Child rights and child education in
Andhra Pradesh
Report for CARPED (Centre for Action
Research and Peoples Development)
Based on research done during an AIESEC traineeship from January to
August 2005 in and around Hyderabad, India
Caesar Andres
Fruthwilerstrasse 57
CH-8272 Ermatingen
SWITZERLAND
Phone: +41 71 664 23 45
Mobile: +41 76 535 57 76
Email: caesar.andres@gmx.ch
Ermatingen, 11.09.2005
Table
of contents:
1 Introduction. 3
2 Visit
of a primary school in Yousufguda, Hyderabad on Republic Day (26.01.2005) 4
3 My
first trip to the villages in Kowdipally mandal in Medak district. (28.01.2005) 5
4 First
meeting with M. Bharat Bhushan? (01.02.2005) 7
5 Mahita:
Interview with Mr. Ramesh and Mr. Kumar (14.02.2005) 7
6 Visit
at a home of a member of Asha for Education (17.02.2005) 11
7 Visit
at the office of the Concern India Foundation (17.02.2005) 13
8 School
Education Committee (SEC) Meeting in Kowdipally (18.02.2005) 13
9 PRA
seminar combined with visit in Battu Thanda, Kowdipally mandal (30.03.2005) 17
10 Evening
play in Kachan Palli, Kowdipally mandal (30.03.2005) 17
11 Visit
of the Zillaparishad High School (ZPHS) in Kowdipally (31.03.-01.04.2005) 18
12 Second
meeting with M. Bharat Bhushan (03.04.2005) 19
13 Visits
of Ken World High School ? (04.04.2005 and 06.04.2005) 20
14 MMCC
(Master Minds Children?s Career) Talent High School (THS) (15.04.2005) 25
15 Lecture
on Child Deprivation in AP ? Speaker: M. Venkata Narayana (12.04.2005) 28
16 School
visits in Kowdipally mandal (20.04.2005) 31
17 Visit
to Kowdipally with Mr. Vidyasagar (21.04.2005) 33
18 Meeting
with HCHW (Hyderabad Council of Human Welfare) (18.08.2005) 33
19 Conclusion
and Outlook. 37
This report is based on research I was
doing for the Indian NGO CARPED
in the fields of child education and child rights spread over a period of 7
months on the occasion of an AIESEC development traineeship. The report
consists - with very few exemptions - of a chronological order of short reports
about various activities done in Hyderabad or in Kowdipally mandal in Medak district. It shows examples of and
opinions about the challenges and problems dealing with the development of the
children of Andhra Pradesh. Where suitable or necessary, personal views of the
author are expressed and pictures are added if available, to give a better
understanding of the situation. The report can just give a small glimpse into
the challenges in the area of child rights and child education in Andhra
Pradesh, as it is a dynamic phenomenon of high complexity with influences from
many parts of the society.
2
Visit to a primary school in Yousufguda, Hyderabad on Republic Day (26 January 2005)
It was interesting to see how the children had to
celebrate one of the national holidays in school. First of all nobody has to go
to school on national holiday in Switzerland. Secondly there is nothing so
militaristic and patriotic in our schools like what I experienced at that
school. I suppose the national anthem was sung at this event and the procedure
of flying the flag was conducted really slow and carefully. I never noticed a
Swiss flag at a school where I went to and rarely anybody can sing only verse
of the Swiss anthem because only few people learn it at school. The girls were
fully separated from the boys and some ?overseers? (most probably teachers) had
sticks in their hands to bring order among the crowd of children.
[pictures 01-05]
On my first trip out of Hyderabad I visited
together with Shanti Kumar (a CARPED employee) and another Trainee a primary
school in Somakkapet, a village with 1259 inhabitants and a primary school in
RamdasGuda (900 inhabitants). The primary school in RamdasGuda had 140 children
in 5 classes. The Children (should) start going to (early) school with 3-5
years and go to a school from the age of 5-14 (15), in primary, upper primary
and high school. In early school pencils are provided for free and for 1st
to 5th class the children get the government books free of cost.
From 6th to 10th class O.C. (other castes ? usually OBC =
other backward castes) have to pay for books. Children belonging to ST
(scheduled tribes) and SC (scheduled casts) communities get it for free. There
are schools for illiterate adults too, some of them are in the evening. The
illiterates are provided with books and notebooks.
In both of the villages that visited, there
was a five days festival going on to motivate the children to go to school and
to motivate their parents to send them to school. In SomakkaPet they were in
the end of a drama, where the school children played illiterate people that
were fooled, because they just gave their fingerprint as a signature on
documents they haven?t understood because they can?t read. Unfortunately, I
didn?t have the opportunity to take pictures of the drama. In RamdasGuda the
CARPED staff together with some government workers and the school children were
performing some songs, dramas and dances. They call it ?kala jatha?- sort of
street play or street theatre. It is in their language and the actors make it
relevant to the local situation, as the script is flexible. Two school girls
were singing in Telugu: ?randi, randi, randi, ?? (come, come, come ?[to school]).
Other songs in Ramdas Guda were (translated by Shanti Kumar from Telugu):
?please don?t send me to the field, send me to school. Please buy me pencils
and notebooks.? The children looked quite happy while singing and they were
excited and sang loud. They seemed really motivated.
[pics: 06-08]
I was particularly impressed by the paintings on the
(school) buildings with some illustrations of very basic things of do?s and
don?ts in the daily life. It gave me a good first impression with what kind of
problems the social workers have to deal in these areas.
[pic 09]
I was told that out of 12,600 children in
Kowdipally mandal who should go to school 600 don?t go to school. The
government and CARPED work together motivating these children to go to school.
There is a team of 10 employees of CARPED exclusively for the program to bring
children to school 365 days a year. The government does this only one week a
year in each village. As the program seems to be successful, a continuation of
it should be suggested.
3.1
My impression about the festival and suggestions
for the future
- The children had to sit to long to stay
concentrated all the time ? sometimes less is more ? maybe a short game in
between, where the children can stand up and move could help.
- It would be nice to have present examples
of working people that grew up in villages like this and that are
promoting education as an idol for the children.
- Farmers could be rewarded for sending
their children to school. The school should be flexible with absence of
children for a few days if the children are needed on the field and the
education doesn?t suffer too much.
- I was impressed by the number of children
attending the festival and wondering how the parents of the children were
motivated to send their children there.
CARPED is focused on basic school issues
and the issue of community control over natural resources. Five to six years
ago the Lambadas (the main tribe in Kowdipally mandal) haven?t sent their
children to school. Government schools have been built where there haven?t been
schools before. CARPED has put pressure on the government to build schools.
