IKEA and UNICEF initiative for Child Rights

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No mid-day meal for 12 cr kids from July

Fight Over Payment Leaves States Short Of Grains

Akshaya Mukul | TNN

New Delhi: Come July and 12 crore children benefiting from the mid-day meal scheme may go without food as states have nearly run out of foodgrain and fresh supply is caught up in wrangling over the mode of payment.
Normally,foodgrain for every quarter is lifted a month in advance.But with June approaching and the department of food and public distribution and HRD ministry still to resolve their differences on the mode of payment,the most successful flagship programme is facing a severe crisis as there is no hope that rice and wheat will be lifted for the next quarter.
States like Jharkhand,Punjab,Rajasthan,Maharashtra,Uttar Pradesh and others have pressed the panic button and written to the HRD ministry.On May 18,secretary school education wrote to her counterpart in the department of food and public distribution expressing concern that allocation for the second quarter was not being released by FCI possibly due to non-resolution of the pre/post-payment issue.Timely availability of fooodgrain is key to successful implementation of MDM, she wrote.MDM,endorsed by economists like Amartya Sen,has not only led to massive improvement in school enrolment but has also provided much-needed nutritional support to millions of children.Adoption of MDM first started in 1925 by Madras Municipal Corporation in the mid-1980 s by states like Tamil Nadu ensured that the state did better in education.
Meanwhile,the two departments are busy arguing with even ministers Sharad Pawar and Kapil Sibal writing to each other but with no result.The department of food and public distribution has made it clear that FCI will not allow lifting of grain till HRD ministry agrees to make advance payment.
On its part,HRD ministry said payment was decentralised at the district level so that there was no delay,a constant complaint by FCI.


- Sharmishtha

Dharamveer Nagar – The Neglected Region.

We visited Dharamveer Nagar as part of our survey of Gandhinagar area. Most of the residents of the area have migrated from Nanded and are staying at Dharamveer Nagar for about 6 years now. The huts are made of plastic and cloth scraps and supported by wooden sticks. The state of the area is pathetic. There is no electricity or proper water supply. Most of the residents are employed at the construction sites and are daily wage earners. As the migrants are illegally residing in the area, the municipality comes once in every three months or so and evacuates them but as people have no other place to go, they settle down there again.

At the first glance of community, one can come to know that the problems hovering are many and all interlinked. According to me , Dharamveer is the most distressed region of Gandhinagar area. There is active child labour, child marriage and cases of early pregnancies. Girls as young as 13 or 14 are married and at 18 are bearing babies.

Dharamveer Nagar is the only region ( noted among Gandhi Nagar area) where parents are sceptical about sending their children to school. There are cases where kids are attending school but majority of children have not even seen one. We interacted with a lady and she had a firm conviction about schooling being useless and not having any add on benefit on the child’s future. She would prefer, her daughter sitting at home learning household chores or working somewhere earning some extra cash rather than attending classes. Unstable life and mobile homes were also part of reasons given by parents for not sending children to school. But I find those reasons invalid because many migrants have been staying in the region for now 6 years or so. And if they move also, they won’t go that far. Maybe it is out of lack of will, they are not sending kids to school.

The girls of the region are the most affected identity. They take care of the household, work at construction sites and then are married off at young age .

Sangeeta, 11 year old, cooks, cleans, looks after her sister’s kids and also works on construction sites. When we asked her if she would like to attend school, reply came “Ask my mother, she decides everything.” And when we asked her mother she said “ Ab to yeh badi hogai hai, school jake kya karegi!”

Problems faced by the region are very complex and have to be handled in a different manner .

In such unbearable beaten down conditions, children bore a ray of hope in their eyes because of some people visiting them and giving them a possibility of attending school and returning their childhood back. Let’s not let them down. This might be out of our sphere of action but we can give it a try. We should make this neglected area visible to the authorities and urge them to take some actions.

