Child Protection India Project #5964

From Child Labour to a Chance at School

by SAATH CHARITABLE TRUST

Project Report | Jun 4, 2012
Art for Child Labourers

By Chetasi Kane | Manager- Documentation and Communication

General Child Friendly Spaces Center Update:

Center No. of Girls No. of Boys Name of the Teacher Class Time

Juhapura 12 18 Firdos Shaikh 04:00 to 06:00

Vasna 16 15 Jayshree Parmar 01:00 to 04:00

Behrampura 22 9 Urmila Parmar 12:00 to 03:00

The Little Artists

On 3 consecutive Wednesdays in March and April, we rounded up our children attending classes at our Child Friendly Spaces centers for an afternoon filled with colours. Art for Life in support of QX conducted art workshops for our children and give them a platform to express their creativity. The children were given all the tools required to paint a magic picture on their miniature canvases.

The workshop was an amazing success. The children were encouraged to let their imagination run based on their environment. Form the very second the paper, pencils and paints were given to them, their full concentration was on the drawings they were creating. As the event went on, most children opened up, and were seen greatly enjoying themselves and revealing a strong will to learn and experience.

Artistic activities have been proven to support and enhance the development of cognitive skills in children. Their practice have shown that it ‘stimulates memory, facilitates understanding, promotes relationships, and provides an avenue for building competence’ (Source: Young Children and the Arts).

But it also builds ‘life skills such as developing an informed perception; ... learning to solve problems and make decisions; building self-confidence and self-discipline; ... accepting responsibility to complete tasks from start to finish’ (Benefits of Arts Education, Source: Americans for the Arts, 2002).

A teacher helping out the child

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Feb 6, 2012
An Update on the Child Friendly Spaces Center II

By Chetasi Kane | Manager- Documentation and Communication

Sheetal Ready for School

Quarterly Updates for Child Friendly Spaces

October-December 2011

Center No. of Girls No. of Boys Name of the Teacher

Vasna 17 14 Jayshree

Behrampura 20 10 Urmila

Juhapura 12 18 Firdos

Daily Activities

The daily activities at the CFS centers consist of welcoming the children. To motivate and drive children towards academics, the teacher engages them in some playful activity like playing Snakes and Ladders, Cricket,Story telling etc. Once ensured that the students are attentive and actively participating in class, the teacher begins with the daily teaching module. While young children are given activities involving toys and puzzles, the other students are engaged in learning Mathematics, Language and Social Studies as per the day’s schedule. The learning happens through simpler techniques that are easy to comprehend and memorize by the children (like counting is taught by counting fingers, names of flowers are taught with the help of charts or drawing etc). One day of the week is also dedicated to art and craft.

Events and New Initiatives

The following events and celebrations took place at our CFS centers in the last three months:

Diwali Celebration.
Visit to construction site.
Parents teachers’ meeting (December 2011)
Dr. Suresh Majmudar conducted training on December 7, 2011 for the teachers of the CFS. In his lecture, Dr. Majmudar talked about stammering problem in children and probable solutions to it, about convincing parents to send children to school and also discussed how to treat children when they come to the centre.

A Note on Nutrition

Children are provided with a variety of nutritious foods and snacks like Sukhdi (Indian Sweet), Parle-G biscuits, peanuts and gram, Egg and other such supplements during the three hours at the CFS. This is another factor that encourages parents to send children to the centre.

Challenges and Lessons Learnt

Challenges: Convincing parents to send children to school and stopping drop outs have been major challenges throughout. Counseling on a regular basis is required. Breaking notions regarding the requirement of Birth Certificate for admission has been a challenge too.

Lesson Learnt: Children here, come from a background where they are expected to be stoic and unresponsive to adversities. In such a condition, when they are taught with humbly and treated with warmth they tend to gain a lot. Besides, English and Hindi are to be taught to students who wish to move to class 4 or 5.

Read how Sheetal's Life changed after joined the Child Friendly Spaces

Shital lived in her village with her grandparents until she completed 2^nd standard. Then, she moved to Ahmedabad with her parents and two siblings. Both her father and 13-year-old brother work at a garage, and her mother is a housewife.

When Sheetal first joined Vasna CFS in December 2010, she was shy and would not answer when quizzed in class. She did not even feel close to the teacher Jayshreeben. In this last 5 months, Shital has made an impressive progress. Not only did she learn how to read and write, but also she started taking responsibilities in class. For example, she is in charge of monitoring the class when Jayshreeben is late or shortly went outside to run an errand. Her teacher says that Shital has become more responsible, and dedicated to her studies. This positive change is also noticed at home. Shital’s mother started giving her new tasks, such as doing the household shopping and other household chores.