Another problem Bharath Bhushan mentioned is, how the children can be retained
in school. The farmers are wondering also about what use is of education to
them. They want their children to stay in the villages or to come back to the
villages. The farmers and their children should be provided with life skills
like social education, vocational training and so on. CARPED initiates these
issues and then the government should go on with the work. The government is
accountable to the villages. Parents should be involved and feel comfortable to
talk with teachers and the people should have the feeling that they own the
school.
Bharath Bhushan raised also the questions
from current debates: To what level is poverty responsible for child labour? Is
it possible to separate poverty from child labour? Is ignorance the reason for
child labour and not poverty? He doesn?t agree with the current arguments
advocating that poverty is not the reason for child labour. He considers these
arguments as anti-poor and blaming the victim. He stresses the need to look
into schooling in the context of material needs of survival and the functional
value of education that is different from the Brahminical perception of the
text (book) for the sake of text. What he asks is ?Reading for what?? and
stresses that reading should raise issues of deprivation and empower those who
read to question the structures of oppression and inequality and make education
meaningful in ones search for a livelihood.
5
Mahita: Interview with Mr. Ramesh and Mr. Kumar (14 February 2005)
The objectives of the NGO Mahita are the
realization of child rights, the empowering of women and girl children. Mahita
is working in the poor regions of the city, which are mainly in the so-called
?old city? or the walled city predominantly inhabited by the Muslims. Around
80% of the people in the slums of the old city are Muslims. Most people live
there. There are small seasonal changes. Many Muslims are not sending their
children to school. Women are generally suppressed: Mahita is educating girl
children to empower them, to bring change in the second generation. Vocational
skills are taught and computer training is provided. Mahita?s motivational
centre is giving quality education. Mahita is providing better teachers and
working together with government schools. It is promoting child friendly
schools and working at the attitude of teachers towards child rights in
government schools. In Mahita?s child clubs different children are brought
together who have different problems, to show them what child rights are and to
give them an understanding what problems can be. As Telugu people?s problems
are really different from the Muslims? problems.
5.1
The Muslim community
One problem in Mahita?s view is the male
domination in the Muslim community: Men go out, exchange their views and
knowledge with others and make decisions. Women stay at home and have no
education, no exposure and no decision power. Women and children are dependant
on the man. Mahita is trying to develop slowly the empowerment of women by
enabling them to earn something on their own. They are creating female communities
in which 20 houses are linked through one leader. Awareness is tried to be
built about different perspectives of men, women and children on various
issues. Based on the skills the women want and need Mahita is offering
different trainings. Tailoring training is offered for example, where women can
learn about marketing and quality issues. Marketing aspects of products like
bangles are really important because they create good products but don?t get
much money for it from their middle man. The goal is that women can start their
own business after the training.
5.2
Migration
In urban areas there is a financial flow
because of existent supply and demand. In rural areas there is practically no
demand, so the priorities of urban and rural areas are different. There used to
be no money system in the villages but an exchange system to a great extent for
the needs of daily lives. With the money that came into the villages the values
came down. If there is a drought now, nothing is there anymore. And all poor households
of the village are leaving to areas where water is or jobs are. So occupation
is shifting slowly based on need and availability. These migrant people make
the cheapest and easiest work. It?s wage laboured work, sometimes they are just
carrying things. Women are housewives, do domestic work or carry things on
their shoulders or head. Male Muslims get auto-rickshaw or truck drivers or act
as street vendors with a pushcart. Telugu people are working more on
construction sites. Reasons for that are different attitudes of the people.
Muslims want to work on their own, to do their own business.
There are 3 types of migration:
- permanent: 12 months/ year = wife,
husband, elderly children
- seasonal: 6 months/ year
- temporarily: want of money
Seasonal work is not secure. It breaks up
the education of the children of seasonal workers. Their life is spoiled
because they drop out of school in the villages and don?t come into the system
in the city.
5.3
Child labour
Child labour is prohibited in India but the policies are not strong there is no proper enactment and there are no strong
laws. India has a very high child labour rate, many children are denied from
their basic rights. Children are often employed because they work more and
produce a better quality. They usually do contract work.
There are several programs dealing with
child rights in Andhra Pradesh (AP). To name a few: The DPEP, education festivals and
the A P Alliance for Child Rights (APACR). The APACR is a coalition/ network of
organizations comprising members from 23 districts. It?s working against child
abuse and child trafficking and is a forum of different networks. The primary
goal of the AP Alliance for Child Rights is to facilitate the discussion on
child rights. Training needs and financial support are provided and
organisations working on child rights are linked with each other.
One third of migrated children go to
school, usually those whose parents are literate. Others go to work. Mahita is
doing a lot of counselling efforts and has a counselling centre for the
migrated families. They are motivating the parents, bringing awareness about
child issues and holding community meetings. Because of free education in
government schools money is not the reason why parents aren?t sending their
children to school. The problems are the ignorance, laziness and bad attitudes
of the parents. Through theatres and dramas performed by children and for
children information is provided about school in motivational camps. One or two
motivational camps per year bring the school to the children because Muslims
don?t want to send their girl children two kilometres away. The theatres are
about the importance of education connected with the local living and knowledge
in the day-to-day life. It doesn?t show the people something new but makes to
understand them with the help of stories from their local area.
According to government laws for every
40-45 students there should be one teacher = Pupil : Teacher - ratio. But there
are always more children in the classes, normally around 80 children. After 4th
or 5th class many girls drop out, and after 6th class
boys drop out. In 10th class only half of the children still go to
school. There are language problems of children coming from rural areas because
they don?t speak Hindi.
Girls are often brought from rural areas
and work on contracts as domestic servants starting from the age of 6 to 18.
They are exploited sexually and accused to steal. Politicians, policemen and
the administration system should protect the children but are actually
employing them as cheap labour. There is no human chain like in the USA that would help these children to get out of there miserable situation. Another threat
girls are facing more and more is PNDT (pre-natal
diagnostic techniques). The gap between the number of males and females is
growing because girls are aborted or severely neglected.
5.4
Mahita?s work flow (with migrating children)
- Mapping (of influences to migration ? why
migration):
- number of all children
- age
- gender
- linkage from where they migrated
- status of family
- Making resources available: resource
mobilization, sufficiency
- Programme discussion
- place
- who will teach
- Training of the motivators ? teachers.
Whom, why and what to teach
- Providing infrastructure:
- room
- tables, fan?
- Toilet facility ? esp. for girls
- Drinking water: safe/ potable
- Providing TLM (teaching learning
materials) ? personal aids
5.5
Problems in schools
-
no playground
-
Teaching: not enough teachers, no specialised
staff
-
Urdu: no Telugu teachers want to go to Urdu
school
-
No filling up after retirement or maternity of
teachers
-
Teachers are ignorant and not concerned about
their children: They are only concerned about bell (time) + bill (money). There
is a lack of commitment and dedication among the them.
