.
• We undertook the detailed exercise of Self-Assessment which was prepared by Dasra and also made the planning based on the suggestions given by the experts to make our organization more resilient.
• We prepared few application for emergency support in respond to Covid-19. So far we have not been able to mobilize much extra funding.
• We provided the training to Navsari Childline team where the new childline has started. We also provided guidance to the Amreli and Botad childline for some difficult cases.
• We also attended various webinars to learn about changes happening in various laws and rules related Civil Society organizations such as changes in Income Tax Act Section 12 –A, 80-G, FCRA renewal and submission of annual report online, audit in the present context etc. 
• Parenting for Peace is a group of parents and teachers promoting peaceful communication in their relationship with children. Parenting for Peace invited Shaishav and Balsena to share our journey with them. Shaishav team members, Tarunsena members and Balsena members took part in this webinar and shared their stories of change. 
• We also organized online trainings for capacity building on life skill by Dream a Dream organization for our team members. 
• Time managment and Yoga and Pranayama trainings were also organized for our staff members. 

Things Planned but couldn’t happen:

• Usually Summer Vacation is the peak time of our activities because children are free mostly during this time. We organize Summer Vacation camps every year since 1995 without a single break any year. This year also we made all the plans; all the dates and activities were final but before we announced it, the lockdown was announced. For the first time, we could not do the Camps.
• We also organize many activities such as Residential Leadership Camps, tracking and tours for children, state level training for Gujarat Bal Manch etc. but none of these things could be done.
• This year we had planned the exchange programme of children between our two projects at Bhavnagar and Narmada. Children and we were very excited about it but that also couldn’t happen.
• We planned to launch our new project called “Mahatma Gandhi Leadership Academy” under which we can provide training to any children even outside Balsena. We were also planning to organize couple trainings at the state level. We made all the planning but nothing of these could be done.
• We are planning to organize a Training of Trainers (TOT) to create a cadre of Wenlido trainers who can provide age appropriate Self-defense training to girls for their physical, mental and emotional personal safety. To identify the potential participants for this TOT, we planned six Basic training in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and Maharashtra. But we couldn’t do these training.
• We conducted the first phase of “Adolescent Empowerment and Protection” TOT in the month of February. The second phase was planned from the 1^st to 6^th June, but we couldn’t do it.

Further Steps and Plans based on our learning:

This crisis is happening first time in our life time so for children also it’s very new and unique experience. Suddenly they are not allowed to go out, go to school or meet with their friends. They have many questions which are seldom answered because adults around them also are unaware about these facts. The adults around them are anxious, depressed, angry, helpless, hopeless, choice less and totally victimized. So women and children are easy target to get out their frustrations. The number of child abuse, child sex abuse cases are increasing at an alarming rate.

The children are also scared and stressed. Their schools are closed so their studies have stopped. Some government and high end private schools have started online studies but very few children with whom we work have access to Smart phones and internet. In fact, in tribal villages, connectivity is a huge issues. In this case the children are left behind and excluded. For these children we need to provide them actual support and hand holding rather than the virtual and distance learning.

Our children don’t have any skills to learn independently because our education system has never provided the same to them. In fact, our education system makes them dependent on teachers, schools and books rather than create eagerness among them to study.

Our experience is that children are most neglected section of society and at time of such crisis, everyone’s attention is geared towards adults so they are left behind even more. So with the Unlock 2, we are planning following.

