Partner Organisations:

Gramin Mahila Vikas Samiti(Facilitaor:Ms. Aruna Gairola)

SBMA/PLAN (Facilitaor:Mr. Pramod Panuly)

Back to top

Recent Activities:

Sept 2009: A total of 9 RTI village level workshops have been conducted in Uttarkashi District of Uttrakhand. These workshops were conducted by MCF with their partner organisations SBMA/PLAN and Gramin Mahila Vikas Samiti (GMVS). A total of 276 children were involved in this initiative. RTI applications have been filed by a large number of children on matters which affect their day to day life. Read more ....

March 2008:
Saald Baal Panchayat, Uttarkashi

Our Baal Panchayat, was established in 2002. We hold regular monthly meetings and also hold discussions with the Child Development Officers of our district.  We receive a lot of information and inputs from them.
One of our first initiatives was the issue of keeping our village pathways and water sources clean. In this we have been successful and our Baal Panchayat will continue to do so.

Amongst a number of issues that we discussed during our meeting one that recurred was the lack of educational support. The children felt there was a shortage of teachers in the school and also the lack of help after school hours for those students who have any doubts that need to be cleared, especially in math and science subjects. This is mainly so because our parents are largely illiterate.
We conducted a survey of all the schools in the village regarding the teacher student ratio. We also did a survey on the number of school drop outs and the reasons for this. The findings showed that there was a severe shortage of teachers and it was difficult for one teacher to solve all the difficulties that the students had. The Baal Panchayat then took a decision that we would start a library which would have reference books on various subjects and would also carry as many magazines as possible. In order to establish a library we requested help from the Village Panchayat and the Mahila Mangal Dal(women’s self help group). Both helped us to set up the library.
The library was set up in Pramod’s house. All the children contributed their books of the previous class. These could be used by those children who were subsequently to enter those classes. The MCF also donated some books to the Baal Panchayat. In order to earn some money, the children conducted a health survey for SBMA/PLAN for which we were given Rs 7000/- which went towards getting wood and building racks for the books so that the books were placed properly and could be taken care of. A fee of Re 1/- was levied if any child wanted to take the book home to read.
During the survey it was perceived that one of the main reasons for drop outs was the lack of understanding of the subject. It was decided by the Baal Panchayat that those children who had a good grasp of the subject would help those who were weak. The library was used as a study room and in this way the Baal Panchayat was able to help atleast 6 children go back to school.

The library is used not only by the children but also by any other member of the village who would like to read a book / magazine.

The youngsters (5-10 years of age) of our village also have formed a “Young Baal Panchayat”. They automatically become members of the main Baal Panchayat on reaching the age of 10. 

Narendra Rana
Secretary,
Saald Baal Panchayat,
Uttarkashi

Other MCF Chapters:
To visit the webpage of another chapter, please click on the links below:

Almora — Bageshwar — Chamoli — Champawat — Dehradun — Haridwar— Nainital
Pauri — Pithoragarh — Rudraprayag — Tehri — Udham Singh Nagar — Uttarkashi

Back to top