From Child Labour to a Chance at School

CHILD FRIENDLY SPACES

SAATH CHARITABLE TRUST

SAATH is a non-government organization registered as a Public Charitable Trust in Gujarat, India. In Gujarati the word SAATH means, “Together, Co-operation, a Collective or Support.” SAATH’s one-stop, integrated services reach over 4,00,000 individuals in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Since 1989, SAATH has facilitated participatory process that improves the quality of life for the urban and rural poor. SAATH caters to multiple needs of the poor by providing them with one-stop centres, through which they have access to services such as health, education, employment, micro finance and affordable housing. SAATH engages institutions, corporate and individuals throughout the world as partners and supporters for the integrated development of India.

• Vision: Saath envisions inclusive and empowered communities and individuals. 
• Mission: To make human settlements equitable living environments where all residents and vulnerable people have access to health, education, essential infrastructure services and livelihood options, irrespective of their economic and social status.

CHILD FRIENDLY SPACES

SAATH designed Child-Friendly Spaces- a unique, 4-hour informal education course with an aim to later enrol the child labourers, children of construction labourers in formal education. With a steady influx of migrating families to urban settlements and poor quality of education, creating alternative education spaces for quality education has become important.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROGRAMME

The main and objective of this programme is to reach the child labourers and children of labourers and help them gain formal education eventually and there after making them skilled and self-sufficient. Children from the slums, child labourers as well as children of labourers on construction sites all require a strong base in education and access to quality education. Dropouts from school need to be continuously counselled and encouraged to go back to school. The education programs designed at Saath recognize this need and aims to bridge this gap.

IMPACT

Currently, there are 8 Child Friendly Space (CFS) centres; 3 in the slums of Ahmedabad and 7 on construction sites. Through our CFS centres, we have enrolled more than 3,035 child labourers and children of labourers in our CFS classes.

QUARTERLY STATUS OF CFS (January - March, 2015)

For overall development we conducted various learning activities for their physical and mental development and special care is taken on their nutrition and hygiene. Currently we have 5 CFS classes at construction sites and 3 in slums.

We inaugurated one new center in this quarter at construction site. We closed down one at the construction site as the project got over.

Two of our supporters celebrated their kids’ birthday with our CFS children. One of them provided one day lunch to all the children and the other one with snacks and drawing kit.

We had a volunteer Mr. Chetan Varsani from London who spent couple of hours every day for two months at Rajyesh Reevanta center. He taught English alphabets and different body parts in English. Also he introduced them to some of the fairy tales. Children were very sad when he went back.

Saath in collaboration with aProCh Foundation conducts various arts, crafts, and storytelling activities with CFS children on every 4th Sunday of the month at different parks in Ahmedabad. This quarter we had conducted activities at Prahladnagar Garden, Law Garden and Parimal Garden. Here children interacts with other school kids and learn a lot with them.

School Kits were distributed to the new enrollments in all the classes and at the new centers.

There is an outbreak of Swineflu in Gujarat. Children and their families at the centers were given masks and were taught precautionary steps to protect themselves from swineflu.(pic in whatsapp group)

We have divided the children at the centers in three groups according to their age:

Group A: Children who very young, prayers, poems and basic body parts are taught here

Group B: Children are taught Alphabets and Numbers in English and Gujarati

Group C: Children are taught how to write and also they learn addition, subtraction, multiplication.

Given below is the brief of activities at each individual centre:

Fatewadi:

At this center the kids continue learning different letters in Gujarati and English. They learnt writing numbers from 50-100. They learnt new nursery rhymes and songs. Children were taught about craft and painting. They have learned new techniques of drawing.

Ram – Raheem Tekro:

Different activities were done with children according to their age groups. The children were taught English – Gujarati alphabets, names of fruits, animals, birds, colours and they learned about various shapes. Craft activities were also done with the children and they were taught to make various things out of paper and colouring them. They have been taught to make toys from waste material. They have also taught about glass painting and learned different colours names

Vejalpur:                                                         

During the 3 month period the children were taught English and Gujarati alphabets, names of vegetables and fruits, they learnt numbers from 1-100, stories were told, sang songs, learnt how to write simple words and draw basic shapes. Few out-door exercise sessions were done for the physical development.

SW Park – Naroda:                                                                 

Here children learned simple words, reading and writing the alphabets and small words in English. In Maths the children learned numbers from 1 to 20. The children learned about colours, learned from charts, played various interactive learning games and children songs.

SW Park – Vasna:                                        

At this center, younger kids were taught alphabets in two languages English and Gujarati, the older kids were taught to read and write the alphabets. In Maths, kids learned basic examples of addition. Apart from these children were taught basic disciplinary manners. They were taught general knowledge. Mythological stories were narrated.

