Balavihar
ANNUAL UPDATE FOR 2013
Lakshmi Kumar and Keerthi
09/04/2013
Mission
• Holistic education and English training for lower
middle class suburban children studying in
government schools and small private schools.
• Private schools
• Non formal learning through activities such as yoga, theatre,
arts, crafts, games, fields trips, and emotional healing.
• Library to encourage reading and supplement learning.
• Government schools
• English training to help cope with academic English curriculum
as well as reading, comprehension, writing and conversation.
History
• Started in 2007 by Chitra Krishnamurthy, shortly
after visiting the Seattle chapter.
• Chitra akka’s passion is non formal education and
she worked in Vikasana (with Malathi) for nearly two
decades.
• Funded entirely by Asha since the beginning.
• Serves about 430 students studying in 3 govt.
schools, 2 private schools, from 1st grade to 10th
grade.
Organization Structure - 1
• Chitra Krishnamurthy, Program coordinator
• Plans programs and activities, trains staff, designs learning materials,
procures books for libraries.
• Manages relationships with schools, and conducts outreach programs.
• Krishmamurthy (Chitra’s husband), Yoga Teacher
• Yoga and craft classes at three schools.
• Drives Chitra and staff on car/motorcycle to the schools.
• Tulasi
• Yoga, craft classes and library management in two schools.
• English classes in government schools.
• Manjunath
• Theater sessions at two schools and field trips.
• Sharada Rao
• English classes, reading sessions, yoga, summer and dussehra camp.
• Usha
• English classes at a government school.
• Annapurna and Kalyani
• English lessons, puzzles, games, craft classes.
Location
• Bangalore, Karnataka
• Govt. and private schools in
western suburbs near Vijayanagar
• Amarjyothi nagar govt
school.
• Kaveripura school
• Luminary school (private)
Andhrahalli
• Pinewoods school (private),
KGS layout
• Nachiketa Manovikasa
Kendra (private center for
evening classes for govt.
school children from
Marenahalli)
• Garage library in
Basaveshwaranagar.
Activities -1
• English training
• Government schools
• 50 children from Classes I to V
• Alphabets, spelling, reading, writing
• Help students learn English academic syllabus.
• Nachiketa Manovikasa Kendra
• 20-25 children of classes V to IX, from Marenahalli govt. school
and Navajivana govt. aided school.
• Evening classes Monday to Friday for 1.5 hours with snacks
provided by Nachiketa Trust
• Reading, writing, conversation, and story telling.
• Drama and Theater
• Pinewoods school, Luminary school, and Nachiketa Kendra.
• Around 25 students practiced for 15 sessions and performed a 45
minute musical play on history of Kaveri, in both Kannada and
English.
Activities - 2
• Yoga and Pranayama
• Pinewoods school: 25 children
• Luminary school: Teachers trained to conduct “Fun Yoga” designed
by Bihar school of Yoga
• Libraries
• Pinewoods school: 220 students from classes IV to IX
• Luminary school: 78 students from classes V to IX
• Coordinator’s house: 25 govt. school children borrow books.
• Basaveshwara nagar: Garage library serving around 20 children.
• Story telling classes conducted in all locations to cultivate reading
habit. Children seem very engaged with library, particularly during
summer and dussehra vacations.
• Video library at Pinewoods school and Luminary school.
• Educational videos played using a projector donated by Bash.
• Around 30 students borrowed videos.
Activities - 3
•
•
•
Arts and crafts - @Pinewoods school, Luminary school, Nachiketa Kendra,
Nivedita School, Amarjyothi Nagar govt. school.
• Kundan decorative work (50)
• Mexican Weaving (40)
• Jewelry making (50)
• Clay models (120)
• Origami (100)
• Needle work (25)
• Wall painting @ Luminary school (24)
• Wall painting @Govt. school (10)
Field trips
• Educational and fun trips to experience the world beyond their classrooms
and neighborhoods.
• Savandurga – 50km from Bangalore, guided rock climbing adventure for
Amarjyothi nagar govt. school students.
• Bannerghatta zoo and butterfly park – near Bangalore for Nachiketa Kendra
govt. school students.
Consultant volunteers
• PowerPoint workshop by a Seattle student for 100 students.
Finances
• Annual expenditures: INR 30000-325000
• Annual income
• Asha Seattle funding: INR 306000
• Local donations and library fees: INR 20000
• No accumulating savings
• They do not ask for funding until all donations
from the year are spent
• Funds sent through Covenant Center of
Development (CCD).
• Balavihar’s Palash Trust did not get FCRA
approval as the minimum balance required for
new approvals is INR 1M (10 lakh rupees)
Asha, Seattle Involvement
Asha, Seattle Involvement
Sl. No. Item
1
Asha funds more than 90% of annual budget of the project.
2
Project began in 2007 after Asha Seattle’s approval and funding.
3
No other Asha chapters are involved. Bash and Jayashree have visited the project
and made personal donations.
4
Chitra Krishnamurthy is the person running the entire program.
Asha, Seattle Involvement Contd.
