Progress Report Drop in centre for children living or working at Azimganj railway, Murshidabad, West Bengal January 2009 – July 2009

CINI’s drop in centre has directly helped 155 children who work or sleep on the platforms and on board trains at Azimganj railway station. The centre is open five days a week and provides a safe place for children aged five to 16 to study, play and enjoy recreational activities. The centre helps wean children away from work and teaches them valuable life skills, important for their reintegration back into mainstream society.

• 155 children have been supported by the drop in centre (indirectly helping 600 family members by informing them about education, protection, nutrition and health).
  
• Of these, 24 not in school, were given intensive academic support, with the aim of mainstreaming them into local schools.
  
• In May, nine passed their admissions tests and were enrolled into local schools for the next academic year. The remaining 15 children will continue to receive coaching and support, helping to prepare them for joining age-appropriate classes when they are ready to do so.
  
• The other 131 children already in school have been given educational support and a safe place to do their homework, so that they don’t fall behind and drop out.
  
• Awareness raising activities have sought to inform local communities about children’s rights, safety, protection and the need to create child friendly spaces. These have reached out to 10,000 people living in the area surrounding the railway station, and a slum adjacent to the railway.

Background: A large number of vulnerable children live or work in hazardous conditions at the Azimganj railway station in Murshidabad. A significant number have dropped out of school. Child labourers from poor socio-economic backgrounds work on the railway platforms and on board trains; begging, hawking, cleaning, polishing shoes or working in teashops. Many spend the night at the station, sleeping on the platforms or in train compartments.

Aim: To reach out to these children, living or working on the railway, and provide education, protection, nutrition and health care, with the aim of mainstreaming out-of-school children into local schools, and providing coaching support for school-going children, ensuring that they stay in school.

Objectives Ensure the enrolment of children who have dropped out of school, and also the retention of mainstreamed children in school; Create a child-friendly environment at the station and its adjacent areas; Ensure health care and nutrition of children at the drop in centre and encourage health and hygiene practice among children; Educate children on life skills, child rights, child protection, abuse, trafficking and early marriage; Raise awareness of the community on child rights, child protection and nutrition; Build strong relationships with the local community and local organisations, and encourage their involvement and ownership of the project.

Children learning basic primary education, helping to keep them out of hazardous work and widen their future employment prospects

Activities at the centre

Protection: The centre has provided a safe space for children during the day, drawing them away from the dangers of the platform, where they are able to wash, change and use the facilities. This space has been donated by a local community based organisation called Sabuj Sangha. Children have been taught about their rights, and informed about safety and protection. In particular, children have learned how to avoid being caught up by child traffickers, and what they can do to protect themselves from physical and sexual abuse on the platforms. Adolescents have been taught life skills education, as they are particularly vulnerable to early marriage, sex work, and trafficking. Topics included self-awareness, self-respect, self-control and decision-making. As child marriage is prevalent in this area, 17 adolescent girls aged 14 and over, have been linked with a local NGO offering free vocational courses (making soft toys, tailoring and embroidery). Training girls helps to address this as it widens their livelihood options.

Education: Three volunteer teachers have provided lessons and educational support each morning from 7am-9am for children age 10-15 years and in the afternoons, from 3pm-5pm for children age 6-10 years. This has been particularly valuable as many of their parents are unable to help them with homework, as they are illiterate, and have limited space in their homes for the children to study. Courses are designed to enthuse and motivate children, so that they continue with their education and do not drop out of school and return to work. 24 out-of-school children have received intensive coaching support, known as ‘bridge course’ training. In the last six months, nine children have been mainstreamed, the remaining 15 out of school children need additional support before they will be ready to join a local school in their age appropriate class, but in the mean time have been developing functional numeracy and literacy skills.

Children with their volunteer teacher receiving the educational support they need

Recreation and exercise: Long working hours on the platform tends to affect the children’s social and emotional well-being. Therefore, children were encouraged to take part in recreational and creative activities, such as painting and drawing, which can have therapeutic benefits. Children have taken more interest in art, and some have started to use watercolours. In addition, they were encouraged to be active through regular exercise, by playing indoor and outdoor games, and relax by mediating. Regular physical activity not only promotes physical health, but also psychological well-being, enabling them to socialise with other children and be part of a team. Further, with your help the children enjoyed celebrating special days, such as sports days, picnics, children’s day, and Rakhi Bandhan (Indian celebration celebrating the bonds between family members).

Health: Through links with local government health departments, the children received free regular health checkups, and when necessary, were referred for medical treatment. Over the year health problems faced by the children included stomach complaints, fever, coughs, colds, and skin infections. Many of these were related to under nutrition. Other children from the local community also benefited, helping to generate greater health awareness at the community level. Previously, parents rarely took their children to the doctor for follow up checkups. This year, we have seen a significant change, and parents are taking their children to the doctor for checkups themselves, and are accessing available government health services when necessary. In addition to checkups, children were taught about the importance of good hygiene and a healthy life-style. Adolescents were taught about sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and HIV/AIDS.

Nutrition: Many children who came to the centre were malnourished and lethargic. To help manage this, children were provided a measured nutritious diet, with the double aim of ensuring that they were not malnourished, and to teach them about good hygiene when eating food. They learnt about low cost nutritious food and how a balance of food types are needed to help ward off illness.

