A Right to Education initiative by those denied the right themselves

Defying all odds, Shirkul, now 20, has continued to pursue her dream and is currently pursuing a Bachelors degree in Commerce from the Yeshwantrao Chavan Open University. But completing her own education is not her only goal.

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She has joined a bunch of youngsters, most of whom have similar tales to narrate, on a grander mission.
At a time when the government’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan has failed to curb high student drop out rates, these youngsters, all of whom hail from the backward Vaidu community, have set out on their own Right to Education mission-one that involves mapping every out-of-school student from the community in the state and ensuring that they go back to school from the coming academic year.

The Vaidu community, a nomadic tribe, has been traditionally associated with collecting medicinal herbs and plants to treat the populace. Even today, one can spot members from this clan illegally selling herbal concoctions on the streets.

Literacy rates are abysmally low among the community, which has a population of about 23 lakh in Maharashtra alone. Across the state, members of this clan mostly live in ghettos where education is still not seen as an empowering tool.

But these youngsters, who have formed the Maharashtra Vaidu Yuva Vikas Sanghathana, are taking strides in eradicating this ill.

At a time, a debate rages over inaccuracies of an out-of-school student survey carried out by the Maharashtra government, these youngsters have been travelling to community pockets across the state, surveying children who are being denied their right to education.

“We have identified 1,326 such drop outs so far, mostly girls,” said the outfit’s chief volunteer Durga Gudilu. Gudilu had previously raised a successful fight against the regressive Jat Panchayat model practised within the community. “Our mission is to send each of these students to school from June,” she added.

Gudilu explained that the outfit’s 56 active volunteers and 423 sympathisers have donned the role of education marshals. “We are conducting a door-to-door survey across districts to map school drop outs. Volunteers also probe reasons behind the drop out and have been counselling families to mend their ways. The initiative is getting support as some community elders are supporting it. Some have even helped with monetary contributions,” she said.

In order to achieve the mission, each volunteer has pledged donations too. “We have found that in most cases, the problem is that elders want the daughters to take care of household chores since the parents are usually out earning for the family. We are convincing them to at least enroll their kids in night schools,”
said Gudilu.

“The fear of inter-caste marriages is another big reason. We are talking to community elders on ways to eradicate this taboo,” Gudilu added. The community outfit has already networked with some NGOs working in the education sector to support the initiative. “We now want the government to back us too,” Gudilu remarked.

Laxman Shirke, a community elder, said, “Youngsters from the clan have adopted a novel mission. Poverty and unemployment have driven some ills that have plagued the community’s growth. Lack of education is one of them. Many of us are actively supporting this initiative.”

At a ghetto in Mumbai’s Jogeshwari, we meet parents of four-year-old Satish Melkundi, who happens to be their fifth child. “These youngsters have convinced us and we plan to enroll him next year,” said Satish’s mother. Gudilu, on the other hand, also appealed to corporates and samaritans to support the initiative.