Umang – Narol:                             

In this center children were taught to write numbers 1-50 in English and 1-100 in Gujarati. Songs in Gujarati were taught. We had a volunteer who taught these kids different body parts in English language and few songs and poems in English. They also had regular sports activities at this center. Children also learnt basic manners. They learnt how to greet and meet in English.

Rajyesh Revanta:                               

In the class the children were taught prayer songs, reading alphabets (English and Gujarati) and reading from 1 to 100 numbers. With the help of interactive games the children were taught about how to give their introduction, identify various colours and counting digits. Children were taught season names and importance of cleanliness.

Aakruti Aangan - Lamba:                    

This is the new center that was inaugurated in this quarter. Parents were invited so that they can come and see what activities are conducted here. First month only went in registrations, Children played with toys and few games were played every day so that children get comfortable with teachers. Second month songs and poems were taught.

 CHALLENGES

• Parents don’t think it’s important for their child to attend such activity classes

•  They think they are losing household income if children go to school

•  As the children are from Migrant families, it becomes difficult track the kids once they move to different sites

•  Stationary, Toys, Teacher Expenses, Snacks are becoming costlier.

• The attrition rates of students is high

• Regular funding is not there for this program

STATUS OF CFS

Child Friendly Spaces- Status in March 15

Sr. No.    Name of the Centre                  Boy    Girl    Total

1            Fatehwadi                               12      21       33

2            Ram rahim no tekro                 16      16       32

3            Vejalpur                                  16      18       34

4            Naroda- Swaminarayan park     26      21       47

5           Shahwadi- Swaminarayan park  21      15       36

6           Narol                                       17      15       32

7           Rajyash Revanta – Vasana        30      30      60

8           Aakruti Aangan                        40      22       62

Total                                                   178     158    336

Child Friendly Spaces (January 15 - March 15)

Sr. No.    Name of the Centre                 Newly Enrolled Children                         Children enrolled to School

                                                        Jan.15  Feb.15  Mar.15  Total                   Jan.15  Feb.15  Mar.15    Total

1       Fatehwadi                                  3            0          2        5                          2          0        0             2

2      Ram rahim no tekro                     5            7          0        12                         0          0        0             0

3      Vejalpur                                      3            0          1         4                          0          0        0             0

4      Naroda- Swaminaraya

• CFS Quaterly Status Report January - March 2015 (PDF)
  

CHILD FRIENDLY SPACES
PROGRESS REPORT
(October - December, 2014)

SAATH CHARITABLE TRUST
SAATH is a non-government organization registered as a Public Charitable Trust in Gujarat, India. In Gujarati the word SAATH means, “Together, Co-operation, a Collective or Support.” SAATH’s one-stop, integrated services reach over 4,00,000 individuals in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Since 1989, SAATH has facilitated participatory process that improves the quality of life for the urban and rural poor. SAATH caters to multiple needs of the poor by providing them with one-stop centres, through which they have access to services such as health, education, employment, micro finance and affordable housing. SAATH engages institutions, corporate and individuals throughout the world as partners and supporters for the integrated development of India.

• Vision: Saath envisions inclusive and empowered communities and individuals.

• Mission: To make human settlements equitable living environments where all residents and vulnerable people have access to health, education, essential infrastructure services and livelihood options, irrespective of their economic and social status.

CHILD FRIENDLY SPACES
SAATH designed Child-Friendly Spaces- a unique, 4-hour informal education course with an aim to later enrol the child labourers, children of construction labourers in formal education. With a steady influx of migrating families to urban settlements and poor quality of education, creating alternative education spaces for quality education has become important.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROGRAMME
The main and objective of this programme is to reach the child labourers and children of labourers and help them gain formal education eventually and there after making them skilled and self-sufficient. Children from the slums, child labourers as well as children of labourers on construction sites all require a strong base in education and access to quality education. Dropouts from school need to be continuously counselled and encouraged to go back to school. The education programs designed at Saath recognize this need and aims to bridge this gap.

IMPACT
Currently, there are 7 Child Friendly Space (CFS) centres; 4 in the slums of Ahmedabad and 3 on construction sites. Through our CFS centres, we have enrolled more than 3,035 child labourers and children of labourers in our CFS classes.

QUARTERLY STATUS OF CFS (October - December, 2014)
For overall development of a child during the three months, various activities were conducted at the child friendly centres and special care was taken that a nutritious diet is provided to each child coming at the centre. We have 3 CFS classes at construction sites and 4 in slums. During the 3 month period various activities and celebrations were done with children along with learning activities. This month children have celebrated Christmas (25th December) and Children’s Day (14th November). They have also visited the gardens.
 
