Case Study Social Entrepreneurship

AFTERSCHOOOL CENTRE FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP S IVA KAMU V E TE R IN A RY HOS P I TAL ROAD BIKAER 334001 W W W. A F T E R S C H O O O L . T K

C A S E S T U DY O N SOCIAL E N T RE P RE N E U RS H I P CASE STUDY FOR THE STUDENTS OF SOCIAL ETREPRENEURSHIP PREPARED BY : DR. T.K. JAIN HONORARY CHIEF MENTOR, AFTERSCHOOOL © : AFTERSCHOOL CAREER GUIDANCE TRUST. NOTE : THE PURPOSE OF THIS CASE STUDY IS NOT TO SHOW THE RIGHT OR WRONG METHOD OF DOING SOMETHING. THE CONTENTS OF THESE CASE STUDIES MAY BE REAL / HYPOTHETICAL THE PURPOSE OF THESE CASE STUDIES IS TO PROMOTE ACADEMIC DISCUSSION AMONG PGPSE PARTICIPANTS OF AFTERSCHOOOL. PGPSE IS THE PROGRAMME TO PROMOTE SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP THIS PROGRAMME IS AVAILABLE FREE OF COST FOR ANY PERSON WHO WANTS TO PLAY AN IMPACT MAKING ROLE IN SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION.

V I D YA K U N J – A N I N N O V AT I V E S C H O O L F O R T H E P O O R

(it is a different kind of school. It is for the children from those families are very – very poor. Located in Shiv Colony, where mostly labourers and daily wage earners have settled down. Most of the people in area are illiterate and belong to lower class. The other nearby areas are : Ambedkar colony, Harizan Basti, Shiv Bari. In an area, where most of the residents are illiterate, Dr. N.S. Rathore is making pioneering efforts by starting a school. It is not just a school, but a mission for Dr. Rathore. He believes that education is the most powerful tool in the hand of poor persons to change their destiny. He is determined to see his dreams come true. He is passionate for this and goes from home to home to collect his students). Introduction: It was started in 2002 by Prof. N.S. Rathore. Initially it was started in a small rented place – which was then a poultry farm. Dr. Rathore – converted the cabins into a make shift class rooms. From his savings of Rs. 10000, he started the school. Whatever savings he had – he would use that for the development of school. The philosophy of the founder was to give the poor students an opportunity to have good education. He tried to motivate the students to get education and go for higher learning. He used to narrate success stories of persons like Abdul Kalam to the students. The students were from poor family background and their parents were labourers or daily wage earners. Dr. Rathore was the person to motivate these students for education. In 2004, he purchased the same building where the school was running – he then started construction of one room every year. His philosophy was to construct low cost

building. He himself devised low cost technique and therefore the cost of construction of one room was very low (About Rs. 30000). Thus he was able to expand the school. Now the school has 13 class rooms. In 2007-8 – Dr. Rathore purchased another piece of land adjoining the school. Now he borrowed some more money in his personal account and started construction of a well designed building – now he has 6 well designed class rooms. Now he is going for expansion plans. In 2005-6, he took affiliation for class VIII from Rajasthan Education Board – and in 2008-9 he took affiliation for class X from Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education. There were a number of problems in beginning – the founder recalls that it was difficult to pay the rent even. He got the furniture made for the students. He had difficulties in arranging funds for payment to the teachers. As the prime objective of the school was to help poor students, the fee was very low. The initial fee was Rs. 50 per month – and there were only 7 students in the beginning. The founder really had no budget – he had a dream and wanted to go for that dream. His only mission was to start the school. He started it. The founder was prepared to pay from his pocket and he continued to pay it. There were a number of colleagues – who helped the founder in getting some projects. One of his colleagues provided him with a UNICEF project – which was undertaken in the school. Thus the beginning was made. He went door to door for getting his first group of students. He recalls one parent commented: “It is good to meet you – but what will happen if you run away and your school is closed down – we will wait for 5 – 7 years – if you stay then only we will be able to trust you and the school.” Dr. Rahtore recalls that there are plenty of complements that he received for his school.

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Mr. Kan Singh (Ex – Army Officer), (who himself is running a good school) told after visiting the school:, “I would like to get my children admitted in this school rather than in my own school”. His colleague Mr. M.R. Khatri (a well known professor of English language) used to come in the evening to motivate the students. His colleague Mr. Manish Tanwar made a website of his school. Everyone who saw his efforts appreciated it and wanted to help him. The school had started with only 7 students and by the year end; the school was able to have strength of 35 students. Today it has 270 students.

Parent of a girl child cam e and said: “I have now realized that this is how a school should be run and this is how BACKGROUND OF THE STUDENTS: “I personally go to the homes of each student and ask their parents to send the student to the school... Most of the people in the locality recognize me as a passionate academician and recognize me as a person who is not going to permit a student to enjoy holidays.” 95% of the parents of the students are illiterate and therefore convincing them is not an easy task. Students can’t get any environment of education at their home. In a typical school, the teachers give home work and expect the students to complete it and present it the next day. As per Dr. Rathore, the only way to ensure that the students complete their home work or self study is by inviting these students to the school again in the evening so that they may complete their work. When a student is irregular, Dr. Rathore visits the home of the student and requests the parents to send the student regularly.

