Lives Touched
2011 - 2020
Kamarhati and Panihati Municipality, West Bengal
The Story
Kamarhati and Panihati municipal areas are synonymous with serpentine bylanes, chock-a-block with buildings with tiny rooms and overcrowded accommodations. Habitants here have learnt to cohabit with poor hygiene, inadequate nutrition, incidences of child labour and early marriage, gender disparity, to name a few, and are accustomed to these. The children are primarily first-generation learners whose parents are either tailors, factory workers, engaged as cooks, masons, etc. Earning their daily bread is higher in priority than ‘wasting’ time on education. Children in slums co-exist with exposure and deprivation. While on one hand children are exposed to the fancies and privileges of urban life, on the other hand complex social interplays restrict a child from having a normal upbringing where education features as most important.
Children are shifted from the realms of formal education in terms of enrolment and societal attitude. Education never takes primacy in the families and in the community. The resultant being a visionless future for the children. To create a small positive dent in the lives of such children, Hijli INSPIRATION in collaboration with ASHA for Education has been implementing SATHI for Education Support project. The alliance has been running successfully for 10 years now which started off with children mainstreamed in Classes I – VIII.
Hijli INSPIRATION’s consistent focus has been to mainstream all such children through the cumulative years and retain them within the realms of formal education. Bridging the Divide began with 4 centres, 2 of them exclusively for students of Bengali medium schools, 1 for the students of Hindi medium schools and 1 for students of Urdu medium schools. The progress reflected in the students made the community demand for additional Urdu and Bengali centres, which became effective from 2017 with adjustment with the Hindi Centre. Presently there are 6 Back-up Centres where local teacher volunteers work relentlessly to step up the learning levels of he first generation learners through curricular and extra-curricular support.
The HARMONY Project with CINI ASHA and Axis Bank Foundation which was a precursor to the “Bridging the Divide” Programme aimed at mainstreaming 600 children, through 14 back up support centres in the slums of Kamarhati and Panihati Municipality and providing backup support for ensuring retention over three years period from 2007-2010. Lives of children touched are in the order of 650 through back-up support centres and outreach support.
Impact
- Education a priority
- Lower Dropout Rate and Improved Retention Ratio in school education
- Positive inclination towards education
- Some students are undergraduates now
Positive Outcomes
- Students entering Higher Education and shaping their lives- 25 students– 18 girls and 7 boys have passed the Class X Board Examination – (Madhyamik in West Bengal Board) between 2015-2020.
- Allauddin Mollah, the first-ever student to have passed Madhyamik under the aegis of Bridging the Divide, has now started a business after completing graduation.
- Narrowing the gap between haves and have-nots: Md. Sabbir, an enthusiast in Mime has been a gem of the Soma Mime Theatre, another association that INSPIRATION has had to help interested and skilled students like Sabbir to flourish. Having had the chance to showcase his talent, on various public forums, Sabbir has become confident in himself and inspired others like him.
- The local Teacher Volunteers have played the roles of protectors: there have been instances where volunteers have intervened and arrested child labour and child marriages and even averted child trafficking.
Acknowledging the necessity to resist gender discrimination, the workshops on gender sensitization have been largely instrumental in bringing in small changes in approach and practice; they have gradually accepted that there are very few roles or activities which can be defined by the gender.
Champions of Change
The stories of the little individuals that accentuate the oft heard “Nothing is Impossible”
“Let There Be Light”
Md Shaeban, was born to parents who earned their living as a cook (father) and tailor (mother). We were introduced to Shaeban when he was a student of class I. Financial challenges and socio-cultural factors were constraints to his education and by the time Shaeban was 12 years old (he had 3 other siblings by the time) his parents often despaired at his inability to contribute towards earning. INSPIRATION ensured that his education was not truncated and convinced his parents to allow him to pursue his academics. However, Shaeban was in class IX, when he was engaged in a ‘part-time’ job – selling poly carry bags to vegetable and other market vendors early in the morning (7 to 8 am) and at night (8 to 9pm).
Nonetheless, his records showed a constant 90% aggregate percentage every year. He passed his Madhyamik exams in 2020 with a whopping 90% too.
INSPIRATION had been his icon of hope and his ray of light in his darkest days. He in turn is INSPIRATION’s pride and a ray of light today.
“There is always another window – you just have to look for it”
Afsana Azmi** is like any other teenage girl living with her own set of friends, education, fashion & lifestyle, socio-cultural and economic challenges and not necessarily in that order! However, when one particular factor caused her great turmoil and mental unrest, she couldn’t disclose it to any of her friends and much less her parents.
Samma Parveen, the volunteer teacher from INSPIRATION at Afsana’s Centre, could perceive the friction and kept a close watch on her. It was not long before Samma was informed that Afsana was doing something drastic. She immediately rushed to her house and found that Afsana was about to take her life; Samma immediately jumped into action and saved Afsana.
Samma counselled her, guided her, supported her and healed her back to believing in the future and looking for solutions to resolve her problems instead of escaping from them.
However, there was still another challenge left to tackle. Afsana had fared badly in her School exams and was not promoted to class X. Peer pressure, family circumstances, lack of motivation, and disinterest on the whole left Afsana determined to discontinue her education. INSPIRATION did not give up and Afsana was counselled by her teachers at the Centre and was given the option of being enrolled in the OPEN SCHOOL, which offered more flexibility and would cause no embarrassment to her. Her parents were oriented on the OPEN SCHOOL system of education and they somewhat agreed to give Afsana a chance. In December 2019 Afsana was enrolled in the Open School under the able guidance of INSPIRATION Volunteers Rita Hari Banerjee and Tamali Das.
Afsana’s academic performance has not only gone up – she is now getting ready to take her Board Exams in 2021. Afsana says, “there are always solutions to any problem that life throws on ones face – all it requires is a little patience and lots of faith to carry on”.
(** – Not her real name)
Education Transforms Communities
Israel Colony, today is a stark contrast to what it was when INSPIRATION began its journey to introduce a back-up support centre in the community. Education was least important, participation of parents in academics was unimaginable. However, the situation was not to remain the same; the batch of Madhyamik students and the year 2015 marked the turnaround. The success with the batch of Madhyamik students brought the importance of the SATHI centre, in the community, to their notice. Since then parents have suitably rewarded the volunteers with their time, participation and meaningful involvement like tidying the centre, replacing light bulbs with their contribution.
The Centre at Israel Colony was a mere structure without a roof, and that is how it all began. Dingy, crowded and suspicious gambling and country liquor dens were more conspicuous than the SATHI centre. Children were the available and cheapest labour to be hired in these most unsuitable environments. In a bylane mired with two vicious existences, SATHI centre had to survive and bring a sustainable change. Hours and days of untiring advocacy with the owners of these shops to hire the fathers instead of the children, turned the table. The owners were encouraged to engage the fathers in their shops and enable them to provide for their families and support the education of their children. This served the dual purpose of generating a source of living in the families which freed the children from the daunting task in these inappropriate set-up and retained them in mainstream education. It was then that gradually the parents and the community realized the need of the SATHI centre and even came forward to mend the dilapidated incomplete centre on their own accord, to assist the teachers to conduct classes conveniently.
The success of the SATHI children centre extends beyond the ranks and grades of the students or their academic excellence; the spirit and the dedication of the volunteers have brought in the desired change and the involvement of the parents to monitor their child and their interest in the progress of their child are the coveted rewards.