SSA's Web-based child tracking sytyem

MYSORE: SarvaShikshaAbhiyan's web-based Child Tracking System (CTS) to monitor the progress of students, who once dropped out of school, is proving to be good tool to improve their schooling.

The system, put in place in the district in June last year, has helped the department of public instruction keep track of the drop-outs and bring them back to schools.

Earlier, the information was documented in paper. But now, the related information is put into the system for online tracking. The database of drop-outs, who are brought back to school, and those on potential drop-outs, is updated by clusters in every taluk of the district. The drop-outs' details, complete with their name, parents' name, date of birth and photo, is uploaded.

Speaking to TOI, an assistant project co-ordinator said that there were chances of duplication of information earlier. "But not now, once they are brought back to school, their attendance and other information is monitored based on the inputs given by the schools to their respective clusters."

According to a survey of education department, 1,763 children were found out of the school in the beginning of 2012-13. Out of them, 1,244 have been brought back and admitted to Chinnara Tangudana and other residential schools, where there being given special training.

DDPI B K Basavaraj said that the system has helped them keep track of each drop-out. "We can give extra care on drop-outs and make sure that they do not leave school again, and be deprived of education," he added.

How does CTS work

There are 173 clusters in the district, with 10 schools coming under each cluster. Each Cluster Resource Person is given unique account and password and (s)he uploads the information of children online in SSA website link. This can be viewed by higher authorities.

Children's health in the district gets a boost!!

MYSORE: Mysore ZP's measures to boost children's health - by spending Rs 11.54 crore -- have shown positive results in the district.

To ensure nutritious food to children in the district, the ZP had been providing them green sprouts, kadle kayi husli, groundnut and jaggery, milk and boiled egg. This apart, pregnant women and nursing mothers coming under the jurisdiction of anganwadis are also being provided with 0.5kg of tur dal. When the scheme was started seven months ago, there were 1,647 malnourished children in anganwadi centres, while their number has now come down to 1,510.

N R Vijay, deputy director of women and child welfare department, said: "For 1,510 malnourished children, boiled egg is given for four days and milk for six days in a week. We want to bring down the number of malnourished children."

The initiative to supplement children's diet with boiled egg or milk was started in October in last year. A special health check-up camp for malnourished children is also conducted every month. The weight of each child is checked on the fifth of every month.

Speaking about the outcome of the ZP initiative, Kalavathi, teacher at Kukkaralli anganwadi centre, said: "Children have become healthy, and have gained weight. Even the number of admissions to our centre has increased."

By December 2012, around 1.93 lakh people were benefitted. The programme aims at providing nutritious food to children and pregnant women through 2,658 centres and 169 mini-anganwadi centres in the district.

Nagaratna Ravishankar, mother of two-and-a-half-year-old Darshan R, said that she is seeing an improvement in him. "It is essential to provide nutritious food to them at this age. I'm happy that my child is getting it daily".

Under 'Bala Sanjeevini' scheme of the department, each child is entitled for Rs 35,000 for treatment and surgery

Good Going Girls

MYSORE: Over the years, the drop-out rate of schoolgirls in 11-14 age group has declined in Karnataka, while it has increased at the national level.

According to Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), a survey conducted by NGO Pratham in rural areas, the rate was 8% in 2006, while it came down to 3.8% in 2012. In Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, the proportion of out-of-school girls has increased from 8.9% and 9.7% to over 11%.

N R Vijay, deputy director of women and child welfare department, said: "Even illiterate parents want their child to get education. With Sarva Shiksa Abhiyan, distribution of bicycles and mid-day meal, there has been a rise in the number of admissions."

Notably, the enrolment of children in 6-14 age group has improved from 97.2% in 2011 to 98.1% in 2012. At the national level, the rate is over 96%. Enrolment in private schools is also steadily rising in the country. Since 2009, the figure in rural areas has risen to 10%. In Karnataka, it has increased from 20% in 2011 to 21.91% in 2012.

Vijay pointed out that there is an increase in the enrollment of children in private schools, because parents prefer private schools. "They have a wrong notion that child gets better education only in private schools," he added.

But according to the findings of ASER, government school children in class V who can read class II textbooks has increased to 47.2 pc while it has decreased to 54.6 pc in private schools.