-
Power politics arrest the teachers from
achieving the quality goals
-
The District selection committee (DSC) selects
the Teachers. There are 2222 teachers available per year and 2114 teachers are
needed per year. But the budget for schooling isn?t big enough.
ASHA is basically concentrated on child
education. Asha for Education based on volunteers. The organisation has been
established in the USA. The head of the organisation came to India afterwards and now regularly visits Hyderabad. Asha has a network in England and the USA. There are not enough volunteers in Hyderabad since Asha just exists there for 2
years. Ten to fifteen people work in their free time for Asha in Hyderabad. The members get together every fortnight. There is no office and meetings take
place at residential homes. All money goes to the recipients. They act where
help is needed, especially in schools. If there is a shortage of funds and
children don?t get proper education, Asha takes up such cases. When a project
is selected, somebody is responsible for the project. The goal is broadly to
help people/ institutions to make themselves self-sustaining. They motivate
rich people and their companies to give money to contribute for social cause.
Anybody is welcome to participate in their scheme of things: Participation in
just one activity is also possible. Asha is advertising through Internet and
friends to get volunteers. There are some regular contributors and in big
events ?irregular? volunteers are needed. Each project is monitored and a
progress report has to be submitted. Asha for Education has chapters in Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. The main organisation in Varanasi has to recognize the
chapters so that they are registered. They will be observed first for two years
and two members of each Chapter have to participate in the annual meeting in Varanasi. Local funds are monitored by the members of the chapter itself. They produce
sightseeing reports. The coordination within the chapter happens through
Internet and phone calls.
6.1
Asha for Education?s projects
One project of Asha is called NICE. Asha
is providing a residential school for orphans from 6th to 12th
class and balwadis
for children from parents, who are both working. In the slums around Banjara
Hills
live mainly migrated people. Government schools are ill-equipped, so parents
don?t want to send their children there. Asha built a private school for these
children there. First there were voluntary teachers that was problematic as
they could not have a fixed schedule and time table for teaching activity . Now
only fulltime teachers are working in the school. The students can stay in the
school from morning till evening. Asha is concerned about deprived children in
Kukatpally, Hyderabad. Children are engaged in stone work (working with stones)
and have lots of health problems. Help camps are organised for them. Financial
help and subsidies are given to them and they get discount from diagnostic
centres. That?s financed trough donations from various people. Asha is slowly
improving the quality of its private school and has a continuous need of
finance. Donors for the programme can sponsor a child and her whole education
process with yearly donations. Donations to handicapped children are used only
for them and not for the corpus of the school.
Government schools only employ trained
teachers. Government schools are supposed to be the best schools because they
have trained teachers and proper infrastructure, but there is no monitoring of
the services there. The DEO (District Education Officer) should inspect all
government schools and recognized private schools. The government charges for
the recognition. From upper primary on schools need recognition to have access
to common exams. Direct interaction with government schools is not possible
without permission of the government.
The Concern India Foundation (CIF) is a
non-profit, public charitable trust that supports development-oriented
non-profit organizations working for the disadvantaged since 1991. It supports
development-oriented organizations working at the grassroots level. The CIF is
providing funds and practical support including the provision of communication
expertise. Its focus is on education, health, community development and
environment. The aim of the CIF is to make every disadvantaged individual
self-reliant, creating a society of independent people living with dignity.
Concern India Foundation is currently funding 8 projects in Hyderabad. However,
it?s not directly involved in the projects, as it just gives funds to NGOs and
monitors them every quarter.
8.1
Briefing from M. Subhash Chandra (CARPED)
There is one school education committee
(SEC) for each school in Kowdipally mandal. The chairperson, who has to be a
parent, should take part in the meeting held at Kowdipally ?the mandal
headquarters on a particular day. The SECs have review meetings once every
fortnight. However, many of these chairpersons won?t attend because they have
some other important and events which are obligatory like attending a wedding
of a near and dear or some other personal work for which they have been waiting
for quite some time. A SEC consists of five persons- the headmaster and four
parents of schoolchildren. One member of 10th class with best grades
in 9th class also takes part in the meetings, at least two committee
members have to be women and one member should be from a scheduled caste (SC)
or from a scheduled tribe (ST). Members sometimes don?t know that they are
members of the committee. Because somebody nominates or recommends their name
and they are often invited to these meetings although they are on the records
as members. They have to be aware of their role and of what they have to do and
about the problems and follow the rules. The money they get for schooling has
to be used properly because they should manage it now, according to the rules.
Physically challenged children should be integrated in normal schools but there
are no ramps for these handicapped children to enter the schools.
The SEC should have a strategy and should
be aware of the mission of the school. The purpose of the meeting on this day
is to bring the people from the different school committees together and to
discuss the problems the schools are facing. Only Chairmen of each of the 81
schools in the mandal are invited. The meeting is held in an informal manner so
that people really speak. Subhash Chandra was the moderator in the meeting. He
gave a questionnaire to the chairmen of the SECs and explained what the members
are expected to examine and plan for the betterment of their respective
schools.
The day after, a village education committee
meeting is planned. These committees represent all schools in one village and
it will be discussed how these people meet the problems of lower committees
(SEC). The volunteers meeting takes place the following week week. They are
irregular staff of the schools who fill gaps. The volunteers have to wait 6-7
months for their salries to be paid by the government. These anganwadi teachers
have a salary of 600 Rs. per month of which Rs 550 comes from UNICEF and Rs 50
comes from the government. These volunteer anganwadi teachers don?t go to
school anymore because UNICEF has stopped the payments and they would
henceforth only get Rs 50. There will also be a meeting with the government.
The government has been too ambitious with its programmes- SSA, DPEP, and continuous
education programme. The target by 2003 was that no child should be out of
school. But thousands of children are out of school in the district as in any
other district of the state of Andhra Pradesh. The government is concentrated
on enrolment figures but the children aren?t retained because of a lack of
teachers, infrastructure etc. Finally, the meeting of the SEC members has
planned for a public meeting with 100-150 people from all committees and all
elected members and leaders fro the community from varied self help groups. The
government, experts on child education, members of committees, members of
parliament, the education minister (if willing) and the media will be invited
to the meeting. The meeting plans to highlight all the issues confronting the
schools and the problems faced by them.
Subhash Chandra questions whether so many
(government) programs are needed. He thinks that it?s better just to have one
good program that is effectively implemented. There are 59 habitations in
Kowdipally mandal that don?t have a school within 1 km. There are plans for
school buses but they are not effective.
8.2
The meeting
[pic 10]
Subhash Chandra started the SEC meeting a
couple of hours later than scheduled shortly before noon. First the female participants
discussed about the problems their schools have. They explained problems of
each schools specifically and what has been done and what else remains to be
looked into. The problems refer to the following:
?
