The Hindu : New Delhi News : Special schools for rag-pickers

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Wednesday, Jun 27, 2007
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Special schools for rag-pickers

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Apart from primary education, curriculum will include vocational studies too

Four schools, of which three in Walled City, have been identified
These children would also be given mid-day meals in the school

NEW DELHI: Seeking to optimise the use of several of its schools that have seen large-scale migration of children, the Delhi Government would soon start five schools for rag-pickers where along with primary education they would be trained in vocational studies.

According to Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, four sites for the schools have been identified. Three of them are in the Walled City of Delhi and one at Tehkhand in South Delhi.

“A lot many people have shifted out of the Walled City in the recent past. As a result, the number of children in our schools had declined. We have now merged two or three schools in different parts and would now be utilising the vacant schools for educating the rag-pickers, many of whom do not have anyone to look after them,” the Minister said.

These children would also be given mid-day meals. The move is expected to help in the general health of these children who work in extremely unhygienic and difficult conditions.

“The five primary schools would cater to about 1,500 children. They will impart primary education to the children and train them in various skills so that they may be able to pick up proper jobs at a later stage,” Mr. Lovely said.

To ensure that the project is a success and there is an element of professionalism attached to it, the Minister said the Delhi Government has involved the non-governmental organisation of well-known social activist Harsh Mander with the project. Among other things, the NGO would be entrusted with the task of providing teachers for these schools.

Since the infrastructure for these schools is already in place and only the premises need to be spruced up a bit before these special schools actually start functioning, the Minister is hopeful that they would begin functioning from the new academic year itself.

“These schools would mark the beginning of the initiative. If everything turns out well then we will expand the project to cover more schools and more poor children in the city in the near future,” the Minister said.

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