Neenv (Shiksha Ka Sawal) Campaign

This is a participatory action project, with a team of 200 organisations, 400 reporters, 500 volunteers, and 50,000 citizens taking part in an audit of teachers, buildings, playgrounds, water, toilets, and school management committees (SMCs). To begin, volunteers took part in 2 days of rigorous training on empowerment and engagement, informing and training them to work on the ground to protect 3 rights:

1. Right to Education (RTE) - for more on this 2010 act, click here.
2. Right to Information (RTI) - for more on this 2005 act, click here.
3. Right to Hearing (RTH) - for more on this 2012 act, click here

The larger focus on the campaign is on provisions of RTE in government schools, using RTI and RTH as tools of engagement and demand for the right. The filing of RTI is intended to ask relevant questions; the filing of RTH is meant to demand grievance redress and improvement in schools.

This work involves the following:

• a citizen audit consisting of: Aankhon Dekhi (physical mapping) and Kanon Suni (dialogue with teachers, parents, and children); and
• citizen journalism in the form of story writing, reporting and experience sharing, and social media trending.

Specifically, to build dialogue with parents, teachers, and children, the volunteers travel to different parts of Rajasthan - even to remote villages where there is less connectivity than the mainland - to get closer to understanding the realities and sharing their stories. "They are using their skills to educate and inspire people to take education of their children seriously, they use their skills to help them appreciate availability of schools in vicinity and empowered them to break taboos and take responsibility to help these schools function well." They ask questions, file RTI requests, inform and mobilise communities around RTE, and report on what they have seen. As stories started flooding into local Patrika editions and special state-level pages titled "CITIZEN AUDIT" showcasing the realities on the ground, school authorities and communities were motivated to initiate actions. There is a monthly review of stories carried in Patrika, with an action taken report (ATR) filed by the elementary school and secondary school secretariat on each story. A website, blog, and social media (with hashtags #Patrikaneenv, #Neenv, #RTE, and #shikshakasawaal) have helped showcase the stories - in Hindi with English translations. Visit the Neenv section on the MAG website for access. In addition, "Missed Call" numbers have been set up to draw support from all.

To cite some examples of outcomes of the Patrika reporting, an agenda was set for SMC and parent-teacher meetings each month on a fixed day to be celebrated as Jagriti Diwas; a pledge was taken by parents and teachers jointly on August 15 2015 (in the whole state through deparment order, as expressed in the oath content, which Patrika published). There is now a bi-monthly education dialogue with the Neenv team and community representatives with Education Department officials to seek progress/action on each news report. A boundary wall and fencing of playgrounds was included in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (NREGA). A phone helpline is in development for grievance redress of schools. While in most places, the stories have been taken in the right spirit, and the teachers' lobby has taken a pledge to contribute to resolving problems, in a few instances where there were complaints about teachers, the teachers' lobby has threatened the newspaper.

Prominent people from the social and development sector have been reaching different districts to interact with government school children, raising key issues as they see and feel, voicing their concern on different platforms, filing RTI requests, and bonding with the school, district and people. Harsh Mander, right to food and tribal/disabled rights activist, and PV Rajgopal, Gandhian, visited government schools, interacted with children, and discussed the key issues. Sports stars are also visiting the schools, motivating children and taking stock of ground reality including sports and playgrounds, which is one of the key questions the campaign is raising. The Pro Kabbadi Pink Panthers Team has endorsed the campaign. Navneet Gautam and Rajasthan players have committed to visit more schools in different districts and take up the cause. The campaign is also engaging film actors and directors of prominence to visit government schools while they are in Rajasthan, also asking them to talk about Neenv's key issues on their social media platforms (using hashtags so that word spreads widely).

Children, Education, Rights.

The audits found serious problems. For example, volunteers reported on and photographed a government school called Dechu Panchayat Samiti in Jodhpur. Animals take refuse in this building, which is just a stone plant with a decrepit tin roof, where 2 teachers and 50 students are expected to teach and learn. After earning attention, more such schools came to light where the school building was missing and only a thatched roof or tree's shade served as an option. Actually, 90% of those audited had broken buildings and walls, roofless and unusable toilets and classrooms, no drinking water, uncleaned water tanks, irregular or absent teachers, caste and gender discrimination, unsafe or encroached playgrounds, no parent-teacher communication. There was also discontent about closure of schools.