Nukkad Paathshala: Education with Rhyme and Reason

Who is the Prime Minister of India? ..... Big chorus, Narendra Modi !

Who is the Father of the Nation? …. Big chorus again, Gandhiji !

Now comes the tough one.               

Who is the Defence Minister of India? ….. Silence; a few mumbled a few names; finally a young child from class IV reluctantly says Nirmala !!!

I was stunned. These children DO know.

These are children from a study center called Nukkad Paathshala (which translates into “street corner study center”) in a colony for socially deprived sections of the society. Many such colonies exist, which are named as Ambedkar Nagar, Adi Dravidar Colony, MGR Nagar etc., and are normally isolated from the main part of the village.

WHAT IS NUKKAD PAATHSHAALA?

Nukkad Paathshala is a coaching-cum-education center that operates in the gully of the colony where the socially and economically deprived sections live in a village. Most of the houses in the colony are either with thatched roof or covered with asbestos sheet, with very few having concrete ceilings. The children hail from these dwellings and attend classes in the evening at these Nukkad Paathshalas, located in the middle of such colonies.  Indian Association for Savings and Credit (IASC), a small microfinance company headquartered at Coimbatore, supports the centers. They provide financial support to get a building with a roof—in some cases, to start with, of asbestos—and electricity from the village. It also arranges for seating facility for the teachers, provides blackboard, chalks, and a few posters to support learning. In almost all the centers—currently around 40—the teachers hail from similar sections of the society in the same village or the nearest village. These teachers are highly qualified, ranging from post-graduate to doctoral research scholars. They are committed to helping the children of these sections and are willing to work part-time.  The children hail from LKG to 10^th standard. The centers actively engage in teaching subjects that are not taught at formal schools.

Not all children hail from the same formal school. They study in various schools nearby. What is common among them is the social and/or economic deprivation. Their enthusiasm to learn and gain admiration cuts across caste, school, class and age. One may frequently notice a senior student having completed her homework or class work, assisting a junior student in his/her class work.

WHO STARTED NUKKAD PAATHSHAALA?

For most organisations, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a statutory chore. For Ganesh Rao, CEO of IASC, it is merely a passion and certainly not just statutory CSR.  He entered the business of microfinance (MF) with an urge to contribute to social development. He dreamt of removal of poverty, upliftment of poor and social contribution as outcomes of his MF venture. Soon experience made him realize that survival in MF required hardnosed business focus. However, social contribution was an emotive issue that involved many sacrifices. He understood that combining them was a complex phenomenon that he was not willing to handle in one go. Hence, he decided to keep them separately. This made him start Nukkad Paathshaalas with a passion towards providing support education and general awareness to the children of the deprived sections of the society. It is a story of converting a major disappointment into a passionate pursuit that lead him to start forty Nukkad Paathshalas in Tamilnadu. He strongly feels that these centers are not business; they are a philanthropic mission with a social vision to effect positive transformation in child-education (See Boxed Interview).

WHY NUKKAD PAATHSHAALA?

Ganesh’s  idea was to generate funds in his MF business, allocate a share out of it for social cause and expand its scope. He came across a tuition center right at a street-corner in a slum of Mumbai. He saw many students coming to that center and taking tuition for their studies. He said to himself, “It looks like a nukkad paathshala,” and he immediately decided to start providing a supporting education to the deprived sections of the society through learning centers.  Since his corporate headquarter is located in Coimbatore, he chose to experiment in Tamil Nadu first. Initially, he decided that these centers would focus only on English, General Knowledge and Mathematics, and would not duplicate what is taught at schools. However, as the need arose, these children wanted a little coaching in their “school-subjects” just before term-end examinations and hence this was added as a seasonal activity in these centers. The effectiveness of such coaching is visible when the students proudly submit their answer sheets corrected by their schoolteachers. Most of them have above 90% scores in most of the subjects in the school-tests, a major accomplishment for these children of lesser opportunities and exposure. Currently, Ganesh’s concern is how to go about scaling the idea up and sustaining it without diluting the effectiveness. His crucial contemplation is as to how much more he should scale up—and hence where to stop—and how to consolidate, what more can be added to learning other than the formal subjects, how to periodically reinforce the learning among these children and how to carry it forward to a logical end in their career-pursuits. Instead of merely crying hoarse, he feels, it is better to engage actively in doing something for the children of these sections of the society. They are the children that the nation needs to nurture and provide greater opportunities for development and growth. They are the children that will signal whether India has truly become inclusive and empowering.