Focused Group Discussion at Gandhinagar, May 19, 2010

Focused Group Discussion

Area: Gandhi Nagar, Near Hiranandani Meadows, Thane (W)

Date & Time: May 19, 2010 - 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM

Volunteers: Krishna, Sharmishtha, Ekta, Ratna, Divya, Santaji, Ashutosh

Facilitator: Santaji

Observer: Krishna, Ratna

Recorder: Ashutosh

Volunteers gathered all the kids in and around the mentioned area.

• Kajal, a very bright young girl, studying in 3^rd standard at Vasant Vihar Marathi School, was not able to accompany all the children initially because she was cooking rice, daal and sabji at home. After cooking, she gathered 5-6 kids residing nearby and came along with them to the FGD venue.
• Lack of hygiene was observed.

Activities prior to FGD

• Initially, kids were asked to sing, after many efforts to make them open up, a girl started murmuring some song, but others were mum.
• Santaji then started a very simple but beautiful song with children with actions.
• Once volunteers started singing along, all children followed the song.
• Now some children started opening up, and sung a song. 

Recordings during FGD

• All the volunteers introduced themselves to the kids.
• Kids were asked to repeat the names of the volunteers.
• Introduction of all the children present was conducted.
• Other kids were asked to repeat the name of each of the individual to get them know each other.
• Details of the name of the children will be shared in separate document.
• After the introduction, volunteers distributed the paintings sheets to the children. Crayon chalks were shared with all the kids.
• Paintings were in form of kites and balloons. Kids were asked to fill the colors in.
• During the activity, one girl named Piyasa, started staring at the volunteers (especially Ekta, as she asked her to paint). It was a complete cold look, no feelings or emotions were visible on the face. Sharmishtha eased her by speaking in Bengali, her mother tongue. After sometime Piyasa was kind of comfortable with repeated conversions in her native language.
• Kids started getting involved in the painting. By looking at the children’s activity, other dwellers gathered around.
• Another very young boy (must be around 2 years old). Ratna asked him to paint. With the help of his mother, he started scribbling on the paper with chalks.
• Some of the other kids were very neat and tidy in painting. Some couldn’t manage to be.
• Nandini and Monika were very good at painting.
• After finishing the painting, kids were asked to write their names on the paper-sheet.
• There were some children who never attended the school, couldn’t write their name.
• When some volunteers were clicking photographs, kids were really amazed with camera.
• Volunteers helped the kids, who were not able to write, showed them how to write. They were asked to write their names by looking at the name written by volunteers.
• Satish, a young boy, was very shy and reluctant to write it even after Ratna’s efforts.
• Around 12 children were going to school out of 26.
• Nandini who is really interested in studying, couldn’t go to school as she had no birth certificate.
• Kids were asked what do they want to be in future, the common replies were doctor, teacher. One girl said she would like to be in Police.
• Teachers beat students if they commit some mistake. But hardly anybody was out of school due to this reason.
• Nandini, who is interested in studying, helps her parents to run Vada-Paav dukaan. Does the household work along with her 3 siblings. Her parents are also ready to send her to school.
• Monika, another girl, who studied up to 3^rd standard at her native, refused to join the school here. She insisted that she will go to school at her native only – due to language barrier.
• Nothing except books and notebooks, is given to the students going to nearby Municipal schools.
• A girl, who is studying in 2^nd standard, said, when asked about reasons for absenteeism, if mother is not feeling well, she has to stay back at home to cook and other household work and to take care of her siblings.
• When asked about teacher’s involvement in communities, children said, teachers never come to their settlements.
• When asked about parents’ meeting teacher, they meet rarely.
• After the discussion, kids performed dance on some songs.
• At the end, some candies were distributed to all the children. 

Observations:

• Kids were asking us, when are visiting them again.
• Parents are also building some hopes and expectations from the volunteers.
• Not sure about the kids, but we can be once again very clear about our purpose and goal with the elders.
• Enrollment drive can be successful here, but very few eligible children were out of school. Few are really young. Will have to enroll them in Anganwaadi.
• Nandini, Kajal, Monika, Salim are some of the bright kids.
• Kajal has a natural leadership qualities.

