Mrs. Rohini Nilekani - Chairperson of Akshara Foundation, Pratham Books and Arghyam
Interview with Mala Kumar in Bangalore

Your objective is to place every child in Bangalore in School. Going by your speed, you will achieve it sooner than later. What next ?

Yes, most children in Bangalore are in school . The credit goes to various bodies , mainly the government and all the other stakeholders. While most children are in school, there is still a large percentage of children, especially from the families of migrant workers who have not been put in school.

We see this phase in Akshara as just a beginning. The real work begins now. Because all the children in school are not learning well. School systems are not yet geared to sustain the interest levels of these children. At present, education is like pouring water into a leaking bucket. Many practices have to be improved before we can expect targetted learning levels from the children. This year we have planned to have an outreach programme that will address this problem and also look at widening our operations to schools in rural areas.

Akshara Foundation was launched when the state government saw the efficacy of the work done by Pratham in the slums of Mumbai. They wanted someone to run a similar programme in Bangalore. But now that most children in Bangalore, except those of migrant labourers are in school, the next step would be to reach out to children in other cities too, or to initiate similar projects in other cities.

What is the magic of Reading City ?

Reading City is an accelerated reading programme that is designed to equip children in the 7-12 age group with improved reading skills. The aim is to see a book in the hands of every child. And the response from these young readers has been overwhelming. The simple, child-centric approach has enthused them to read on their own. This reading has also helped them to be more confident in their regular class, with their regular text-books.

We ask ourselves, why should a poor child get poor education? Books enhance learning. The magic of the Reading City programme is that the same children who were shying away from books are now eagerly waiting to put their hands on new books.

To address this situation Pratham the NGO working with slums in Mumbai, has decided to publish 100 simple books for our young readers. The books will be easy to read, colourful and educative and easily affordable.

What are the pros and cons of Partnership with Government ?

The government has a ready-made structure that has the potential to reach every child. The Board of trustees of Akshara Foundation includes the Commissioner of Public Instruction of the Governement of Karnataka, and many other serving IAS officers, all highly concerned about basic education.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike is taking up a Performance Measurement Project, which will also help to see how effective our interventions have been. This is a very big plus point about working with the government.

But when officials are transferred or when the political parties heading the government change, we may have to face a few delays. Otherwise, we have no problem, since education is a very important matter for any government. We work with people in various levels, and thus even when governements change a few people from the old set-up are still available to ensure that we are able to continue with our work.

Can you share partnerships with corporates ?

We can definitely share partnerships with corporates, though we need to become more professional in our approach. Organisations such as Janaagraha in Bangalore have managed to have an excellent rapport and functional partnerships with corporates. Apart from corporate sponsorships, corporates can suggest and manage methods to reach out to children in rural areas and take our mission of spreading literacy to far-flung areas in the country.

What kind of competencies are corporate volunteers bringing to Akshara ?

Corporate volunteers increase credibility both ways---an organisation like Akshara gains credibility when reputed corporates join hands with us. The corporates’ image is enhanced when they associate themselves with big organisations like Akshara Foundation. So corporate volunteers do add credibility to Akshara.

Since it is mainly the IT industries that have big CSR cultures in Bangalore, it is the technology and management skills that volunteers bring most to our organisation. They also bring in a professionalism that is helping us to morph into what social service organisations need to be in today’s world. People have started looking at work in NGOs not just as a labour of love but as a career with passion.

What is the response to the individual contributions ?

Individual contributions have always been good. We have some excellent people whom we can approach for assistance at any time. People help us with educational initiatives, management, technical skills, logistics and consultancies in varipous disciplines. But what we need to maintain and successfully run a large programme is a committed, long-term relationship with corporates, rather than individuals.

Even if volunteers in companies move to other jobs or other cities, if the company itself has a firm relationship with us, then it is possible for us to continue a fruitful partnership. We cannot expect the same response from individuals who may move to other cities or countries.

