By J.V. Lakshmana Rao
--- Chicago: Childhood is most blissful phase of human life. Children have very
receptive mind of openness, untainted with any prejudices. They are always
curious, and inquisitive, seeking knowledge through play as well as study. But
poverty and ignorance of parents are robbing children of their simple pleasures
of that blissful phase of life. This happens mindfully or unmindfully;
intentionally or unintentionally and the children are engaged in a labor to
support themselves as also support their families. Child labor is the worst
curse on any society. Today’s children are strength of tomorrow’s society.
Pained by the rampant practice of child labor, a Gujarati couple – Falgun Sheth
and Parul Sheth – embarked on a project to help children and motivate parents to
send their off-springs to schools rather than sending them to work as domestic
help, or engage them in farming, put them in petty repair shops, employ them in
hazardous jobs, or even make them graze the cattle in the fields. With their
background as social workers, Falgun Sheth and Parul Sheth launched a survey in
a major slum – Kumbarwada-Gopal Society area – in Bhavnagar city of Gujarat.
They identified 12,813 children working in 106 different occupations like
diamond polishing, plastic industry, construction and domestic work. Of these,
37 percent were girls and 63 percent boys. As they, on an average, earned each
less than Rs. 500 a month, many of them toiled more than eight to 12 hours a
day. Some of the children were engaged in hazardous occupations dealing with
recycling of plastic or labor-intensive construction work. Falgun Sheth and
Parul Sheth, with an intention to wean these children from arduous work and make
their parents send these tiny-tots to schools, started a massive movement by
forming a trust called Shaishav in July 1994. Having achieved a great deal of
success in their mission, Falgun Sheth, as its managing trustee, and Parul Sheth
as its trustee and executive director, are touring the US to spread word about
their work and solicit help from Non-Resident Indians and community
organizations for the various institutions they are running for the benefit of
children. Giving details about the work at Shaishav to India Tribune, Parul
Sheth says: “We believe a child is innocent and pure and a symbol of love,
strength, and happiness. Children are the foundation of our future. They should
be provided with education that molds their mind and character so that they can
stand on their own feet and become good citizens. They should live free from any
kind of exploitation or discrimination.” She says that as a child rights and
empowerment organization, Shaishav is committed to work in society on behalf of
and with children so that they are able to enjoy their basic right of access to
play and education. Shaishav believes that every child should have time to play
and enjoy their joys of childhood. Every child should have equal opportunity for
education to achieve her or his potential. And child labor and any type of child
abuse, discrimination and exploitation should be stopped and society should work
for the fulfillment of child rights. Shaishav, she says, has set goals to
eradicate child labor from the area, make Bhavnagar a child rights sensitive
city by ensuring active participation of the community and society, and empower
children by providing a positive environment so that children can achieve their
potential, build collective strength, and develop a positive attitude towards
life and enjoy holistic development. Explaining how Shaishav has been working to
achieve its objectives, Parul Sheth says that by their intensive efforts and
motivating the parents, Shaishav within two years of its launching has been able
to put through about 5,500 children in schools by 1996. Now thousands of
children are going to school and parents have also realized the benefits of
education. “As we believe education is the most powerful means to eradicate
child labor, we have taken education to children by opening community education
centers nearer to their homes. These centers are intended to be a stopgap
arrangement to motivate and prepare children to eventually enter formal
schools,” she says. Parul Sheth says that the community education centers are
located in low-income slum areas around Bhavnagar and provide non-formal
education for non-school-going children, child laborers and first generation
learners aged between six and 14 years. The centers are run daily at the
doorstep of the children to the timings that are suitable for them. Local
community members, called lokshikshaks are trained to manage the centers in
order to encourage community participation and ensure sustainability of the
program. These lokshikshaks use creative methods and materials to teach basic
subjects and developmental activities, which include creation and topics such as