My eye-view on our recent activities - 17th May 2010

The scorching sun o’er my head,
Is taunting me to step up and view -
This town of little brown squirrels;
Where sun is shade, but smiles aren’t few.

I can thickly say that I have been associated with the cause of sending all children of India to school for over a year now. So, what has been my learning so far?

• Underprivileged society of India finds it hard to send their children to school for myriad of reasons such as poverty, lack of awareness, unavailability of schools, disbelief on the dictums of our education system etc
• Children sometimes do not want to go to school; parents are unable to pick the rod (remember spare the rod and spoil the child, I am not endorsing it here either!!)
• There is a lack of, what experts call – Joyful learning in schools. Thus, a part of the blame must be shared by the lackluster education system, including teachers’ sloppy teaching methodologies
• Disagreeable future prospects of these half-heartedly taught and improperly examined nevertheless degree-holding bourgeois.


The above-mentioned for me is not learning, but findings. When it comes to learning, I would rather say that I learnt to be humane. I learnt to step into a world different than mine and befriend people. I learnt to constructively disagree with people and in turn gather their perspective. I learnt to lead and unabashedly, be led. In nutshell, I learnt to grow as a person.

A lot of this learning came to me during the last couple of weeks. I have been meeting the communities of immigrant workers working at construction sites across Thane for my Photography project with Click Rights group at CRY. At the photography workshop they rightly taught me that it is not the camera but me who clicks a photograph, so I must first bring in the human touch by connecting with my subjects and then my pictures shall speak for themselves. It took me sometime but eventually I came around the idea of talking to my subjects before pulling out my camera. To whet your inquisitive appetite, the pictures came out decent!


Last week I accompanied Ratna, Ekta and Krishna to the same communities for a detailed survey of the reasons why the children of these immigrants stayed out of school. What I have wanted to do for quite some time which I must do it now – is to scream from top of the roof tops – parents want to send their children to school!!
Suma Ganguly, a Bengali Brahmin from as far as Kolkata is staying in Gandhinagar, tin shed – it cannot be called a hutment for crying out loud – with her husband and 2 young girls while the eldest is studying at a school in Kolkata. Similar is the story of most of these families who hail from rural West Bengal. These families have no clue about “Child Rights” or for that matter “Human Rights”, like most Indian brethrens, they have learnt to “survive”. We all do, I guess. But God forbid if I ever have to struggle with getting drinking water, proper food or security, I would be bitter and angry.


That is where my learning started…

These people are happy as little brown squirrels. They live in a world swarmed by mosquitoes and insects, no electricity nor proper water but boy! They remember how to smile. I will share with you my first feeling when I went amidst these people – an uncanny guilt. Guilt of being what I am – an upper middle class, convent educated, well-fed woman talking about celestial things like good education and bright future. I hesitated in entering too much into their lives out of the lame fear of exploring what I might not be able to handle. But impressions change, people evolve. So, did I.


After meeting some 10 odd families in 2 days I realized that these people are neither bitter nor hopeful. They are struggling. They have similar aspirations as ours, just in smaller sizes but their meager means pull them back repeatedly. The Focused Group Discussion that we had with these families did not look like a research methodology from a social science text book, but an inter-family discussion in a neighborhood. How did these people manage to be so warm? I kept wondering throughout the discussion and even post that.


I have deduced one fact – It is not just the system’s undervalued functioning that keeps them from achieving, neither is it solely the lack of mullah. It is the matter of free will. Having said that I would also like to reinforce that I do not mean to undermine the effects of an ill-functioning system nor do I mean to dishonor the value of money in our society, but I want to send a word of immense appreciation to people like Mr. Patel, a migrant carpenter, who despite all odds is getting his three daughters taught in a local school for unlike his future, theirs, he says, need to be brightened up. Applause!


