who will cry for these kids?

Who will CRY for these kids?

Socio-Economic Profile of Dalit-Muslim

 Neighbourhood in Ahmedabad

 20 chawls

1052 families

4026 students

2157 drop-out

Percentage of dropout 54.11

235 ‘government-recognized’ BPL families

376 ‘deserving, but deprived’ BPL families

611 Families with income below Rs. 3500

 

243 child labourers, 2157 drop-out, 235 ‘government-recognized’ BPL families and 376 ‘deserving, but deprived’ BPL families and 163 widows; these are the shocking stats emerging from survey of 4026 students of   1052 families of more than 20 chawls of Rajpur-Gomatipur area. The survey has been done by Dalit Hak Rakshak Manch and it is part of a continuous process of wider mapping in ‘socio-economic profile of Dalit-Muslim neighbourhood in Ahmedabad.’

First of all we shall talk about the child labourers. As the present political establishment in Gujarat is smart in using sanskritised lexicons for the worst victims of socio-economic deprivation, they use the word ‘bal shram yogi’ (बाल श्रम योगी) for child labourer. But, we shall use the word child labourer. These child labourers include 21 child labourers (18 boys, three girls) under age of 14 years, 27 child labourers (18 boys, 9 girls) of 15 years, 28 child labourers (19 boys, 9 girls) of 16 years, 51 child labourers of 17 years and 107 so-called adult labourers (who actually started laboring since age of 14 or 15).

Out of these 1052 families’ 4026 students, around 2157 students are drop-out. And in these 1052 families there are 611 families with annual income of just Rs. 3500. In most of these families both husband and wife are working, mainly daily wagers. And they are working in garment factories or working as construction labourers.

The area under survey included, 1. Khadawali chawl, 2. Vora’s chawl, 3. Shakra Ganchi’s chawl, 4. Hira Ganchi’s chawl, 5. Saliawali chawl, 6. Havada ni pole (Masukhrai’s chawl, Popatiya Vad, Jivram Bhatt’s chawl), 7. Kundawali Kanjibhai Kalidas chawl, Opp. Post office, 8. Abu Kasai’s chawl, 9. Hiralal’s chawl, Dudhwali line, 10. Sutharwada’s pole, 11. Jain Derasar, 12. mehboob Building, Maniar vado, 13. Mariam Bibi Masjid, 14. Chanda Masjid, 15. Julta Minara (Aman nagar Chhapara, Bibi Masjid, Tulsi Park).

If we look at the area-wise pattern of drop out, we find that numbers increase from seven to ten standard and ten standard has the highest rate of drop out. All these students study in schools of Ahmadabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), where even 200 days of educational work is hardly accomplished. The relation between present government’s craze for celebrating carnivals and festivals and the drop out is subject of investigation. ‘’More than 7500 children were forced to remain present at international kite festival held at Sabarmati river front. 10,000 children were forced to stand under scorching sun in the inaugural function of Kankariya carnival.’’ (Jansatta, D. 29/1/2010)

If we compare the ratio of drop out among Dalits with that of children of sex-workers, it may puncture pride of some so-called ‘dalits’ who are singing songs of vibrant Gujarat with their political masters. ‘’According to a study commissioned by the Women and Child and Social Welfare Department, Government of West Bengal and UNICEF and conducted by the Kolkata-based Jayaprakash Institute of Social Change (JPISC) on prostitutes of Kolkata ..… ‘’Dropout rate is very high amongst children of standard V to VIII (in schools), more specifically among the girls… The study surveyed 1,200 sample families and found that of the 2,003 children 471 never attended school, 384 stopped going to school in the pre-primary stage, 758 stopped going to school after the primary level, 377 completed secondary level while only 13 managed to continue till the higher secondary level.’’