Saath in collaboration with aProCh foundation conduct various arts, crafts, and storytelling - games activities with the children on every 4th Sunday of the month in the park.

Saath has also conducted an exposure visit with children to centre for environment education and to different garden to teach the importance of environment and plantation of trees.

Saath has also collaborated with Courtyard Marriot, Ahmedabad and children got exposure to children to play games and enjoy delicious food.

School Kits received as donations by Saath were donated to children at all the classes. In this event different activities like singing, poetry and storytelling were given by children about their experience in our classes.

Given below is the brief of activities at each individual centre:


Fatewadi
In the Fatehwadi (Juhapura) Centre, in Gujarati the children learned reading and writing simple words and their spellings. In Maths the children learned to read numbers from 1 to 100 and write numbers from 1 to 50, tables from 1 to 15 and basic addition examples. In English the children learned the alphabets, how to give their introduction. They have also learned summation of 2 digits.

The children were taught about craft and painting. They have learned new techniques of drawing.

SW Park – Naroda
In SW Park Naroda, in Gujarati the children learned simple words, reading and writing the alphabets and small words in English. In Maths the children learned numbers from 1 to 20. The children learned about colours, learned from charts, played various interactive learning games and children songs.

SW Park - Vasna
At SW Park Vasna Centre, in Gujarati while the younger kids were taught alphabets, the older kids were taught to read and write the alphabets. In Maths, kids learned basic examples of addition. In English also the alphabets were taught to the kids.
Apart from these children were taught basic disciplinary manners, parts of body, saying good morning, good bye etc. They were taught general knowledge.

Devnandan Supreme – Vastral
In the last month, teacher has resigned and new teacher is enrolled. During the three month period the children were taught basic alphabets of English and Gujarati, calculation examples and some simple words and sentences. Many stories were narrated with the children. Children were taken on an exposure visit and did various activities.

Lamba
Different activities were done with children according to their age groups. The children were taught English – Gujarati alphabets, names of fruits, animals, birds, colours and they learned about various shapes. Craft activities were also done with the children and they were taught to make various things out of paper and colouring them.

Ram – Raheem Tekro
During the 3 month period the children were taught English and Gujarati alphabets, vegetables and fruits names, numbers from 1-100, Stories, Songs, Simple words and drawing basic shapes. For sport activities, exercise sessions were done for the physical development of children.
They have been taught to make toys from waste material. They have also taught about glass painting and learned different colours names.

Vejalpur
 In the class the children were taught prayer songs, reading alphabets (English and Gujarati) and reading from 1 to 100 numbers. With the help of interactive games the children were taught about how to give their introduction, identify various colours and counting digits. Children were taught season names and importance of cleanliness.
 
CHALLENGES

• Workers keep on migrating to different sites and different cities which creates a hindrance in tracking trained children.
• Lack of funding stops from opening up of new classes.
• Stationary, Toys, Teacher Expenses, Snacks are becoming costlier.
• The attrition rates of students are increasing.
• Children are from scattered age groups and so the activities cannot be standardized.
• Education is a barrier to the parents of such children and thus it takes time to make them aware and understand the importance of getting their children enrolled to CFS.

STATUS OF CFS

Child Friendly Spaces- Status in December 14
Sr. No.    Name of the Centre              No. of Children
                                                      Boy       Girl       Total
1    Fatehwadi                               13          22          35
2    Ram rahim no tekro                  21          22          43
3    Vejalpur                                    14          18          32
4    Naroda- Swaminarayan park     14          20          34
5    Shahwadi- Swaminarayan park  20          13          33
6    Vastral- Devnandan Supremus   10          12          22
7    Narol                                           4             6          10
                          Total                       96        113        209

Child Friendly Spaces (October 14- December 14)
Sr. No.    Name of the Centre                  Newly Enrolled Children                   Children enrolled to School
                                                       Oct.14    Nov.14    Dec.14    Total         Oct.14    Nov.14    Dec.14    Total
1    Fatehwadi                                        -           -            -                  -             1              1             2           4
2    Ram rahim no tekro                           -          -            -                  -              -               -            -             -   
3    Vejalpur                                            5          2          4               11              3              -             -            3
4    Naroda- Swaminarayan park            8           8           5              21              5             2            -             7
5    Shahwadi- Swaminarayan park        5           -          15             20              2             -             -              2
6    Vastral- Devnandan Supremus         6          1            -                7               -             -             -               -   
7    Narol                                                -           -             -                -               -              -             -               -   
Total                                                     24        11          24             59            11            3             2            16

Links:

• Saath Website
• Saath Blog
• Child Friendly Spaces

• Report October - December 2014 (PDF)