creativity activities, values and life skills. There are no formal lectures, but
the children are engaged in practical education. Basically they are taught value
education, unity, team work, cooperation, empathy, values of life,
story-telling, letter-writing puppetry, films and sports. Balwadis are working
for children of 3-6 years where Montessori-type of study with locally available
low-cost improvised-educational aids are used. Once the children find the
benefits of learning, and parents realize the necessity of education, they, on
their own, go to regular schools for achieving their academic qualification. The
work of Shaishav involves community participation so the communities build
collectives to take on responsibility for their own issues and take initiative
to develop sustainable solutions. For that, Baldost Manchs (friends of children
forums) are established. These Baldost Manchs are collectives of parents and
local community leaders to help set up and run community education centers and
Balwadis and link them to schools. Shaishav also launched community mobile
school program to provide quality teaching and improve the concept clarity in
municipal schools and thereby increase retention rates. Children are trained in
self-help, community living, and democratic values. They also form into groups
called Bal Sena. The founding pillars of Bal Sena are equality and unity of all,
regardless of such characteristics as gender, caste, class and religion. Bal
Sena members represent all socio-economic levels and religious communities
within the city and this ensures that children of all strata of society are
stakeholders in the collective efforts. The children run a bank called Bachat
Bank. This bank encourages the children to cultivate the habit of savings and
makes them feel independent and participating in decision-making. The children
make regular deposits and withdraw money for their education, household, or
other necessities. The bank has about 300 members with a total deposit of Rs.
105,000. Shaishav runs a specially designed multipurpose mobile school to
provide quality teaching and improve the concept of clarity in municipal schools
and thereby increase retention rates. This school bus equipped with a library,
games, a computer and audiovisual capacities offers joyful, child-centered
participatory, and activity-based learning. The bus visits 20 municipal schools
and reaches over 11,000 students every week. Parul Sheth says that the children
of slow-learning or with learning difficulty are helped. With a view to help
them continue their education, and commute between their homes and school,
Shaishav runs a bus. Shaishav has program for adolescent girls to empower them
and educate them on their rights. The program has three components - Kishori
Mandal, Kishori Mela and Wen Li Do. Kishori Mandal is a forum for girls to
discuss issues relevant to them and find solutions. Kishori Mela is a fair that
educates girls about the emotional, mental and physical changes that occur in
girls and boys during puberty. Wen Li Do is an international women’s personal
safety and self-defense program that aims to equip females with the skills to
protect their personal, physical, mental, and emotional safety. In all Shaishav
runs10 community education centers, four Balwadis, seven Baldost Machs, and 53
Bal Sena teams. Parul Sheth says to involve the youth, a youth program has been
created with the youth above the age of 16 years. The members of youth program
support the continuing education for the slum children by teaching and guiding
them to pursue their learning. Shaishav also conducts support classes to prepare
students for 8-10th standard to take public exams, holds skill development
courses and a job-shadowing program for the youth. Recently two youths from the
US - Sheetal Shah (22) from Chicago and Shrina Patel (24) from Washington DC --
volunteered for Shaishav and participated in its various programs. The youths
from abroad can work with Shaishav, which provides such volunteers with boarding
and lodging, Parul Sheth adds. Parul Sheth says that five girls from Bal Sena
represented at Grils’ International Summit held in St. Paul in Minnesota during
July 8-16. Some children of Shaishav also attended the World Social Forum for
Child Rights held in Brazil in 2004. All this massive project needs community
support in the form of cash and kind. Parul Sheth says that besides checks,
teaching and educational aids, books, pens, pencils, CDS, and DVDs can also be
donated. In the US Share & Care Foundation coordinates the aid collection
efforts for Shaishav. Checks and other help can be sent to Jayant Shroff,
president of Share & Care Foundation, 32 Crest Dr. South Orange, NJ 07079 or
e-mail to him at jayant.shroff@verizon.net More information can be had about
Shaishav at Web site www.shaishavchildrights.org send an e-mail at shaishavad1@sancharnet.in
or write to Shaishav, P.O. Box No. 164 Bhavnagar 364 001.
