Pratham, an NGO dedicated to promote Universal
Elementary Education, started its operations in Mysore during 2002. Today, it is assisting more than 7,500
poorest of the poor in the slums of Mysore by partnering with the Karnataka Department of Public Instruction.
Pratham's annual budget of about Rs. 50 lakh makes it one of the largest NGOs in
Mysore. Pratham's approach is innovative, informal, cost-effective and easily replicable. It is based on
Balawadi, Balasakhi and Bridge Course programmes along with mobile libraries. Despite its size and reach
of the programmes, Pratham is still not known to all Mysoreans.
But the silent revolution started by Pratham has certainly caught the imagination
of the slum dwellers. By the end of this academic year, Pratham will have 200 Balawadi schools
providing preschool education to more than 4,000 children between three and five years. This will add another
2,500 to the existing 7,500 children.
Pratham learning centres are not the "convent" type of schools where reading
and writing are forced with "robotic discipline". Children are taught using play way methods using low cost toys
and learning tools made out of industrial waste. The child is made to enjoy the school-going experience. Such a
child is bound to pursue studies and less likely to drop out.
Recently, Pratham conducted a house-to-house survey covering 5,000 residences
in different slums of Mysore like Kesare, Aziz Sait Nagar, Shanthi Nagar, Ghousia Nagar etc. A base line survey
was to study the educational level of 14,000 children between the ages of 6 and 14. A shocking 75 percent could
not read and write. Pratham's spirited team of volunteers, teacher monitors and programme co-ordinators
are a valuable source of information to assess its teaching methods constantly. This enables to develop new tools
for training and teaching content.
Dr. Padmini, a retired head of the Department of Education at Mysore
University, and a trustee of Pratham, has been instrumental in developing several innovative teaching
methodologies.
Another initiative started by Pratham since a year is the mobile library. It is
under the leadership of Vedha Anilkumar, a small scale industrialist. A teacher goes from house to house
with a set of carefully selected books. Thus instead of children going to the library, the teacher goes to them. The
teacher also sits with the children, reads the books and tells stories. The library will not only increase the reading
capabilities of the children but also their curiosity.
Pratham has now started a catalytic programme of working with the Government
school teachers to improve the reading ability of Government school children both in Mysore and rural areas.
Currently, 25 schools in Mysore have agreed.
They will have special periods to implement the special kannada reading programme
developed by Pratham.
This is a good example of public-private partnership. It was possible, thanks to the
interest shown by Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI), Block Education Officers (BEO) and Deputy
Project Co-ordinator of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Government school teachers.
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