Give a smile to 3000 slumchildren to attend school

In a country where about 50% of children in the age group of 6-14 do not attend school and where half the girls fail to enroll, and those who do are likely to drop out by the age of 12, education is seen as an important tool towards the realization of rights of all children.

There are 81.5 1akh out of school children in the country, according to figures reported by the Minister for Human Resources Development on 24 August 2011. While there are no reliable estimates for each category of excluded children, experience of educators, activists and governments highlights that the numbers could run into several hundred millions. But the large categories of excluded children included in this note face several common barriers in most parts of the country, such as child workers, street children or disabled children

About 10,000 children in Bhubaneswar alone, remain out of school in a country where elementary education is a constitutionally guaranteed right.” We believe that street children matter, and that every child has the right to fulfill their potential.

Ruchika’s Street to School programmes around the world recognize that every child living or working on the street has a right to fulfill their potential. The initiative was started in 1985 when the India’s first platform school was started in Bhubaneswar by Mrs. Inderjit Khurana. The credo was “if the child cannot come to the school then the school must go to the child”. In the campaign thousands of children were motivated and put into the school.

Even in late the campaign was recognized by the Government of Odisha. The government has made it a government campaign and have started sending the street children into the school as per RTE. Following actions have been initiated by the government with our guidance.

1. A rescue team has been constituted with the representatives of the NGOs / Childline, Police, Education Deptt, Labour Deptt., DCPU etc.
2. The rescue team have been provided with special trainings on rescue operation and protocols to be followed during rescue operations.
3. Two Sikshya Raths were moved for a week in the city creating awareness on child rights and punishment for employing the children.
4. Childline logo has been displayed in the education website and other places in the city for the public . Now two toll free numbers (Childline 1098 and Student Helpline - 18003456722) have been displayed everywhere. Any child if found on the street / working in any shop, the people can access the help of these two numbers to help in rescue the child.
5. Government has set up five special hostels for the street children which are well equipped to accommodate 250 children including 50 girls.
6. Counselor, care takers and other staff members have been employed in these special hostels.
7. Food, cloth, recreation and other arrangements have been arranged in all these hostels for the children.
8. 150 children so far have been rescued who are residing in these hostels and going to school.

This program has been replicated by other states of India who have started this kind of initiatives in their states.

By the government estimate, out of 200 million children in the age group of 6 to 14 in India, around 59 million do not attend school. Of the rest, who are currently in school, four out of every 10 children beginning to attend school will drop out before completing their primary school education. In addition, various studies of children's learning achievement indicates that the situation is actually grim. Recent community based surveys done in 28 cities and eight rural districts in the country find that not more than 30 per cent of school children in the age group 6 to 14, in an educationally advanced state like Maharashtra, can read simple text fluently or do basic arithmetic sums.

Ruchika, supported by PHF, MSDF & TMF works for creating an enabling environment in the slum communities and in schools to fire up the light of education in each child. Towards this end, training teachers in sound and creative pedagogy, providing appropriate teaching aids, improving infrastructure facilities, starting libraries, community mobilization, forming and educationg peoples groups to demand quality education, sensitizing the education service providers as well as literacy promotion are our priority.

We cannot ignore the limitations imposed by the realities of our systems nor do we aim to. Instead of creating parallel structures, Ruchika supplements and works in synergy with existing Government and other initiatives in providing education to all. Remedial Education is imparted to those who lag behind and to low achievers to enable him/her to join in the achievers club.

Ruchika Social Service Organisation has been running varieties of education programs for street and slum children for last 30 years and has adopted a holistic approach in imparting education. Presently it runs 95 Primary and 60 Elementary Remedial Education Centres in the slums of Bhubaneswar and gradually phasing out from the slums.

Activities with the Community

• Basti Education Committees have been working effectively. They monitor the work of remedial centres running in their respective slums. Some of the BEC members are also the member of School Management Committee .They demand quality education and safety of the children in the school
• Monthly meetings of BECs are conducted and resolutions are made unanimously. They help in repairing and electrifying of the centres. They monitor the govt. school as well as remedial centres with the help of RSSO remedial teachers
• The members of basti education committee has been trained and oriented on the provision of RTE
• RTE has been sensitized in all targeted 95 slums and 50 of them has been sensitized with full force.
• Our supervisory staff has sensitized in the communities by sticking different stickers on the walls / doors of the slum houses and banners also have been displayed in the visibility area in the slums. The communities and BEC members helped our staff a lot.

Activities with Children

• With intensive work of the teachers and cluster educators 98 % children are retained in the government schools, more percentages of which are girls.
• Remedial coaching has been conducted with full force. The teachers are provided with training on the new methodologies, strategies of education, multi-grade teaching skills, remedial coaching skills, record maintenance and adolescence psychology.
• Children are regularly attending the government schools. The teachers are visiting the home of the child to know if any child is not going to school. It has been noticed that the children's attendance has increased due to regular visits of teachers.
• Re-integration of drop out children into the school has been conducted.
• Evaluation and Assessment - 4 nos of competency test have been conducted during this period. About 80 % children have completed these competencies as planned.

Activities with Schools

The teachers maintain good rapport with the govt. school teachers. Whenever they are allowed, they demonstrate in the school with innovative methods. The school teachers are helped to conduct co-curricular activities. The test results of the students are shared with the government school teachers.

School Management Committees have been constituted in all the nearby schools. Our teachers and supervisory staff are meeting the members of SMCs and educating them about the RTE, explaining them various provisions laid down in the RTE and how these provisions can be realized for the children.

Outputs

1. 2305 primary children and 979 elementary students are studying in the remedial centers. All of them are studying in the government schools.
2. All remedial teachers and other staff as proposed are in place. The project runs smoothly.
3. 80% students have been completed 4 competencies in Math and English.
4. An art competition and Fancy dress competition on Madhu Babu was held at Ekamra Hat Bhubaneswar, In which most of slum children had participated and got prizes.
5. Basti Education Committees have been constituted at all targeted slums and monthly meetings are conducted regularly.
6. The communities and parents of 10 slums where there were parents have been concerned about their children’s education ,they have become self sustained, providing private coaching and supplying extra study materials.

   7. All the records of the project are in place.

   8.      Teaching learning materials including first aid kit have been supplied to the centers as per need.    

Outcome

1. The academic proficiency of the targeted slum children have increased to a greater extent. Following is the academic record as assessed by third party.
2. Dropout rate in the school has been checked almost completed
3. 98 % Children are attending the school happily because all their home tasks are done in the remedial centres and all their learning problems are solved.
4. The slum communities and BEC members are motivating the parents to send their children to school regularly.
5. Our staff are visiting the Govt. School frequently.
6. A positive environment has been created in the slum to send all the children to school.
7. Govt. school teachers are gradually accepting our teachers and appreciating the methodology that Ruchika adopts to teach the children.

Thanks:

We sincerely express our heartfelt gratitude to our supporters for their magnanimous gesture towards the children living in oppressed and deprived of their minimum basic right to go to school.