Sparsh: Access To Quality Education In Rural Madhya Pradesh

Need

• 96%, 8-10-year-old children from government schools can’t read Std 2 level text in rural Mahidpur Road cluster, 2021
• Ownership of the community and local government is missing in the public system at the village level. Parent attendance is significantly and consecutively low in parent-teacher meetings with the average being around Less than 3%
• The schools in rural areas lack basic infrastructural requirements (90% of government schools are without drinking water taps and 40 % without electricity - Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus Report. 
• Teachers need training for effective classroom practices. 6 out of 10 teachers have not attended a single professional development session over the course of one year.
• Absence of peer learning among students even in villages where the community is very close and small.
• Absence of local education experts in the villages
• Early drop-out of female students (more than 25 per cent in the age group 14-16, 2019-2020). One of the Highest in India

Sparsh is a project run by MGMD for transforming government schools in the villages led by local edu leaders. In this program, one youth from one village (supported by other volunteers) takes ownership of the whole school transformation in the villages. In the first year, the local youth leaders started by directly teaching primary-grade students and building that space into a model classroom to demonstrate more holistic pedagogical ways of teaching. First-year also includes preparing parents and the community to contribute to the growth of children and for the betterment of government schools.

The second year's focus is to lead some designed and need-based interventions in the government school with the support of children and school staff. Building subject-specific deep understanding through subject groups and designing effective pedagogy for the same is also a focus area of the second year. In 2 nd year parents take the project for school development to make a better environment for learning for children in the villages.

In the third year focus of the program is whole school transformation, which includes capacity building of teachers, school leaders, student leaders, and parents to identify needs and take the initiative to make school a learning space for children and the village as a support system for the students. Some part of 2nd and 3 rd year also includes supporting other youth for the program and building their capacity for the same.

• The age-appropriate learning outcome for primary school children
• Building capacity of 20 youth to lead education transformation in government schools.
• Peer learning space for 1000+ children in villages
• Improvement in ownership of the community and local government in 20 villages
• Improving quality learning experience for 5000+ Students