Patrika - Media Action Group (MAG) Campaign

This evaluation gives data on the progress of the Aao Padhyein Sabko Badhayein (Come let us teach and work for the rise of all), launched in India in April of 2011 by the PATRIKA -Media Action Group (MAG campaign) to enrol children in schools through a team of volunteers and correspondents who work for the Rajasthan Patrika, a Hindi language daily newspaper in 7 states of India including  Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chattisgarh with 30 editions.

The effort follows the governmental regulation that there needs to be a 25% reservation in private schools of economically poor and disadvantaged children as part of provisions in the Right to Free and Compulsory Elementary Education Act (RTE). This campaign sought change in the status of education of the economically poor, change in mindsets of the private schools, and enactment of the provision of 25% through active engagement of the community.  

The campaign focus is on 3 states, including 77 districts, and is facilitated by a team of 60 reporters, 63 social organisations, and more than 600 MAG volunteers. This evaluation lists more than 8,000 admissions through direct intervention, increasing the number in a wider area to more than 170,987 children enrolled in Madhya Pradesh, and approximately 25,000 children in Chhattisgarh, and 105,454 in Rajasthan according to official, though uncorroborated, government figures.

The report, updated regularly by Patika-MAG, both gives a breakdown of statistics by locality in order to promote the work done by volunteers and community organisations and publicises noncompliance of the RTE provisions in order to advocate for elementary education as a right for all children.

The following are among the strategies used to move the campaign forward:

• Offer a concrete format and interpretation of the provisions to the schools, the public, and participants.
• Through teleconferencing, educate the team of volunteers and reporters, explaining the modus operandi, attending to queries, engaging Media Action Group Volunteers for ground intervention, and working closely with correspondents.
• Identify at least 5 schools in each district, implement child tracking of eligible children in the vicinity of these schools, seek the status of admissions there, demand admissions of the child tracked, engage civil society and socially active citizens, build pressure on school administration to comply with the act, document the reply of the school administration, the District Education Officers or Collector, and simultaneously report it in the newspaper.
• Mid-campaign, invite:1) a well-known film actor/director, Anupam Kher, and organise an interaction with civil society, international organisations (e.g., United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representatives) and socially concerned citizens to add momentum to the campaign and cause; 2) Nida Fazli, an Urdu scholar, to speak on the issue of Child Education to the volunteers and general public in order to generate feeling on the depth of the issue; and 3) APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India and a vocal proponent of quality primary education, to the Patrika office in order to share with him the entire campaign, as well as facilitate his interaction with representatives of private schools and civil society.
• Mid-campaign, launch a blog to update the status of each edition and initiatives there.
• Organise a consultation with all the stakeholders, chairperson of State Child Rights Commission and government representatives in Patrika office to mobilise action and increase outreach.

Further communication tactics include: a trumpet call (dhol nagada) in one city to highlight the campaign and purpose; and Raatri Chaupaal (Night Dialogue) with reporters in remote villages.

Among the campaign results are the following:

• Raised awareness among private schools of their role.
• Raised awareness among qualifying children's parents of the right to education.
• A HelpLine to manage telephone calls on the issue.
• An invitation from a consortium on Right to Education by civil society in Rajasthan to present at a national level convention.
• Action at the state level in Rajisthan to cancel the registrations of schools that are not in compliance.

The campaign emphasises and is supported in its progress by the results of a court challenge by private schools seeking non-compliance: "A judgement of the Supreme Court of India states that there shall be no exemption to private schools for the 25% reservation to economically poor children. Only non-aided minority schools shall remain exempted."

Further, the District Administration in Karauli district (one out of 33 districts of Rajasthan) joined with the MAG network and placed the MAG campaign logo on the official district-government-created banners to add momentum to enrolment.  The education officials have been inspecting the status of admissions and have commited to organise an "admission fest" with MAG in Jaipur City for the remaining unfilled seats in private schools to reach out to the real beneficiaries. (In Jaipur City, admission of the economically poor has been successful in more than 40 schools, though a private school lobby was opposing the provision and had gone to Supreme Court of India, delaying admissions while waiting for the court's judgement.)

Click here to access the MAG blog site containing all of MAG's initiatives.