An Oasis Of Happiness

It was in the heat of the afternoon on a Friday in March, when I reached a construction site in Pune. I had to walk right through the middle of a very big building lot. I could hardly see any safety device. The first thought that came to my mind was that this area is anything but a place for children.

Finally on one corner between lots of dust, boards, metal tubes and driven tools, I saw a group of around 20 children. It was the ECC (Every Child Counts) camp I had come to visit. The group consisted of very small children (about 2 or 3 years old), one baby and some children of age between 5 and 7. There were two teachers sitting on a pile of boards, between them a baby was sleeping. In front of them the class was sitting on the ground.

When I watched the situation from a distance, it kind of looked like an oasis of happiness in the middle of a desert of sorrow.

As I grew up in Germany, it is hard for me to understand the struggle of life being a member of a family of migrant labors. Facing the very poor conditions and the bad situation of their camps (no toilet, full of dirt, pigs in the mud and very small rooms), I was looking for every single smile or happy moment. And I found it in the classes.

All the children started to scream “Namaste” and laughed out loud when they saw me. I took out my camera and some kids started to pose in front of it. One boy had found a small package of toothpaste and greased it all over his face. He seemed to be proud of having found something healthy for the skin because it smelled so good. He did not know it was toothpaste, because he does not know what toothpaste is. Everybody was laughing and I shared a happy moment due to a sad cause.

The teachers taught them a song with a dance when I joined them. After a few minutes of excitement they went on with the dance. The bigger children built a circle around the younger ones. They were singing and dancing around them. It was a kind of game and caused many laughs and shining eyes.

What would these children do the whole day when there was no opportunity like this? What would they be able to look forward to when thinking about the future? Every single child has the right to receive a proper education. Everybody knows that children represent our future. And isn’t the future something very precious? The only reason we do things the way we do is because we have a view to our future. And every human being wants to design its future as well as possible. Children need help on their way of education. They are dependent on the decisions of others until they are old enough to live on their own. It should be self evident to give as much support to our children as possible, thinking about this point of view. The only way to make the best out of our future is to give the best opportunities on education to our children.

I came out of the construction site with a smile on my face. It made me really happy to see that someone takes care of these children who seem to be so innocent and disadvantaged. At the same time, this question rose in my mind - so many other constructions are going on around…what happens to such children there?



Felix Korts (ECC Volunteer from Germany)
felix.korts@googlemail.com
http://everychildcounts-pune.blogspot.com

Volunteer Tasks at ECC Camps

ECC conducts school-preparation camps at some construction sites, where 6-year-old children are found. You can help in following activities at the camp in your neighbourhood.

Tasks for volunteers at ECC camps:

1. Taking photos of children for ID cards.
2. Collecting child details in ECC format.
3. Taking photos of the camp.
4. Preparing documents for school admissions.
5. Addressing language issues, if any.
6. Creating videos of the camp - getting views from parents, builders, volunteers.
7. Finding innovative solutions to transport issues.
8. Preparing volunteer guidelines document for future use.

इसीसी कॅम्पवरील कामेः

१. ओळखपत्रासाठी मुलांचे फोटो काढणे.
२. इसीसीच्या फॉरमॅटमध्ये मुलांची माहिती गोळा करणे.
३. कॅम्पचे फोटो काढणे.
४. शाळा-प्रवेशासाठी कागदपत्रांची पूर्तता करणे.
५. भाषेची अडचण असेल तिथे त्या भाषेत मदत करणे.
६. कॅम्पचा व्हिडीओ बनवणे - पालक, बिल्डर, स्वयंसेवक यांची मते नोंदवणे.
७. मुलांच्या वाहतूक समस्येवर काहीतरी उपाय शोधून काढणे.
८. इतर स्वयंसेवकांच्या सोयीसाठी 'स्वयंसेवक मार्गदर्शिका' तयार करणे.

Every Child Is Precious

Large sections of children belonging to migrant and casual workers are deprived of education. Such children are always on the move – and in the midst of this mess they often miss out on school. A Pune based activists group named “Every Child Counts” (Every Child is Precious)has been started,to enrol such children into the main stream of education. With this goal in mind the group has set the target of enrolling every six year old child into the school system.

The State of India has granted every child the inalienable right to education. Hence no child can be denied entry into government run schools, based on any financial, social or technical criteria. Under the recently enacted ‘Right to Education’ act the administration has decided to focus only on formal education leaving non-formal education outside its scope. However apart from financial problems, the problems faced by the parents of children participating in non-formal education are many.The government has not proposed any solution to solve their problems,neither has the government provided adequate infrastructure to enrol such students in schools.

In the city of Pune the number of boys and girls who cannot attend school on account of various reasons is staggering. The children of migrant workers, construction workers living in construction site camps, vendors selling on the street corners, workers working in brick kilns, are kept out of the formal schooling system because they need to move base when their parents move.

Obvious to the fact of rising children’s age and the damage caused by lack of education, several organisations and individuals from the city of Pune have decided to take the lead in tackling the problem. An activists group named “Every Child Counts” (Every Child is Precious) has been started. Within this initiative, collecting data about such children has already begun.Indeed every child is precious, every child has the right to education; this initiative has been started with these stated goals.

Coming this June, the initiative will not stop at merely enrolling children in government school, but will take stock of children’s attendance, determine and asses the deterrents and problems and make relevant suggestions and solutions to the administration, which also happens to be one of the goals of this initiative.

The structure of this initiative is set up as a citizen’s campaign; where in every citizen as a part of this campaign will find such children in his or her neighbourhood and help them get admitted to schools. The involved activists are collating all relevant technical details, administrative procedures required for school admissions, and the experiences gathered so far, so that it reaches as many citizens as possible. Complete information regarding this campaign is available at http://everychildcounts-pune.blogspot.com.

- Satish Joglekar

ECC Article in Maharashtra Times

Article about 'Every Child Counts' campaign published in Maharashtra Times
(March 7, 2012 - Page No.8)



Click on image to read the article.