Barring Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, every other major state has shown signs of substantial drop in arithmetic learning skills. In Karnataka, children in Class V who can solve division problems has increased from 19.6% (2011) to 19.9% (2012).

In Karnataka, 49% of children in Class VIII can read simple sentences in English. In India, only 47% can read English sentences, and 60% of them could translate it to their mother tongue.

The survey also reveals that the ability to solve arithmetic problems has increased among students who attended private tuitions than those who did not. The number of children attending private tuitions has increased to 29% in Karnataka.

Moreover, the facilities at schools have improved over time. The pupil-teacher ratio in the state is 83.2% as per RTE norms. The number of useable toilets for girl students in school has increased to 54% in 2012. In the country, 80% of the schools visited have separate provision for girls' toilet.

Pratham (Mysore) CEO A Sheshadri said that the report, a citizens' audit, will be submitted to Planning Commission for further assessment and to bring improvements.

Sankranthi- the harvest festival at Mysore

MYSORE: For Mysoreans, preparations for Sankranti, the festival of harvest, started as early as a week ago. Elders at home prepared largely served and exchanged 'ellu-bella', a mixture of white sesame seeds, fried groundnut, finely-cut copra and jaggery. Married women, young women and girls come together to prepare the special mixture.

Anasuya Muralidhar, a resident of Yadavagiri here, started preparations a fortnight ago. "Preparation needs a lot of patience. Jaggery and coconut have to be cut in same size. With none to help me in this, I started working on the mixture a fortnight ago," she added.

On the eve of Sankranti, women mop the verandah and drew huge rangoli designs in front of their houses -- a sign of welcoming the festival. MBA student Bhavana Basavraju said that they cleaned and decorated their house for the festival.

On the D-Day, girls visit their near and dear ones, offering 'ellu-bella' along with sugar cane, banana and 'skkare achchu' (sugar candies) in a tray. The candies are either prepared at home or bought from shops.

Kusuma Shankar said that they, while they were young, used to visit every house in the street in groups to offer ellu-bella. "My younger sister continues to do so. But I visit only relatives and friends now."

In areas like KG Koppal, where majority of milkmen reside, cows are decorated for the occasion. The practice of making cows cross pyre is still followed in this area.

FLOWERS, FRUITS PINCH POCKETS

Sankranti, also being shoppers' favourite, results in good business for traders. The rise in the prices of fruits, flowers and other articles has not dampened the Mysoreans' festive spirit. Traders made brisk business since morning at Devaraja Market on Sunday. People were seen bargaining over the rates of groundnut, flowers, banana and sakkare achchu.

Veena Satyanarayana from Hebbal, who had come with her husband for shopping, paid Rs 50 each for full two stalks of sugarcane and 1kg banana. She said: "I was busy and could not prepare ellu-bella. Now the vendors have increased the prices. I don't want to compromise with festivities."

Some shops sold ellu-bella mixture while others sold sugar candies, ellu, bella, groundnut and other grams in separate packets.

Manjunath, a flower vendor, said that this is the time for them to make money. The prices of flowers and fruits have doubled when compared with any other day. For four cubit length of flower is being sold for anywhere between Rs 50 and Rs 60.

Nagendra Kumar, an employee at revenue department, said the festival cannot go well without flowers and fruits. "We are forced to buy them," he added.

Poster collection speaks volume about yesteryear plays

MYSORE: A rare collection posters on world theatre is being exhibited at Bahuroopi national theatre festival. Rangayana's first director B V Karanth had collected hundreds of theatre posters from across the world, of which 100 are being displayed at the Bahuroopi venue.

The collection includes Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet' staged at theatre studio in Waraszawa in Poland, 'The voysay inheritance' directed by Harley Gramble Barker at Triumph Theater production, Girish Karnad's 'Hayavadana' staged at Deutsches national Theatre Weimar in Germany, 'Much ado about nothing' by Aldowych theatre, Edward Albee directed 'Wer hat angst vor Virginia Woolf' and the like.

Rangayana artist Manjunath Belkere, an admirer of Karant's collection, told TOI: "They speak about the history of world theatre. The vision and thoughts of directors can be seen. Posters explained the story of plays."

The other posters cover Prithvi theatre's Prithvi Festival-1990, 'Atoms of time' staged at Royal National theatre of Great Britain, 'Measure for measure' staged at Royal Shakespeare Theater in Stratford in 1983, Akka national-level women's theatre festival, 'Vagarth' world poetry festival, 'Expression women's cultural fetsival' at Prithvi theatre and those on plays staged by National School of Drama and Rangayana.