By J.V. Lakshmana Rao
--- Chicago: Childhood is most blissful phase of human life. Children have very
receptive mind of openness, untainted with any prejudices. They are always
curious, and inquisitive, seeking knowledge through play as well as study. But
poverty and ignorance of parents are robbing children of their simple pleasures
of that blissful phase of life. This happens mindfully or unmindfully;
intentionally or unintentionally and the children are engaged in a labor to
support themselves as also support their families. Child labor is the worst
curse on any society. Today’s children are strength of tomorrow’s society.
Pained by the rampant practice of child labor, a Gujarati couple – Falgun Sheth
and Parul Sheth – embarked on a project to help children and motivate parents to
send their off-springs to schools rather than sending them to work as domestic
help, or engage them in farming, put them in petty repair shops, employ them in
hazardous jobs, or even make them graze the cattle in the fields. With their
background as social workers, Falgun Sheth and Parul Sheth launched a survey in
a major slum – Kumbarwada-Gopal Society area – in Bhavnagar city of Gujarat.
They identified 12,813 children working in 106 different occupations like
diamond polishing, plastic industry, construction and domestic work. Of these,
37 percent were girls and 63 percent boys. As they, on an average, earned each
less than Rs. 500 a month, many of them toiled more than eight to 12 hours a
day. Some of the children were engaged in hazardous occupations dealing with
recycling of plastic or labor-intensive construction work. Falgun Sheth and
Parul Sheth, with an intention to wean these children from arduous work and make
their parents send these tiny-tots to schools, started a massive movement by
forming a trust called Shaishav in July 1994. Having achieved a great deal of
success in their mission, Falgun Sheth, as its managing trustee, and Parul Sheth
as its trustee and executive director, are touring the US to spread word about
their work and solicit help from Non-Resident Indians and community
organizations for the various institutions they are running for the benefit of
children. Giving details about the work at Shaishav to India Tribune, Parul
Sheth says: “We believe a child is innocent and pure and a symbol of love,
strength, and happiness. Children are the foundation of our future. They should
be provided with education that molds their mind and character so that they can
stand on their own feet and become good citizens. They should live free from any
kind of exploitation or discrimination.” She says that as a child rights and
empowerment organization, Shaishav is committed to work in society on behalf of
and with children so that they are able to enjoy their basic right of access to
play and education. Shaishav believes that every child should have time to play
and enjoy their joys of childhood. Every child should have equal opportunity for
education to achieve her or his potential. And child labor and any type of child
abuse, discrimination and exploitation should be stopped and society should work
for the fulfillment of child rights. Shaishav, she says, has set goals to
eradicate child labor from the area, make Bhavnagar a child rights sensitive
city by ensuring active participation of the community and society, and empower
children by providing a positive environment so that children can achieve their
potential, build collective strength, and develop a positive attitude towards
life and enjoy holistic development. Explaining how Shaishav has been working to
achieve its objectives, Parul Sheth says that by their intensive efforts and
motivating the parents, Shaishav within two years of its launching has been able
to put through about 5,500 children in schools by 1996. Now thousands of
children are going to school and parents have also realized the benefits of
education. “As we believe education is the most powerful means to eradicate
child labor, we have taken education to children by opening community education
centers nearer to their homes. These centers are intended to be a stopgap
arrangement to motivate and prepare children to eventually enter formal
schools,” she says. Parul Sheth says that the community education centers are
located in low-income slum areas around Bhavnagar and provide non-formal
education for non-school-going children, child laborers and first generation
learners aged between six and 14 years. The centers are run daily at the
doorstep of the children to the timings that are suitable for them. Local
community members, called lokshikshaks are trained to manage the centers in
order to encourage community participation and ensure sustainability of the
program. These lokshikshaks use creative methods and materials to teach basic
subjects and developmental activities, which include creation and topics such as
