Rural Indian families urged to make school a priority for their children
Child labour
Children at听Rajyakaiya School in Narlai village, Rajasthan
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On the mud floor of a hut in Rajasthan鈥檚 Dungarpur district, seven women and a man sit in a circle around three community workers. One of the community workers, marker in hand, asks why their children or grandchildren don鈥檛 go to school regularly.
At first, they are silent. Then one woman pipes up: 鈥淭he听kids keep asking for something or the other 鈥 pencils,听notebooks and if we don鈥檛 get it for them, they don鈥檛 go.鈥
The others murmur their assent. Another woman says: 鈥淭here听is work to be done at home. So they get late for school or听don鈥檛 finish the schoolwork. But who鈥檒l do the housework then?鈥
One by one, members of the group 鈥 four widows and an uncle听among them 鈥 call out more reasons, which the community worker听writes on a chart taped to the wall. He then gets them to听brainstorm solutions.
The challenges of keeping children in the classroom faced by听these parents in Rajasthan are seen across rural India.
Children from India鈥檚 lower caste communities may be the first in the family to attend school and don鈥檛 get much support at home. While education in state schools is free, there are still some expenses such as paying for uniforms or stationery.
A boy walks barefoot to his school near Rohet in Rajasthan
It also means losing a pair of hands to fetch water from the听well or to tend to younger siblings.
In the case of older听children, it could mean forgoing an additional wage from working听alongside the father on a construction site or in the fields.
The challenge is greater in Dungarpur, one of the poorest districts in the state, where the average literacy rate is 58%, according to 2011 data. That compares with a national average of 74% and the state average of 66%.
鈥淧arents don鈥檛 regard school as essential 鈥 they will pull听kids out of school during harvest time or if there is work to听be done at home,鈥 said Rukmini Roat, a teacher at a state听primary school in Sasarpur village in the same district.
鈥淲hen the kids get pulled out frequently, they fall behind and then lose interest in studies, then it鈥檚 hard for them to advance, so they drop out,鈥 said Roat, who is the sole teacher for the 47 students from grade one to five.听听
This was the case with Pinki, who dropped out after the second grade to look after her younger brother when her parents took them to neighbouring Gujarat state in search of work.
Hindu students at their state school at Kaparda village
Last year, when the family came back to Dungarpur for a听visit, the charity intervened. Community听workers counselled her mother to leave the children with their听grandmother, so they could go to school.
Pinki was re-enrolled in school, in the fourth grade, while听her brother started in the first grade.听听听
鈥淚 like to study science and learn about the environment,鈥澨齭aid Pinki, a slight girl of about 10, who helps her grandmother听with chores before she goes to school and when she returns.
鈥淚 would like to study more and become a teacher,鈥 she said.
Pinki鈥檚 progress is not typical of girls in rural Dungarpur, where the female literacy rate is about 44%, compared with the male literacy rate of 71%, according to 2011 census data.
Enrolment in schools has risen since India enacted the landmark Right to Education Act in 2009, guaranteeing free and compulsory education till the age of 14. Still, the dropout rate was almost 30% at the primary level in 2011.
A girl works at a farm at Sawai Madhopur, near Ranthambore
The rate is likely to be higher in rural Rajasthan, and may听climb higher after the state issued an order last month that听said only children from families classified as below the poverty听line and those from so-called backward castes and tribes, can听apply to study in a private school under the education听act.
The order would deny more than 300,000 children the right to听free private-school education in the state, activists say.
Children who drop out of school are likely to be sent to听work. The estimates there are听5.7 million child workers in India aged five to 17.
More than half work in agriculture and at least a quarter听are in manufacturing, embroidering clothes, weaving carpets,听making matchsticks or rolling beedi cigarettes.
鈥淭he need is so acute that some families have no option but听to send older children to work,鈥 said Anita Sharma of Save the听Children.
鈥淏ut they also aren鈥檛 aware that there are some government听schemes that will give them some money, so they can at least听send some kids to school,鈥 she said.
This was the case with Jeeja, who lives with her widowed mother and siblings in Charwara village. After her father died, first her older brother, then Jeeja went to Gujarat to work in construction to help the family.
They鈥檙e happy to be heading听to school at Doeli in Sawai Madhopur
A social worker, on realising Jeeja had dropped out of听school, went to her home and talked to her mother.
She helped听her apply for a widow鈥檚 pension and other benefits that together听bring about 2500 rupees ($38) a month. Jeeja, 14, returned to听school and is now in the eighth grade.
鈥淲e must let her study,鈥 said her older sister Pramila, who听is married. 鈥淚 wish I had been sent to school. Jeeja mustn鈥檛听stop now.鈥
At the counselling session in Dungarpur, the community听workers urge villagers to prioritise their children鈥檚 education.
鈥淚f they ask for the uniform or a note book, it鈥檚 only for听school, so don鈥檛 get angry with the children,鈥 said Sharma.
鈥淕ive them time to do their school work, don鈥檛 give them so听many chores to do. It鈥檚 important that they study.鈥澨
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