Rangayana artiste H K Dwarakanath said that the collection helps theatre students get an insight into the field. "Karanth collected these posters when he attended theatre festivals across the country. He even asked his friends to get some from the festivals that they attended," he added.

This apart, there is a collection of photographs of plays staged by Rangayana artistes when the theatre repertory started in late '80s. Photographs of 'Ragasaraga', a special orchestra of Rangayana which used non-instruments like stones, glass, boxes and plates to produce different sounds, are also on display.

So one can get to see the photographs of plays 'Kindari jogi', 'Govina haadu' and 'Kamsale'. A unique exhibit is the rare photograph of 'Bhoomigeetha', a play staged at one of the stages in Rangayana. The stage has now been named after the play.

INLAY: Mysore's traditional handicraft work at Bahuroopi

MYSORE: The Bahuroopi national theatre festival has on display a variety of handicrafts and art work from across the country for art lovers. Miniature bronze, metal idols, wood works and paintings have been drawing the attention of visitors and art lovers alike.

Amid the bustle of the festival and the exhibition, a woman is seen working with wood at a stall is almost unnoticed. With a 'bow' machine in her hand, she is seen designing and drawing images and patterns on rose wood. The woman, an artist, is Vasantha N K and she is involved in "inlay work", Mysore's traditional intricate wood work.

Speaking about the traditional work, she says: "This intricate work involves many stages. The work starts with a detailed sketch of the product having dimensions and scales. The next step is to design and draw images on rose wood. The paper is placed on rose wood and cut into designs by carpentry using an instrument called bow. The motifs to be inlaid are carefully hand cut to shape. Areas where motifs have to be inlaid on rosewood are scooped out. Motifs are inlaid and fixed and wood is then smoothened with sandpaper and polished."

Vasantha is involved in all stages of inlay work except the last stage of smoothening and polishing. It takes two hours to prepare this wood work. Five wood works of 24X36 cm length can be produced every day, she says.

There are two more stalls which sell the final polished inlay works. The famous designs include: a dancing pose of Radha-Krishna, dancing Ganesha, Krishna preaching Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna during Kurukshetra, Vishnu's Dashavatara, Gajalakshmi and other 3D images.

The price of these products range from Rs 300 to more than Rs 1000 depending on the design and length of inlay. Other typical articles made with inlay work are furniture, boxes, pen stands, bowls and panels.

Digital invasion takes palace photographers’ share away

MYSORE: The advent of digital technology may have reduced the burden of shutterbugs across the globe, but for photographers, who eke out a living by offering a picture-perfect moment to tourists visiting the Mysore Palace, this seems to have turned a bane. Once upon a time, when photographers were a rare breed, they were in great demand for taking photographs of people visiting the tourist spots. They used analogue camera to click photos, took the address of their customers and then posted the pictures.

Recalling the yesteryears, Sridhar Sheety, who has been working as a professional photographer on the Palace premises for the past three decades, says: "Years ago, we used to click pictures, run to the nearest studio to get the photo printed and give it to the visitors. Sometimes, the tourists would have left by then and many photos remained with us only."

With the introduction of technology, they shifted to Polaroid cameras and now, they use digital cameras. Digital technology has in fact eased the work of photographers. Main advantage is that photos can be given to the customers instantly, but now there are hardly any tourists who want to be clicked by a photographer. All the photographers have the same complaint. Most of the tourists carry with them modern gadgets like iphone, ipad and digital cameras and there is no need for them to depend on photographers. There are 15 photographers in Mysore Palace and they pay Rs 6,000 per year to the government to get the licence to take photos on the premises.

"Our business has been affected as 90% of tourists carry their own cameras or mobiles with high pixel camera," photographer Nanjundaswamy says. Echoing the same, photographer Jetty said: "Earlier, people were ready to be clicked but they were disappointed as we gave them photos very late. Now we are equipped to give photos within a few minutes, but they do not need our service."Unlike in the past, when they used to get 30-50 customers every day, now they manage to get 10 persons. They get good business only in summer and on weekends when the tourist inflow is more. Tourist Jaiwardhan feels they all have mobile phones and there is little need to be clicked by professional photographers.