The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : A long way from kiln to school

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 26, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

A long way from kiln to school

By Ramya Kannan

TIRUVALLUR, JULY 25. Three and a half months after they dragged their feet into transit schools, children of the brick kiln labourers walked out with a head full of alphabets and a spring in their step.

They have learnt, by rote, English and Tamil alphabets, a few rhymes, the Tirukural, facts and figures and a little basic mathematics. It is no mean task, considering their background. With brick making being a seasonal occupation, the labourers migrate to and from the city every six months, denying their children the continuity essential for education.

Pink cards

Now with the summer drawing to a close, more than 250 children are ready to go back home with their families, an every year ritual. This time, though, the children, who have completed the three and a half months in two special schools - one each in Kavalcheri and Chittukadu in Tiruvallur district - are armed with rectangular pink cards which guarantee them admission to regular government schools. The cards, distributed under the Sarva Shiksha Abiyan scheme, bear testimony to the children of having attended transit schools. Attested by government officials, they also recommend the standard in which the children can be re-admitted.

"The biggest task was to get the children to come to the schools," says A. Venkatesan, local co-ordinator for the Chittukadu school. R. Sridhar, who is in charge of the Kavalcheri school agrees. Both schools are run by the Poovai Area Brick Kiln Owners Association and the Rotary Club of Chennai East R.A.Puram. Parents were initially reluctant to send the children for various reasons. Some of them have not been to school themselves, while the others believed that the children would be more useful helping in the kilns or taking care of toddlers at home. The six teachers had a tough time chipping off this prejudice little by little.

The situation was similar at the Kavalcheri School. "If we gave them homework they would not come to school the next day. If we go to their home to coax them, they would run and hide in the bushes," says T. Jayanthi, the teacher there. Despite these hiccups, this pilot project seems to have reached a satisfactory conclusion, says P. Srinivasan, association secretary.

Children like Senthurapandian who comes from a village near Ullundurpet, and who played truant in the beginning, can now fluently recite rhymes and work out simple arithmetic. While his parents loaded and unloaded bricks, he made infrequent visits to the school, but picked up enough skills to find admission in standard II. What makes Senthurapandian's case significant is that he has never been to school in all his seven years.

"The challenge now is to ensure that children like him do get into regular schools and stay there," says N. Ramnathan, past president, Rotary Club of Chennai East R.A.Puram.

`Follow up difficult'

The kiln owners will follow up with the students, even make trips to some villages to see if the children have managed to get admission to schools, says Mr. Srinivasan. The problem is that at least 10 per cent of the migrants do not get back home, they go elsewhere to find work. "Follow up in these cases is not be possible. Only when they come back next season, can we ensure their children a place in the transit school," he said.

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