Volunteers get children back to schools

Saida Sheikh resident of Cheeta Camp has decided to send all her four children to school after the school enrolment drive initiated by Mumbaiites for Child Rights (M4CR) - a CRY volunteer initiated citizen's network and the local residents of the area.

The group of activists went around the area explaining to the residents about the importance of educating their children and to get them admitted in the neighbourhood BMC schools.
Says Saida, “I didn’t have so much money to buy books and other necessities so I had not sent my two younger children to school. The two elder children stop going to school after class 4 and 5. But now I would send all of them to school.”

The volunteers used rickshaws dressed up with awareness messages. Says Farid, local civic activist, who initiated the drive in the area, “The volunteers interacted with the parents and children in the area. They asked them the reason behind their not sending their children to school and also explained them the importance of sending the children to the municipal schools.” Every year BMC conducts this enrolment drive for a period of 15 days after the reopening of schools, focussing on enrolling children in the schools through parent meetings, and informational displays in the area around the school which are undertaken by the BMC school teachers.

Says Nitin Wadhwani, volunteer, M4CR, “This enrolment drive is an important tool in ensuring that we reach out to every child in the area. The parents were informed about the 27 items given by BMC according to its rules if they enrol their children in school which includes free shoes, school bag, tiffin box and even a rain coat. Also, every child in a BMC-run school is covered by a health insurance scheme.” Leaflets with information of the child’s entitlements were distributed in the M-East ward.

Says Rajkumar Sharma, civic activist who co-ordinated the drive in the area, “There has been huge drop in the admissions in the BMC schools as parents are getting their children admitted in the private schools. There has been a huge 38.8 percent drop in the number of Marathi-medium students, with around 68,000 fewer children admitted to BMC schools in 2009-10 than in 2004-05.

This is happening because parents are not aware of the facilities provided to children who go the BMC schools. Also the parents were under the impression that the quality of education in BMC schools was not up to the mark. So we wanted to clear all their doubts and thus make them understand that they all should educate their children for a bright future.”

Another volunteer Priti Bajaj along with her co-volunteers Nitin, Aastha and Ahmed were of the opinion that, “Every child should get education and there is no reason why parents should not send their children to school. We really hope that after this drive the parents would understand the importance of getting their children educated.” Adds Wadhwani, “The authorities should ensure quality education to each and every child. Also the concern of parents that there is availability of only primary education in the area should be taken into account and everywhere school should provide secondary education also. The quality of teachers should also be improved so that more and more students get motivated to enrol in school.”
(source: Mumbai Mirror)