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Dr. Rathore recalls an interaction with one of the parents: “I start from my home at 7Am and reach back at home at 8 PM. I don’t bother about my son and I don’t have time for him. I have no idea of what he is doing” Dr. Rathore therefore believes in going from home to home. If a student doesn’t come to class for a few days, Dr. Rathore will himself go to the home of that student and would bring that student to the class.

In the evening there are special free coaching classes for these poor students – (from 4.30 to 8.30 PM). He along with his family contributed substantially to the development of the school.

Renu Rathore – joined this school (daughter of Mr. Girdhari Singh – who is practically illiterate and is working as a chowkidar) – joined the school and scores above 80% marks every year in spite of helping her mother in animal husbandry. Mr. Surendra Singh (a son of a chowkidar) joined this school and got 92% marks in Rajasthan Board and missed the merit by a small margin in spite of involvement in other activities. TEACHING PEDAGOGY For Dr. Rathore, his students are his first priority. He claims that he forgets names of his friends and relatives, but he remembers names of each of his 270 students. He would daily interact with the students in a jovial manner and would ensure to give them a positive feedback, so that they have a reason to come to the school. Since all the students are coming from poor families – they have to help their parents in earning money also. All the

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students do some or other activities which raise economic standard of their family – some work in fields, some work in gardens. “There is a student of class UKG – who helps her mother in making papad”. “Shravan Jat is my student from the beginning. He is now in class VII. He gets up at 4 AM. First he distributes newspapers in the nearby vicinity. They he returns back to home to help his mother in milching cows. Then he goes to distribute milk and then he comes to school. He is always punctual with all such activities. “Once mother of Shravan Jat came to me – and complained that Shravan has become lazy and is not able to help her in her household work. I told her to give suitable instruction to the child the mother replied that Shriven doesn’t obey her but obeys me only I agreed and next day asked Shravan to follow his mother and help his mother in the house-hold work. Shravan immediately followed my instructions and thereafter he has never dis-obeyed his mother. He now looks after all his home related activities.” “A new student called another student as KALIA. Immediate there was a problem – he had to apologise in the assembly. “Students conduct plays / dramas – the students sometimes forget their dialogue – but they manage it well as the audience would never come to know about the fumble by the students. Students will spontaneously cook up the dialogues.” “One child leaves our school at 2PM. Then he works in a nearby shop for opening jute bags. He works with his mother there and earns about 15 rupees daily He then again comes in our school in the evening to take our guidance. He is one

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of the toppers in his class in spite of the work that he is doing.” “You come and throw your toffee wrapper in any corner of the school – and you will find that some or the other student from some class come and pick up the wrapper and put it in dust bin. If you spit in any corner in a school – some student will “Students are from poor families and there for they have to share their resources. Typically in a class one or two students are able to bring sharpener or eraser. They share with all the students in the class. The students consider it their right to share their resources and ask others to share their resources. The students use innovative methods to use their resources. If their pencil is reduced, the students will attach it with some old ball pen cover and use it for writing. The students don’t throw away their ball pen / pencils / paper – as with other students. HOME WORK In India, homework is a big headache for most parents. Typically homework is the responsibility of parents. Most parents appoint private tutors to help their children in their homework. But in the case of Vidya Kunj – there is a different concept. There are free evening coaching classes, where students can come and finish their homework and take guidance from Dr. Rathore. Every day about 100 students come to evening coaching classes and help each other and take guidance from Dr. Rathore. For the students, the guiding parents are only one – Dr. Rathore (as the parents of the students are illiterate and not able to guide them). EXAMINATION SYSTEM: The school takes 5 examinations in a year. It is conducted on very systematic like (like Board Examination). The students have to search out their seating arrangement. This creates seriousness among students about examinations.

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“After completing class VIII from our school, one student is looking after his father’s business of iron smith business.” Said. Dr. Rathore about past students. There are student houses and a Students Union. These are managed purely by students. It is a totally students managed systems – there are 4 houses – 1. Swasthya 2. Paryavaran 3. Jal 4. Prithvi The house which is on duty – will manage every thing – The duties of the houses are: 1. Arranging the assembly of the students 2. Check the uniform of students 3. Commanding the assembly

Even a student of class III would undertake commanding activity one day. Every student gets a chance to command the entire school in the assembly. Every Saturday the school conducts GK competition or Dictation competition. There is also a shruti lekh competition. The student get prize on Monday. The students are given a pencil and a pen as a token prize. Last day of every month, there is a meeting of student union. The union invites teachers as observers. The decision of the union is implemented in the same month. There are two special functions – 26 January and 15 August – on this occasion parents are invited to the function. These functions are totally conducted by the students. A teacher has no say in these functions. Anchoring is done by class 4,

