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Society
100-Day Schools
by Vinita Deshmukh
Until very recently, each year between October and April, Mangal
Phoolwani, 10, moved with her parents to Mumbai to sell junk jewellery
on Juhu beach. During the same months, Pooja Shinde, 7, migrated to
Karnataka with her parents to a sugarcane factory and spent her days
washing utensils, cooking for the family and looking after her siblings.
Ashok Chavan, 7, accompanied his parents to Gujarat to collect sugarcane
grass to sell as fodder and earn money for the family.
 Education
for all three children - belonging to the drought-prone Pathardi block (Ahmednagar
district, eastern Maharashtra) - would come to a standstill during these
months. Areas like Pathardi witness mass migration between October and
April, the sugarcane-cutting season. Hundreds of families migrate as
these months offer the only chance to earn money. Each family can earn
around Rs 10,000 (1US$=Rs 47), and if the children pitch in, the income
is higher.
Pathardi, Shevgaon, Jamkhed and Karjat - the four talukas (blocks) in
eastern and southern Ahmednagar - with a bare 200 mm average annual
rainfall - have been officially declared as drought-prone areas. It is
from here that labor for sugarcane factories in Maharashtra, Gujarat and
Karnataka, is hired. The lives of thousands of children are disturbed
and their education disrupted.
However, in April 2005, Prajakta Lavangare, Chief Executive Officer of
the Zila Parishad (district council) of Ahmednagar, decided to evolve an
alternative education system for the migrant laborers. She suggested
Setushalas (residential bridge schools; setu means bridge) for
the children - a stopgap arrangement for the continuation of education.
In an unprecedented move, for the first time in Maharashtra, 78
residential schools were set up in Ahmednagar district in November,
2005. Like Mangal, Pooja and Ashok, 2,500 children of migrant laborers
(between 6-14 years) stayed back in schools that also took care of their
lodging and boarding.
Under the Central government's 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan' (programme for
universal elementary education), Ahmednagar district receives Rs 30
crore annually. Says Lavangare, an IAS officer, "Rs 1.75 crore have been
allocated for alternate education in the 2005-2006 budget. During my
frequent visits to Pathardi and neighboring talukas in early 2004, I
found that although parents take the support of their children to boost
their earnings, they would prefer to avoid a break in their child's
education if a good and safe alternative was available. I realized that
if an alternative was provided for those 100 days when the families
migrated, the parents would not mind leaving their children behind."
Thus, guided by the 30-day syllabus format already prepared by the state
government for alternate education, Lavangare designed a 100-day
syllabus around it. The mission was to effectively halt the migration of
children. During the month of April 2005, students of Classes 8, 9 and
10 carried out a door-to-door census.
Lavangare says, "We involved Community Based Organizations (CBOs) like
village education committees and other local committees to start,
maintain and control this new system of education, so that there is hope
for consistence and acceptance."
NGOs were kept out of the picture, for their involvement can prevent the
community from being responsible towards the project.
A key component of the programme was the interface with the parents.
Says J H Pardhe, head of the alternate education cell of Ahmednagar
district, "We went door-to-door to convince the parents about the
benefits of these residential schools. Some of the parents insisted on
seeing the facilities."
In Ambikanagar village - about 80 km from Ahmednagar - all the 45
children who belonged to the migrant community were convinced to stay
back. Says sarpanch (head of village council) Arjun Shirsat, who also
heads the village education committee: "Out of the 45 children, 10 were
taken away by the parents at the last moment. But after they heard about
the good and safe facilities, they too sent their children to
Ambikanagar."
In other villages, community volunteers stopped the trucks that came
into the village to carry laborers to sugarcane cutting sites and
prevented children from being taken away by convincing their parents.
In Ambikanagar, the Zila Parishad's primary school doubles as the
100-day residential school. Toilet facilities have been built and
village women have been hired to cook nutritious meals - breakfast,
lunch and dinner. Two classrooms are converted into hostel rooms - one
each for girls and boys. Two volunteers, who are class 12 graduates and
are paid an honorarium of Rs 700 per month, monitor the 45 lively
children.
The sarpanch and the principal are vigilant round-the-clock. Pointing to
the mesh that has been put on the windows, they say that this is to
ensure that snakes do not enter the rooms, a fear harbored by some
parents. Primary health centers also play a key role if any child falls
sick. This pilot project has brought cheer to many. Mangal Phoolmali,
10, says, "I don't miss my mother at all. There (on the site), I had to
do a lot of hard work. Here, I am studying hard and love the good food.
I hope to become a police woman one day." Ashok says, "My body used to
hurt, carrying the sugarcane grass. I will never go there again, I will
stay back in my school."
Chief Education Officer Suman Deshmane observes: "The health and the
mental state of the children in these residential schools has improved,
thanks to the nutritious meals and a controlled atmosphere that
encourages camaraderie and extra-curricular activities."
But what happens after the 100-day period? Says Lavangare, "After the
100 days of controlled educational environment, the biggest challenge is
to ensure that they become a part of mainstream education (between June
and October)." For this, volunteers will be assigned during the months
of May and June to interact with the parents and children to sustain
interest in attending school. Also, education officers are on the look
out for ashram shalas (schools based in shelters) and private
residential schools.
Will this unique residential school mission survive or will it be a
flash in the pan? Time will tell, though Lavangare puts her hopes in the
CBOs who have now experimented with capacity building of such schools
and therefore the mission has become close to their hearts.
April 16, 2006
By arrangement with
Women's Feature Service
Images by Anil Shah
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