The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : Breathing a new life in street children

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Monday, Dec 03, 2007
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Breathing a new life in street children

Ch.Santakar

KORAPUT: It is time to rejoice, at least for Swati, Jeevan, Joseph, Shiva , Asaf and other 50-odd children on the streets of Jeypore in Koraput district .

They all have been brought together to dance, paint, jump, run, play, sing and talk every Sunday. The municipality school near the King’s Palace is the play ground for these children living on the streets. “It is a strange place for us,” said, Swati, a girl who left her schooling well before she could complete her elementary education to support her younger brothers and sisters said. For Jeevan who had never been to the school like the children of his age, blackboard is a new play thing where he can draw while Shiva use the benches like the hurdles he can jump from while running.

Pieces of chalk are the tools to express their thoughts. , Surendra Pattnaik , a teacher of a local school said.Thanks to people like Surender, Sudhir, who is working for and Santosh, working in a government office and a few others. These people are bringing a difference in the lives of street-children.

The forum created for bringing such people together has brought a ray of hope for the children, especially after toiling for a week as a child labour.

Caring adults

“We are happy to be near these caring adults who are always ready to listen us rather than giving instructions, said, Asaf, one of the child.

The forum is now planning to take steps in the direction of sending the interested children to schools.

Even though problems of around 30,000 street children in the district could not be solved, however, regular interaction could bring new solutions to deal with such problems in the society, Premanand Das, an educationist from Jeypore said.

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