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5, 6 students and they manage it to the last. The entire management of these events is looked after by the students. The anchors give an announcement at the time of these functions that every person should stay till the last and should not leave the function in between. There is tremendous punctuality. For the students – 9 means exact 9. Even on their functions on any occasion - they would ensure that there is highest level of punctuality – not for the In 2006-7 his students appeared in board examination (Class VIII) and it was a moment of tension for Dr. Rathore. There were 16 students and Dr. Rathore used to spend 4 hours daily with these students. Since all these students were from poor family background and no facility at their home – Dr. Rathore – had to ensure that his school was supporting place. Once the students would go to their home - they would not be able to touch their books at home – because there was no educational environment. He was surprised to see the results. Out of 16 students, 15 got first division and one got good second division. He was very happy to see the results. In the next year, there were 15 students and the result was equally attractive – 100% results again. The highest percentage marks this year touched the figure92% marks. His efforts brought good results. He was motivated to pursue his efforts further. We give best academic performance based awards (two awards per class). Award distribution ceremony is organized every year on 26 January. If a student doesn’t come – instead of that student – some other student will go there on the stage and collect the award. The students undertake rehearsal of every function that they are going to conduct.

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The students try to manage the shows in well organized manner. There are two pin boards in each class room. The students try to put some or other notice / poster / news clippings etc. on the board. Class VIII students prepared all the formula of mathematics and physics on their class board and would memorise whenever they get a chance.

“My child sings songs at my home – for each word there are songs and he sings the songs” All the students even from class nursery have to sing songs based on alphabets on the stage. Entire teaching upto class 3rd is based on songs.

“Our students after completing VIII joined other schools, but when they came to know that we have started IX, they switched back to our school – although they had deposited their fees in other school...” recalls Dr. Rathore “three kids had taken admission somewhere else – when we got affiliation – they again returned back to our school they withdrew their admission from other (bigger) schools – we got affiliation in July – but some parents were not sure whether we would get affiliation or not. – 12 students waited for us upto July. Our students to Shivbari school for their examination – they go in a line – (which is 1.5 KM). All the students go for their

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examination in their uniform. They organized self managed queue. The examination starts at 11.30 Am. They reach school at 8 AM to the school and organize their queue and then leave for their examination centre at 10.30. They go from the school to Shivbari Temple and then

FUTURE PLANS: “I want to start NCC in my school and I wish to start it next year. This year I invited a Soil conservationist as chief guest – he announced that he would like to give my honorary services to this school and I am very much interested in this school. I would devote every day 2 hours to your school. ““The evening classes are informal classes – children can come in their informal dress. One of my students Mr. Sandeep Papriwal came to see my school and he was extremely impressed by the school – and donated Rs. 21000 for the school. One NRI who saw the school and social commitments – and decided to donate Rs. 1 lakh for the development of the school” “It is a sheer madness which is driving me for the performance. My relatives are dissatisfied with me – but only I like it. “ “Now we are charging Rs. 100 per month. There is no admission fee. We don’t charge even a penny from the student for any other purpose. We don’t ask students for any other fees or other charges. We try to bear all other expenses from our pocket.” “From 2004 to 2006, I was appointed as Director of an MBA College. But due to involvement with a business school, I couldn’t devote much time to the school. Therefore I decided to resign from the Business School and again started devoting time to the school. I believe that during these two

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years, I couldn’t pay required attention to my school and I felt that I must devote my time again to the school.” “Now we have 270 students – all are coming from the nearby areas. All the students are from a radius of 1 KM area. Teachers are also coming from that area.” One of the fundamental philosophies in the teaching pedagogy of this school is to remove fear from the mind of the student. Even a student from class nursery is encouraged to face the stage and therefore the students are able to perform anchoring and are able to give public performance at a very early stage. “Once my friend Mr. Amod had come to see me. I was distributing toffees to the students. He was surprised to see our set up. We were doing a dance contest in a class room (on dari). He asked how you will manage this contest in a small class room. Students started dancing contest - they switched on mike (and then they switched on the tape recorder and they showed their performance – my friend said that his kids (who are studying in a very prestigious school) can’t have so much of confidence in their expression.”

COLLEAGUES: All the colleagues also follow the philosophy of Dr. Rathore. They would ensure that there is no wastage of electricity in any school. FUTURE PLANS: “I want to organize a fashion shows by 2010 – where the students of the school will be wearing the dress made by the students of this school - I want to start some technical courses – where these students can be trained.”

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“The plus point here is that we have students who are very disciplined and punctual – you ask them to come at 5AM and they will come at sharp 5 AM.” “My basic philosophy is if you do something – do it the best – otherwise don’t do it.” The founder can be contacted at: [email protected] After reading this case study, what should Mr. Rathore do now – should he change the focus of the school?

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