At Vasna CFS, many girls make bracelets and sell them through Jayshreeben, who takes the finished bracelets to a nearby shopkeeper. Shital works 2-3 hours daily at home and at school. Through this bracelets activity, Shital has developed a strong sense of independence. Jayshreeben is impressed by how at her short age (10 years old), Shital has taken the lead and now directly deals with the shopkeeper. She picks up the material, makes the bracelets and then gives them back on time. Sometimes, Shital even makes extra bracelets and gives some to her teacher and some to the shopkeeper.

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Oct 31, 2011
An Update on the Child Friendly Spaces Center

By Chetasi Kane | Manager- Documentation and Communication

Shahin with her teacher Firdos

Hi!

We want to extend a big Thank You for supporting our cause and helping these children go to school. Our Child Friendly Spaces Center aid child labourers to go back to formal schooling to have a fair chance to a better future. Working with these children has been a huge learning experience for us. If you have any suggestions to improve our work at the Child Friendly Spaces, do write to us and we will bring it up for discussion. Once again, thank you for contributing to a better future.

Quarterly Updates for Child Friendly Spaces

July-September 2011

Center: Vasna

No. of Girls: 17

No. of Boys: 14

Name of the: Teacher Jayshree

Class Time: 1230-5pm

Center: Behrampura

No. of Girls: 18

No. of Boys: 9

Name of the Teacher: Urmila

Class Time: 12-3pm

Center: Juhapura

No. of Girls: 11

No. of Boys: 19

Name of the Teacher: Firdos

Class Time: 3-6pm

Daily Activities

The daily activities at the CFS centers consist of welcoming the children. To drive them towards the academics, the teacher has to first involve them in some interesting activity. Once engaged and fully present in the class, the teacher starts with the class for the day. If there are very young children, then they will be given activities that have toys, learning puzzles, etc. With the older students the teacher focuses on Mathematics, Language or Social Studies, depending the day of the week. One day of the week is also dedicated to art and craft.

Challenge: It has been a continuous challenge for us to convince parents whose children are child labours to come and attend these classes. It is difficult to inculcate the importance of education in the mind of the parents. Continuous counseling is the only way out.

Learning: The children who come here have a very short attention span. To keep them engrossed through 3 hours of class, activities have to continuously change. The teachers have to adapt to the mood of the children and plan lessons accordingly.

The following events and celebrations took place at our CFS centers in the last three months:

Ramazan Celebration.
15^th August- Independence Day Celebration
A field visit to Law Garden- A public Park

About Nutrition:

The Children are given healthy and nutritious snacks like Sukhadi (India Sweet), Chavanu (A savoury mix), Glucose Biscuits, Peanuts and other such nutritious supplements during the three hours at the CFS. This is one of the motivational factors for the parents to send their child to the Child Friendly Spaces center.

Read how coming to CFS has changed Shahin's Life:

Shahin’s father abandoned her and her family. She lives with her mother and four siblings. Shahin’s oldest brother works cutting hair, and the rest of her family works at home making kites. Her two elder sisters and Shahin stitch thread on the kites from 7-10pm every day. Given her family’s situation, Shahin’s work is needed to help cover the household expenses.

Shahin joined Juhapura CFS in October 2009. CFS teacher, Firdosben, says that when she first came to class, Shahin did not know how to read and write, and had a serious stammering problem. Firdosben, who had previously received training on how to help children with speaking difficulties, helped Shahin overcome her problem. Shahin’s mother, Rihanaben, says that she is happy that her daughter is now able to read and write properly. She also noticed that after attending CFS, Shahin became more disciplined and responsible.

After 4-5 months attending CFS, Shahin was ready to transfer to a formal school. However, she did not a birth certificate and she was denied admission. Saath trained Firdosben on how to approach formal schools and explain them that by law they have to accept children lacking such identity document. The school’s principal was initially reluctant, but ended up accepting Shahin for the bridge course. She finished the course and took the final exam, which she successfully delivered. After these summer vacations are over, she will start classes at her formal school.

Shahin enjoys attending CFS center and playing with other classmates. She loves her teacher, especially when she makes them play in class. In an interview, she said that she would like to complete post-secondary school and become a teacher in the future.

Please see attachment to view Shahin picture with her teacher, Firdos.

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