School Report, July 2008
Ms. Chloe Scott

Badal Chand Sugan Kanwar School

On the 21st of July I visited the Badal Chand School in Jodhpur. I had heard much about the area's ‘Premier Hindi Middle School’ and I was keen to see its students and teachers for myself. I had a special interest in the school as one of Sambhali’s most promising girls, 18 year old Monica Jod, had been enrolled for the past year.

On Monica’s first day back at school (My time at Sambhali coincided with the end of the school holidays and return to classes,) Monica came to Sambhali as usual and the girls helped her prepare for her classes, ironing her uniform, plaiting her hair, and rearranging her bag. Monica told me that her school started at midday and finished at 4pm. She listed the whole range of classes that awaited her, including Mathematics, Social Sciences, Sanskrit and English. Monica then invited me to accompany her to school one day. About three weeks into the term I accepted her offer and went with her to the Badal Chand school, about 15 minutes walk from the Sambhali trust.

The classrooms were airy and clean, but in obvious need of some repairs. There were no displays decorating the walls as there usually are in UK schools, and there was a large blackboard at the front of every class. Despite the lack of decoration, the school was not short of resources. On my tour I was shown the impressive library, chemistry laboratory, and computer room. The English textbooks used in the class I watched were of good quality, clear and without any blindingly obvious mistakes. If the English teaching material at Sambhali were of such a good quality it would certainly make teaching easier. The Sanskrit books also seemed comprehensive, although I could not read them. The teachers were in control and taught their classes well. I observed no discipline problems, and received only positive reports of the school from its pupils.

While my tour of the school was interesting, more important for the purpose of my visit was my meeting with Mrs. Mehta. I had hoped that an agreement could be reached between Badal Chand and the Sambhali Trust regarding scholarships or financial assistance for some of our participants. Mrs. Mehta was unable to offer any kind of aid to the Sambhali girls, but encouraged me to enroll more of them at the school.

SunCity School

The Sambhali participants who are enrolled in school through the Literacy Programme are usually sent to a less costly school. On Wednesday the 23rd of July I visited the SunCity School in Jodhpur, about 20 minutes walk from Sambhali, in the opposite direction to Badal Chand. Eight Sambhali participants are enrolled there, including the two sons of Meera, one of our older and more respected participants. The headmistress, Mrs. Lata Chauhan, was unable to speak English and an associate of the school was called to speak to me, a Mr. S. P. Singh. In the building next to the SunCity school an extension was being built in order to house XI and XII Standards. I was told the extension would be completed within 3 months and would include the laboratories needed for XI and XII Standard science. Unfortunately due to the building work there was a power cut and I was unable to sit in on a class and observe how the teaching conducted.

A comparison between the schools

The SunCity School was an instant visual contrast to Badal Chand with no gates or guards. The fees at SunCity, ranging from 125-300 rupees per month, were significantly lower than the 7000 rupees per academic year at Badal Chand.

When comparing the schools, the contrast is obvious. The curriculum is the same at both, but the resources vary greatly. The SunCity School had no library, and asks its pupils to buy their own textbooks. It does however, provide free resources to less advantaged pupils. The lack of computer facilities in both schools was surprising, especially as computers are such an important tool in the modern world. Badal Chand had 11 computers for the 500 enrolled girls, while SunCity had only 4 between 280 pupils.

The issue of single-sex versus co-educational schools arose in the discussions, with both representatives agreeing that single sex education was preferable for VI to XII standards. SunCity, however, did not have the resources to educate its pupils in a single sex environment. Nor does SunCity have the sports or music facilities available to the pupils at Badal Chand. At Badal Chand at least one extracurricular activity is compulsory, such as music lessons, debating classes or extra sports classes. At SunCity all the school could offer were improvised sports games, as they had no suitable playing fields. No music lessons or other extracurricular activities were available.



To conclude, the education received by the Sambhali children at Badal Chand and SunCity is far superior to the basic lessons that can be offered by Sambhali volunteers. Many of the girls’ families are willing to send their daughters to school provided there is no financial burden on them, and so increasing school sponsorship is crucial. This is especially important due to the fact that the schools offer little provision for underprivileged students. Badal Chand offers up to 4 scholarships a year, while SunCity offers none, but will provide some materials for free in cases of need.

As well as the basic school fees, there are extra costs associated with the girls schooling. Badal Chand has just changed its uniform from dresses to salwar kameez suits and other things mentioned under, and SunCity also requires children to have two uniforms, shoes, each pair in a different color, school syllabus, conveyance and other requirements related to school of children annually.

The proportion of lower caste students at the schools is higher than I would have expected. Mrs. Mehta at Badal Chand told me that this was because higher caste families were removing their children from Hindi schools and putting them in English speaking schools, which are viewed as being more fashionable and a good preparation for a career in the west. With fees starting at around 25 000 rupees a year, it would be near to impossible for the Sambhali Trust to hope to send even one girl to an English Middle School.

I would recommend that the Sambhali Trust continues to enroll its participants in the SunCity School, with the view to placing pupils that show a particular aptitude for academic work, such as Monica, in the Badal Chand school. There the numerous extracurricular activities would benefit students who are capable of more challenging activities.

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