creativity activities, values and life skills. There are no formal lectures, but
the children are engaged in practical education. Basically they are taught value
education, unity, team work, cooperation, empathy, values of life,
story-telling, letter-writing puppetry, films and sports. Balwadis are working
for children of 3-6 years where Montessori-type of study with locally available
low-cost improvised-educational aids are used. Once the children find the
benefits of learning, and parents realize the necessity of education, they, on
their own, go to regular schools for achieving their academic qualification. The
work of Shaishav involves community participation so the communities build
collectives to take on responsibility for their own issues and take initiative
to develop sustainable solutions. For that, Baldost Manchs (friends of children
forums) are established. These Baldost Manchs are collectives of parents and
local community leaders to help set up and run community education centers and
Balwadis and link them to schools. Shaishav also launched community mobile
school program to provide quality teaching and improve the concept clarity in
municipal schools and thereby increase retention rates. Children are trained in
self-help, community living, and democratic values. They also form into groups
called Bal Sena. The founding pillars of Bal Sena are equality and unity of all,
regardless of such characteristics as gender, caste, class and religion. Bal
Sena members represent all socio-economic levels and religious communities
within the city and this ensures that children of all strata of society are
stakeholders in the collective efforts. The children run a bank called Bachat
Bank. This bank encourages the children to cultivate the habit of savings and
makes them feel independent and participating in decision-making. The children
make regular deposits and withdraw money for their education, household, or
other necessities. The bank has about 300 members with a total deposit of Rs.
105,000. Shaishav runs a specially designed multipurpose mobile school to
provide quality teaching and improve the concept of clarity in municipal schools
and thereby increase retention rates. This school bus equipped with a library,
games, a computer and audiovisual capacities offers joyful, child-centered
participatory, and activity-based learning. The bus visits 20 municipal schools
and reaches over 11,000 students every week. Parul Sheth says that the children
of slow-learning or with learning difficulty are helped. With a view to help
them continue their education, and commute between their homes and school,
Shaishav runs a bus. Shaishav has program for adolescent girls to empower them
and educate them on their rights. The program has three components - Kishori
Mandal, Kishori Mela and Wen Li Do. Kishori Mandal is a forum for girls to
discuss issues relevant to them and find solutions. Kishori Mela is a fair that
educates girls about the emotional, mental and physical changes that occur in
girls and boys during puberty. Wen Li Do is an international women’s personal
safety and self-defense program that aims to equip females with the skills to
protect their personal, physical, mental, and emotional safety. In all Shaishav
runs10 community education centers, four Balwadis, seven Baldost Machs, and 53
Bal Sena teams. Parul Sheth says to involve the youth, a youth program has been
created with the youth above the age of 16 years. The members of youth program
support the continuing education for the slum children by teaching and guiding
them to pursue their learning. Shaishav also conducts support classes to prepare
students for 8-10th standard to take public exams, holds skill development
courses and a job-shadowing program for the youth. Recently two youths from the
US - Sheetal Shah (22) from Chicago and Shrina Patel (24) from Washington DC --
volunteered for Shaishav and participated in its various programs. The youths
from abroad can work with Shaishav, which provides such volunteers with boarding
and lodging, Parul Sheth adds. Parul Sheth says that five girls from Bal Sena
represented at Grils’ International Summit held in St. Paul in Minnesota during
July 8-16. Some children of Shaishav also attended the World Social Forum for
Child Rights held in Brazil in 2004. All this massive project needs community
support in the form of cash and kind. Parul Sheth says that besides checks,
teaching and educational aids, books, pens, pencils, CDS, and DVDs can also be
donated. In the US Share & Care Foundation coordinates the aid collection
efforts for Shaishav. Checks and other help can be sent to Jayant Shroff,
president of Share & Care Foundation, 32 Crest Dr. South Orange, NJ 07079 or
e-mail to him at jayant.shroff@verizon.net More information can be had about
Shaishav at Web site www.shaishavchildrights.org send an e-mail at shaishavad1@sancharnet.in
or write to Shaishav, P.O. Box No. 164 Bhavnagar 364 001.