No water (tank)
?
The school building is a hut
?
The water is not safe
?
There is no kitchen
?
No toilet for the kids which is a problem more
for girls
?
Single teacher school, 2 teachers for 97
students, leaks from ceiling.
[pic 11]
Further problems mentioned by the mainly
male participants:
-
A request for a single phase motor has not yet
been sentenced.
-
Toilets were constructed but there is no water.
-
No proper building, 3 rooms for all children
till 5th class (196 children), no infrastructure, no learning
materials, children don?t feel like attending classes.
-
The teacher is not regularly at ECE classes.
-
Rs 50,000 required for land/ water, too much
workload on teachers. Building Application submitted to MLA, building not safe.
-
The school needs a volunteer. Two teachers for
166 students
-
No nursery
-
Single room, no playground, no furniture, no
drinking water, and having 3 acres of playground but not in use
-
3 rooms for 5 classes incl. ECE for 194
students. 3 teachers, volunteers, requires 2 more classes, need to upgrade by
adding higher classes
-
Local contribution and problems from the poor
parents to cntribute tt he upkeep of the school
-
Fake certificates, corruption/ bribe for jobs,
suicides because of no jobs
-
School building not safe, no water, toilet,
kitchen, 2 teachers
-
The school is in a hut (burst 2 times). 2
teachers stopped attending, as there is no permanent school building. No
drinking water, no anganwadi, no one takes responsibility
-
8 thandas
without electricity
-
Drinking water is 1 km away from school, 3
teachers for 161 students
-
No English teacher for children of higher
classes who have English and most of the children fail in the common
examinations
[pics 12-13]
Personal Opinion
about the meeting
I didn?t understand what the members said
directly as the meeting was in Telugu but I made some observations: After the
lunch, the women sat behind and didn?t say anything if they were not directly
addressed. They should have been asked directly about their opinion. Almost
only people in the front were speaking. If there are so many participants
(around 30-40), the moderator should limit the time of speech of single
participants so that every body gets the time to speak. Although some tend to
listen because they may not have something to share in concrete terms or they
are not very vocal. The women need to be encouraged and enabled to participate
as they are coming into such meetings for the first time and it is for the fist
time they are members of such committees and some NGOs are encouraging their
active participation. And some men are very assertive and do not listen to make
their speech short. Holding meetings with large numbers is a real task and
needs great skills to see that participation of all is ensured. Besides there
is also caste and other factors that enables or affects participation of some
persons in a meeting which is heterogeneous by caste, income and gender
background of the members.
The Department of Sociology from Nizam?s
College in Hyderabad city had collaboration with the CARPED for providing rural
exposure and facilitate in fieldwork and inputs of PRA. The Department entered
into an agreement for the collaboration. The students of the Nizam?s college
first got a theoretical introduction into the field of PRA (Participatory Rural
Appraisal). The seminar was partly in Telugu and partly in English. The
students were mostly speaking in Telugu as a lot of them had some trouble with
English because they come from villages. The sociology department requested
CARPED to give the students the opportunity to understand the PRA methods in
action and have rural exposure with PRA work in Kowdipally mandal. I met the
students for the second time (after attending one day of the seminar) in Bhattu
Thanda, a village in Kowdipally mandal. The students liked the interaction with
the people in the community and also the experience of the PRA methods. They
got so familiar and comfortable with them after the ice breaking and
interaction tat they started discussing about different issues of the village
life and conditions. The girl students were wearing Lambada clothes for the
first time in their lives to see how they look in the traditional attire. Some
students and villagers got so well that they started dancing with the tribals.
[pics 14-16]
I?m pretty sure the field visit of the sociology
students was a valuable experience for them and I would strongly suggest to go
on with such kind of activities. I observed a huge difference and a lack of
knowledge of the life of each other between city dwellers and villagers during
my stay in Hyderabad.
CARPED employees performed a play with
music, singing and dancing to teach villagers how to be cautious about problems
in their daily lives.
[pics 17-18]
Although the play was in Telugu, I didn?t
need much explanation about what was going on, as the messages were quite
obvious.
11 Visit of the Zilla Parishad High School (ZPHS) in Kowdipally (31
March & 1 April 2005)
11.1
Interview with teachers and the headmaster of
the ZPHS
We met T.N. Prabaker, a blind teacher who
teaches students with normal eyesight at the ZPHS. There are blind schools in
the major districts of A.P but not in Medak district (Kowdipally mandal belongs
to Medak district). There are two schools for blind children in Hyderabad- one for boys and one for girls. It wasn?t really clear from the answers the other
teachers and the headmaster gave, if there is drinking water at the school and
if it is of good quality. There is no groundwater. The borewell of the school
has not been working for 15 years.
The school has 658 students (283 girls) and
9 teachers. The number of students increased by 100 in just one year because of
the NGOs encouraging and motivating parents and children. The
T(teacher):S(students)-ratio should be 1:40 (government policy) but is more
like 1:70. The 9th class has 187 members in two sections. Classes
6-10 go to school in the morning, classes 11-12 after 1 o?clock. 45 minutes
outside exercise per day is compulsory but there is no gym. From 23 April to 20
June is summer vacation. The weeks before the summer vacation school goes just
from 8:00 to 12:30. The headmaster occupies his position for 2 months.
Previously, he was a maths teacher. He was the senior teacher so he overtook
the role of the headmaster. The budget given by the state is Rs 90,000 for 15
people. The salary depends on seniority, education etc. Students come from
villages in a radius of 10-15 km away from school. Around 300 students stay in
3 hostels nearby the high school. There is one hostel only for economically
backward people/ backward classes. One hostel for boys from ST (scheduled
tribes) and one hostel for girls from SC (scheduled castes).
After intermediate (12th class)
nearly 50% drop out, many girls marry. It takes around 30 minutes to the
nearest universities for graduate and post graduate studies in Medak or
Sangareddy- the district head quarters where the District Collector and
magistrate and all the government offices are located. Options for studying
include sciences, arts, maths. Very few in Kowdipally mandal reach up to that
level as many cannot afford to invest time in studies, as they are very poor
and need to earn their bread and also support their parents
11.2
Visit to 9th class English lesson (1
April 2005)
Teacher: B. Sampath Kumar, time:
10:00-10:45
The 9th class has 161 students
in 2 sections but all of them or more than 100 were together in this session.
Girls and boys were sitting on different benches. The teacher taught English in
Telugu as the ZPHS is a Telugu medium school. I could experience the
consequences of these English classes with far too many students in a room.
English taught in local language by a teacher who most probably doesn?t really
speak proper English with anybody beyond the classroom or just after the
lesson. When I asked some of the students simple questions like: ?Do you like
to go to school?? They didn?t understand the question and answered things like:
?I go to 9th class.?
