'Making half our dreams come true'

VIMALA RAMACHANDRAN writes on a residential school in Udipi that was designed to give working children a chance to continue their education and also relieve the immediate burden of survival.

WHEN a friend in Karnataka government heard about my research study on educational programmes for out-of-school children, she urged me to visit Kundapur - a field project of The Concerned for Working Children, Bangalore. I reached Namma Bhoomi in Kundapur (Udipi) in September 2000. On my first day there, Hemanna, Satish and Shambu rolled out an enormous piece of cloth (traditionally known as a Phad) and narrated the story painted on it by different batches of children over several years. They spoke about the work children do at home, in the fields, with their parents, uncles and so on. They spoke about "Bhima Sangha", a union of working children, a children's helpline, the children's Panchayat and the appointment of "Makkala Mitra" literally meaning "friends of children", adults to whom the children can reach out. They showed me the Bhima Patrika (wall newspaper), their headband, their symbol: an elephant and their identity cards. This group of young Namma Bhoomi students encapsulated seven years of history into three hours. Except for the translation provided by Ganapathi, none of the "elders" said anything. I understood why The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupery is so popular with adults and children alike in Kundapur: "Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."

I wandered around Namma Bhoomi. I stepped into a big hall. A group of 37 children were sitting in small groups or working by themselves. There was a soft murmur in the room and teachers/artisans were moving from one child to another. One boy of about 17 years was busy with an experiment with test tubes, looking at a card to see if he was on the right track and then proceeding to record his observations in a book. He looked up, smiled and went back to his experiment. Next to him was a much younger child trying to fix a button and stitch a buttonhole. Another child of about 13 was matching words in a jigsaw puzzle, doing some kind of language exercise. Right behind him was a 10- year-old working with the Montessori mathematics material and learning units and tens. Two other boys were making words and laughing softly. A young girl dashed across to tease one of boys who had apparently mis-spelt a word.

I then walked to the far side of the hall. Two boys were busy grafting a cashew plant and drawing each stage step by step on a piece of paper. Behind them were a group of six girls weaving mats, following a design they had in front of them. Just outside the door was another small group engaged in carpentry measuring, marking the wood, sawing a small plant and having a lot of fun. A group of teachers were moving around talking to the children. The atmosphere in the room was calm, the doors and windows were open and children were going in and out. There was a lot of positive energy in the room and I sat in one corner trying to record what I saw. I was reminded of J. Krishnamurthi's "we learn best when our minds are calm, uncluttered and free."

On the second day, I met the Director , Damodar Achraya. Discussing the presentation by children he said "Working children have always valued education; schools typically have not valued working children." That simple statement opened my eyes and I felt compelled to revisit my own pre-conceived notions about children, work and education.

Namma Bhoomi was designed to give working children a chance to continue their education and also relieve the immediate burden of survival. They felt that a residential programme would create an environment where caste and gender biases could be broken and a new value system nurtured by examining/ analysing one's society and the larger milieu in which we live. It would also improve the nutritional level of children.

The educational and training programme has four components. Firstly, the curriculum enables children to brush up and/or learn basic scientific concepts equivalent to standard X of the formal system. Children are also encouraged to complete whichever level of formal education they would like - standard VII, X or XII. Special coaching is arranged for this purpose. Secondly, the general educational and awareness programmes address the developmental needs of children - focussing on development of the individual. Programmes include promotion of gender sensitivity, sex education, information on reproduction, health and nutrition, environment education, yoga, physical education, oral history of the area, creative statement and life skills (cooking, sewing, minor electrical repairs and first aid). A lot of this is done as a part of structured activities in school. The third dimension responds to the empowerment needs of children. These are addressed through a range of activities and discussions on children's rights (U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child), analysis of social and political structures, organisation building (Bhima Sangha/ Makkala Panchayat), resource management, crisis and conflict management, planning and strategising and talking about the future. The fourth component focuses on professional and vocational training needs of children. These are addressed through a range of skill training courses. Children learn the entire process involved in any trade from raw material procurement/ processing, design, marketing and accessing credit to managing finance and production. Children are placed as apprentices in their chosen trade for a year before they take off on their own.

This package evolved over the years responding to the emerging needs of children. The feedback and experience of successive batches of students moulded the programme. Makkala Panchayat (an elected body of children) and the Task Force (a formal committee that includes the "real, adult Panchayat" members, local government servants and children1s representatives) choose the children. The students of Namma Bhoomi are recognised as "ambassadors of children's rights". The "graduates" continue to get support from the Makkala Panchayat and they, in turn, continue to support the movement of working children. Though it started small, now, almost seven years later, Namma Bhoomi is recognised as a Community Polytechnic by the Ministry of Human Resource

Development.

Hemanna, a young man now, summing up his own experience said: "I went to school till standard V, dropped out and started working in my family1s fields. We are four children and my father was unable to work in the fields. I was not learning much in school even after five years I did not learn much I could not even read and write properly... I heard about Bhima Sangha and started going for their meetings. I was 15 years old then... In Namma Bhoomi, I opted for civil works construction. I learnt a lot and now I can mark the land for a building and read the plan, build the foundation, plan for doors and windows, and use filler slab technology that Laurie Baker developed. I can do both brick and (including laterite) stone construction. I also learnt how to build the Astra Ole, a smokeless chulah (stove) and also how to do brick jali work. During my apprenticeship, I built Namma Bhoomi's cowshed. Construction work is not my caste occupation (which is agriculture/ grazing cattle/business) and generally Muslims do this work in my area. I have overcome my caste barrier...more than half of my dreams have come true and now I need not work under anyone. I can work on my own. I now have a skill, which I can use to work with dignity."

Do we need to say more? Working children and out-of-school children are yearning for meaningful education, they are hungry for knowledge and above all they all have dreams. Does the larger education community have the courage to make at least half their dreams come true through thousands of Namma Bhoomi like schools across the country?

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