Child rights and child education in Andhra Pradesh
Report for CARPED (Centre for Action Research and Peoples Development)
Based on research done during an AIESEC traineeship from January to August 2005
in and around Hyderabad, India
Caesar AndresFruthwilerstrasse 57
CH-8272 Ermatingen
SWITZERLAND
Phone: +41 71 664 23 45
Mobile: +41 76 535 57 76
Email: caesar.andres@gmx.ch
Ermatingen, 11.09.2005
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Table of contents:
1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
2 Visit of a primary school in Yousufguda, Hyderabad on Republic Day (26.01.2005)……. 4
3 My first trip to the villages in Kowdipally mandal in Medak district. (28.01.2005)…………. 5
4 First meeting with M. Bharat Bhushan– (01.02.2005) …………………………………………….. 7
5 Mahita: Interview with Mr. Ramesh and Mr. Kumar (14.02.2005) …………………………….. 7
6 Visit at a home of a member of Asha for Education (17.02.2005) …………………………… 11
7 Visit at the office of the Concern India Foundation (17.02.2005)…………………………….. 13
8 School Education Committee (SEC) Meeting in Kowdipally (18.02.2005)……………….. 13
9 PRA seminar combined with visit in Battu Thanda, Kowdipally mandal (30.03.2005) … 17
10 Evening play in Kachan Palli, Kowdipally mandal (30.03.2005) ………………………….. 18
11 Visit of the Zillaparishad High School (ZPHS) in Kowdipally (31.03.-01.04.2005)…… 18
12 Second meeting with M. Bharat Bhushan (03.04.2005) …………………………………….. 20
13 Visits of Ken World High School – (04.04.2005 and 06.04.2005) ………………………… 20
14 MMCC (Master Minds Children’s Career) Talent High School (THS) (15.04.2005) … 26
15 Lecture on Child Deprivation in AP – Speaker: M. Venkata Narayana (12.04.2005) . 29
16 School visits in Kowdipally mandal (20.04.2005)………………………………………………. 31
17 Visit to Kowdipally with Mr. Vidyasagar (21.04.2005)………………………………………… 36
18 Meeting with HCHW (Hyderabad Council of Human Welfare) (18.08.2005)………….. 36
19 Conclusion and Outlook……………………………………………………………………………….. 40
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1 Introduction
This report is based on research I was doing for the Indian NGO CARPED1 in the fields of child education and child rights spread over a period of 7 months on the occasion of an AIESEC development traineeship. The report consists – with very few exemptions – of a chronological order of short reports about various activities done in Hyderabad or in Kowdipally mandal2 in Medak district3. It shows examples of and opinions about the challenges and problems dealing with the development of the children of Andhra Pradesh. Where suitable or necessary, personal views of the author are expressed and pictures are added if available, to give a better understanding of the situation. The report can just give a small glimpse into the challenges in the area of child rights and child education in Andhra Pradesh, as it is a dynamic phenomenon of high complexity with influences from many parts of the society.
1
Center of Action Research and Peoples Development – more information: www.carped.org
2
a mandal is a part of a district in Andhra Pradesh which is smaller unit than the erstwhile Blocks
found all over the country
3
Hyderabad and the Medak district are part of the Indian state Andhra Pradesh (AP).
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2 Visit to a primary school in Yousufguda,
Hyderabad on Republic Day (26
January 2005)
It was interesting to see how the children had to celebrate one of the national holidays in school. First of all nobody has to go to school on national holiday in Switzerland. Secondly there is nothing so militaristic and patriotic in our schools like what I experienced at that school. I suppose the national anthem was sung at this event and the procedure of flying the flag was conducted really slow and carefully. I never noticed a Swiss flag at a school where I went to and rarely anybody can sing only verse of the Swiss anthem because only few people learn it at school. The girls were fully separated from the boys and some “overseers” (most probably teachers) had sticks in their hands to bring order among the crowd of children.