Generally, NGOs have programmes like sponsor a child for Rs 1200 pa ...whereas you have schemes like sponsor a balwadi...What is the fundamental difference ?

The difference is that we do not yet have the manpower to manage an elaborate sponsorship programme. Organisations such as CRY have a huge network to help them with the child-sponsorship programmes.

Also, it is very difficult to maintain a record of each sponsored child to be given to the sponsors on a routine basis. It would also be difficult to manage a situation where donors would want to see their ‘sponsored’ ward.

We work with school children, or children we want to get into school. We have found that the children who are brought into well-run Balwadis are more likely to continue schooling. Scientists say that language development occurs best in the early ages. Ages 2-6 is when children’ brain can absorb and process an astonishing amount of information. There is definitely a need for good balwadis. This is one reason why we have the sponsor a balwadi scheme.

We also see balwadis as a way to encouage ‘edupreneurs’ in communities. Akshara will support potential entrepreneurs with training, materials and a start-up stipend to run balwadis. With this we hope to create stable, income-generating opportunities for young women and also socialise the idea of schooling among first generation learners.

Payroll Giving : Are you running payroll giving programmes with Bangalore corporates

We have tried but haven’t had much success. So, we do not have payroll giving programmes at present. But it is a very good idea and would work well in many ways. When companies deduct a small amount from the pay packet of each employee to be donated to a welfare organisation or project, the employees do not feel the pinch. The project becomes sustainable on a long-term basis.

The individuals in the company get a sense of ownership over the welfare organisation. This in turn may lead to better volunteer response, and stronger sense of helping the organisation to do well.

How can Reading City programmes be replicated in other metros ?

The programme can be easily replicated in any city. All it needs is a set of volunteers to teach children how to read. Pratham has thousands of libraries in Mumbai and other cities. The first step is to set up libraries. Depending on the funds available, organisations can either buy books to set up libraries, or run donation-drives to collect used and old books. The next step is to train teacher-volunteers to follow child-centric approach to teaching young children to read.

Do you have plans to train NGOs in other cities to work on similar projects ?

Yes, we do have plans to train other NGOs. We see ourselves getting involved fully in training in about five years. In a country like ours, schooling should cease to be a problem, and should be taken care of by the government. This will enable organisations to concentrate on improving learning methods rather than working to get children into schools.

What are your views on NGO governance ?

I see lot of sincerity in the field. But there is also a lot of inefficiency. However, now donors are insisting on transparency. This is leading to NGOs spending more time and energy to maintain accounts. More efforts are made to document all the projects. NGOS have definitely become more focussed now.

How can NGOs enhance their credibility ?

The best way of course is to consistently do good work. It is also important to involve the community as much as possible so that the participation leads to awareness about the kind of work done by the NGO. Community participation also makes the NGO a part of the community it works in. The goodwill as well as the watchful eye of the community can ensure that the NGO continues to work in a fashion that is guaranteed to increase its credibility.

How do you communicate your work ?

We bring out a newsletter, and also maintain a website. We also have programmes on radio. Children’s activity centres like Hippocampus hold public events like the Hoophoria Fun Festival that encourage urban children studying in elite schools to donate books for our reading city libraries.

How do you measure the impact of your programme ?

Till now, we have been measuring quantity. Our focus was on seeing how many non-school going children have been enrolled in schools. But now we have started developing indicators to find out for ourselves how effective our work has been.

The reading City programme has definitely been a hit. The Education Resource Centres have become a hub of activity ever since the reading programme was started. The measure of success is that the ERCs not only attract the children who are in the programme but also other children, even from other schools, parents and families of the children in the programme.

One year back we had consolidated units in nine zones. This year we plan to to concentrate on 19 zones. Presently we have 700 volunteer. We will definitely need many more in the future.

Can you share your presentation with us ?

Yes, though we are planning to redesign our newsleter soon.