Maniram Raut - The Real Mani (Jewel)

Maniram Raut, son of Miron Raut, has 4 siblings - 2 brothers & 2 sisters. Maniram belongs to an extremely poor family with his father earning a meagre income of less than Rs.50/- per day. He is the youngest member in his family. While both his sisters are married, his elder brother failed to clear his Std 10 exams. As a result, his elder brother works with his father as a labourer.

When the CSFE programme was initiated in his school, Maniram was in Std 6. He participated in the programme and learned more about the importance and power of saving. It was not long before he decided to save.

Maniram was aware of the unfortunate financial condition of his family and there was a strong urge within him to do something to support his family. The outcome of this was in him withdrawing an amount of Rs.100/ from his Aflatoun Bank account in July 2008 & initiating a small business of selling and delivering bread to nearby villages.

Every evening he procured bread from local vendors and sold the same bread at 5.30 am to households in the nearby villages of Haldi, Vajipalla and Bhainsmundi. He would get home by 8. 30 am and go to school. The result on the whole was in Maniram earning Rs. 30/- to Rs.40/- daily without compromising on his education.

Not only is he supporting his family in whatever way he can, he also is completing his education and still manages to save in his Aflatoun Bank account. Maniram’s teachers Mr. Kishore Chandra Kar and other villagers opine Maniram Raut is a real Mani (Jewel).

Greater Incentives for Tribal Girls Education!!!!

Incentive to tribal girls attending school needs to be increased
The Karegaon Ashram School is located in the lush green hilly area on the way to Mokhada, in Thane district. It is almost 30 kms from Kasara and this Ashram school run for tribal children is from class 1 to class 12. The 5th 6th & 7th classes are located at the foothills while all other classes are on the top of the hill. It is really sad to see that the number of tribal girls pursuing school education is half the number of boys. There are only 251 girls while there are 441 boys in this school. This is despite tribal girls being given an incentive of Rs. 50 per month for attending school. Girls from class I to IV are given Re. 1 per day of attendance while girls from V to VII are given Rs. 50 per month and from class VIII to X are given Rs. 100 per month. This incentive is a very good idea because teachers think it does help the tribal families that get this money. But if we reflect on the amount it is rather paltry as the amount given at the end of the month is equivalent to one day’s wages!. The government needs to think of increasing this amount.
Well, atleast double this amount.

The Karegaon Ashram School has constructed a small hall for the children which they call the ‘MelJol hall’ and all MelJol activities are conducted in this hall or in the open, just outside the hall. Shri. L. M Ahire is the teacher who has undergone MelJol training in the past 2 years and conducts all MelJol activities in full gusto. After undergoing the training this year, he came back to the school and immediately had a one day camp for the children where he taught them the MelJol songs he had learnt and also conducted the games that were conducted at the training. That included the group division game called ‘dongarala aag lagli palla’, the game on savings using 10 small pebbles, and the introductions game where participants stand in 2 concentric circles and introduce oneself to person standing opposite them and likewise also get to know the other person.

Children have also formed Aflatoun clubs and they have 3 girls and 3 boys who are the President, Secretary and Treasurer of the club. They take the MelJol songs twice in the week. The children are saving money in the Aflatoun bank. These children give money in small amounts of Re.1 or 2 and have small amounts of say Rs.10 or Rs 20 in their personal accounts. A printed pass book format was shown to the children and they have now prepared their own tiny pass books and drawn beautiful pictures on the covers. They really look like children’s pass books. The days for operating the Aflatoun bank account are Monday and Saturday between 12.00 noon to 2.00 p.m. The children like to deposit money in the bank. They sometimes withdraw Rs. 2 or 5 to buy pens, pencils, sharpener or books. The girls sometimes buy hair ribbons or hair clips with their saved money. The number of girls saving in the bank is half the number of boys and efforts are being taken to enthuse the girls to also save money. The incentive money given by the government to these tribal girls could have been saved by them in the Aflatoun banks but it is instead taken away by their parents to be used for household needs.

The incentive given by Government to tribal girls attending school indeed needs to be increased!

MelJol Teacher Training

Mr. Vasudev D. Patil working as a teacher with Zilla Parishad School Bhoyacha Paada, Taluka Mokhada, District Thane attended the workshop again this year in Sept. 2009. He has earlier attended a MelJol workshop 6 years ago. Since he has been associated with MelJol since 6 years, he shared his experiences of the Aflatoun programme in his school and was an enthusiastic participant in this workshop. He also took 3 MelJol songs in the course of the workshop. He taught the songs with actions et all to the others. He said that the Aflatoun bank in his school has collected Rs. 261 in it. The children use their money to buy books, pens or pencils, etc.
Teachers take the MelJol curriculum in the 6th or 7th period twice every week. Mr. Patil has even been part of the State Level Meeting of Trainers organized by MelJol in 2003 held at Sajan and remembers that experience with joy.
It is with support from such teachers as Patil Sir that MelJol is able to achieve it’s objectives of giving social and financial education to children. Patil Sir, happy to have you as a part of the MelJol family!!!

The Aflatoun Effect - Nimani School, Korpana Block, Chandrapur District

The children from Nimani School have formed Aflatoun Bank and collectively saved Rs 12000/-. They have nominated representatives such as President, Secretary and Treasurer through a secret ballot system. The village education committee is aware about the banking programme and they are also providing full support and encouragement.

On the other hand, the teachers and children have purchased school stationery from the market and have set up a small shop to sell the material in the school because of demand from the children. Children have developed their passbooks and they record their monetary transactions habitually with the help of the Secretary. Most of the children are utilizing their money to take care of education related expenses.