Excerpts from an interview of Shri Ganesh Rao, CEO of IASC by Dr. R.C. Natarajan

What motivated you to start these Nukkad Paathshalas?

I entered the line of microfinance with the usual “do-good-to-society” aspiration.  But, I soon realized that it is not a sustainable model in a fiercely competitive sector. Therefore, I decided to start these centers mainly to satisfy my social transformation motive. I had read that dropouts in schooling among the poorer sections and socially deprived sections of the society are very high. I wanted to do something that would motivate the young children to want to go to school. All these children are quite conversant in Tamil and their schools do an exemplary job in that language, whereas English is relegated to only reading and writing. I realised that this is an important aspect where the children will gain a lot in the form of self-confidence when they can speak in English, Another area where confidence can be built is through supplementary coaching in mathematics. This requires constant practice and Nukkad Paathshaalas can do this effectively. What we want to achieve is to support the governments’ efforts to get the poor children educated. Our efforts will always be aligned to the governments’ efforts. Government will create the policies and support systems at a macro level. We can supplement their efforts at micro level by motivating children to make the best use of the governments’ policies and efforts.

The specific idea of Nukkad Paatshaala was a spark that occurred to me accidentally. Once when I visited a slum in Chembur in Mumbai, I saw a small tuition center at the corner of a street. I said to myself, “Oh, this place seems to have a nukkad paathshaala,” just the way one says “nukkad kirana dukaan.” I observed that many students came to that center to learn, not deterred by the cramped space. Those days, my idea of a tuition center was a hall with chairs, benches, fans, good lighting, a high quality teacher who would ensure 100% pass and 98% distinction among students and so forth. However, seeing this center changed my outlook about learning by poor children. They really want to learn. Physical comfort is of minimal importance to them. Hence, I asked myself “Why should I not start more such centers in areas where IASC is operating?” IASC gave me the easy entry into the slums in the villages to start these centers. I deployed a person to start these centers first in Tamil Nadu.

How do these Nukkad Paathshalas build your business in microfinance?

I am clear about one thing; these Nukkad Paathshalas have nothing to do with my business and are purely to satisfy the emotional needs of my wife and me. Both of us want to do something good to the society. In fact, the children who study in these centers do not necessarily belong to those families that borrow microcredit from my organisation. It is open to any child from the deprived sections of the village. I do not draw any benefit from these centers for my business. On the contrary, I provide manpower-support to the establishment, monitoring and assisting of this center from my main business. IASC spends close to Rs.70 lakhs per year on these 40 Nukkad Paathshaalas. This is budgeted in IASC’s annual income-expenditure plans.

Do you have plans for integrating this activity into your brand building in due course?

No. I want to keep them separate. The Nukkad Paathshalas will remain to be a cost center and if necessary I shall start a separate entity to manage them by providing funding from my personal assets or from my microfinance business under the CSR. I do understand that it is a natural temptation for anyone to use these to lure more micro-credit borrowers. However, I do not want to succumb to that temptation. For me, business is business; social work is social work. I do not wish to mix them. In fact, Nukkad Paathshaalas will continue to derive funding and support from my business.

What is your dream for Nukkad Paathshalas?

Firstly, I want to increase the number of Nukkad Paathshalas. Right now, I have covered about 40 villages in Tamilnadu. Increasing this number to 100 is my primary target for the next year. Before I move to other States, which will be very soon,  I plan to expand the scope of these centers to general knowledge and prepare the students for participating in various quiz contests. In the long run, I want to ensure that these children are provided with both the opportunities and the financial support to pursue their higher studies in India and abroad My dream is to make them realise their dreams.