Children warn poll aspirants

PUNE, Sept 10: We are thoroughly disgusted. We are bored. As time-pass we find munching gutkha helps...What is the use of attending schoo...

PUNE, Sept 10: We are thoroughly disgusted. We are bored. As time-pass we find munching gutkha helps8230;What is the use of attending school. Even after completing standard V we are unable to write well8230;8221;

Not mere musings by bored school children, but the heartfelt appeal by the underprivileged children from the city8217;s slums to the 8220;uncles and aunties8221; contesting elections this year.

In an open letter to the candidates, over 100 children from Bharatnagar and Bhimnagar slums and affiliated to the Dnyana Devi Gammat Shalas have raised a host of pertinent questions and warned candidates to steer clear of 8220;election style promises.8221;

Dr Anuradha Sahasrabudhe, executive director, Dnyana Devi 8211; an NGO which runs children8217;s centres 8211; said that children from the slums who had participated in a rally had vociferously demanded education as a fundamental right. The children later signed an open letter to the candidates urging them to pay attention to their problems.

The children rued that they were forced to become rag-pickers and witness their drunk fathers beat their mothers simply because 8220;they8221; granted licenses to liquor shops and garbage collectors to conduct business in the slums. They further pointed out the problem of girls being forced to drop out of school to look after their younger siblings.

8220;We are not beggars. But all the help that you provide in terms of free education8217; is not free. Even the government schools constantly demand donations for which a receipt is never issued. If we are unable to pay we have to sit at home,8221; write the children to the contesting uncles and aunties.

They further point out how difficult it was to see the blackboard from the backbenches as the number of students in each class exceeded 80. quot;Since we can8217;t hear and don8217;t understand anything, school becomes very boring,quot; write the hapless children who further lament how the teachers constantly engaged in election duties direct their anger at them.

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After listing their problems which also demands the right to education as a fundamental right, the children have point blank asked the candidates what they were planning to do for them. 8220;So tell us what will you do for us8230;in how many days8230; and if you do not fulfill the promise in the stipulated time how shall we punish you8230;8221;