• We are preparing the activities and teaching learning materials which we can share with the children. We will prepare various educational and developmental activities such as creativity, Play and art therapy. We will share these resources with them through phones as well as teach them in very small groups at their doorsteps.
• We are also planning to prepare an Activity Resource Kits and distribute it to all the Balsena children in the communities where we work and also with children of Aarnayakshala in Dediapada. Right now we are preparing the resources and also mobilizing the financial resources to prepare such Activity kits.
• These Activity Resources Kits arefor children of 4^th to 8^th grade (8 to 13 years). In this kit activities like Science experiments, Scientific toys, travel across Gujarat and India activity, different types of drawing and craft activities, Creativity challenges, Board games, Puzzles, Indoor Games, Zentangle drawings, Waste management, Science of Human Body (Operation), Games and puzzles with match stick, Tangram, DIY Craft, shadow play etc. are included. All these activities are more with pictures and very simple step by step guidelines in Gujarati. So children can do it themselves very easily without any additional support. Children will learn life skills such as creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, coping with emotions, self-awareness etc. through these activities. We are also including stationary items like pencil, eraser, sharpener, scale, crayons, sketch pen, Gum stick, scissors, drawing book as well so the children don’t have to go out for any resources. We have chosen the activities in such a manner that all the materials which are required for activities are available from home and the surrounding environment.  We will also give a ball and activities that they can do using the ball so they also get some physical activities and stay fit. We will give a simple pictorial guideline of doing simple Yoga and other exercise so they get some physical activities. We are also including awareness regarding COVID-19 and suggestions to improve immunity. This will keep the children engaged and will work as an alternative to online education. They will not be tempted to go out and get infected. It will also keep children engaged so they will also stay away from corporal punishment, abuse or issues such as Child Labour or child trafficking.

• We will also share these Activity kits with our network partner organizations which are working with marginalized children at grassroots so they can also share it with the children with whom they work. Thus we will be able to reach out to large number of children in different parts of Gujarat.
• We are also planning to prepare small two to three minutes videos which we can share with the children who have access to smart phones. These video will teach them to do various activities and keep themselves creatively engaged.
• One major observation of our team is that there is no much seriousness among children, their families, parents and local communities about Corona. They know that they need to wash their hands frequently, keep physical distance or ware masks but they seldom do it. Many of them have bath or wash their hands when they come from outside. So we want to do activities using experiential education methods with them not just about the seriousness about Corona but also to bring the behavioral and attitude changes among children. They will become the messengers in their families and communities.
• We will train our team members to facilitate all these activities with children.
• When the situation is safer, we are planning to take permission from the local authorities and work with children in very small groups of five to seven children. We will ensure all the safety and precautions such as hand washing, use of masks, physical distancing, sanitizing etc. We can teach various activities to the children directly in person. The possibilities of doing this is higher in Narmada district compared to Bhavnagar because in Bhavnagar the situation is becoming very bad day by day.
• Once the schools are reopened, we can resume our work with children in Bhavnagar and Narmada district in schools and Aashramshalas. In the schools also we will begin with Art and Play therapy with children to help them release their fear, stress and trauma. But right now, the situation is very uncertain and scary. We don’t know when the schools will begin and when we will be able to resume our work.

In Built Concepts of Sustainability in Aaranyak to counter Covid -19:

When we formulated the concept of Aaranyak earlier, Covid 19 was not seen even on horizon. But during this lockdown while we are working from home and thinking about possible responses to this pandemic, we are realizing that our Aaranyak project has inbuilt answers to many of the challenges that is thrown to us due to this pandemic. In that sense this project Aaranyak becomes even more relevant now than ever. Following are the reasons.

• Firstly, Aaranyak is focusing a lot on the concept of Self-design learning of children. Today when entire learning of children is paused because of closure of all the schools, this concept is so powerful because it makes children independent learners rather than depending on schools, teachers and textbooks. The children will learn how to learn which is totally missing in the present education system.

• Secondly, we put a lot of focus on Life skills training in our work which is not taught in formal school curriculum. It prepares children to deal with crises such as Covid - 19. These life skills include skills such as Coping with Emotions, Stress Management, Problem Solving, Creativity etc. It really help children to be better prepared to handle such disaster and overcome it without being too much disturbed by it.

• Thirdly, we all have observed the plight of the migrant workers and how they had to walk back to their native place at the time of this Covid - 19 crisis. We want to promote such vocational training so the youth in our Aaranyak project areas and encourage them to find the work where they are in their own native place rather than going to cities in search of work and end up on the streets and slums.

• Finally this situation is also reminding us that we need to make huge changes in our lifestyle and also how we are treating the mother earth. In Aaranyak, we also want to promote simple and sustainable community living which is the demand of the present hour. We also want to use the appropriate technology which is much needed because they are more people friendly, sustainable and it does less harm to the environment.

Thus before even imagining about Covid -19, we have imagined about these concepts and it is reinforcing that these are very powerful concepts and are much needed to implement NOW. We are confident that your support to continue our experiments will help us show a new path to the world.