Community Approaches - CWC

Introduction

Concern for working children (CWC) is working towards total eradication of child labour in all sectors.  CWC is working at local, 
national and international levels through action, policy research, lobbying and advocacy roles. CWC is also working to arrest migration from rural to urban areas by rejuvenating traditional occupations and 
enhancing options for people in villages. CWC is a Private Development Organisation (PDO) registered under Karnataka Societies Act. CWC strongly believes in empowering children based on partnership values so that they can gain control over their lives and be self-reliant.  The organization focuses on kids forced to work in unorganized and organized hazardous situations due to poverty, kids 
from unfit/broken homes, neglected/forgotten children and 
orphans.

Experiences ( Presentation by Ganapathy)

My organization CWC started by working with working children. So most of our experiences of education is with working children. Regarding what we spoke about yesterday on what education is, today I’m sharing experiences with you and (these are) not just those from within the classroom. CWC entered into formal schooling when we realized that working children need our support.  We found a lot of working children in one of the most literate areas in Karnataka i.e. coastal area. The government claimed in 1989 that more than 80% are literate in this area and yet children work, drop out from school and go to the hotels to work. Children are migrating to work in popular hotels such as Udipi hotels in Mumbai and parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. So we got involved with education in schools also. Prior to this experience with children our founders had only worked with unionizing people.  Our work with children started due to questions raised by children in unorganized sector labor unions. We started a union of working children, the first in India called Bheema sangha in 1990. Our experience in teaching them was very informal in the beginning; basically we talked to them about the advantages of organizing together and coming together. They have evolved as a union and this now has all symbols of a union.  They have a head band, flags, elephant as their union symbol, membership of 20,000 children all over Karnataka, from Bangalore and 5 other districts.

 When it comes to the question about learning, as so called educated people we have the notion that education means what we have learnt. So we try to impose these kind of things on children, which they are very unhappy with. Whenever you go to any working child in the rural area and ask them why they are not going to school, they say “I failed in class”. So we believe they will be very happy if we try to make them pass. When you actually start working with them, the real problems emerge. Whatever we have discussed since yesterday, issues of caste, class, gender and discrimination – (these are) things the children face.  Secondly we cannot go and work on this all over the place being small NGO and we also have some limitations. These children said we want education, but not what is currently being taught in school. Education as it was being offered to children is irrelevant. Most parents also felt that knowing how to read and write was enough for their child. The whole coastal economy is jokingly called “Money order economy”, with children working in cities and sending money orders back home. So literacy is sufficient is what is felt. Such things made us think about the need of the children in the rural areas. The union constituency has opened up lot of problems and opportunities to work with them. For example, they have to work with the local government to solve their problems.  But in the process of education today there is no place for our community.  How do we communicate the needs of our community? Myrada, another NGO has developed a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) method. We have adapted this method in our areas to work with the children. And through this children in the community started realizing their place in the community and they started figuring out how to solve problems they face. This is the type of education our group worked with the children on. This is a very powerful tool.

 As they started organizing themselves, the children wanted a government for themselves called “Makkala Panchayat”. Children from 6-18 elect their own government. Children from 12-18 are eligible to stand in the elections. We also ensured that working children get more seats (are reserved). 65% is reserved for girls. Reasons are: girls stay in the village, girls have more problems than boys, they cannot come alone and participate in meetings. If there are more girls then they can come together. 1% was kept aside for special needs children (elected by special needs children). 50% is reserved for working children in the community. So this Makkalla panchayat is a body to help the local panchayat, the organization and the school to evolve what they want to learn.

We met Amukta Mahapatra who started Abacus Montessori in Chennai. She gave us the idea that Montessori is (the) best democratic method in education. But the materials we found when we visited the school were very expensive, limited to pre-primary and affordable mostly by elite schools. Montessori is typically limited to pre-primary schools. Only some schools in Bangalore and Chennai are trying to take the Montessori method till 10^th standard. Abacus is one of them. Amukta helped in taking the spirit of Montessori to rural areas to help with education. When we entered into government schools, we used the adapted Montessori methods.  We called it the appropriate education program because Montessori has its own restrictions that you have to use the material in a particular way - which is not possible when the number of children is large (in a class of 70-75). In this case how we use the material is different. So we call them appropriate methods. Amukta Mahapatra helped us develop our materials on the basis of Montessori principle for use in these government schools.

