Janbodh – Urban Education Programme

The Janbodh programme was initiated with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Oct 21, 2005 between the Government of Rajasthan (GoR) and Bodh. It evolved from the experiences and learnings of Janshala (the Government of India – UN Agencies Primary Education Programme). Janbodh is a part of the state government’s multistakeholder partnership forum - Rajasthan Education Initiative (REI).

The five-year programme aimed at contributing to the state initiatives of universalisation of education. There was an emphasis on enhancing understanding of urban educational deprivation in Jaipur city and informing policy and practices accordingly. Programme partners include local communities, various departments/agencies of GoR (especially Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or SSA, Rajasthan Education Department), Aga Khan Foundation, American India Foundation, Unicef, ITC Ltd, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Bodh. Many other individuals and civil society agencies have also played a significant role in the programme.

Notable initiatives in the first phase (2005-2008) included revitalising 60 government schools (erstwhile Janshalas - these had begun as community schools under the Janshala programme), placement of teachers, joint survey and related activities for out of school children, capacity building initiatives for government and Bodh teachers etc. Six urban bodhshalas (seen as Resource Schools) constitute another key part of the programme. Significantly, urban deprived children’s education component was recognised in the state SSA plans. Official sanction was given for building temporary structures for schools in unauthorised slums. This strategy has also been recognised in the SSA plans.

In its second phase (2008-2010), the programme contributed immensely to the development of SSA’s Jaipur Million City Plus Plan (2009-2010). In fact, Janbodh was seen as an integral part of the Jaipur Plan Bodh’s engagement was part of its larger mandate as Technical Support Group for the state SSA’s urban component.

The following key areas of action were identified for Janbodh-

• Establishing common community schools with the support of civil society where educational    facilities are not available
• Developing schools as integrated learning centres with inclusion of preparatory (for children 4-6 years) and ungraded learning groups (for aminstreaming out of school children)
• Strengthening joint academic support, planning and monitoring teams at state, district, block, cluster and school levels
• Capacity building and quality enrichment initiatives that are continuous, rigorous and cater to specific needs

Janbodh will be working directly in 20 clusters covering approximately 200 deprived localities in Jaipur city. These clusters have a high proportion of deprived and minority population. The programme will also be working in three other clusters where children live and work in brick kiln sites. In each of these clusters, select government schools are being developed as Cluster Resource Schools. These will then provide necessary support to other government schools in their areas. In another 23 clusters, Bodh will support the government’s Cluster Resource Centre Facilitators in planning and monitoring processes.

The academic support, planning, monitoring and management initiatves will be co-ordinated by Urban Resource Centre (URC) to be established at Bodh Parisar, Jaipur. The team at the centre will include both Bodh and government representatives. Bodh’s Central Research and Resource Centre will continue to extend necessary academic and technical support through the URC and otherwise.