Continuing with the problem of "Illiteracy, we came to know about one other reason for it, i.e. “Lack of Interest of Parents in the education of their children”
We surveyed around 20 Rick-shaw pullers in our vicinity in Noida and following is what we have found out as a result of that survey:
An average monthly income of a rick-shaw puller is around Rs. 5000- 6000. Out of that, he pays Rs 1500 as monthly rent for a one room place plus electricity charges of around Rs.100-150 (In case, he is staying at a permanently constructed building , other wise, most of them live in slums (jhuggis) for which expense is relatively low). In short, his monthly expenses come around Rs. 4000-5000.
The monthly fees of a govt. school is only Rs.2/- and admission fee is only Rs. 20. It means, the rick-shaw puller has sufficient money to make his children study well in a govt. school at least. But still, most of their children are not studying properly and some even don’t go to a school.
One of the main reasons behind this is “Lack of Interest of Parents in the education of their children”. Neither do they know nor do they want to realize the importance of education.
Possible Solution:
If we help them somewhere in getting some “financial gains” so that they can have more savings, then there are more chances that they will listen to us and realize the importance of “Education”.
.
Following are some of the ways to make that solution possible:
- We can help them in getting their ration-cards made so that they can buy food and other essential materials at a lesser price from the govt. run shops.
- We can tell them about the various govt. schemes introduced from time to time that can help them financially. For eg.
These kinds of schemes are already being run by various other states too as for example you can check the following link for the scheme run by Haryana government http://wcdhry.gov.in/WOMEN/ladli%20-rules(english).pdf
- We can help them in opening their bank accounts too so that they can keep their money in safe place as well as with the means to easily access it.
Similar other ways can be there which we need to explore.
Last Saturday, Me and my friend, Sandeep Jana, went to the nearby slum area and got eight children enrolled in the nearby govt. school. Three of our other friends, Swati Khordia, Chetna and Mihira went to the govt. school and taught some classes there. It was really a nice experience for all of us. Check out some pics of yesterday event.
Along with lack of interest of parents in their children’s education, we observed another major problem, i.e. improper age difference in siblings and too many children in a single house. A 5-6 year old girl can’t go to school just because she has to take care of her infant brother or sister at home even though she is very much interested in studying.
Possible Solution: We need some expertise in health area, people who can come to these areas and make them understand about proper birth control, child birth etc.
Before implementing these ways, we have to complete our homework thoroughly and for that we need your help. If you can’t come with us in person then you can at least help us in getting all these information.
Whosoever is really interested in helping us in any way should reply to us mentioning the time and effort you can give as we have to do these things in a proper and organized manner so that we can make our solution really effective.
