This document summarizes the work of the Human Development and Research Centre in Danta Taluka, Banaskantha District, Gujarat, India. The key activities included enhancing awareness of the Right to Education Act, training school management committees, supporting the preparation and implementation of school development plans, and running learning enhancement programs for 450 children across 15 villages. Challenges included the remote, scattered villages and seasonal migration of families, while successes included improved understanding of education rights and stronger community participation through volunteers. Future plans are to expand these interventions to more villages and strengthen collaboration between schools and local government.

1. Human Development and Research Centre

2. Journey
 2012-13 Seasonal
Hostel and April 2013
to present….
 Banaskantha District
Danta block
45 villages
 LEP 15 Villages
inclusive of 45 villages.

3. Key Objectives
 Enhancing awareness about the RTE at the community level,
particularly about the various provisions of the RTE Act such
as the SMCs and the SDPs and the various entitlements of
children under the same.
 To train SMCs and community around the principles of the
RTE Act, developing the ownership education issues and
tackling the strategies.
 Support SMCs for preparation, submission and
implementation of SDPs
 Pilot an effective interface model among the district and block
level officials of the Education Department, elected
representatives of the District and Taluka Panchayats,
Sarpanches and Panchayat members, school principals and
teachers in the Taluka, through the instrumentality of a Block
Level SMC Association

4. Relevance of the LAMP program /
Community background Situated at the foothills of the Aravalli Mountain range,
Danta Taluka is a predominantly tribal block, located
about 150 km north of Ahmedabad city. It has a total of
186 villages with a tribal population of 52% (2001).
 Danta Taluka is home to Adivasi communities such as
Dungri Bhils and Garasiya Adivasis (Education status of
Dungri garasiya is much lower compared to that of the
Dungri Bhils)
 Mainly agricultural and mining (marble and quarry
labour work)
 Literacy rate very low

5. Continue…..
 Villages in the inter-state border – highly underdeveloped in
terms of infrastructure, services, education, health etc.
 Low accessibility of government entitlements
 There are primary schools in all villages; but not accessible to all
the hamlets, with the children having to walk through forests
and fields for over 3-4 kms in certain villages. The school
infrastructure is not adequate in all the villages and there is a lot
more that needs to be done.
 Migration is rampant and people are out of their villages for an
average of 6 months in a year, in most of the tribal villages,
affecting the education of children to a considerable extent.
 The LAMP has for the first time addressed the issue of denial of
education to the Adivasi children in a systematic way, through
awareness, monitoring RTE Act implementation, capacity
building of SMCs and seasonal hostels.

6. Coverage
No: of Villages Covered: 45
No: of Schools Covered: 45
LEP
Number of LEP classes: 15
Number of girls: 217
Number of boys: 233
RTE-SMC
No: of SMCs Covered: 45

7. Extent of completion of Activities
Sr. No. Planned activity Extent of
Completion
Remarks
1. Training of 45 SMCs 100% Complete
2 450 children assisted
through LEP
100 % complete L1 Week 11th , Mid line
survey completed
3 Block level federation Complete 2 meetings with the roles
and responsibility.
4 SMC convention Complete
5 RTE Awareness campaign Complete
6 Citizens leader’s training Complete
7 15 SDP plans Complete 9 SDPs are prepared . Rest
of 6 villages have collected
data and they need to be
put in format
8 15 VER In process
9 BAL MELA Next week. Competitions with the
presence of the LEP
children parents.

8. Challenges/ Difficulties and Gaps..
 Geographical Area… scattered houses and hamlets …
difficult to reach to parents.
 Mindset/ attitude of the people … people into hard
labour work and migration – making education a
priority in such a context is a challenge
 Initial lack of understanding of the depth of program
 Late initiation of the programmes
 Lack of transport facility.

9. RTE
Implementatio
n Coverage
Cumulative till
previous month
New covered
this month
Any decrease
in coverage
this month
Tota; Concerted
Areas
Broad based
Areas
No. of SDPs
prepared
5 4 00 9 15 15
RTE Training
Cumulative
number till
previous month
Total trained
this month
Repeat
trainings this
month
Cumulative
number till this
month
Concerted
Areas
Broad based
Areas
No. of SMCs
trained
29 16 00 45 45 45
No. of SMC
members trained
315 137 0 452
No. of Youth
Group
members/Volunt
eers trained
45 32 00 77 45 0
No. of PRI
members trained
19 3 0 22
No. of SHG
members trained
0 0
Total number of
people trained on
RTE
1331 600 0 1931 0
Coverage…. LEP classes 15 III-V - No. of children 450 Girls
217 and boys 233

10. Learning……
 Hamlet wise volunteers enable better implementation
 Use of local communication methods for meetings like
DHOL ...
 Preplan for community meetings and usage of effective
materials like List of SMC grants, Charts etc.
 Continuous follow up with the volunteers and SMC
members…
 Respecting cultural and community boundaries

11. Future Vision
 Expand and replicate the interventions of this year to all
the villages in Danta Taluka and initiate work in a limited
number of villages in Amirgadh Taluka
 Continue the capacity building of SMCs into the next stage
where community would be fully functional and capable of
directing the SDPs
 The SMC association of Danta Taluka to be enabled to
become a model of area level monitoring of RTE,
anchoring the collaboration with all the stakeholders –
children, the elected representatives, government and
community.
 Strengthening the community reach through volunteers.

12. Plan for next 3 years..
 Prioritizing the linkages with the education
institutions of the existing villages with the
government institutions
 Coverage of new villages
 SMC district level federation and linkage with the
district education body
 Cluster level meetings of SMC members
 Community support classes
 Strengthening the block level SMC formation for
advocacy.