From Child Labour to a Chance at School

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.

Art & Craft Workshops:

• In collaboration with aProCh Foundation, 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, there music workshops, paper craft workshops were conducted. About 30 children participated in each workshop. Children learn to sing rhymes and songs in accompaniment with musical instruments and they also made lot of craft with paper.
•  KPMG took 40 children from our one center for the exposure visit to Kankaria Lake. Where children had lot of fun in toy train ride, boat ride and doing role play.
• 25 children were invited to Marriott hotel for lunch and some fun. The staff of the hotel introduced different cuisine and they also taught children table etiquettes including how to use spoon and forks.
• About 50 children from three centres were taken for a film screening at Alpha One mall.
• Two Art workshops were conducted by Sky Blue Institute, 60 children were attended the workshop. Here children learnt different colouring techniques and made beautiful greeting cards. Saath is going to use these cards as Seasons’s Greetings.
• 35 children visited Vastrapur lake amusement park. It was organized by KPMG. Together they enjoyed rides and had snacks.

Exposure Visits:

Teacher Centric Activities:

• 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.

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 July, 2017 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

 Interns and Volunteers

• We had a young intern Alisha from USA who came to India to work with these children for two weeks. She taught children Alphabets in English, Nursery Rhymes and in return she got lot of love from the children also taught her few Gujarati words.   
• Volunteers from Karma Foundation visited the centre and conducted classroom activities- mixture of education and fun.
• Employees of Plum Slice and KPMG visit centre once a week and engage with children in fun activities such as singing and storytelling. 

Donation

• This year our city was flooded due to heavy rains. During this time of need whole city became united. We got lot of food packets, lifesaving kits from various organizations. People cooked food at home and distributed to these children and to their families.
• Adarsh foundation donated basic ration to families of all the children at the centers
• Mrs. Shah celebrated her daughter’s birthday with these children. They cut cake and had yummy lunch with return gifts.
• Mrs. Khanna celebrated her 70^th birthday with these kids, she said this was one of the best birthday she has every celebrated. She donated food and school kits to the children at Godrej Center.
• Employees of Marriott Hotel distributed lunch at CFS centers to celebrate their Associates Week.

Festival Celebration

• Rakshabandhan the festival of brothers and sisters was celebrated. Children attended rakhi making workshop. They also put up the stall at Hyatt Hotel Ahmedabad.
• Octous Solutions Pvt Ltd. celebrated Rakshabandhan festival with their employees at our center. Here the staff felt so connected with these little kids.
• Independence Day was celebrated on 15^th Aug at all the centers.

Monthly Parents – Teachers Meeting

• Parents’ meeting takes place every month. Parents were apprehensive at one of the centres about their children’s progress and had pessimist thoughts about education. The program coordinator then shared progress of all the children in parents meeting.

SUCCESS STORY

Seeta Dudiyara (Name Changed) - Freed from chain of Child Labour

Seeta was a timid 10 years old girl when she came to CFS class at Aryan Opulence. When she joined she was underweight, weighing merely 21 kgs. She would hardly speak to anyone. This might be a natural response for any kid to a new situation. However, at times there are some repressions which we might not be aware of. Seeta would not talk and also did not come to class regularly. On asking the reason behind being irregular in the class, what she said was a little discomforting. She had to take care of a small child and the child’s mother would not let Seeta attend the class. Such ironies are commonplace where a child has to take care of another child. It was then the lady was approached and asked for a clarification on this issue. It was learnt that the lady paid a lump sum amount to Seeta’s father every month for keeping Seeta to look after her daughter. The teacher explained to her that it seemed Seeta had been enslaved. This is ethically and legally wrong to prevent her from the right to education. Also, she herself is too young to care for a small child. The teacher then convinced the lady to let Seeta come and sit in class along with her daughter when she gets up. Seeta liked to go out in programmes and celebrations, but she was refused. Gradually, the lady was convinced and now she lets Seeta socialize and enjoy her school time as well as such celebrations.

Elated she tells her parents, “I will not go to take care of any child. I will study and move forward in my life.”

She had been freed from the burden and was happy to attended classes regularly. She came to CFS only for four months. Within this short span of time her health also improved. When she left the site four months later, her weight increased to 25 kgs. This was because she became mentally free and used her energy in better work creatively.

• Progress Report CFS June - August, 2017 (PDF)