EDUCATION / COUNCIL VOICE
Asian Voice - Saturday 21st April 2012
SARVAM
Making a change at India's Grassroots Bridging distances through community celebration - Women’s festival
Mr Vijay Poddar
India is a land of festivals and festivals are the best way to mobilise and connect people in the country. However in this patriarchal society, in some regions, festivals in the past many decades became more and more class, status and caste oriented with gender overtones. While some castes would dance and sing others would refrain from joining, thinking that it was something relegated to caste. This was the scenario before SARVAM started to organise annual women festivals ‘Magalir Vizha’ within the community it was working with.
Attracting 600-700 women from 25-60 years of age from across all castes, social and economic backgrounds this one week long festival has become a model of how collective women self-esteem can be raised and change initiated. The inventiveness was based on a simple principle – build positive tangible bridges between non-interacting communities and let change unfold.
Before SARVAM started to work in these villages, the situation was such that the two main community fractions – Schedule castes and Most Backward Class (castes as defined under the Indian constitution for various reservations) had never positively interacted for centuries. These two fractions have their separate temples, colonies and never participate in each other’s celebrations like births, marriages etc. Marriages are strictly within the caste. On the other hand the neighbouring villages also had no information access to each other. For centuries again the seven villages that SARVAM is working with had not really interacted on constructive terms. In this scenario when SARVAM organised Magalir Vizha, meaning women’s festival in Tamil, for the first time on 2 February in 2006, it witnessed more than 1000 women participating from four hamlets. Since then this annual festival has not only become a very creative plat-
form of interaction but also has broken open the notion that only lower caste people can sing and dance and sees wider participation from women of upper caste who not only mingle and compete on the same stage with women of other castes, but also encourage their children to take classes in dancing and singing. A big change indeed! Last year when the festival was organised SARVAM had no idea of all the
creative recipes women would come up with. The criterion was tight as participants had to source ingredients from within the village and it was strictly vegetarian. Women came up with 60 delicious recipes. Poomadavi, a from housewife Nadupalayam village won the first prize for her very healthy and innovative recipe of steamed ragi idlis with coconut and sugar.
Newham Council crack down on litterbugs who fail to pay their fines Litterbugs are warned they will face court if they fail to pay fines following the successful prosecutions of 48 offenders. At Thames Magistrates Court, 48 people were found guilty of failing to pay fixed penalty notices by Newham issued Council for littering. The average fine ordered by magistrates was £108 plus £100 court costs and £15 victim surcharge. In total, the council recouped more than £11,000. This was the first time the council's officers had prosecuted so many
offenders Cllr Ian Corbett, Executive Member for Environment and Infrastructure said: "We will use every power at our disposal, including going to court, to deal with those who think dropping litter on our streets is acceptable. "These successful prosecutions show we will not tolerate littering. Ignoring a FPN will not make the matter go away. Instead, you will be taken to court with the prospect of an even larger amount to pay. That really is throwing
good money away. "Our enforcement officers work hard, sometimes in the face of severe provocation, to keep the borough clean. We have a duty to pursue through the courts the offenders who don't pay. Littering is not fair on residents who take pride in where they live. We will continue to take robust action." For further information about the Community Safety team go to our community safety pages. To report littering or other anti-social behaviour call 0800 731 3300.
Young people with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities now have the confidence and ability to travel on public transport independently thanks to a new pilot project. Around 11 young people aged between 11 and 25 years with SEN or disabilities were awarded with certificates and medals by Cllr Alan Weinberg, Cabinet Member for Children's Services at Redbridge Town Hall last month after completing the Independent Travel Training Programme over the past six months. The Independent
Travel Training programme is delivered by charity DABD UK on behalf of the Council. DABD supports socially excluded people across London and the UK. Each young person receives a personalised Travel Plan which they, their family and fullytrained Travel Trainers all input into. This provides them with a step-by-step plan for their journey. The length of the training programme depends on the ability and needs of the young person and can be anything from four to six weeks. This is determined at the start of the pro-
gramme but is reviewed along the way depending on the progress of the student. Once completed, it is expected that each young person will then be able to travel to school and college independently by either walking or using public transport. Where this isn't always possible for some young people they will be set realistic goals like learning social skills and other life skills like handling money and personal safety awareness, to ensure they have achieved and feel positive about their training.
Young people with disabilities praised for travelling independently
Other competitions in the week-long festival include Kolam (floor drawings with powder colours) competition, skill games and dancing and singing competitions! The festival also involves village and temple cleanliness drives, discussions on sharing domestic problems and finding common solutions and interaction with a woman doctor on reproductive and general health. The festival gradually in the past six years has become something which women look forward to with the same eagerness as they look up to age-old community and temple festivals. Every year while they are becoming more and more well dressed and fashionistas in their own way, deep down they are also opening up to many possibilities of individual and collective growth and harmony! If you would like to know more about SARVAM and their activities or would like to donate please speak to Mrs Shilpa Shah on 07931717288 (between 2.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m) or email on shilpa.sarvam@gmail.com
Half of free schools have no site, minister says Half the free schools set to open later this year have not yet secured a site, Schools Minister Nick Gibb has said. Just 35 of the 79 approved to open in 2012 have found premises, Mr Gibb said in response to a parliamentary question from Labour's Stephen Twigg. The shadow education secretary said the government's flagship freeschools policy was in "disarray". But the government said site negotiations were progressing for the vast majority.
Free schools are statefunded schools started by parents, teachers or other groups. They are accountable to central government rather than the local authority, and as such do not benefit from the help local councils offer mainstream school in finding sites. A charity that works with the government on the free-school project, the New Schools Network, said finding a site was often the most challenging aspect of setting them up. Chief operating officer Natalie Evans told the
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Times Educational Supplement: "This is something the government really needs to think about." She added: "Finding premises is extremely difficult, and is one of the biggest frustrations and a real headache for groups." The charity is thinking of asking the government to try to persuade developers to offer sites for free schools when they undertake new projects. He urged the government to think again and address the real need in the system for primaryschool places.
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