[pics 19-20]
A child has to be seen in relation with its
family. Only girls (migrants) are working on cottonseed farms. Why are there no
children working from rich people? Why are poor parents sending their children
to work? Working children away from home are more vulnerable for (sexual)
abuse. It?s not possible to find meaningful, effective solutions, if the facts
are ignored. There are also educationally deprived children that are not in
child labour because there parents can?t afford to send them to school or they
don?t have access to a school. One medicine for all the problems is wrong.
Minimum wages, basic freedom and rights and employment guaranties are needed.
The government has an isolated approach in
which they are just building infrastructure from which contractors and
politicians profit. Households with educationally deprived children are more
likely in rural areas, working in agriculture, dalits, ST and SC. The
constitutional amendments on child education are toothless. Very few schools
are now in the old city (Muslim part of the city). Although the number of
students is increasing the schools are getting less. Since 1951 the population
is increasing but the number of schools is decreasing.
13
Visits of Ken World High School ? (4 & 6 April 2005)
Mr. Taher Aziz owns the school and acts as
a headmaster of the school. The area around the school is completely a slum
area. Mr. Aziz has tried to educate the parents and the children of third class
people starting from 1986. Around 60% of the students in his school are
Muslims, 40% are Hindus. The teachers are mostly Christian and it?s an English
medium school. He runs 3 English medium schools in the Borabanda area. Some
students who have completed these schools are working abroad. The teachers
(must) have a very good knowledge of English. The teachers, principals and
parents are working for the children. The schools are financed by fees. There
is monthly one meeting for the parents in which they are explained on how to
deal with the children. The children start to go to the nursery class at the Ken World High School from the age of 2 ? years onwards. Mr. Aziz is running 4 schools and
they are all English medium schools from nursery to 10th class.
|
Age
|
Grade
|
|
2 ?
|
Nursery
|
|
3 ?
|
Lower kindergarten (LKG)
|
|
4 ?
|
Upper kindergarten (UKG)
|
|
5 ?
|
1st class (primary school)
(all subjects, all languages)
|
|
6 ?
|
2nd class (6 subjects,
individually writing)
|
|
?
|
?
|
|
10 ?
|
6th class (high school)
|
|
?
|
?
|
|
14 ?
|
10th class
|
School fees:
Nursery and kindergarten: 100 Rs./month
Primary school (1st-6th
class): 150 Rs./month
High school (7th-10th
class): 200 Rs./month
In June and December the parents have to
pay double the usual fees.
Process of selection of the teachers:
A three days interview with the headmaster
consisting of:
-
1st day- oral test
-
2nd day- written test
-
3rd day- test lesson ? observing the
way of teaching
The school has 18 teachers and 700 hundred
students (girls: boys = 350:350)
A class consists of 30 students in the primary section and of 20-25 students in
high school.
Most of the students walk to school and some of them come by bus. The school is
running from 09:00-15:30 with a lunch break from 12:30 to 13:30 in between and
a 15 minutes break at 11:00. The children bring the lunch from home. The school
provides drinking water (filtered water). There are special classes for weaker
students. The government recognized this school.
The teachers have (5-) 6 periods of
teaching and one period for correction, preparing reports?, totally 7 periods
per day. Only every 2nd Saturday is a holiday. The teacher decides
where the students sit. They always sit at the same place, which depends on the
students? height and of their strength (in the middle are the better students
and besides them the weaker ones). Students have also homework but not too much
for each subject because they have 6 subjects. There are exams every 3 months,
half-year exams and annual exams. The teachers are correcting the exams but not
preparing them. After each of these exams the teachers talk with the parents
once in every 3 months about the results and the problem poor attendance ,if
any, of the students. Students who fail in 1-2 subjects will have re-exams
after 15-20 days of preparation. They have grading from A to E based on the
performance or marks. Marks: A + B: passed ? C + D: promoted ? E: detained.
13.1
Interview of Mr. Aziz
1.
Quality control of teachers?
The teachers are under observance for one
month before they are employed for a longer term. They are removed at the end
of the year if they do a bad job.
2.
Further education of teachers?
Further education is appreciated but it?s
the teacher?s own decision. Better educated teachers get higher salaries. So
there is reward for their higher education but that?s something they have to
acquire at their cost.
3.
Salary range?
Criteria for difference in salaries is
based on qualification and experience. Salaries range from Rs 1,200 to Rs 5,000
per month and is not depending on the teachers gender.
4.
What is the policy towards pregnant women and
mothers?
Pregnant women won?t be appointed. In case
of a marriage questions will be asked about future planning of female teachers
before marriage. If a mother can handle it with her children, she can go on
teaching.
5.
Results of students?
Usually 90% of students pass and 10% fail.
6.
How does the school deal with different mother
tongues of the students?
60-70% of the students are Muslims and
therefore have Urdu as their mother tongue. In the first years the teacher
explains first in English and then in Urdu. Hindus also understand Urdu.
7.
How is the contact with the parents?
The headmaster is in personal contact with
the parents. They come when problems occur.
8.
Are classes always held in the same room?
Yes.
9.
How much has to be spent on books?
Rs 150 to Rs 400 including notebooks
10. Punishments for misbehaviour of students?
Teachers come to the administration and ask
there for action.
11. How many male and female teachers are there in the school and for
what subjects?
There are 2 men and 11 women because women are more
patient and therefore more often employed. There are six subjects and one free
subject- Maths, Telugu, Hindi, English, science and social studies. It depends
upon the teacher what they teach. Until the 5th class the teachers
have to prepare the syllabus and the administration checks it. From 6th
class onwards the government provides the syllabus. Young teachers are
preferred because they are open minded, willing to work hard for growth in
career, energetic and can move fast.
13.2
Observations of lessons
06.04.2005, 11:45 5th
class English lesson Teacher: Ms. Tahseen
The teacher speaks only in English and
tells the students- ?no collective answers?. Girls and boys sit separated. The
children stand up when they want to say something but don?t always wait until
the teacher gives them the permission. So sometimes more than one is speaking.
06.04.2005, 12:30 1st
class maths lesson Teacher: Ms. Monica
The students lift their hands and the
teacher chooses who can give the answer. The students from the back and from
the front come to the blackboard but most of the actively participating
children sit in the front. I would describe the teaching style as- frontal
teaching with active participation of the students. The teacher couldn?t
remember all the names of the students. Around 70 students were in the room and
I guess more than 40 of them were boys. The size of the room was approx. 3.5 x
6 meters
06.04.2005, 12:50 4th
class social studies lesson Teacher: Ms. Zaibunissa
Students total: 57, present: 55
Topic: lesson 22: Things that make us richer
18 recognised languages
National language: Hindi
Official language: English (used in
offices)
Our costumes:?
