From a distance, it appeared to be just another congregation of villages, reeling under the scorching mid-summer sun, as we took a sharp left from the National Highway. The narrow roads led to Aktiyarpur Mohalla, a small village perched at one corner of the Samastipur district in Bihar, flanked by small houses on both sides, with extended courtyards encroaching half of the roads.
We were there to have a closer look at the neighbouring villages of Aktiyarpur, Damodarpur Mahuli, Balbhadrapur Mahisi, Rasalpur, Khalispur and Musapur, apparently nothing more than some modest dots on the district map, with no claims to fame at all. As the state still shows worrying trends in several child development indicators, we chose to look at these villages through the eyes of their children.
We chose to look at schools, at mid-day meals, at the Anganwadi centres and the usual. But over the three days, we actually witnessed the unveiling of a whole lot of stories behind the issues.
The villages are not inaccessibly remote anymore. All credit to the MNREGA project, as most of the mohallas are now connected with pucca all-weather roads, dotted with regular sign-posts at the corners. But is connectivity the only prerequisite to ensure child development?
The condition of the Anganwadi centre at the Aktiyarpur village tells us a different story. So do the faces of the children, with unmistakable signs of malnutrition writ large on many of them.
More mothers are bringing their children to these centres nowadays, thanks to the increasing ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) coverage in recent years, but the quality of service delivery still remains a concern, if one is to go by the experiences of the mothers.
The Anganwadi workers, however, blame the extremely irregular inflow of funds towards the Anganwadis.
Animal husbandry is one of the main bread-earners in this region that has had little or no rainfall in the past three years. We found many children, especially the ones belonging to the Mushahar community, engaged in cattle grazing. Sometimes, the schools are so far that children tend to drop out and get engaged in child labour.
The older the girl, and the more educated she is, the bigger is the dowry. Hence many of the girls in these villages are found to be married off no sooner than they reach adolescence. Child marriage is also a big reason behind the prevalence of such acute malnutrition.
But we met children like Pinky too. She studies in Class X and is always up in arms against children dropping out from school, be it on account of child marriage or child labour. She will persuade parents, make them aware of the terrible consequences and keep at it to make sure that the children are back to school soon.
“I want to continue with my studies, and wish all the children in my village get the same opportunity,” Pinky is conviction personified!
Through one of the interventions of Jawahar Jyoti Baal Vikas Kendra, a grass root level organisation supported by CRY – Child Rights and You, Pinky, with the help of her siblings and friends, runs a ‘Retention Centre’ in her village to ensure that children go to school, stay in school and complete their education.
There are also children like Shobha Kumari, who know that the battle may have been lost, but the war is not over. She was married off when she was just 14 years, and yes, it took a toll on her. But she decided to make some noise.
She did not allow her sister to become a child bride too, and went against her parents all the way, and made sure her sister completes her education before she is married.
And in recent times, more and more children are following Shobha. Today, these villages have around sixteen such vocal children’s groups that actively work to ensure that their peers get access to the happy, healthy and creative childhoods they deserve.
These groups also drill the message into the heads of their peers that education is the solution to all their problems.
These groups give voice to children like Chandni Kumari, the teenager, who pretended to be physically challenged to ward off the groom’s family. What happened is a story all her friends giggle over while narrating: when the dulha’s family came to finalise the rishta, she walked with a limp to convince him that she was a person with a disability.
Some of the schools in the villages did not presenr a very happy face as we visited them. Quite a few of them did not have proper infrastructure; some were even without the facility of drinking water.
Even though Mid Day Meals help attract children to school, not all schools are able to follow the guidelines laid down by the Right to Education Act. While the law clearly states that Mid Day meals are to be cooked in a separate shelter outside the school building, we visited the Upgraded Middle School at Ahmadpur village, only to find the meal being cooked right in the middle of the main corridor.
Intervention by CRY in these villages has affected notable infrastructural changes in at least seven such schools to better the learning environment for the children. Once the prayer got over, students were found to be flocking to their classrooms all in rows, and the classes began. We could see that when schools start believing in turning abilities into possibilities, the sky is the limit.
And we did visit schools which strive to bring the best quality of food for their students, and provide the best possible infrastructure to enable better learning.
It must be stated here that there are visible efforts to make dents into the traditional beliefs of the marginalised communities that still have a huge mental block when it comes to the fruitfulness of education. There are efforts to ensure that children’s rights are not violated.
And, there are stories of hope, too. One such is the story of Manisha Kumari, who, at the age of fifteen, dreams of becoming a District Magistrate one day to lead the change by example. Her school and the children’s group she belongs to, are the winds beneath her wings, she says.
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