Avehi Abacus focuses its outreach on schools catering to communities characterized by socio-economic marginalization.
Sangati Implementation
In the beginning of each academic year, training workshops are organized by the AVEHI ABACUS PROJECT to orient schoolteachers to Sangati. This is followed by distribution of kits and children’s material in schools. Depending on the school’s preference and medium, the Teacher’s Manuals are available in Hindi or Marathi, while the Children’s Material is available in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, English, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu. Sangati sessions are conducted by the teachers for 1 clock hour per week. Field Representatives visit schools regularly to understand the feedback / response from students and teachers and provide inputs to make the sessions more effective; worksheets filled by students are also overseen by them. The Sangati process is also documented and serves as a rich source of understanding teaching-learning processes in classrooms, changes in children and teachers.
From 2016-17, as the batch of Class V children progressed to Class VI an effort was made to implement Sangati in a consecutive manner with the new batch of Class V. This has not only increased the outreach but has also helped towards sustainability of the programme. In 2017-18, Sangati reached nearly 66800 students studying in Class V, VI, VII simultaneously in 945 schools.
AVEHI ABACUS PROJECT is the only organisation to implement an intensive curriculum programme enlisting the active involvement of in-service teachers in all middle schools (900+) over a stretch of nearly 12 years. In order to ensure smooth integration, better monitoring and sustained use of Sangati programme, the AVEHI ABACUS PROJECT has been involved in working closely with Supervisory Officials of Mumbai Municipal Corporation since they perform the key roles of administration and monitoring.
The Sangati Programme is also being implemented in 36 residential schools for tribal children (Ashram Shalas) run by the Integrated Tribal Development Department, reaching out to more than 5000 students.
Sangati has also begun implementation in 17 Special Schools (for Special-needs children) in Mumbai run by the Municipal Corporation. This initiative was taken by the Administrative Officer in charge of these schools and the response from the teachers is overwhelming since they were able to connect substantial content from school books with Sangati curriculum. The various pedagogic devices have helped the students understand concepts and feel confident about learning and expressing themselves.
Manthan Implementation
This foundation course for students enrolled for the Diploma in Teacher Education (DTEd) is currently being used in 17 colleges in Raigad, Thane, Palghar and Mumbai, reaching 40 teacher educators and 600 student teachers.
Saath Saath Implementation
The Archdiocesan Board Of Education (ABE), Mumbai, had taken the responsibility to support the dissemination and use of the kits. As part of this process workshops have also been conducted for 145 teachers of 98 ABE schools.
AVEHI ABACUS PROJECT has emerged as a resource organization supporting rural grass-root organizations in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, reaching about 3135 adolescent girls, 1130 boys and 2855 adult women. This has yielded results like delaying age of marriage, awareness about changes in the body and mind, menstrual health and rejecting cultural taboos. Our grassroots partners are Mahila Janadhikar Samiti (MJS), Alawar Mewat Institute of Education and Development (AMED), Alwar, Rajasthan and Sahajni Shiksha Kendra (SSK) in Uttar Pradesh with support from AJWS.
Since 2016 we have also begun using the kit in a working class locality in Mumbai developing a model programme, ‘Engaged Youth Group for Social Justice’, where Saath Saath is used as the primary base. The effort is to link gender concerns with larger issues of justice and development and mentor a group of young local community leaders.