It was interesting to see what kinds of
things are taught in schools. I got the impression that the students learn a
lot about India and it?s culture but not much about the rest of the world.
06.04.2005, 13:15 3rd
class science lesson Teacher: Ms. Asma
Students total: 52, present: 52
Topic: A good house and its clean
surroundings
A house protects us from heat, cold, rain
and thieves.
Functions of rooms:
Drawing (?) room: meeting visitors
Dining room: eat
Bedroom: sleeping, resting
Kitchen room: cooking
Store room: keeping, storing
Garbage attracts flies. They cause diseases
like malaria, cholera, typhoid?
This lesson was even more interesting as it
didn?t come to my mind that students could be taught in school what to do in
what room, how to keep the house clean and so on. In my view it seems pretty
extreme what kind of guidelines to a good living culture the Indian government
teaches the students. I got in general the impression and this was supported by
an article that I read in an Indian newspaper (most probably ?The Hindu?), that
the students are just taught one certain perspective on things even if there
are many other perspectives. Students are not enough taught to check the
validity of the information they get.
06.04.2005, 13:25 2nd
class English lesson Teacher: Ms. Shaheen
Students total: 57, present: 56
The principal?s wife takes a look of how
the classes were run. She enquires what is taught and talks with the teacher
during the lesson to give advices on how to teach. The teacher seems a bit
nervous because the principal?s wife is standing there and observing the
lesson. The students give collective answers. The children are sitting very
near to each other on benches. They don?t have chairs or even tables.
13.3
Interviews with teachers
Interview with Ms. Tahseen:
-
Age: 24
-
Teacher at this school for 4 years.
-
Teaches 4th-6th class in
English and science.
-
She made her Bachelor of Commerce with 20 and
started to teach during her studies.
-
Her salary is Rs 1500 /month with 100 Rs.
increase per year of experience and Rs 1200 as her starting salary.
-
She had no training how to teach and just goes
with the books.
-
She is an unmarried Muslim who likes her job.
Interview with Mr. Suresh
-
Age: 26
-
He teaches 5th-10th class
in maths for 3 years.
-
He made his Master of Sciences in mathematics
and a Bachelor of Education.
-
He taught in Kovels High School in Sanathnagar, Hyderabad for 2 years but left that job because of a callous management.
-
His salary is Rs 3500 /month
-
He is an unmarried Hindu.
Interview with Ms. Zaibunissa
-
Age: 28
-
She is teaching 1st-9th
class in social sciences: geography, economics, civics, history
-
She started 1995 teaching social sciences for 1st-10th
class in Thomas Public School for a salary of Rs 1000/ month
-
Master in Economics
-
Salary is Rs 1800/month
-
She is an unmarried Muslim.
-
She has done one month of training for teaching
2nd-6th class students in slum areas at Princess Esim
Women?s Educational Centre in the old city.
Already tuition from 2001-2003 but school
started in 2003. It started with 10 students and now there are 500 students, 25
teachers and 5 other employees. It?s running classes from nursery up to 10th
class. As other schools closed, the principal of the school wanted to merge
schools. The school has 15 class rooms and there are 30 to 40 students per
class. It?s a private English medium school recognized by the AP government. It
has a special permission as school without playground (land costs are Rs 10,000
per sq yard). The owner and principal invested Rs 50 lakh in the school since
the beginning. Just a few schools in Hyderabad have a playground. There are 32
schools in Rahmathnagar and none of them has a playground. The principal has to
initially invest considerable money in the school. He spent around double the
amount he got.
School fees (set by comparing fee
structures of other schools):
Nursery and kindergarten: 175 Rs./month
Primary school (1st-6th
class): 200 Rs./month
High school (7th-9th
class): 300 Rs./month
10th class: 500
Rs./month
The principal can?t afford to give free
education and scholarships from outside are needed for that purpose. There is a
project to give further school books. The school is the latest one in
Rahmathnagar and has the best education quality. Some students come from
High-tech city 5-6 km away. There is one school bus which charges 1 Re. per way
or 2 Rs. per day. There are 60% boys and 40% girls in the school. The school
goes from 09:30-15:30 and then there are tuitions. In summer the timings are:
07:45-12:30 because the AP government doesn?t allow school in the afternoon
because of the heat. Only 4 of the teachers at the school are older than 30 to
40. There is an ABC categorisation in each class: A= top students, B= normal
students, C= weaker students (get special courses). 20 teachers are female and
5 male. Women are chosen because they have more patience and caring attitude
and also affectionate. Men just teach the higher classes like 9th
and 10th class. Teachers are selected after a personal interview and
a demonstration class. The salary ranges from Rs 2500-5000 and depends on which
classes are taught, experience, degree and the time on the campus. One class
has the same room for the whole day.
14.1
Interviews with teachers (around 20 teachers in the
room during the interview)
1.
Mr. G. Bheadrah
-
Age: 65
-
He used to work for the tourism department and
retired.
-
He is working since one year without salary
(social service).
-
He is looking after discipline, respect,
behaviour and is dedicated to the school.
2.
Ms. Neha
-
Age: 21
-
She has a Bachelor in political science, public
administration and Hindi literature.
-
She teaches lower classes, is married and will
go on teaching.
-
One year at this school and one year of
experience at the Elar Kishore School. She moved to this school because there
were 60 students in a class at the other school.
-
Salary: 1400 Rs. (1200 Rs. at Elar Kishore)
3.
Ms. Renjithe
-
Age: 20
-
She has a Bachelor of Commerce.
-
She teaches LKG at this school for one year and
taught at Elar Kishore school.
-
She is married and will go on teaching for 2-3
years.
-
Salary: 1300 Rs. (1200 Rs. at Elar Kishore)
4.
Ms. Ravya
-
Age: 18
-
She studied until intermediate level.
-
She is teaching Hindi, science and social
sciences for one year up to 3rd class.
-
She is married and will continue teaching.
-
Salary: 1000 Rs.
5.
Mr. K V Raghuram
-
Age: 40 oldest teacher
-
He has a Bachelor in engineering.
-
He teaches maths from 3rd to 10th
class.
-
He has 10 years of experience in different
schools.
-
Salary: 2500 Rs. (nearly this salary at former
jobs)
6.
Mr. Ganesh
-
Age: 22
-
Bachelor in education.
-
He is teaching social sciences and English from
3rd to 5th class since 2003 and will go on teaching until
he gets a government job.
-
He?s unmarried.
-
Salary: 1500 Rs.
7.
Mr. Satyanarayana
-
Age: 25
-
Ph.D. in Telugu.
-
He is teaching Telugu here for one year from 6th
to 8th class and will go on teaching in future.
-
He is married.
-
Salary: 1500 Rs.
