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Deepa A
MUMBAI, OCT 19: Weaving across the chaotic roads in South Mumbai's `A' Ward, the bus doggedly pursues its unusual mission. Halting first at Cross Maidan, `D' Raod, Apollo Bunder and finally the World Trade Centre day after tiring day, it resonates to the discordant chatter of distracted children.
Now, Door Step's School-On-Wheels has added another destination to its other four, where children from slum and migrant populations receive what comes closest to a regular education. Eight of its children, who have been attending classes in its School-on-Wheels since it began to roll a little over a year ago, are being primed to take the Std IV annual examination in a municipal school next year.
As per an agreement worked out with the Brihanmumbai Municiapl Corporation (BMC) for children attending its other non-formal education centres like blawadis, Door Step has decided to extend the facility to children in its School-On-Wheels as well. Children in its mobile unit will now be able to take the annual examinationat any level from a BMC school, which will help them to either pursue a formal education or help them enrol for vocational training.
But the journey since it launched its School-On-Wheels in August 1998 has been as rewarding as it has been bumpy. The bus's schedule starts at 7 am, when it picks up students from various slums and takes them to municipal schools and back. The rest of the day is divided into four segments where the classes held in the vehicle itself at the aforementioned destinations.
Confronting odds which range from the elements to the erratic schedule of its 182 students, the lifestyles of its children and their families are their greatest hurdle, says Baban Gawde, coordonator of Door Step's mobile unit.
Almost all the children -- aged between 7 and 20 -- have to take up a job to ensure survival. ``For instance, at Sassoon Dock, whenever a boat comes in, the students just rush out of the class. By cleaning fish, they earn money and even their parents want their children to work as thereis extra income. Since it is a question of their livelihood, we can't stop them either,'' Gawde explains.
At `D' Road, most of the students take up catering work. Says 19-year-old Ashok, a student: ``There are going to be a lot of festivals and weddings now, and then we can't attend school.''
At Apollo Bunder, most children earn a living begging from foreigners. ``The children follow them all the way to Regal cinema or wherever, till they get money,'' Gawde says, adding that Door Step's classes have at least helped stem the problem.
Further, tangles with the police and even bad weather whittles class strength. Recalls Gawde: ``Once, none of the students in the `D' Road class turned up. The police had taken them away and they were not released for two days... I had to go and plead with them.''
While the School-On-Wheels earlier parked its bus at six locations earlier, classes at P D'Mello Road and Sassoon Dock were stopped since it was allotted fixed locations to hold its classes. ``Whenever we start aclass, the response is enthusiastic. At Cross Maidan for instance, where classes began a week and a half ago, the response has been good. But at Apollo Bunder, World Trade Centre and `D' Road, while there are least 20 students on the rolls, sometimes classes are run at only half-strength.
Since a majority of the students are homeless, they become easy targets for the police, Door Step officials say. The voluntary organisation now plans to tie up with the Coordination Committee of Vulnerable Children, which works with street children, to provide identification cards for the children in its mobile unit, says Beena Sheth Lashkari, founder-director of Door Step.
Also, with migration being an inescapable part of their lives, the children sometimes shift to the suburbs. ``Earlier, the group at `D' Road had a number of girls, but all of them moved,'' Beena says. On most days, the teacher and the coordinator have to even scout around for students.
But Door Step's strategy is to run the class, irrespective ofthe day's attendance. Students are picked up from wherever they were dropped off the previous day.
Door Step, set up by Beena Lashkari in July 1988, also runs runs balwadis, study classes, and Non-Formal Education (NFE) classes for children who are unable to attend school on a regular basis. ``Several of the children we put in BMC schools were first-generation learners,'' says Lashkari, adding that Door Step currently holds 34 NFE classes, with 20 students each, as well as 17 study classes for students who have been placed in BMC schools.
Copyright ¨ 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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