The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Helping to nurture children's dreams

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 05, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Helping to nurture children's dreams

R. Sujatha

Participants at the Eureka Children's festival want to make it big There are many such children who need support but we could fund only a few of them, say volunteers

DREAMING BIG: These children, participants at the Eureka children's festival, have ambitions far beyond their means and hope to achieve them. — PHOTO: S. SHIVAJI RAO

CHENNAI: For some children and volunteers, this was the first visit to the city.

Around half of the 100 children who came here on a weekend holiday on Saturday come from single parent households in the remote villages of Tiruvallur, Cuddalore and Kancheepuram, among others. The volunteers, aged between 18 and 25, are studying for university degrees through correspondence courses.

These participants at the Eureka Children's festival want to achieve something in life.

Z. Shanthi's father died of AIDS in 2000. Her mother abandoned her job as a construction coolie after bouts of asthma.

Her brother fell off from a tall building while working and is on medication for a broken skull.

"Her mother wanted to take her out of school. But we convinced her that she should study at least till class X," says D. Varalakshmi, a volunteer, who works with children in the Kaveripakkam block. Shanthi now wants to become an engineer.

J. Srinivasan, of class VII, is an aspiring engineer and hails from Pillayarkuppam. The hamlet is serviced by buses that stop two kilometres from their village. C. Kanaga, class VI, of Kadupathi village in Cuddalore district, and R. Dhanalakshmi of Lady Willingdon School in Triplicane, want to become doctors.

S. Aruna, class VII of Parameswaramangalam near Kalpakkam, aspires to become a policewoman. She lost her father in an accident.

"There are many such children who need support but we could fund only a few of them," says volunteer M. Govindasami, working with children in the Vembakkam block in Tiruvallur.

AID-INDIA, a non-government organisation working with rural children, drew up a list of children requiring scholarships to continue their education.

"We had a list of 2,000 children from which we selected 750 but we have funding for 350 children only," said AID-INDIA secretary Balaji Sampath.

The NGO's effort has inspired a few people in Koovathur in Kancheepuram block — the panchayat president, a retired headmaster, civil engineer and a doctor — to adopt three children. The beneficiaries are two girls and a boy.

For the volunteers, the donations are of greater significance. Some bought school uniforms. Others used the money to run their family or buy notebooks and stationery.

A family has to spend Rs.1,000 a year on a child's schooling even in remote areas, the volunteers say. In these areas, agricultural coolies earn Rs.20 for a 12-hour workday.

Despite the NGO's efforts, some villagers hesitate to send their wards to school. In Pudupatti village, all the 300 houses are engaged in agarbathi making. The village has a middle school but no bus facility.

The children are sent to work to bring in additional income for the family. The village library programme, started by the NGO and a success in many other blocks, does not find much support in such villages.

Parents hesitated to send their children even for the festival. "They have taken our phone numbers and call the children. They were afraid the children might get lost," said S. Sudha, a volunteer.

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