Educational Awareness Campaign

PEOPLE’S INSTITUTE OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT - PIRD

ELIMINATING OF CHILDLABOUR THROUGH EDUCATION

Educational Awareness Campaign for Eradication of child labour
during the period of May - June, 2007

The “Educational Awareness Campaign for Eradication of child labour is the most important activity in the project. It encompasses
1. Generating awareness amongst the parents about education.
2. Generating interest and liking for education amongst the children,
3. Act for child labour prevention and eradication at the village level. Keeping in mind the above, the campaign was run between 7 May to11 June 2007

Pre Campaign Training and Methodology
A training programme was held on 1st and 2nd May for the project staff and volunteers. In this training keeping in mind the objective of the campaign, we discussed & planned regarding duration, campaign activities, role of volunteers, village level people participation, the need to spend at least 3 days in each village (total 30 villages).

In this training programme the following topics were covered: the problem of child labourers, efforts made by the Government and other organisations to eradicate child labour, laws relating to child labour and their implementation, importance of education, the role of village education committees, etc. The following resource persons for conducted the workshop: Rajkumar Holikar, Amrut Bhoge, Niranjan redid (correspondent) Ashok Kulkarni and Machindra Gojame.

In consultation with the resource persons the following programme for the campaign was worked out.

1. The campaign should be conducted in thirty villages between 7 May and 11 June 2007.

2. Taking into consideration the limit on the duration of the campaign, the nature of the work to be done and three days in each village, three groups were formed. The first group would go to each village and during the course of one day liase with the village local bodies and give them an idea about the campaign and dates on which the workers would visit the village. This group also made lodging and boarding arrangements for the groups, which would follow. The other two groups would visit each village at least for two days and conduct the campaign. Each group would tackle 8 to 10 people and help from other volunteers would

3. besought for this purpose, and their names be noted and responsibilities assigned to them.

4. The group working in a particular village should organise games and entertainment programmes for children, both school going and those out of school. With friendly conversation they should try and find out from the children information about their school, the teachers, their studies and the difficulties faced by them in getting educated, and what can be done about it. This was the children should be encouraged to start liking schooling.

5. Some of the workers should try and get to know the women, the youth and members of the village education committee. Of the village. By discussion they should bring out the bad results of child labour, and find out the state of affairs in the school. In late evenings slide shows, video shows etc should be arranged to propagate the need for education and eradication of child labour. Competitions should be arranged in various games and prizes distributed.

6. The Staff & volunteers running the campaign should remain in the village for the full duration of the campaign. They should be satisfied with the lodging and boarding arrangements made by the villagers and not go out of the village for this purpose.

Implementation of the Campaign Programme

Activities with Children. Both school going and out of school (working as labourers) were contacted and problems relating to the school, schooling were discussed. Entertainment programmes and competitions were arranged. Of all the participants in the campaign, we got the best co-operation from children, Altogether 3495 children, out of which 131 were girls, took part. For more details see Appendix ‘A’

Meetings with Different Village Groups. As planned, in each village meetings were held with the village education committee, women and youth groups. Topics covered were conditions in the school, their attitude towards schooling, child labour

Etc. In these meetings spontaneous and the best response was from women. In the thirty villages where such meetings were held, 15 to 45 women took part. Next in matter of taking interest was the group of the young. The most disappointing response was from the very people on whom the responsibility for education rested, namely the Village Education Committee. The women said that they would participate in the future also. Please see Appendices for more details.

Public Meetings (GRAM SABHA). At least two village meetings or gatherings were held in each village. Guidance was given using video shows. In such meetings a number of notable people, teachers, doctors, lawyers, social workers, farm labourers etc took part. All of them contributed their thought on the questions of child labour and its eradication through education.

Participation by Volunteers. A total of 35 volunteers helped in running the campaign successfully. In each village, volunteers from the village also took part and showed their interest in the objectives of the campaign.

Organiser’s Training Programme on Litercy. This programme was held in the premises of Residential School for the Disabled. The topics discussed were: social awareness, developmental awareness, teacher – student relationship, responsibilities of the teachers, school and class room atmosphere, Marathi and Arithmetic, literacy, teaching methodology etc. For this programme Shri. R.E. Khandagale of the State resource Centre, Aurangabad, Mr. SP Kulkarni, Mr.VS Lahane, and the President of PIRD, Shri Macchindra Gojamae took part and gave in depth guidance. To know more various activities of programme please visit at http://balhakk.blogspot.com/