[pictures 01-05]
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3 My first trip to the villages in Kowdipally mandal in
Medak district (28 January 2005)
On my first trip out of Hyderabad I visited together with Shanti Kumar (a CARPED employee) and another Trainee a primary school in Somakkapet, a village with 1259 inhabitants and a primary school in RamdasGuda (900 inhabitants). The primary school in RamdasGuda had 140 children in 5 classes. The Children (should) start going to (early) school with 3-5 years and go to a school from the age of 5-14 (15), in primary, upper primary and high school. In early school pencils are provided for free and for 1st to 5th class the children get the government books free of cost. From 6th to 10th class O.C. (other castes – usually OBC = other backward castes) have to pay for books. Children belonging to ST (scheduled tribes) and SC (scheduled casts) communities get it for free. There are schools for illiterate adults too, some of them are in the evening. The illiterates are provided with books and notebooks. In both of the villages that visited, there was a five days festival going on to motivate the children to go to school and to motivate their parents to send them to school. In SomakkaPet they were in the end of a drama, where the school children played illiterate people that were fooled, because they just gave their fingerprint as a signature on documents they haven’t understood because they can’t read. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to take pictures of the drama. In RamdasGuda the CARPED staff together with some government workers and the school children were performing some songs, dramas and dances. They call it “kala jatha”- sort of street play or street theatre. It is in their language and the actors make it relevant to the local situation, as the script is flexible. Two school girls were singing in Telugu: “randi, randi, randi, …” (come, come, come …[to school]). Other songs in Ramdas Guda were (translated by Shanti Kumar from Telugu): “please don’t send me to the field, send me to school. Please buy me pencils and notebooks.” The children looked quite happy while singing and they were excited and sang loud. They seemed really motivated.
[pics: 06-08]
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I was particularly impressed by the paintings on the (school) buildings with some illustrations of very basic things of do’s and don’ts in the daily life. It gave me a good first impression with what kind of problems the social workers have to deal in these areas.
[pic 09]
I was told that out of 12,600 children in Kowdipally mandal who should go to school 600 don’t go to school. The government and CARPED work together motivating these children to go to school. There is a team of 10 employees of CARPED exclusively for the program to bring children to school 365 days a year. The government does this only one week a year in each village. As the program seems to be successful, a continuation of it should be suggested.
3.1 My impression about the festival and suggestions for the future The children had to sit to long to stay concentrated all the time – sometimes less is
•
more – maybe a short game in between, where the children can stand up and move could help. It would be nice to have present examples of working people that grew up in villages
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like this and that are promoting education as an idol for the children. Farmers could be rewarded for sending their children to school. The school should be
•
flexible with absence of children for a few days if the children are needed on the field and the education doesn’t suffer too much. I was impressed by the number of children attending the festival and wondering how
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the parents of the children were motivated to send their children there.
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First meeting with M. Bharath Bhushan4 (01.02.2005)
4
CARPED is focused on basic school issues and the issue of community control over natural resources. Five to six years ago the Lambadas (the main tribe in Kowdipally mandal) haven’t sent their children to school. Government schools have been built where there haven’t been
schools before. CARPED has put pressure on the government to build schools. Another problem Bharath Bhushan mentioned is, how the children can be retained in school. The farmers are wondering also about what use is of education to them. They want their children
to stay in the villages or to come back to the villages. The farmers and their children should be provided with life skills like social education, vocational training and so on. CARPED initiates these issues and then the government should go on with the work. The government is accountable to the villages. Parents should be involved and feel comfortable to talk with teachers and the people should have the feeling that they own the school. Bharath Bhushan raised also the questions from current debates: To what level is poverty responsible for child labour? Is it possible to separate poverty from child labour? Is ignorance the reason for child labour and not poverty? He doesn’t agree with the current arguments advocating that poverty is not the reason for child labour. He considers these arguments as anti-poor and blaming the victim. He stresses the need to look into schooling in the context of material needs of survival and the functional value of education that is different from the Brahminical perception of the text (book) for the sake of text. What he asks is “Reading for what?” and stresses that reading should raise issues of deprivation and empower those who
read to question the structures of oppression and inequality and make education meaningful in ones search for a livelihood.
Mahita5: Interview with Mr. Ramesh and Mr. Kumar (14
5 February 2005)
The objectives of the NGO Mahita are the realization of child rights, the empowering of women and girl children. Mahita is working in the poor regions of the city, which are mainly in the so-called “old city” or the walled city predominantly inhabited by the Muslims. Around
4
Secretary of the Executive Committee of CARPED and elder brother of M. Subhash Chandra, the director of CARPED