• Checklist contd.
Sl. No. Item
5
If the organization runs out of multiple locations, which locations does Asha,
Seattle support?
6
Asha Seattle supports all activities of the project.
7
Relate all the activities supported by Asha, Seattle to the overall activities of
the organization.
8
If individuals are supported, how many are supported? What age group?
9
Annual budget approved by Asha: INR 312000 on September 2012
10
Percentage of orgs total budget which is supported by Asha, Seattle: > 90%
Asha, Seattle Budget
Item
Amount Current Fiscal Year
(Rs)
Amount Previous Fiscal Year
(Rs)
Salaries
2,34,600
2,73,600
Facility rental and
administrative expenses
17500
24000
Library and learning materials 24000
24000
Fields trips (new)
32500
10000 requested but wasn’t
funded due to 4% budget limit
Local transport expenses
(new)
41000
0 requested, was paid out of
pocket and from leftover
rental/admin expenses, local
donations.
..
20000 requested for outreach
programs last year, but not
350000
312000 approved, 351600
requested
Total
Budget details
•
•
•
•
•
Salaries (INR per month)
• Chitra Krishnamurthy: 8000
• Tulasi: 4000
• Manjunath: 2000
• Krishnamurthy: 2000
• Annapurna: 1200
• Kalyani: 1000
• Usha: 750
• Total: INR 19550
Local transport
• Petrol for travelling between the schools: INR 3450 per month
Field trips
• 3-5 trips per year
• Expenses include transportation, food, entrance fees, and tour guide fees.
• Estimated at INR 32500 per year.
Library books and learning materials:
• INR 2000 per month x 12 = INR 24000 per year.
Facility rental and administrative expenses
• Audit report fees
• Rent
• Estimated INR 175000 per year
Updates for 2013
General Partner Updates
• New Balavihar Center in a garage in Basaveshwara nagar
• Library with 100 books
• Story telling sessions and craft conducted for three months for 20
students from class V to IX.
• Five teachers trained at Luminary school on Fun Yoga for children, by Bihar
School of Yoga.
• 20 students and 3 teachers attended art workshop at The Valley School.
• Non formal education activities and fields trips introduced for govt. school
children.
• PowerPoint workshop by a Seattle volunteer who learned about Balavihar from
Asha website.
Updates for Asha, Seattle
• Funding increase
• Chapter approved funding increase to INR 312000.
• Successes
• Remarkable improvements in reading, spelling, and
comprehension in govt. school children.
• Student participation and engagement and support from
schools has increased every year.
• What didn’t go well
• Funds sent was approx. INR 6000 less than approved budget
amount, due to USD-INR conversion error by the finance
team.
• The shortage is nearly 50% of the budget increase approved.
• This has happened repeatedly, so the finance team’s
exchange calculation process should probably be changed.
Site Visit – September 2012
• Half day site visit by Lakshmi Kumar to Amarjyothi Nagar and Kaveripura
govt. schools
• Amarjyothi nagar
• Anganwadi children sang rhymes in English and Kannada.
• Class I and II students assembled words and read their text books.
• New English textbooks were difficult for them but Balavihar training has
resulted in big improvements in reading.
• Kaveripura
• Class III and IV students also read their English books and answered a
quiz by the teacher.
• Greater difficulty in reading than lower level students but the training is
helping them cope with it.
• Overall
• Starting language training earlier seems to work better.
• Children are a lot more engaged in Balavihar’s English classes than
their class teacher’s lessons.
Audit Report
• Indian law requires all partners to have an audit report
every year. Highlights from last years audit report
(Form 10B). A sample audit report, from a project, can
be found at http://www.ashanet.org/projectsnew/documents/745/auditreport2008.pdf.
Survey Results
• Include the results of the annual survey.
Process Checks
Item
Status
Approved Budget
312000 (during 2012)
Approval Type
Recurring
Amount(s) disbursed last fiscal year
<amount>
Amount Utilized by the project last
fiscal year
Approx 306000
Last Site Visit
September 2012
Current Primary Steward
Lakshmi Kumar
Current Secondary Stewards
Keerthi
Status of the web page
Not updated
Status of the yahoo databases
Not up to date
Pictures
• Latest pictures from the project.
• https://picasaweb.google.com/115527601063147738866/
BalaVihar20122013?authkey=Gv1sRgCP6pnpq3_MXO
Ng
Resources
Questions?
FAQs
• Some FAQs at Asha, Seattle meetings.
How many rs are we spending per kid per year?
Does the amount being spent on infrastructure items (building
schools, repairing roofs, etc. ) look reasonable?
o Where exactly is the partner located? (especially for remote
projects. Be ready to locate the project area on a map)
o What is the graduation rate of the school?
o What is the student to teacher ratio in class rooms?
o What is the girl to boy ratio in the school?
o What are the line items in the budget?
o Why is the partner asking for more funding for line item N?
(You will be asked this if there are changes in the budget line
items)
o Community opinion of the project.
o What went well, what didn’t go as expected, what can be done
differently.
o
o