8.
Ms. Hymathehveatha
-
Age: 40
-
She has a Bachelor degree.
-
She was teaching in a Amravathi school for 10
years but left because of [not further explained] problems.
-
She is teaching only nursery class.
-
She is married and mother of a 20 year old son
and a 16 year old girl.
-
Salary: 1600 Rs. (in the Amravathi school she
got 2500 Rs.)
9.
Plenum:
Competition between schools improves
quality of education. Punishments don?t come directly from teachers. The
teachers talk to the parents because of the grades.
Not all children out of school are working.
What factors influence child labour/ out of school children? Children don?t go
to school because they have health problems. Lack of perception of parents that
children should be sent to school with 5 years. Out of school children are here
considered as educationally deprived children and all such children cannot be
considered as child labour. Education for children is an essential human right.
Childhood is the best time to provide education (economically spoken). There is
a rising demand for education/ human capital.
The lowest income households have the
highest number of out of school children. In rural areas especially in
agricultural households children are needed to work for their family because
they can?t afford employees from outside (from the working market). Other
households that need money send their children somewhere to work. Parents are
not willing/ cannot afford the costs of ?free? primary education- notebooks,
transportation, etc. Cost of schooling influences if children are sent to
school by their parents or not.
Role of the
households
If parents see the importance of school,
they send their children to school even when they are poor. There is no social
stigma yet for child work. The norm of child schooling is emerging but takes
time. Awareness has to be brought about the illness of child labour and the
advantages of schooling. Protestantism said, that each person should be able to
read the bible so child education became a norm with Protestants. Missionaries
in Kerala went to backward communities in the 19th century and have
set some incentives to send the children to school. The perception of the
value of work and of education are the most crucial factors. Actions are
taken (by the parents) when they are aware of costs and benefits- Information
should be brought to the parents. After the information, the question of
finance arises. Education means investment in children (economic value + social
value of education).
Role of the
state
The state should provide schools/
facilities. Providing education by making it compulsory is not sufficient.
Facilities are not satisfactory, not providing enough human as well as
financial resources.
Parents have a perception of the quality of
a school. Children drop out of school when parents think the quality of
education is not good enough. Teachers are going against the education
principle, children are afraid of the teacher. If the teachers don?t get the
money from the government for some things, they ask the children (parents) to
pay for what is offered. In Kerala, there are socially motivated teachers who
collected absent teachers from their homes.
The available flow of information
influences awareness. Information flow depends on social structure of groups.
Dominant social people (castes) hinder backward castes to get informed, don?t
want them to be informed. Schools have to be provided, role models showed and
the quality in school maintained. You have to create employment by yourself out
of education and not get educated to get a government job. That orientation
towards government jobs was brought to India by the British because they needed
educated administrative workers.
Comments from a participant:
The teacher should keep the children in the
school and look that the children don?t drop out of school. There is gender,
religion and caste discrimination in school. There is a lack of opportunities
and not lack of perception. Role models are missing in communities and
families. Children are educated and still will be unemployed, that causes a
motivation problem, as people start to doubt the sense of sending their
children to school.
Who is educationally deprived?
By location: rural areas Most
important factor
By caste: S.T. children the most, then
S.C., OBC (other backward casts) > SC
By gender: girls
By occupation groups: agricultural
households/ labour
Lowest income households
History of education in AP
In Telangana the Nizams were ruling and
education wasn?t so important. The British government in Andhra paid more
attention to education. Or because the people were capable of sending their
children because of the prosperity owing to canal irrigation. Telangana does
not have surface irrigation through large dams even today. It has drought
regularly although there are rivers in this region. Since independence until
the 80?s Telangana was backward. In the last years the agriculture flowered in
(some) Telangana districts. Most government expenditures have been for
irrigation so that not enough expenditure has been left for education.
Are children going to residential bridge
schools (RBC) educationally deprived? No, but there is a lack of quality in
some schools. Children teach children in bridged classes (child labour).
Teachers keep children enrolled even if they are not attending school, dropping
out of school. Parents used to invest in land when they have had surplus money.
Parents expected more benefits out of land and letting the children work on
this land. Now it?s changing- Parents sell land to finance the education. Poor
children come to school because it is free of cost and food is free.
16.1
Visit to girls hostel in Kowdipally (documenting
problems)
16.1.1 ST girls hostel
The classroom as well as living room of the
ST girls school. The girls sleep in the ?multifunctional? living room/
classroom.
[pic 21]
There are 150 students, 4 rooms, 4 teachers
(4th teacher on maternity leave) and the school has 1st
to 5th class. There are no toilets and the school is in a rented
building. The contract teachers (not permanent), get only 2000 Rs salary, don?t get
benefits from the government and no retention after retirement. They get funds
from the tribal welfare department.
The kitchen and the outdoor ?bathroom?:
[pics 22-23]
16.1.2 2nd Girls hostel
This school has also an outdoor bathroom
[pic 24]
The air stinks because there is gully
nearby [pic 25]
155 students up to 10th class stay in the
hostel in 7 rooms[pic 26]
The water storage tank is not empty anymore, so the
hostel has sufficient water and there used to be no proper toilets but now they
seem to be ok.
16.2
Mohammad Nagar Gate thanda
Primary school without compound wall,
latrines and bathrooms. [pic 27]
16.3
Kothacheruvu thanda
Primary school (1st to 5th
class standard school). There is no compound wall, no latrines and no
bathrooms, they have only one voluntary teacher and CARPED provides a balwadi
centre. [pic: 28]
16.4
Balmavath thanda
Primary school with single room, no compound wall,
no latrines and bathrooms, only one teacher and no kitchen room [pics 29-30]
16.5
Samta thanda
Primary school with only three rooms, no
compound wall, no latrines, no bathrooms, only one teacher and no kitchen room.
[pic 31]
16.6
Silampally
Primary school: latrine and bathroom are not in use.
No compound wall, no kitchen room, only two teachers. [Pic 32]
16.7
Faizabad M.P.V.P.S.
Problems include no drinking water, no bathrooms, no
latrines, no compound wall etc. The main problem is the graveyard next to the
school (students get a day off when there is a funeral). Enough classrooms
(10), 1st to 8th class, 6 teachers- all graduates, 315
students. [pics: 33-35]
16.8
Korra thanda
Primary school: no building, no other
facilities, only one teacher, totally 42 children [pic 36]
16.9
Sheri thanda
Primary school: building is cracked, 54
students and 2 teachers, no compound wall, latrines, bathroom, kitchen room and
no other facilities. [pic:37]
16.10
Bathukamma Gadda thanda
Primary school: no permanent building [pic:
38]
B. Venkatesh, CARPED organizer in
Kowdipally, guided the visits to the schools outside Kowdipally. [pic 39]
Kothacheruvu thanda
Provision of midday meal (lunch): [pic 40]
Primary education in a balwadi school with
Sarita, a teacher from CARPED. There is no aganwadi and no early child
education. Sarita teaching: [pic 41]
Sarita teaches Telugu to the 1st
class: [pic 42]
18 Meeting with HCHW (Hyderabad Council of Human Welfare) (18 August 2005)
18.1
Interview with Mr. Mohd Afsar Ahmed: Programme
officer
HCHW is an NGO that was founded in 1990.
