Bharath Gyan Vigyan Samithi (BGVS)

Bharath Gyan Vigyan Samithi (BGVS) is dedicated to promoting primary education, primary health care, women’s empowerment, and rural development. It is a national organisation founded in 1990 under the National Literacy Mission Authority to support ongoing literacy campaigns.

The District Quality Education Project (DQEP), also known as Vidyankura, was envisioned as a district-wide experiment in quality primary education. The DQEP was based on detailed, diagnostic analysis of children’s learning levels and teaching methodologies in the classroom. One key programme under DQEP was the IFA-funded Art-in-Education (AiE) programme.

As a result of the strongly positive impact of the AiE programme, BGVS has proposed to intensify and extend the programme efforts in Chamarajnagar District and selected administrative blocks all across Karnataka over the coming three years. The activities envisioned in the new grant phase that relate to the consolidation and intensification of the AiE in Chamarajnagar are:

• Consolidation of previous training of MRPs and the creation of new pools of MRPs through the District Institute of Educational Training (DIET) and work in 45 schools in three new administrative clusters
• Training and demonstration workshops in all five blocks of the district at the time of the teacher training
• Training and follow-up for teacher trainers in the private B.Ed. colleges
• Conducting Art Melas in all five blocks of Chamarajnagar
• Extending AiE through the three new  clusters into all 45 schools
• Integrating AiE into the curricula and teaching of the Certificate Course for Ashramshala teachers

The second set of activities envisioned in the new phase relate to the extension of the AiE through the BGVS network of teachers outside Chamarajnagar. The first two years will see BGVS conduct AiE training workshops in the 15 new blocks. Eight to ten teachers trained in each block will implement the programme in their respective schools. There will also be twice-yearly dedicated meetings of the trained teachers to share experiences and plan for the forthcoming six months.

BGVS will design and conduct a baseline study in the first three months of the grant, with a special emphasis on the areas that are being brought under the programme for the first time. Furthermore, the services of two students of IIM Bangalore will bring in useful inputs from a managerial perspective.