



17 million children in India are sent to work not school.Because with no land of their own,or livelihood,their parents are too poor to make ends meet. So children end up working , Often in dismal conditions. It's not right.Let's resolve to change that,no matter how long it takes.Add to our belief,to our strength. Join us in our year long campaign against childlabour and the day every child is learning,not working won't be far.
Gandhi Nagar:
We perhaps understated the influence of chain reaction.
I dropped in to Nandini’s abode today and inquired with her mother about her studies.
Her mother couldn’t tell me much about her studies but she pointed out that she is regular to school. Nandini brought her notebook and showed me her English and Marathi exercises.
The one last thing which struck me the most was, when while leaving she pointed out that Kiran is no more coming to school. She tried convincing her but all in vane.
It was not an insignificant effort, it shows that how a chain reaction works. Of course it’s difficult without support of encouraging parents. After all Kiran is not as lucky as Nandini.
This also reminded me of our visit to Gandhi Nagar community with TMC-Hindi medium teacher Mr R.S. Yadav. When He was trying to convince and convey Kiran’s parents the importance of education, at that time Kajal’s mother (Kajal is a 12 year old bright girl from Hiranadani workers community) also joined Mr Yadav and gave the examples of her daughters who are regular to schools and getting better in education every year.
Perhaps examples like these can be of immense help in our upcoming campaigns.
Dharamveer Nagar:
Not even a single child from that community is coming to school any more.
Shanti Nagar(Kalwa):
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My sole reason to sit among these children is to learn what goes on in their mind. What causes them to grow up so fast and look at this world through those oceanic abyss eyes?
Last Saturday on Anti Child Labour day, I was once again among them. Almost all those faces were new for me, but within 2 hours they become so close that I can close my eyes and those stark faces will be right in front my eyes.
I first looked towards him when whole bunch of children started shouting his name. They all wanted him to come in front and dance. They all, except him, claimed that he was a very good dancer. I asked him to come up front and perform with other children, but he politely pulled himself back, whispering that he is not a good dancer.
The other face sat right beside me. When the group decided that we will start the event with introduction by all the kids one by one. All of them came in front one after another and told us their name. We shouted their name, when they were returning to their places. We saw a sense of belonging floating on their faces.
During this whole time, he was pulling my hand and trying to pull my attention. His face was full of heat rash pimples. He didn’t want to wait for his chance and wanted to stand and shout his name.
The girl right beside me on the other side was one of the liveliest faces I have seen. I was not bewildered when she came in front after Introduction and sang 3 nursery rhymes one after other. I also observed that far from one end of the field, her mother calling her to fetch water bucket.
A day with them, singing, drawing and building a ‘Shiksha ki train’, was indeed a very different and inspirational for all of them.
At the end of these activities, while we were distributing the drawing among the kids, He came towards me. I didn’t pay attention to him until he pulled my hand. He was the 8 year kid with heat rashs on his face. I bowed down to listen to him as there were kids shouting and still enjoying ‘Shiksha ki train’ all around us. It was difficult to hear his whisper, one I understood him clearly he was asking “when you will come for taking me to school.” I was wrong, it was not a whisper it was thundering and determined voice.
After wrapping up the activities, when we all were coming out through the narrow lanes of this community, many of these children accompanied us till the end of the community. He came running parallel to me and said, “You know, I will dance when you come here next time. I am good dancer” He shook hand with me and taught me a brand new way to shake hand.
At the end I came back with lots of those faces in front my eyes and ample unanswered question.
Date: June 7, 2010 Time: 2:00 PM to 4:15 PM Volunteers: TMC Representatives: All Block Officers under TMC Education Department (Primary) Agenda: Knowledge and ideas exchange, Understanding the schemes and policies related to enrollment, retention. |
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
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…..
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:
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
There are a number of schools in the area:
In Area 1, a girl called Kajal (studying in the 5th 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
We spoke to a girl called Amida Sayyed. She was about 13 years old. She had studied till her 3rd 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 1st 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
There was a child (name unknown) who left school because his teacher hit him hard (this was in the
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:
Area: Thane Kopri area. The settlements are on the roads which go parallel to the railway station.
Time:
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 7th standard (in the municipal school) and then had quit school.
We met Anil, 17 years old, who had finished his 7th. We asked him why he quit. He said that one of his teachers (a Mr. Pawar who teaches in the
Mayur was a guy who had given his 10th 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 7th. 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 7th 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 8th, 9th and further standards. It was good to see positive inclination towards education in some of these children.
Personal Comments: