Help create safe spaces of learning for child labour victims

EDUCATION is a right for all children in India. It is through education that a child is able to improve his or her life and create a future that is safe and secure and allows them to be independent. It is also education that improves the health and life spans of multiple generations. But there is a massive and insurmountable barrier to access to education: poverty. Due to poverty, children across India are not able to go to school and are forced into child labour. Why? Imagine not having a home or food to eat. In such desperate circumstances, a person’s immediate needs are to get some food or enough money to purchase food for that day. 

 

In poor families, children are discouraged from going to school or have no choice but to work alongside their parents in difficult and hazardous conditions such as construction sites, agricultural fields or coal mines. Child labour is a problem that persists across India and at its root is poverty. Child labour is defined as work done by children between the ages of 5 to 14. According to the most recent Government of India census in 2011, there are 10.1 million children in this age group that are engaged in work and most probably not going to school. These children do what they can to help themselves and their families but they are robbed of their childhoods.  

Children who are forced into child labour and other “jobs” such as waste picking are not just from impoverished communities and have no access to education, but are also exposed to dangers such as alcoholism, substance abuse, mistreatment, exploitation and mental and physical abuse. Such an environment for a child has a long lasting impact on their minds and shapes them in the future. For many children, hope is not something that exists anymore and their minds are focused on doing what needs to be done in order to survive – even if that means leaving the innocence of their childhoods behind. 

 

To help these children, the organization Vardhishnu came up with a solution to remove children from dangerous work sites and give them opportunities to access education and enjoy their childhoods. Vardhishnu is an NGO in Jalgaon in Maharashtra that creates safe spaces of learning for children ages 5 to 16 who are child waste pickers and child labourers who have no exposure to age-appropriate educational or fun resources that each child deserves. In these safe spaces of learning, around 300 children learn reading and writing, health education and life skills to help them escape their lives of hardship. 

What happens in the safe spaces of learning?

Vardhishnu has created 5 safe spaces of learning across Jalgaon, Chopda and Amalner in Maharashtra which are together called Anandghar meaning “home of happiness”. In these safe spaces, the lives of 300 children are being transformed through education, activities and training that aims to give former child labourers opportunities to build better and stronger futures. The children often face stigma and discrimination, but at the safe spaces the children are treated with care, compassion and most of all respect. This change from being outcast to being cherished has changed the outlook of the children who are now hopeful for the future.

 

How did these safe spaces start?

Adwait Dandwate and Pranali Sisodiya were working on a project that involved issues which impact children. For this project, Adwait and Pranali interacted with 125 children who were waste pickers. The conversations with these children opened their eyes to the suffering the children endure and it broke their hearts. But Adwait and Pranali decided to do something about it and Vardhishnu was founded not long after in 2013. Through Vardhishnu, Adwait and Pranali decided that having safe spaces of learning would give the children a safer and more sustainable path to building a self-sufficient and finally independent future. 

Help end child labour through education

In India, there are strong laws in place that prohibit child labour. The Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act 1986 outlaws the employment of children in hazardous conditions and sets limits on working conditions in other circumstances. The act was amended in 2016 making child labour laws stricter across India. The most recent Government of India census in 2011 reveals that Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh constitute nearly 55% of the total child labour cases in India. Vardhishnu operates in areas of Maharashtra that are prone to instances of child labour and give these children an alternative path. 

 

Help Adwait and Pranali save more children

When you support Vardhishnu, you help hundreds of children experience the benefits of childhood for the first time in their lives. Child labour is a crime that robs children of their innocence and breaks the foundation of their lives which largely consists of education. But through Anandghar, the organization gives children crucial education and develops their skills to be able to stop working and access better lives for themselves. Supporting Vardhishnu enables the NGO to reach more children in different areas of Maharashtra and rescue more children from the darkness of child labour and exploitation. To support Vardhishnu:

 

Support Vardhishnu

 

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