| 1. INTRODUCTION
A team of 22 students and 3 faculty from Eklavya Institute of Teacher Education (EITE) conducted a two-day survey of schools in Patdi Taluka of Surendranagar district of Gujarat State. The objective of the survey was to do a first-hand assessment of the physical damage to school buildings in the taluka due to the earthquake of January 26. This information would help to estimate the immediate requirements of temporary shelters like tents to restart the schools. The survey was conducted on 14th and 15th February, 2001 (Wednesday and Thursday).
The idea of the survey originated from discussions with a senior official of the Education Department, Government of Gujarat. Since Eklavya was already involved in rebuilding a school in village Aadariyana in the taluka, he wondered whether an independent assessment of the state of the village schools could be done as it would be useful during the process of distribution of tents to the affected schools. This informal suggestion was taken up by Eklavya as it was seen as an opportunity to help restart the educational process in the affected areas. Through this exercise, EITE students would also get a first hand picture of the situation in an earthquake-affected area.
The students who conducted the survey belong to the English and Gujarati batches of the Post Graduate Diploma in Primary Education course offered by Eklavya. All of them had completed about 8 months of the course at Eklavya. All of them including a few who do not belong to Gujarat - are proficient with the Gujarati language.
Needless to say, they are not professional researchers nor have they been specifically trained in conducting such a survey. Actual out-of-pocket expenses borne by them during the trip were reimbursed by Eklavya. |
The survey was in the nature of voluntary work on their part but all students, except two who were unwell at that time, participated in it.
2. ABOUT PATDI
Patdi taluka is situated in the northern part of Surendranagar district with the Little Rann to its west and north and Mehsana district to its north. The Rupen river forms the northern border of the taluka and district. Patdi town, the taluka headquarters is about 120 km from Ahmedabad and about 230 km from the epicentre of the January 26th earthquake.
Throughout the state, schools are grouped together in clusters of between 5 and 15 under a "Pay Centre School". This is usually the school in the biggest village in the area. As per a list of schools available with the Department of Primary Education, there are 12 Pay-centre schools and 100 other schools in Patdi as of 31 August, 2000. These schools have a total of 757 classes. A total of 23,342 students 13,293 boys and 10,049 girls attend these schools (classes 1 to 7). The numbers of class 1 are 5,033 while those of class 7 are 1,792. There are a total of 650 teachers against a full capacity of 694.
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