While I am contemplating over the seriousness of what lies beneath the poverty-laden lives of Mr. Patel and others, I often get distracted by the loud giggles of their children. How innocent is childhood.

Little do they understand why we are visiting them, but to them the term ‘visit’ is important. Someone is ‘visiting’ them and they are happy about it. I like to be with them more than being with adults. They don‘t judge me, they don’t make me accountable for anything – they are just happy that I am visiting them.


Mother of all facts – these children love going to school. Like most of the kids, for some it is a daily war against bullies or homework, but it is part of their lives. They love to play in their school uniforms until they are beyond repair via any Rin or Surf challenge! just like I did as a kid. They share the stories of their friends and foes with fervent voices. So, what is that I am there to fix or advocate for?

Among these happily giggling faces are a few smiling but evidently uncomfortable kids. They listen to these stories but cannot become a part of them. They help the other kids soil their uniforms because they don’t have any of their own. Some might say that they are too young to feel jealousy or its consequential sadness; I say it’s not true. These children out of school are sad and jealous, they want to be a part of this entire fun of learning and books, uniforms and time tables, home-works and teachers, it is their RIGHT!


After visiting three communities and attending a Focused Group Discussion, I have had a sort of reinforcement of thought while on a mile long ride on the learning bus.

I congratulate all those who became part of these surveys not because we became minions of some earth shattering change in the field of child rights, but because we learnt how does the life at the other side of the fence look and feel like.
Let us all treat this as good first step, for all I know – ‘there are miles to go before I sleep’…

Survey Experiences in the Gandhinagar area

Last week was a week of mixed feelings – on one hand it was really painful to hear about the hardships people go through (and feel how lucky you are…) and on the other hand it was that good feeling of having an opportunity to help these people in a small way!!!

We started the survey in the Gandhinagar area on Monday, 10^th May 2010. The first day we just roamed around the entire area to find out about the schools and aaganwadis close to the settlements. From Tuesday onwards, we started meeting with the people in the community. It was really good to see that the people welcomed us. Especially when they came to know that we were working for the education of their children, they were very warm and opened up to us.

Whatever their financial status, these are people who want to give their children a good education and ready to take efforts for it. The only thing they lack is awareness about the schools and the Government schemes. The fact that about 6-8 people turned up for the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) after a day of hard work, shows that these people have the commitment and the will to educate their children.

It was also disappointing, in some cases, that the parents made the children stay at home to take care of their younger siblings. Also, some parents showed a lot of hesitancy in putting their children in school since they did not have a permanent residence. The worst part was they did not even want to try. Also, the fact that most of the Municipal schools were Marathi medium schools was a deterring factor for the parents to send their children to school. Many parents, being illiterate themselves, were unable to monitor the progress of their wards and take steps for them to perform better. Even though this number was very few, it was discouraging to see their children being affected by all this.

On the brighter side, it was really touching to see that the faces of the parents lighting up when we mentioned that we could try to get their wards into school. Almost all of the children were overjoyed at the thought of going to school and learning. And the kids were very bright and could go a long way if properly guided.

Interacting with the children was the best part of the survey. Their inquisitive eyes, their shy but welcoming smiles and their frankness speak a lot about their innocence and it was really a wonderful experience talking to them. In spite of the conditions they live in, these children seemed happy and contended with life. When we asked them what they wanted to learn, they answered that they wanted simple things like pens, notebooks, uniforms and shoes (a 5 year old kid said he wanted a jeans pant!!!) These kids also expected desires to be doctors, teachers, pilots and one of them was very sure of becoming a bus conductor as well!!!

It feels nice to know that we are able to touch these people in our small and simple ways but we must surely work hard to at least enable these children to take their first steps towards achieving their dreams and aspirations…..

Survey Report - Gandhi Nagar

As the voices of those men and women started rising and they started sharing their pleasant and not so pleasant experiences, we realized that perhaps this was the moment which our volunteer group aspired for.