They are doing social work and Mr. Mohd has a Master of social work. HCHW?s
fields of work are the rehabilitation of street children, child labour, women,
beggars and researching. They made a survey about begging in Hyderabad in
cooperation with the AP government. It took 15-20 days to get the numbers of
beggars. There are totally 10,466 beggars in Hyderabad who were questioned
which means an estimated coverage of 80-90% of the actual number of beggars.
Most of them are migrants and 70% of them come from outside. Except very few of
them, all are Indians and 55% are men. The totally generated income of the
beggars is Rs 15 crore./ year. The survey revealed that 78.6% of the beggars
are Hindus, 13.9% Muslims and 4.5% Christians.
Most important/ best places for begging
are:
- temple places
Reason: security, nobody is harming the
beggars there. Especially old people, women and children are begging there. At
the Sai Baba temple there are 100 beggars on Thursdays.
- traffic islands/ crossroads
70% of the child beggars are working there.
HCSW is especially engaged in the rehabilitation of these children because they
work at a risky place. There are children homes for them with a capacity of 350
for boys (70% of child beggars are boys) and 150 for girls.
15% of the children begging are drop-outs,
80-85% have never been to school. Old beggars earn more than children. Children
painted like Gandhi earn more money. Physically handicapped children are hired
from families as they get more money. 22% of the beggars are physically
challenged people. Men earn more money because they go to any place. 90% of
women begging with children (babies) hire them from families, as women earn
more with children. Few of the beggars are orphans and some of them are claimed
by some people as theirs because they can earn money with them. There are
strong begging territories and more beggars are in the old city. New beggars
have to pay commission to the older ones. Migrants usually come together in a
group of 4-5 families and as they are so numerous, they don?t have to pay
commission. A lot of beggars work part time just 4 hours in the morning or 2
hours in the evening. There are few seasonal beggars.
People beg for their livelihood. Members of
one community have been professional beggars for 100-200 years. For 40% of the
beggars, begging is their profession. The government is going to ban begging in
the next 6 months. There have been laws forbidding begging for a long time but
they haven?t been enforced. 1977 a beggary prevention act was introduced but
has not been implemented so far. The strategy is to try to get the people away
from begging with rehabilitation programs for 6 months and if they are still
reluctant, they will be sued and sent to prison.
18.1.1 Rehabilitation of child beggars
The project was started in August. There
are 3 teams- each one with 1 social worker, 2 assistants, 1 police officer and
1 government person and a 4-wheeler. The children are running away when the
teams come. Initially it was difficult to get the children away from the
street. They got to know the cars used by the teams and were throwing stones at
them. So they needed a police officer to accompany them for security reasons.
They are operating each day in different areas and bring the children to
government homes. The children can?t run away from the children homes. A social
worker from HCSW is counselling them. There is a school, a vocational school
and a medical centre inside the children home. The children can attend classes
up to 10th grade in there and everything is paid by the government.
18.2
Interview with V. Joe Varma: Research &
Documentation Executive
Street children/ child labour:
Rights Rehabilitation and Reintegration of
Children (RRRC) ? main program of HCHW
3 levels:
1. Working with children directly on the streets through
o
contact points: street educators for migrating
children inside and outside the railway stations
o
drop in centers: for children habituated on
street life, they just want to live there. Open daily from 09:00-19:00.
Children can do their laundry, bedding, sleep, TV, games but no food.
There are food centres from the government
of AP (Hyderabad district administration), where the children can get food.
2. Working with the children towards their development through
o
Child Development Centres (CDC):
There are 2 CDCs: CDC Hyderabad and CDC
Secunderabad. The children will be kept under supervision there for around 6
months during which case files are prepared for each child. Drop-outs are
motivated mainstreaming back to formal education system and referred to the 2nd
home.
o
2nd home:
Children get a second chance for perceiving
education. It?s up to the children to which medium schools they want to go.
3. Reintegrating children back to the society through
o
vocational training
o
job placements
o
self-employment opportunities
to levels in all levels:
1.
towards ensuring basic rights:
1)
free food, clothing, shelter, protection
2)
health care: health camps - education in
organized awareness programs on the issues concerning children
3)
social development: picnics, outings, meetings
with the police, interactions with the school children, teachers ? so that the
stigma which is attached to them will be removed
2.
means of rehabilitation (at all 5 levels: drop
in center, contact point, CDC Hyd., CDC Sec., 2nd home)
o
repatriation: sending children back to the
family ? immediately done if child wants to
o
vocational training: what child wants to do ?
various skills
o
job placement
o
own business: provide support, mentoring
services
There are 150 kids in all centres together.
50 kids are in 2nd home from UKG to post graduation. HCHW is
generally looking after children (below 18) on streets and in other difficult
circumstances.
Child rights and child education are very
important topics in Andhra Pradesh and in India, in general because the
children are the future of the country and the situation of many children is
far from satisfactory. There are not enough schools. Infrastructure is very
poor, and poorly trained teachers. Child labour persists. The fast growth of
the Indian population hasn?t made it easier to solve the problems children are
facing either. It can?t be expected that the situation changes from one day to
the other but it needs efforts not just from the government but also from the
families, the parents of the children.
Like in other aspects of society the gap
between privileged children with access to good quality education and poor
children without access to education is persisting or even widening. Everybody
who can afford it sends their children to private schools because the
government schools can?t provide a sound education. Instead of putting pressure
on the government to improve its schools, people don?t send their children
there anymore and people without money and power are left alone.
Certainly the government should enforce
laws which guarantee free education and which protects children especially from
hazardous work. But the government is just a part of the society as a whole and
if most people don?t care much about children of others out of school and
working, there won?t be changes. I have sometimes
felt that people also have disproportionate expectations about schools. The
school building hasn?t to be better than other buildings surrounding it and I
don?t really see, why all those schools in Kowdipally mandal need a compound
wall and that schools for primary school students has to be within only one
kilometre of their habitations. It seems a bit that some people have a
list on which is written what a good school needs and if anything is missing,
they start to complain about it, instead of looking for alternative solutions
of problems. Many things still won?t be like people want them to be in the next
years but with the right attitude something good can be made out of sub optimal
circumstances. The challenges are many and those engaged in addressing these
issues are very few.
