Education, food and healthcare for street children

Re-integrating children into education

One of the greatest challenges facing homeless children of all ages and especially the very young, is the desire of the their parents to send them out onto the streets to earn an income. They will be asked to beg for money, food or work in streetside tea stalls, restaurants, even small factories or collect rags, bottles, cans, etc. to be exchanged for money.

To help breakdown these practices, more frequent visits, interventions and discussions with their parents have been organised. These have been used to inform, educate and encourage the parents to let their children attend and be nurtured within the school environment provided for them. During Child Labor Prevention Day, the more mature children also participated in these efforts by telling their stories of how attending school has helped them.

Benefits of learning using text-books, innovative teaching methods and caring teachers

There are also challenges for homeless children when attending school, especially for the first-time. When left unattended, these challenges grow to stifle their ability to learn at school, and often lead to the children returning to the streets and abandoning their rights to a full-some education and becoming prey to forced labour, exploitation, etc.

With the help of 3 new teachers, increased access to subject specific text books and the innovative, nurturing methods of the teaching personnel, there has been a noticeable improvement in the overall learning capacity and capability of the children.

This has resulted in a growing number of children developing greater levels of understanding, increased ability to both read, & write, take notes, progress through their classes, as well as improve their readiness for sitting public exams.

The introduction of play therapy, learning through recreational activities and reinforcement of their own indigenous traditions and cultures has further heightened their all-round understanding and appreciation of the world they live in.

With the help of yoga training, dance lessons and other similarly stimulative and creative participation, the children are also benefitting from improved group dynamics and a stronger ethos for teamwork and collaboration. Through these recreational activities the children are supplementing the value of a good diet, much needed nutrition and the nurturing care provided to improve their minds, bodies and souls.

Celebrating literature, culture and heritage:

The children are actively encouraged to learn to appreciate and read native, Bengali as well as English literature. During the festival of Rabindra Jayanti, the students and teachers performed songs, dance, and drama based on Rabindranath Tagore’s writings.

The school promoted greater storybook reading through a form of recreational competition that encouraged the children to read regularly and overcome any fears and resistance to reading regularly. With the help of donations, the children received their rewards in the form of prizes and tokens of the school’s appreciation of their efforts.

Sealdah School also encourages leisure and entertainment activities to make the children feel more energised and refreshed. During May, 100 children from different schools including Sealdah were selected for a trip to the cinema – a special screening of a popular detective movie, exclusively for these children at an upmarket shopping mall which usually prohibits entry to street and slum quarter children. Treated with popcorn and cold drinks, the children brimmed with excitement when they eventually met with the hero of the film.

Future plans:

With a continued focus on providing education, food and healthcare for these children in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the school will continue to educating the children of their rights, encouraging their understanding of values and principles that will help them grow older as role models.

By introducing the children to both Indian and International authors, the school plans to further broaden their reading, storytelling and creative writing abilities during the next quarter.

Links:

• Sophia Akash Foundation, CIO (UK)