DRISHTI

Drishti, Ritinjali's Rajasthan Project, supported by MacArthur Foundation is aimed at empowering the adolescents, the parents, the teachers and the entire community to enhance the overall quality of life of these target groups by helping them learn to make better choices.

After successful completion of the pilot phase (2005-06) in Kota and Jhalawar districts of Rajasthan, the project was further extended for three more years (2007-09). In the course of these three years, 1,361 government schools (942 schools in Kota and 419 schools in Jhalawar offering Classes VII and VIII) of both the districts will be covered. The schools selected during years 2005 and 2006 continue to receive the kind of support that had been provided in the pilot phase.

Advocacy with the State Education Boards and the State Education Department was an important component in 2007 in order to institutionalize the programme in Classes VII and VIII of all the government schools in the two districts. Simultaneously, Ritinjali trained 42 Master Trainers from all six blocks in Jhalawar in July 2007. The Master Trainers in turn trained 305 teachers teaching Classes VII & VIII from Bakani, Khanpur, Dag and Pidawa blocks of Jhalawar from October 2007 to February 2008.

In year 2007, in consultation with Centre for Studies in Ethics and Rights (CSER), Mumbai, the intervention design was sharpened, which now has three arms. In the first arm, Ritinjali will train only master-trainers, who will independently train the teachers, and thereafter will teach life-skills in the schools. In the second arm, Ritinjali will train the master trainers. They will also facilitate the training of the teachers, who will then teach life skills in the schools. In the third arm (which is a sub-set of the second arm), in addition to the above, Ritinjali will also facilitate some classroom sessions.

The monitoring and evaluation plan for the scaled up intervention has also been firmed up. Drishti will test the effectiveness of institutionalizing Life Skills in secondary schools by introducing it as a co-curricular subject to be taught by the teachers, who are trained by master trainers at the district level.

Progress According to Objectives

(April 2007 – March 2008)

 

Objective 1: Capacity building of teachers to impart life skills education in government schools in the state of Rajasthan.

Training of Master Trainers in Jhalawar:

Training of Master Trainers for Jhalawar district was organized in July 2007. Fifty four teachers were called for the training. However, only 42 teachers could attend the training.

The link road to the Manohar Thana block was damaged due to heavy rain at that time and hence, participants from that particular block could not come for training.

Many of the selected Master Trainers had earlier received training during the pilot project, as we wanted to work with people who had already trained with us to strengthen our intervention. The new participants were very enthusiastic as well, since this was a totally new concept for them. In the course of the training, the participants asked numerous questions, which presented an opportunity to discuss the concepts in greater detail. The methodology of the training programme was experiential and participatory in nature and included several role plays, drama, games, debate, group work etc. which were received very well by the teachers. The training did not just prepare the teachers to facilitate the curriculum in the classroom, but also aimed to build their knowledge, awareness and attitude on issues related to Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health (ARSH), so that they would be able to implement it in the classroom in an unbiased and non-judgmental manner.

Most of the participants were actively involved in the training. However, the extent of the involvement depended on the topic/concept being addressed. For example, if the topic was “communication”, very few participants were seen being actively involved. Also, when HIV/AIDS was discussed, only the Science teachers were found to be participating actively. Topics such as peer pressure, substance abuse and gender roles and stereotypes saw animated discussions from all the participants.

Training of Master Trainers in Kota :

48 Master Trainers were trained in Kota from the 1 st to the 15 th of May 2008. The training of teachers will begin in mid July. The Master Trainers participated enthusiastically in group activities, debates and role plays. Topics such as Gender and Violence resulted in animated discussions with a multitude of opinions being put forth.

Objective 2: Enhancing students' knowledge, including knowledge of sexual issues and HIV and addressing their attitudes and values towards ARSH issues.

As stated earlier, the training of teachers was done in the months of January and February 2008 and hence, classroom implementation could not begin immediately afterwards due to the final examinations. The classroom implementation is scheduled to begin from July 2008.

In August 2007, an extensive Baseline Survey was conducted in 84 schools of Jhalawar district covering 1200 young adolescents, the objectives of which were as follows:

1. To assess the awareness level of the young adolescents about self and inter-relationships.

2. To assess the mobility, decision making and participation level of the young adolescents.

3. To assess the perception, knowledge level, attitude and values of the adolescents with regard to Health issues, including nutrition/exercise, drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, STDs and gender norms.

4. To assess the nature, magnitude, determinants and consequences of reproductive behaviour and ill health.

5. To determine the influence of local socio-cultural beliefs and taboos on young adolescents' sexual and reproductive health, and consider their needs based on their perspectives.

