Project Vidyā
Project Vidyā- Introduction
The name for the project is derived from the Sanskrit word Vidyā, meaning knowledge. Project Vidyā is conceived considering education and knowledge as the core enabler of progress.
The Project Vidyā- Model The critical nodes of the model are the development of three central entities viz. children, teachers and school. The sustained development cannot possibly be achieved if attention is only devoted to one of the entities for example children. The basic amenities at schools and the competency of the teachers too have to be improved concurrently. As a first step, the project is implemented in the rural and remote areas of Puttur of southern Indian state of Karnataka.
The deficiencies with the identified core nodes are recognised and a localized solutions are provided that would eventually result in sustained growth.
Development Cycle The development cycle of Project Vidyā begins with the beneficiary identification phase. Here, the statistics of deterioration related to school, children and teachers in Puttur are gathered. Typical information gathered in this step includes teaching rooms in a school, availability of books for children, number of teachers in a school etc. This information is tabulated along with the socio-economic background (Below Poverty Level (BPL definition retrieved on 3rd January 2010): family with yearly income less than Rs 20,000 (~ Euro 300) per year) of the children and their family. Evaluation of the infrastructure at the village where the school is situated is examined in parallel. At the end of the evaluation, the beneficiary school is selected.
In the strategy localization phase, current status of entities is identified and the situation is discussed with the school and village administration and also with the partner organizations to arrive at a suitable strategy for the sustained development of education. In the next phase, these schemes are deployed in the identified school.
These schemes are implemented with the continual cooperation of the local school/village administration and the partner organizations.
The progress is continuously monitored and the strategies are re-adapted based on the improvements and feedback.
If the strategies adopted result in a successful development of the education in the area, the model is deployed in the next village.
The entire operation is supervised and managed by Kanchana Foundation and the fund-raising and cooperation tasks are carried out to support the core activities.
Project Location
As a first step, the project is implemented in the rural and remote areas of Puttur of southern Indian state of Karnataka. Puttur, with 995 Sq. Km in area is situated along the coastal region of south- western part of India with a population of about 266,072 and 82% of them live in the rural area. A single town with 67 villages, surrounded by lush green forests of the Western Ghats, is Puttur. Predominantly an agriculture based society.
The main cultivation are paddy, areca nut (betel nut), coconut, cashew, rubber, cocoa, chilly, vanilla, pepper and plantains as major agro-based products, dairy farming, sericulture and horticulture comprise the other ancillary activities of the farmers of this region.
The public schools are dependent on governmental aids and are often remain in the lower rung of development and
fall behind in infrastructural and overall development, in comparison with the private counterparts, who enjoy higher financial security, thanks to generous donations and private funds.
The government schools are often under-funded and have short comings that exhibit tremendous scope for improvements.
The rural sections of the society are also often deprived of the basic amenities (such as shelter, water, electricity etc) that the urban society enjoys.
These factors limit the possibility of sustenance of education in the rural sector, especially in the public schools.
The application of the model and the factors that hinder the growth of education are presented in "Implementation" section.
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