Provide education to 100 wastepicker children

Parveen is a 10 year old girl studying in 5th standard at the nearby South Delhi Municipality school in Nizamuddin. She is fond of telling stories, which was discovered during one of the library classes at Chintan’s learning centre.She is very quick at solving mental math questions with her classmates. She has beautiful hand-writing (Hindi) too.

Things were not the same a year ago for Parveen. Till the beginning of the 2015, she was an out-of school girl who spent most of her time loitering in her community. She was denied admission in formal schools on account of lack of adequate admission-related documents. Her father, who is suffering from a kidney-related ailment, was not able to pay enough attention towards the education of his two daughters, Parveen and Beauty. Financial condition of her family has compelled her mother to work as a wastepicker.

It was during the yearly survey, conducted by Chintan during January 2015 that her parents were approached. They were informed about the free of cost Support Study classes run by Chintan. The teachers from the learning centre immediately responded to the issue of Parveen’s out-of-school status. They helped her to get admission in an age-appropriate class in a nearby South Delhi Municipality School. Since then, Parveen was being actively supported by Chintan to cope with formal school education. Apart from that, this project has also helped in realizing her parents’ aspiration. They wanted her to become educated so that she doesn’t have to suffer the way they do! They expressed their immense joy and satisfaction after seeing their daughter becoming more active and confident everyday by participating in various co-curricular activities.

Taposi is a 13 years old. She lives in a jhuggi (shanty) in Tughlakabad area of New Delhi with her parents and two brothers. Her father (Sanal) and mother (Kalpna) collect trash from houses in the nearby upmarket area of Alaknanda as does her elder brother, Raju, who collects trash from the houses, shops and picks it up from the roadside. Taposi’s family makes a living by bringing the collected trash home, segregating it and selling recyclables to small-time traders. All members of the family participate in segregation including her younger brother, Rajesh, who is also a student, and assists with segregation after school hours.

Taposi’s family hails from a small village in Bengal where all three siblings were attending school. A financial crisis hit this family many years ago pushing them into debt. Taposi’s father was forced to move to Delhi with his family in search of a better livelihood opportunity that would enable him to return the money he had borrowed. Sanal Baruee found work as a wastepicker in Tughlakabad and settled there with his family.

Before coming to Delhi, Taposi and her brothers used to study at the village school. But due to the big financial loss suffered in her father’s business, it was some time before the family could afford to send the children to school and it wasn’t until about seven years ago that Taposi could join the MCD school in Tughlakabad where she studied until Standard V. Taposhi then shifted to Government Girls Senior Secondary School and is now a Standard IX student there.

School was not easy for Taposi. The biggest obstacle was the language barrier as the medium of instruction was Hindi and all the children would read, write and converse in that language while Taposi could communicate only in Bengali. Her parents could not afford extra tuitions for her and, without support, she gradually lost confidence and interest in school and academically started to flounder. Soon, she started avoiding classes and was often seen wandering aimlessly around the cluster of jhuggis.

But that was about to change. One day in 2013, a teacher from Chintan approached her parents while doing a field survey. She informed them about the free-of-cost support-study classes conducted by Chintan and suggested that Taposi might benefit by attending those classes. Her parents were only too happy to agree and Taposi starting attending the Chintan Learning Centre at Tughlakabad.

Soon, there was a distinct change noticed in Taposi’s behavior. Her mother and brother informed us that ever since Taposi joined Chintan’s Support Study Group, her personality changed from a timid and hesitant girl to a strong, confident and active girl. She was more focused and managed her time better. She had also become more attentive and responsible in school. Her communication skills (especially in Hindi) improved and she was able to interact with others much more effectively than before.

Academics aside, the co-curricular exposure provided at the Learning Center boosted her confidence so-much-so that this once-shy girl now confidently performs in Nukkad Natak (street plays) before audiences in her own community, in crowded shopping malls, and in stadiums on sensitive issues like child marriage, eve teasing, self-defence, and health and hygiene. She has also acted in two movies, ‘Queens of Delhi’and ‘Adla-Badli’ produced by Kid Powered Media. Recently, she bagged first prize in a story writing competition as well.

Taposi’s parents are overwhelmed by their daughter’s transformation. They now dare to dream of Taposi completing her studies and joining a theatre group. They dream of Taposi leading a life of recognition and dignity.