The Aflatoun Concept

Heres a bit more on the Aflatoun Programme that we implement across India:
The five core elements of the Aflatoun concept are:
1) Personal Understanding and Exploration : Children investigate their own personal values. Through exploration of citizenship ideas and interaction with peers each choose the values that they feel are right for them.
2) Rights and Responsibilities : Aflatoun is grounded in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990), which identifies four sets of interdependent rights. Through this programme children are made aware of responsibilities towards themselves, their family, the environment and their community.
3) Saving and Spending: Financial empowerment hinges not only on constructive personal systems but also on specific, practical skills. Children learn how to save and spend in a responsible manner.
4) Planning and Budgeting: Financial Empowerment is achieved when children use their saving and spending skills to maximise their life choices. For eg, a consistent savings habit can enable a child to stay in school longer when payment for education is required.
5) Child Social Entrepreneurship: Children are encouraged to view themselves as active participants in shaping their community. Through managing community activities or entrepreneurial enterprises, children begin to sewe how they can have a positive impact on the community.
So...how do we at MelJol do this????
MelJol works in partnership with the education system. We tie up with other NGOs and have an extensive network. We conduct training programmes with well designed modules to develop the capacities of NGO staff, teachers and trainers. The teachers alongwith volunteers then conduct sessions. The books developed by us aid them in conducting sessions effectively.

A Case Study - Dalkhan Zilla Parishad School

We wish to share with you one of our best practices. And the interesting thing about the success of this school’s savings program is the presence of the post office in the vicinity. Could the Indian Postal Department join hands with MelJol for a better today for the children of India?

Mr. Kadlag, a committed teacher from the Dalkhan school, situated in Thane district who has been trained in the MelJol-Aflatoun training program, has taken the program ahead in the school ever since 2001. He was so convinced with the need and utility of the savings program that he has continued the program until today. Initially he had opened an account for the children in the co-operative bank close-by but since there was a railway line to cross, it wasn’t so safe for the children. Hence thereafter, the account for the bank was opened with the post office that was located in the school premise itself. Infact the 2 main reasons for the success of the Aflatoun program in this school are
1) The presence of a convinced and committed teacher and
2) Having a post office nearby.

The children, who passed out of this Dalkhan primary school and went to 8th standard to the new school, took the bank program with them and made an effort to continue a savings program there too. The children passing out of the 7th standard used their savings to buy their new uniform, school bags and books. These savings helped them meet these very important expenses.

The Sarpanch of this village is a 20 year old young lady who has passed out of this school and she was a part of the Aflatoun program. “She sang lot of Aflatoun songs and even saved in the Aflatoun bank”, she reminisces. The Aflatoun program also helps make the children more actively involved in their learning process.

Another school which has been able to open the account in the post office is Z.P. School Kerul, Block Ashti, Beed district. In this school 170 children are having an account in the Aflatoun bank and they have collected Rs. 17,000/-.

The Aflatoun bank program is one that has been started since 2001 in the schools of Maharashtra. After generations of indebtedness, children learn new ways of handling money. The programme encourages school children in the age group of 6 to 14 years to save their pocket money, however small the amounts. The money is pooled and stored under the guidance of the class teacher. It is accompanied by a continued discussion on the concept of child rights as laid down by the U. N. Convention on Child Rights, 1990. A classroom club run by children facilitates the scheme and helps develop notions of rights, responsibilities and values that have been found to be essential to the success of the programme. In most schools the money is collected together and given to the headmaster or to one of the teacher, to be kept in his/her safe custody.

If we can have a post office in every village, the teacher will be spared the tension of keeping the money with himself/herself and the children will also be able to get a small interest on their savings. This is the first way for them to learn that they can earn something. These two very important things are learnt by the children.
1) To save
2) That you can earn an interest on savings

The Post Office Savings Bank is the oldest and largest banking institution in the country. It operates about 140 Million Savings Accounts. The Post Office Savings Bank Scheme is an agency function performed by the Department of Posts on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. If the postal department joins hands with MelJol we will be able to create a revolution in the country. Could we have a post office in every village where our schools are? If we pass on a list of all the Zilla Parishad Schools and the villages they are in, would Postal Department be able to start a post office there with minimum facilities so that the children from the school could open a savings account in the post office? The postman could be the postal ‘mitra’ who will collect the funds from the school regularly and deposit in the savings account.

An Aflatoun Story - Pandit Maruti Bhoir

Well , 'Aflatoun' means 'Explorer' in Urdu. This programme is implemented by the teachers (trained by MelJol) with the help of the Aflatoun books series created by us. The programme works towards enhancing the self-esteem of children in local government/zilla parishad schools/ashram schools to make them confident to be active participants in affecting their immediate environment. We implement the Aflatoun Programme at the national level on a large scale.

From Ushid School, Thane District - Mumbai , Pandit Maruti Bhoir was a part of the Aflatoun program when it was first implemented in Thane in 2001 -02. The Savings Programme was started in his school whereby children were taught the importance of savings and how they could save. Both of Pandits parents are illiterate and his father is a farmer.
He has now passed his 12th std and done a government recognised computer course which later gave him employment. He states that because of the savings habit he learnt as part of the Aflatoun Programme, he learnt how to save and use money effectively. As a result he could do a computer course and he got a job.

Pandit also remebers that he had taken part in the songs and rally organised in his village as part of the Aflatoun Club activities for creating awareness about the ill effects of guthka consumption. He also states that the programme helped him gain confidence and imbibe good habits.

We currently reach out to directly impact 410000 children and 1600 teachers from 800 schools in six states. Hmm...just one of the many Aflatoun stories!!!!!!!!!!!