Organisation:
Vardhishnu Social Research Development Society
Location:
Jalgaon
Problem:
The problem of child labour is huge in India. Out of the estimated 5000 waste pickers in Jalgaon, most of them women and children who are extremely poor, illiterate, deprived and belong to rural immigrant families. While the Right to Education Act ensures that child ageing 6 to 14 shall be admitted in a class appropriate to his/her age, no efforts are taken to check whether the child who is going to school for the first time is capable of coping up with the scholastic level or not.
Solution:
The organisation aims to provide basic formal and informal education and skills to child waste pickers and make them capable of joining mainstream schools. The intervention will enable children to read, write and speak Marathi fluently with confidence and understand basic Hindi and English. It will encourage the children to adopt and create cleaner and hygienic environment around them and help them understand the perils of addiction and leave/break the habits.
Scalability and Impact:
The organisation conducted a socio-economic survey of waste pickers working in Jalgaon city and based on the inputs, they decided to work on three important aspects of human life i.e. Education, Health and Addiction.
The organisation started an evening learning centre in Tambapura area of Jalgaon in January 2014 with ten children. The number has gone up to almost 30 to 35 children, of age group 6 to 16 years currently.
The first batch of children helped by the organisation will join mainstream schools from academic year i.e. 2016-‘17. The organisation aims to include the 120 child waste pickers in the Tambapura region alone and plan to start at least two more learning centers in Jalgaon.
Financial Requirements:
NA
Awards and Recognition:
Fellowship from Samajik Kritagyata Nidhi since 2013 • Fellowship from Janarth, Pune
“Seva Samarpan Puraskar, 2015” declared by Vivekananda Dhyan Kendra