Given below are the key findings from the survey:

The baseline study shows that there is an urgent need for more intensive ARSH intervention. This need is underscored by the high prevalence of drug use in the area and the lack of methods being used to prevent infection. There is a very poor understanding of the personal risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. The general low level of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among young adolescents points to an important gap in the knowledge in the community as well. It is imperative to create more awareness about HIV/AIDS among the young adolescents and the community. Efforts also have to be made to deconstruct the existing misconceptions among the young adolescents and the community regarding HIV/AIDS. (For example, many adolescents believe that one can contract HIV by working together, sharing utensils and clothes with someone who is HIV Positive.)

Our baseline survey findings also show that the relations between women and men in the area are largely unequal and hierarchical. The disparity between women and men can be seen in the legitimization of sexual division of labour and in gender discriminatory practices. Girls/women have fewer educational opportunities than boys/men and receive unequal access to resources such as food. Girls and boys from an early age are conditioned to believe that girls/women do not deserve the same rights and opportunities as boys/men. These beliefs are reflected through our findings that restrictions are imposed on girls/women when it comes to mobility, pursuing their education, seeking job opportunities, participating in decisions about their marriage etc.

Furthermore, the practices regarding menstruation are very risky. The picture is further complicated as the parents and the teachers also follow and advocate the same practices.

The respondents express that they cannot take advice from others if their parents and teachers do not believe in the views being propagated.

Our findings therefore, emphasize the need for an intensive gender sensitization to be able to break the predetermined socio-cultural norms, which are deeply entrenched in the minds of young adolescents. Traditional expectations of how boys and girls should behave can have severe consequences for the health and well-being of boys/men, as well as girls/women.

The survey also emphasized that nutrition and health requires special attention, as the children were unaware of the special food requirements during adolescence, the importance of physical exercise and healthy eating habits.

The survey also highlights that it is important for young adolescents to receive accurate information on ARSH issues, instead of being overly reliant on their peers. Peer communication could instead be used as a means of disseminating accurate information, not only for school going young adolescents, but also for those who are out of school and for the community. It is the community in which the ARSH of the adolescents is developed, and if the community is ignorant about such issues, the situation becomes far worse for the adolescents.

The survey findings also stress the need to impart accurate information and sensitize parents and teachers on ARSH issues in order for the young adolescents to feel comfortable enough to communicate with their parents and teachers on these issues.

The challenge for us therefore, is twofold: Firstly, to break the socio-cultural beliefs and taboos around ARSH issues, especially, body, menstruation, gender roles and stereotypes and HIV/AIDS. Secondly, to create a situation where young adolescents have access to accurate ARSH information, as well as encourage them to communicate openly with parents and teachers on these issues.

Objective 3: Advocacy with the Administrative and Education Department at state level for making Life Skills compulsory for the students of Classes VII and VIII.

The Ritinjali team presented the scaled-up intervention to the Chief Minister and the MP of Jhalawar. We also held several meetings and made presentations to the District Collectors of both Kota and Jhalawar and the various officials in the Education Department of both the districts. The intervention has been approved for implementation in all government schools offering Classes VII and VIII in both districts. We are constantly in touch with the administrative and the education department officials to apprise them of the findings from the intervention at every stage.

Objective 4: To test the potential for scaling up Life Skills training at the state level through teachers within the government system. We have received the sanction from the District Collector, Kota , Assistant Chief Executive Officer (NGOs), District Education Officers and DIET principal, Kota , to implement the scaled-up intervention in all government schools offering Classes VII and VIII in Kota district. The selection of the Master Trainers has been done in consultation with the District Education Officials.

Challenges Faced

Rajasthan Government Banned Sex Education in Schools:

In a directive passed by the state government in March 2007, sex education was banned from regular schooling. This was a huge setback to our scaled-up intervention and delayed the intervention timeline. It was only after several meetings and presentations to the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Member of Parliament, Jhalawar, District Collectors of both Jhalawar and Kota and the various Education Department officials of both the districts that we got the approval to begin the scaled-up intervention in Jhalawar in 2007.

Besides, we had to rewrite and revise our curriculum, in which we have strengthened the section on ‘hygiene' and have incorporated the facts and myths related to menstruation and nocturnal emission and most importantly puberty and bodily changes.

Frequent Transfer of Government Officials:  

There have been frequent transfers of government officials linked with the project. Hence, the Ritinjali team had to build the rapport again with the new officials. The team spent a lot of time presenting the project and getting their support in conducting the Master Trainers' training programme.

In 2007, there were frequent changes in the district education department too. Since the project requires close coordination with education department officials, a significant amount of time is spent in (re)introducing the scaled-up intervention and rapport building with the new officials.

Despite the challenges and barriers to the intervention, we are committed to the people of Kota and Jhalawar and will provide holistic Life Skills education, aimed at nurturing empowered, responsible citizens, capable of not only providing for themselves, but also of contributing actively to their local communities.