From Child Labour to a Chance at School

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 enroll 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.

 Interns and Volunteers:

• We had an intern Tanvi (name changed) from Gujarat Law University who came to do internship with us. She went to Rajyesh Center for one month and there she used to play with children and did story telling. She enacted the characters of stories and made story telling very interesting experience for children.
• We had one volunteer who was maths teacher came in December to spend some time with children and also to teach them. She took special class with children who were interested in Maths. She taught them some interesting methods and that has really help children.

 Donations:

• The developer of Makarba site celebrated his birthday with the children and cut the cake with them.
• Employees of Marriott Hotel distributed lunch at CFS centers to celebrate their Associates Week.

 Festival Celebration:

• Christmas and New Years were celebrated at all CFS centers. Volunteers from different organizations came and celebrated the festival with them. Some got sweet meats for the children and some did art-craft activities with them.
• As preparation of kite flying festival, kite making workshop was conducted by aProCh. The event was attended by 50 children.
• Gujarat Vidyapeeth students who are interning with Saath took
• 100+ children from Saath centres were invite to participate in a huge kite flying event organized by L D College of Engineering, as part of their National Service Scheme (NSS) activity.
• On the 26 January, the Republic Day, 52 children were taken to National Institute of Design (NID), where students of Ankur School performed a play for the CFS children.

Health and Hygiene:

• Every quarter health check-ups are done and growth record is maintained. Their height and weight are measured and maintained on monthly basis.
• A health check-up was conducted in January, 2018 for the children of construction workers. The malnourished children are given supplements to bring their health to normal level.
• Hand washing is a practice that is stressed upon and followed daily. Teacher ensure that each and every child when enter the class and before eating wash his/her hands
• aProCh took about 100 children from Saath for an exposure visit to Riverfront on the banks of Sabarmati River. Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Corporation (AMTS) provided an exclusive free bus service to pick and drop children. The timing for the visit was 5pm to 7pm. Teachers took the responsibility to drop children to their doorstep. It was a three-day event and children engaged in activities such as rides, watched film and attended a music performance.
• 40+ children were taken to Nini’s Kitchen, a restaurant in Ahmedabad, for lunch. It was organized by a few MSW interns. Children relished upon cuisines, which would be rare for them. They learnt table etiquettes including how to use spoon and forks. They felt special for the day for the special treatment and attention they received from the staff, teachers, and interns.
• Children of Saath were invited to an event organized by the Traffic Department of the city. They were transported in the department’s bus to the venue, GMDC Ground. The aim was to make children aware of traffic rules. The demonstration was followed by painting activity. All the children were then awarded with a certificate for participation. It ended with tummy full of snacks.
• About 50 children from three centres were taken for a film screening at Alpha One mall.
• Two craft workshops by aProCh were conducted during May. 30-40 children along with children from other school participated. They learnt to make things out of paper.
• 35 children visited Vastrapur lake amusement park. It was organized by KPMG. Together they enjoyed rides and had snacks.

Teachers – Parents Meeting:

• Every month teachers’ monitoring meeting is organized at Saath office. This turns out to be a good learning opportunity for all the teachers. They discuss their centre specific achievements and challenges, which are resolved by sharing and brain storming.
• A senior member of the children’s programme was invited to share her experiences at a state level RTE convention.

 Art & Craft Workshops:

• It was Christmas time and to thank all our supporters, children from our centers decorated classes and made greeting cards. Two day workshop was held by volunteers from Thomson Reuters.
•      A jewelry making workshop was held for two weeks, where children learnt and made jewelry. Later on we held an exhibition for the same and children sold them and bought Diwali goodies from the sale money.
• In collaboration with aProCh Foundation, which aims at making cities child friendly, children of Saath’s Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs) along with children from other schools are taken to exposure visit or workshops on regular basis. During last three months, three music workshops were conducted. About 22 children participated. Children learn to sing rhymes and songs in accompaniment with musical instruments.

SUCCESS STORY

I Too Want A Safe Environment!

Tarip (Name Changed) a 3 year old came to Ahmedabad with his parents when he was just 3 months. His parents moved Kolkata for better livelihood. It took some time but then they got work on construction site as masons. The site was huge and so do the labour colony. Tarip’s mother would put little Tarip to sleep and look him in the room and then go for work. She would come back after two hours to nurse him and then would look him again. The other option she has was to take little baby on the construction site with was very dangerous for little boy. She would put him near welding or on heaps of cement and which is very dangerous situation for children.

Saath opened its CFS center on the site, initially Tarip’s parents were not confident in sending him to the center. After few meetings with teachers they realized that children were kept in safe environment, where proper nutrition was provided to them with regular health check-ups. Children started learning and showed keen interest in going to formal school.

• Progress Report December, 2017 - February, 2018 (PDF)