Counselling: Children benefited from regular individual and group counselling. A key issue was a lack of self-esteem. Most of the children would like to read, write and play with their peers, but they feel pressure from their families to earn a wage. Building self-worth plays a crucial part in breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty. This social and psychological support is crucial because many children helped through this project have experienced great traumas either at home or on the platform.

Children’s participation: Each Saturday children meet to spread the word about education and protection related issues, and actively talk about their rights, safety, the environment, key historical and cultural figures, folk tales and fables. They also share their problems, hopes and aspirations.

Parents’ meetings: Meetings discussed various education, protection, nutrition and health issues, their children’s progress and performance, and appropriate steps for parents to take to support their children. Their participation in these meetings has significantly increased. Parents contributed a nominal sum to the cost of the centre, engendering ownership. Illiterate parents have learnt to write their signature as a result of needing to sign the register at parents meetings and home visits.

Mainstreaming children into local schools

In May, nine out-of-school children receiving support from the drop in centre passed their admissions texts and were mainstreamed into local schools for the 2009-2010 academic session. CINI will stay in regular contact with the school to monitor the wellbeing and progress of these children.

Follow up for children attending school

Children receiving educational support at the drop in centre are performing well in school. 39 of the 42 children previously mainstreamed still go to school or have successfully completed their schooling to the official leaving age of 14. Retention of these children in local schools tends to be one of the big challenges. However, since CINI has been actively raising awareness about the importance of education within the local community, parents are taking greater ownership, ensuring that out-of-school children are enrolled in school, and that children start school at the right age. Since January 2009, 19 out of school children living in the area but not attending the centre were admitted into formal schools by their parents. Teachers have expressed that they are impressed that children with such difficult backgrounds have such good performance, discipline and behaviour.

Children not attending the centre

There are approximately 17 other children living or working on the railway who do not attend the centre. These children are primarily engaged in work and earn very low wages (on some days, nothing at all). They indicated that they would like to attend school, but feel duty bound to help support their families. CINI has linked these children to vocational training opportunities.

Raising awareness within the local community (reaching a population of 10,000)

• In an effort to address the issue of child trafficking, CINI met with parents and community members, informing them of danger signs to watch out for in order to help protect children living on the platforms. CINI has also been in regular contact with local government representatives, the Railway Protection Force and the Government Railway Police, and is working with them to identify and arrest suspects.
  
• Meetings with community members were organised periodically to receive feedback about children living or working on the railway and to discuss child protection issues. The aim of these meetings was to create a safer and more child friendly environment in the locality. They were also an opportunity to educate community members about the hardship these children face.
  
• 12 meetings with parents have been held, enabling parents to understand the benefits of the centre. Most parents now allow their children to attend regularly. In addition, project staff regularly visited parents at home to discuss their children’s progress.
  
• CINI has been in regular contact with children previously mainstreamed into school, and organised periodic follow up visits to schools to monitor their attendance and performance.
  

Challenges faced and lessons learned

Many children mainstreamed into local schools were initially shy and slow to progress. In some instances, corporal punishment at school discouraged them from attending. CINI has met with teachers on several occasions to explain that these children need extra support, and that corporal punishment puts them off going to school. Extra efforts have been made to involve teachers from local schools in the work of the drop in centre, so that they have a greater understanding of the children’s situations. On one occasion a teacher visited a child at home, encouraging them to go back to school.

Future plans

Day to day activities at the centre will continue. Children will celebrate Annual Day and Teachers Day, and will publish their drawings in a magazine called ‘Amader Ankur’. This magazine will be an advocacy tool to raise awareness in the community about the situation of children living and working on the railway. It is hoped that it will help to reduce negative stigma suffered by these children. This will provide a forum for these socially excluded and marginalised children to have their voices heard, and to show that they too have something to offer their local community. The magazine will be distributed to local decision makers, railway staff, schools, and local clubs. Further, to help secure the project’s financial stability, CINI will also continue to work hard to encourage the local community, schools, business owners, and community based organisations to financially contribute towards the running costs of the centre.

Children at Ankur drop in centre playing a game
– with your help, they are regaining their childhoods

Jiten, age ten, lives with his family near to Azimganj railway station, Murshidabad. His parents are poor daily wage labourers. When Jiten’s parents go to the work, he cares for his younger brother and the family’s domestic animals.

Life at home was difficult for Jiten and his brother. His parents often took out their frustration on their children - beating the boys for the smallest of mistakes.

Every Monday, one of CINI’s teachers from the drop in centre visited Jiten at home to see how he could be supported to get an education, and to make sure he was safe at home. On one of the first visits, the teacher found him at home caring for his younger brother. His parents were both out at work for the day. They had a good chat, and the teacher found out that his parents would not allow Jiten to go to school

The next day, the teacher returned to his house to speak to his parents. She first spoke to his mother who said, “My children will not go for education, he will remain as he is now”. She also tried speaking to his father who had drinking problems and was very abusive to his family.

After months of visiting Jiten’s house, building a better relationship with his parents, Jiten was allowed to attend the drop in centre and received the educational support he needed to be mainstreamed into school. He enrolled at a local school, and is now a regular student. Jiten’s relationship with his parents has also improved. He has even taught his illiterate mother how to sign her name, forming a new bond between them.

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