Street Wise

On November 16,the street school students also came together for an annual day programme to provide them a platform for displaying their talents and to propagate their right to recreation. The students performed various dances on bhakti geet,koli geet,bal geet and hit Bollywood numbers. A special magic show was presented by magician Mukund Dhavlikar.

“The street school are supportive classes,where we teach basic reading,writing and arithmetic,social skills and personal hygiene. Wherever these classes have been held,we have first had to build a rapport with the parents and the children,” says Ganesh Rahane,a social worker involved with the project. He explains that the parents are usually resistant to the idea of sending their children to school. “They would tell us that education doesn’t do any good. The children also are usually uninterested. So we regularly counsel the families,” says Rahane,adding that they would conduct recreational activities in the slums so that children also get attracted and realise that school is not boring.

When the interest begins to build among both the parents and the children,the group of social workers starts classes under a tree some distance away from where the kids stay. “This then becomes our opportunity to counsel them further and help them enrol in municipality schools. Our classes then become like support classes but the process can be very long-drawn and not always rewarding,” says Gudade.

Though the results may not always be as desired,there are enough success stories to help the team go on. “We see change in the behaviour of children even during class. Those who would come in very shabby clothes,and sometimes even without clothes,can be seen making an effort to be dressed as best as they can. They make an effort to wash their face and comb their hair before coming to class. These sound like small things,but they indicate breaking of old habits. Most of the students are also enrolled in schools now,” says Rahane. He also talks of the cases where children have been institutionalised so that they don’t stay on the streets anymore. “Not very long ago,a father had approached us regarding his daughter. He said she is growing up and the streets are no longer safe for her. We were able to help put her in a home and she is now doing very well,” says Rahane,adding that these instances far outweigh the disappointments they face.