This was not just a simple discussion or thought-sharing session neither was it so simple an event, but it took almost 3 years and countless hours of efforts by volunteers to reach at this level of comfort with community and to have the communities develop a faith in us.

After last month’s community scan, Ratna and Ekta started the survey work in Gandhi Nagar area since last Monday. They interacted, discussed and acquainted themselves with more than 20 families at the Gemini and Iris construction sites of Hiranandani and MMRDA projects. The statistics of spending almost 20 minutes with each family might not signify much but the personal connection which Ratna and Ekta developed with children and women in these communities certainly makes a statement.

How often have we experienced an underprivileged child practicing English alphabet whole day just because someone (read Ekta) asked her to practice. So what if she doesn’t have formal access to school. The motivation by Ekta meant so much to the kid that she showed her practiced alphabets to Ekta as soon as she visited her Jhopadi next evening.

It was evident that Ratna’s addressing the ladies of community as ‘Didi’ was not just a formal word but a deeper respect towards them. They didn’t hesitate to pour their life before her and shared every bit of their personal hardships of life with her. For a moment it seemed to me that Ratna knew the mother and father of Shahrukh and Muskan (5 year old kid from Iris site) from many years. They wanted to provide formal education to their children but they didn’t know how. We seemed to them like a hope that can make their dreams true.

Vinay was not just moved but also felt, what an expectation or faith is, when father (Patel) of those 3 girls started crying while explaining his hardships of life and struggle to get his girls admitted in municipality school. His bargaining and pleading to Shiksha mafias that he can’t afford Rs 3000 donation for admission filled us with rage at the inefficiency of our system and empathy towards the hardship of this father.

to be continued...

Some Interesting observations from the scans.

Sugandhi Devi’s Family (Mother)
The peculiarity of this case is that the mother and father are willing to send their daughter to the school but the child is least interested in attending .She had attended an Anganvadi in the native, but she just used to go there to get the food and then run away .It is interesting to know that she does not help her mom in household and is not an income contributor by any sense, she just roams around and passes her time by playing with other kids.

This is a case where parents will exists but the child is not attracted to the idea of education.
Let’s brainstorm, what should be our approach to enrol such kids?

Sumi Ghosh’s Family (Mother)

Hailing from Kolkata, they want their kids to go to some English medium school; they quite understand the importance of quality education. So they tried their best to find some English medium Gov school but after an unsuccessful search, admitted their kids in to a private one.
But problem is , school charges random fees every month and then also detained the kids in their respective first and second grade. They do not get any scholar ships or any other kind of support from the school. For now, their education is going quite good but with these negative scenarios and unstable income; this family is not sure about how long they would be able to facilitate the same.
Again a case where zeal is in but means are missing; kids and their parents are very enthusiastic about their education and bright future but no idea what is going to happen next.
Let’s brainstorm how the Gov. schools can be matched to the attraction of the English medium private schools. ?

Durga Aike (Daughter)
Latest, we got an amendment as per RTE that no kid is supposed to be detained up to class eight and I can observe how it effects by discussing Durga’s example. Durga is a shy girl studying in a TMC school. She recently gave her annual exams of fifth grade and has been detained by the teacher. While talking with her I realized that she is quite ashamed of her performance and on the verge of leaving the school. Yesterday when we were interacting with this family, one of the neighbour also join the discussion commending the exam performance of the kids. At that time, a clear sign of frustration was visible on the face of her parents .They were like what is the profit of educating them for this shame. ?

I do not think that only kids are to be blamed here. How much we interacted , we found them quite smart and thoughtful. We really need a way to understand the root causes of underperformance, it can be because of the poor standards of the teacher too. But one thing is definite that kids should not be detained at this level, this leads to the dropouts.

Please suggest what you guys think on the same. ?

TMC SSA Report Page 1

State admits it cannot eradicate Child Labour

Maharashtra State Government is withdrawing its committment to eradicate Child Labour...the attached article is a sorry statement in a line of excuses made over the past 62 years in the process of guaranteeing Child Rights.