We are now working with 35 government schools in different districts of Karnataka. In the beginning we tried these methods with children from the Bheema Sangha. They learnt very fast. We then called the first government teachers training program in the holidays.  We decided to work with the government and try to influence their structure rather than starting a separate structure. And we decided to work with the government for a certain amount of time. So with our experience if we work in coastal area, in 5 years we can ensure that no child is working in that area or working in the hazardous sector on what is harmful for them. This experience gave us an opportunity to work with the government where children also have a role to play, where they can participate. We created a platform called Task force, where children representatives from Makkalla panchayat and Bheema Sangha, school teachers, anganwadi workers, government and the community ( community is represented by self help groups, youth groups) work together. The children will not only put forth their demands but also solutions. For this they wanted to know how to gather information. When the task force first began lots of children were not going to anganwadis, to schools, lot of houses were not having water. The children went from house to house and collected information from every house. In 1998 they surveyed around 7000 households in this panchayat and collected information.  They then used this information to make their demands.

 In one village called Balkud now we’re able to reach that stage where now there are no working children in the panchayat. There were 135 children not going to school (of which) 70 girls were not going to school because they had to look after their own younger sister/brother (because there were no anganwadis). The children pondered over what has to be done. “We have to start an anganwadi”. Once children were equipped with a survey they were able to actually get one started. Adults are not very persistent with their demands. The children were not ready to wait. They said “we will have to wait another century to get a general census, then central government decides how many anganwadis to start, and decide what is the share of Karnataka, Udupi and Kundapur”. We have to wait for that. By then we will be 18 years old. We are not waiting for you to get an order from central or state government.” They persisted and got an anganwadi for their area. This is the power of children, if you empower them with a tool like surveys. They have started anganwadis, they have started extension schools.

We were also caught up with these non-formal schools. They lead to nowhere. The children kept varying and did not get that much out of it. So we started working with the Education Department of Karnataka so these children, who are not going to formal schools, can sit for exams. The Makkalla panchayat with the help of the local panchayat selects some volunteers to help with teaching. Appropriate education methods are followed which help them become independent learners through self-learning. We then train the school teachers (like the teacher-workers who help the children) to help the children take exams. Now the government has allowed them to sit up to 10^th standard. They can sit for any class irrespective of their age. If they want to continue their education they can, otherwise we have a training center for children above the age of 14. It is for the working children and is called Nava Bhoomi.

One aspect I would like to share will all of you - in the beginning it is very difficult to work with the government and government school teachers. What we are suggesting is not extra work for them, it is enhancing their work. You may be wondering why the panchayat has to worry about working children. It is none of their business to look after children let alone working children. If they are proud of doing something for children it is because it is also helping the adults. When children make demands it is not for themselves but for the entire community. So it is helping to see a real progress in the panchayat and hence easy for them to take it forward. Children’s collectives, in my experience are not only for working children, but all children. It is a tool for children to help them know what they really want, what is in their best interest. In our experience, it is the participation of the children in what they need that will help provide solutions.

You may have questions like 'do the children always know what they need'. The children may just say they need to learn Mathematics. We have made these materials for them. Tomorrow we will be exhibiting these materials.  We have created the developmental syllabus for these children. What is the development is different at different stages. Secondly they need to acquire life skills, some skills they have to learn in school or outside. Another requirement is exposure to vocational training which will help them to choose a vocation towards earning their living. They can come to our training center and learn something. The next is a marketing network. They can sell items in shops and exhibition centers within their communities. There are youth collectives as well which help them work together within their villages.  As an example – we have a training called Appropriate Construction Technology.  Once trained the youths become collectives and work on their own. 

Contact Information

Nandana Reddy , Ganapathy
The Concerned for Working Children 
303/2, L.B. Shastri Nagar 
Vimanapura Post, 
Annasandra Palya 
Bangalore - 560 017 
Tel 91-80-527-2111 
Fax 91-80-558-0357

Back to community approaches

Top of page

Top of page