Sabko Shiksha Samaan Shiksha Campaign

Sixteen years after the idea was introduced for discussion, on August 26, 2009 the President gave his assent to the long-pending Right to Education Bill, which promises free and compulsory education for children between ages 6 and 14. The Act is fragmented into thirty seven sections which are categorized into seven chapters and one schedule. A major boost for the education sector came with this act. However, the Bill does not institutionalise early childhood education ( age group of 0 to 6 ) and higher secondary education ( age group of 15 to 18 ). Pre-school support is essential for children, and ignoring them less than six years of age could lead to the promotion of child labour and other forms of discrimination. Also, a child’s education is incomplete without a higher secondary education. How far is this justified or warranted? The world’s most developed economies, such as the US, the UK and France allocate 6-7 per cent of their national budgets on public education. India by contrast, allocates just 3 per cent for education.

Keeping this in mind, CRY came up with a campaign called the “ Sabko Shiksha Samaan Shiksha” campaign, that aims to highlight the gaps in the Education bill, seeking support from citizens in the form of a signature on a ‘Charter of demands’, to be sent to the Prime Minister and the President of India. The idea is to take forward the demand that the government ensures free, equal and quality education for every child in India.

As part of the campaign, on weekends, three buses along with the cry team and a group of volunteers, went around the city to different locations creating awareness about the campaign. The two activities involved during the yatra were charter signing and the other being a free art workshop for children. The enthusiasm every volunteer carried was phenomenal. As the bus reached a particular area, people gathered around to know what’s happening. The team got to work…. making people aware about the campaign …..gathering children on the bus for the workshops…. taking their handprints on a canvas board…. and getting signatures on the ‘Charter of Demands’. The CRY team came across different people with different views. A majority of the people thought that education was a fundamental right and they understood the need and importance of the charter, and so, they signed… and even got their friends and relatives to sign. There were some who signed out of frustration and anger towards the government, who according to them can never do something right. There were also people who did not sign because they didn’t want to listen to what the volunteers had to say (a pre-notion that a person with a sheet of paper taking signatures could only ask for money).

The CRY team covered various locations across the city, from slums to malls to colleges to parks and even the beach. There were children who wouldn’t get off the bus because they were having so much fun colouring and doing paperwork activity. Their small and colourful handprints looked beautiful on the canvas. From across the country thousands of signatures were collected and the number is still rising. Thus, things will not happen right overnight, but looking at the overall initiative one cannot but feel that there is hope for the children of this nation.

experienza

Tuesday, October 27th’ 2009, It was past three in the evening and I had a task in hand of interviewing people, asking them about their first pay day. It was part of a Child labour campaign initiated by CRY with an interesting concept to spread awareness that employing child labour is illegal and unjust. Swinging my old handy camcorder on my shoulder, I set out on the streets of Andheri with a lot of hope of getting some great interviews. Although I had planned on interviewing some children, I changed my mind as soon as I came across a middle aged man who was a cycle repair person. His hands were black with grease and the frown on his face made it clear that it had not been a great day for him. “Saamdhaari” he said, when I asked him his name. From the rest of the interaction, all I was able to deduce was that he had been working for over 10 years, that he didn’t remember when he earned his first income, that he works himself and that he has never employed a child to work for him in his life. Something told me that he was not comfortable in answering my questions, so I decided not to trouble him further. I thanked him and moved on.
Next, I came across Mr. Mohammed Iliyasi, a tailor by profession who worked upon a piece of cloth with extraordinary ease. It was evident that he specialized in what he did, which he later confirmed by saying that he had started working at the age of 14. Mr. Iliyasi had dropped out of school in order to make a living and received Rs. 90 on his first pay day. Today, he feels that children should go to school and not work and that it is wrong to employ child labour.
I got the opportunity of interacting with a young boy as I was passing through a barber shop, not very far from Mr. Iliyasi’s tailoring workshop. He sat there, waiting for customers who either wanted a hair cut or a shave. 19 year old Sham-I-ullah worked with his brother for the past 7-8 years. Neither his brother nor did he ever go to school. They came to Mumbai from a small village in Lucknow to earn a livelihood. As he spoke, he smiled, a little out of embarrassment and a little out of the excitement of being in front of the camera. He did not receive any money but his brother provided him with his daily share of food and other basic necessities. Today, Sham-I-ullah wishes to go to school but he can’t stop working either.
After I left the barber shop, I came across a few people whom I wished to interview but they were reluctant. One of them even agreed to answer my questions but panicked when he saw the camera. It was getting dark, and so after trying a few places without any luck at all, I decided to call it a day. I headed back home thinking about the people I met that day, their lives, their childhood and how different it was from mine.

The "First Pay Day" campaign....

Saturday 26th Sept. 2009, CRY office, a group of volunteers were eager to understand the concept of the campaign in detail and we got another opportunity to enlighten our shibboleth "Jid Karo, School Bharo" once again.... this time we were even more well-versed.... with many more examples to emphasize our point....

The first question came was "Why the video of First Pay Day??".... what is so different and important about the "First Pay Day" for everyone??? We may tend to think Pay Day is only the first salary earned in an organization, after a month-long work in a air-conditioned office, in front of a stupid computer and blah blah..... If we stressed our "mighty-brains" and think beyond it we may imagine the worst situation of a "human" who may be working on a construction site.... accompanied by the raging sun.... ooohhh.... poor fellow.... but..... but..... can we ever see a lady begging at some traffic signal along with her small kid... who is of only 3-4 months old.... and the lady gets money by "marketing" the her asset - the-misfortunate-kid............ and the-socially-responsible-citizens like us help her by giving her a rupee or two... for the kid's sake.....

wait a second..... did we say for the kid's sake.....????? does that mean the kid has just earned some money... that too at the age of, may be, few days......???? Could this be the "First Pay Day" for the kid???

So, is the First Pay Day important and unique for everyone??? We just want us to think about the same when we come across these kind of situation.....

to be continued.......