Of course one understands that there are several root causes to be addressed - but if the state does not take a strong stand against this practise and simultaneously work on addressing the causes, then we can be sure that Child Labour will always be a practise in India. It is imperative that through our campaign we continue to mobilise a public voice to ensure that Children go to School, not Work

Kalwa – E (Shanti Nagar) revisit

After reading Ratna’s observation and scan details about Shanti Nagar area, we planned for another round of scan of this locality on 2nd May.

Volunteers: Preeti, Souvik, Krishna

Observation:
• People in this community are immigrants from different part of India.
• More than 5000 families reside in this jhuggi community. Almost all Jhuggi in this community is made of steel sheets. After talking to one dweller we came to know that a 2 room jhuggi is sold to them in 70 K through a local leader/broker. Government removes these jhuggis time to time but they mushroom again in no time.
• This community might look like a jungle of huts from outside but once you step inside, you will find kirana shops, public places (we saw people gambling there) and even Video Game parlor (Rs 1 per game) inside the basti.
• We interacted with a child who was taking care of a Kirana shop and asked about her studies and school around the community. As mentioned by Ratna in previous blog, there’s a municipality school till 7th standard on other side of the community. Post 7th standard children go to municipality and private school in Kalwa- W.
• We observed many children of age group 6-14 years, picking garbage and there no sign of parental care around them.
• There were no industry around this community where child labour is used but after interacting with children we were sure that most of them have never even seen the door of a school.
• Looking at the hygiene in this community, it was evident that the chances of epidemic in this locality are very high once the monsoon arrives.

Steps further:
• Before we go ahead and talk about Primary education of these children, we need to look upon many other important factors like health and sanitation of this community.

Scan - Kalwa East - May 1st 2010

Area 1: Settlements parallel to the railway tracks on the East.

Area 2: Shanti Nagar (It is a 3-5 mins walk from Kalwa station).

Time: 13:15 to 14:30 hrs

Volunteers: Prajakta, Ratna, Alok and Yash.

Observations:

Points common to Area 1 and Area 2: There was a major water problem in these areas. We came to know that the water had not come for 2 days. There was a public toilet in the area – separate for men and women. The people from Area 2 used a public toilet which was close to the station. Shiv Sena was the ruling party and Mr. Mahesh Salvi was the elected leader. There were no municipal hospitals in the area. The closest hospital was Shivaji Hospital (Private hospital in Kalwa West).

There are a number of schools in the area:

• Kalwa Hindi Vidya Mandir
• Panduranga Private School
• Municipal School – Kalwa Market, West
• 1 Private School in Anand Nagar

In Area 1, a girl called Kajal (studying in the 5^th std) in Kalwa Hindi Vidya Mandir said that the school provided food (khichdi, Halwa etc), notebooks, textbooks but did not provide uniforms.

Most of the children in Area 1 went to school. Some even went to schools in Thane.

However, the situation in Area 2 was depressing. The area houses a population of 5000 people (Yash, please confirm this). Hygiene is a major issue since this area is very unclean and the Nala is full of moss and garbage.

Many of the children (in fact most of the children) did not go to school. They were not engaged in any income generating work. However, we saw children carrying water, some children stayed at home to take care of the house while the parents went to work etc.

We were told that the men and women in the area were involved in Mistry work, selling of utensils (in exchange for clothes), had monkeys and used them for begging for money, swept roads, gutters etc. The financial status of these people was very low. Also, interactions with people showed that there was little knowledge of schools in the area, of government schemes etc.

We spoke to Mr. Sanjay Ramrao Salunkhe who worked as a construction labourer. He has 3 children- 2 sons (11 and 5 years old) and 1 daughter (7 years old). The eldest son does not go to school because he did not have a birth certificate because he was born at their residence in their native place in Nashik. The other 2 children went to Marathi Municipal School in Shiv Shakti Nagar (this school is till the 8^th standard). He said that he would make his eldest son do farming in their fields in Nashik once he grows up.

