From Child Labour to a Chance at School

QUARTERLY STATUS OF CFS (Januray - March, 2016)

During this quarter various activities were conducted for the physical and mental development of children and special care was taken on their health, hygiene and nutrition. Apart from regular education activities recreational activities were also carried out such as celebration of the Republic Day on 26^th January, exposure visit to various places in the city and sports activities. One of our centres in Naroda – Mahadev Residency was closed in the beginning of January’16.

Saath this year completed its 27^th year on 28^th February, 2016 and this occasion was celebrated by cooking special food for the children and then later on distributing it at all the centres. A special workshop for children and teachers was organised at Ahmedabad Management Association in January’16 for creative learning practices. Parents meetings were also organised at all centres in January, along with a Teacher’s training at Saath head office.

We have divided the children at the centres 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.

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

BENEFICIARY STORY

Payal (Name Changed), 6 years old girl belongs to the Thandla village of M.P. Her parents are construction workers at the Le Jardin site, Law Garden, Ahmedabad. Saath started the Child Friendly spaces at this construction site in December, 2015. The CFS model supports activity based non-formal learning, nutritional snacks, health care and extra-curricular activities. 207 malnourished children have become healthy during the period of April, 2015 to January, 2016 with the support of the Child Friendly Spaces. The teachers keep a track of the height and weight and maintain a register. Monthly medical check-up is organised at each of the centres with the help of experienced physicians. One such example of a child, who has become healthy after attending the classes, is Payal of the Le Jardin Law Garden CFS.

Payal got enrolled in the classes on 29th December, 2015. At that time her physical growth was stunted and she appeared to be a weak child. She was a malnourished child, since she was just 16 Kgs at the time of enrolment; as a result she looked very pale and thin. As per the growth milestones, she was underweight. She had gone for an education enhancement programme, organised by the CFS project team at Ahmedabad Management Association, where Payal had also participated. According to the observation of some of the co-workers of the CFS project team, the girl had trouble in even walking and getting up from her seat during the workshop. After few months of the CFS intervention, Payal gained 4 Kgs and looks quite different than what she did at the beginning of CFS. The teacher also gives her Chawanprash, which she likes eating. The Chawanprash are gifted by the Dabur Company as a part of their CSR activities every year. These Chawanprash are distributed to all the CFS classes run by Saath in Ahmedabad. Payal loves to write the English Alphabets and reciting poetry.

STATUS OF CFS

Child Friendly Spaces- Status in March 15

No. of Children      Boy    Girl    Total

Total                    130     137    267

 Child Friendly Spaces (January 16- March 16)

Newly Enrolled Children 

Jan.16  Feb.16  Mar.16  Total

50         36        10         96

• Jan-Mar'16 Narrative Progress Report (PDF)