We spoke to a girl called Amida Sayyed. She was about 13 years old. She had studied till her 3^rd standard after which she had to leave school to stay at home and take care of the house and her little sister – Sayira (11 years old). Sayira also studied till the 1^st standard after which she refused to go school. They do not have a father and their mother earns a living by selling Mehendi in the local trains. Sayira sometimes accompanies her mother.

We happened to meet a kid called Krishna – 11 years old. He has never been in school. His mother stays in their native place and he stays here with his dad. He said that his parents have never taken the initiative to send him to school.

There was a child (name unknown) who left school because his teacher hit him hard (this was in the Municipal School in Anand Nagar).

A lady called Laxmi told us that a few days back, some 5 men and 1-2 women had come from Mulund. They came and requested these people to send their children to school and that they would take care of them. Laxmi has visited this school in Mulund (she could neither recollect the name of the school nor recollect the location in Mulund). She said that the school was really good.

There were comments from people stating that the Anand Nagar school was not good enough.

Personal Comments:

• This is an area where there is scope for a lot of improvement. An enrolment drive is absolutely essential for an area like this.
• The Parents are not even aware of the basic facilities that a Municipal school provides. The importance and inclination towards education is also very weak or almost absent.
• The point about girl children staying at home to take care of the house or to take care of a younger sibling again stands out.

Scan - Thane Kopri Area (East) - May 1st 2010

Area: Thane Kopri area. The settlements are on the roads which go parallel to the railway station.

Time: 11:00 to 12:30 hrs

Volunteers: Prajakta, Ratna, Alok and Yash.

Observations:

We went to 2 settlements in the Kopri area. There are 2 aaganwaadis and 4 schools in the area. One of the schools was very close to the settlement. There is a municipal hospital and a number of private clinics in the nearby areas. The area has a public toilet – separate for men and women. Shiv Sena is the ruling party and Mr. Pandurang Patil is the elected leader.

In the first settlement that we went to, all children we met were going to school. There were children in the age group of 1-6 years who were going to the aaganwaadi as well.

When we went a little ahead (off the main road), we met a number of children who had finished their 7^th standard (in the municipal school) and then had quit school.

We met Anil, 17 years old, who had finished his 7^th. We asked him why he quit. He said that one of his teachers (a Mr. Pawar who teaches in the Municipal School) used to catch hold of his hair and beat him. That caused him to leave school. He now has his own shop (sells falooda and pani puris in some area in Thane) and makes around 3000-3500 Rs/Month. He became an escort for us and took us to children who had quit school.

Mayur was a guy who had given his 10^th this year. He failed and when we asked him whether he was going to re-appear, he said that he was not sure.

Aayub had quit school after 7^th. He is only 15-16 years old and still drives a rickshaw at night. He showed no intention of joining school again. And he says that even though he doesn’t have a license…. ‘ Raat ko koi nahi pakadta!!!’

We also met a 14 year old girl named Lata. She also studied till 7^th standard. But now she does house work. When we asked her parents about her further education, they said that they were getting her married in 2 months. They said that education was not so important for a girl and were not interested in her further education.

Apart from the above disappointments, there were also a number of children who were going to school and were in 8^th, 9^th and further standards. It was good to see positive inclination towards education in some of these children.

Personal Comments:

• One of the main reasons, I feel for these children leaving their education after 7^th is the required change in schools from 7^th to 8^th. This causes a hiatus in their education. I most certainly feel that if schools were till 10^th, many of these (if not all) would surely complete their education at least till the 10^th.
• It is also disappointing to see that even in this day and age; education is not felt to be important for girls. This mindset needs to change.
• It is also disappointing that many of these children (more than 13-14 years of age) do not have a dream or aim about what they want to do or be in life. This may be because of lack of motivation or lack of exposure.