The minimal technology of schooling consists of: buildings and spaces, furniture and textbooks, teachers and curricula, routines and rituals(Kumar 2007). Now any assessment of the educational quality of a school would rely on the examination of its student teacher ratio, methods of teaching, academic achievement of its students, the extent of land on which it is situated, the size of its classrooms, the possession of laboratories, a library, a games room, and books and materials that go into them, and it provisions of toilets and drinking water. Though each of this subject demands necessary attention and each would require a separate essay in itself, I will focus upon a completely different aspect of education that requires special attention.
My own brush with child abuse at the age of 14 and my accident of professional choice afforded me the opportunity of working closely with a a group of children living in a slum area of Guwahati. The Hafiznagar No2. slum area, located in the Bamunimaidam Area of East Guwahati, Assam, has been an informal settlement for more than 40 years now. My initial contact with the community in 2011 revealed that the area had more than 260 settlers, of which 121 were children, most of them migrants from nearby villages of Assam, who had come in search of better livelihood opportunities. However, since the inhabitants had settled along a 900 metres railway track, the railway authorities would evict the establishments each year by breaking and burning down the shanties, only to have the people re-settle back in that same area due to lack of viable alternatives. Year after year, the same eviction drives, coupled with the stress of dealing with abject poverty and social isolation resulted in the people losing faith in any kind of organized living and establishment which finally led into the conversion of this area into a deprived “ghetto” .
“Ghettoization” had given rise to acute alcoholism, gambling, substance abuse, rape and other kinds of anti-social activities like smuggling, robbery, murder etc. The entire area had been unceremoniously converted into a dumping ground of waste materials from the city, as most of the young men and women living in that area took to rag-picking as a source of livelihood. Since the area had no regularised human waste sanitation systems or water supply, the area turned into a breeding ground for diseases like diarrhoea, jaundice, hepatitis B, gastritis.
All the children were severely undernourished posing a huge threat to their growth and survival. Due to the complete absence of water and sanitation, all the children often become victims of some kind of illness mostly diarrhoea, ring worms, scabies and jaundice. Apart from all these issues, 68 children out of 74 from the age group of 6 to 14, were engaged in some kind of Labour- rag-picking, garage, domestic help and vegetable vending and were therefore out of school. This meant that 89% of children belonging to the school going age were out-of-school.
Academic probing, by my team of social workers through administration of a set of open-ended questionnaires, revealed some of the reasons as to why such a huge number of these children were not going to school. The findings revealed that while some children never went to school due to the general lack of the culture of education in the community(all the parents of the children living in the community were either uneducated or illiterate) and of the lack of motivation in the family and the neighbourhood, others had dropped out because of the recurrence of corporal punishment inflicted upon children by teachers. Testimonies like "The teachers beat us up till their wooden rulers would crack" were common in the narratives of the community children. I shall touch upon each of these reason in detail, in the later part of this article.
With financial assistance from Smile Foundation India and a group of Siksha Karmis from the Jyoti Kendra Programme, we managed to mainstream all the out-of-school children through a period of three years(from 2011-2014). However, enrolment into schools did not necessarily mean attainment of the purpose of right to education, as espoused in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009. A major challenge, post mainstreaming, has been the retention of these children in school. While it was found out that there were many reasons for dropping out, post enrolment, child marriage being one of them, the primary reason had always been underachievement in academics and the ensuing demotivation.
An internal study conducted by us, brought to fore some of the immediate reasons that have kept children belonging to the Hafiznagar No2 slum community from performing progressively in their academic pursuit and dropping out thereafter.
First, most of the children mainstreamed were earlier school dropouts. These children were later enrolled into classes, incongruous to their actual age. For example, a 10 year old child who had been out of school for the last 4 years had to be mainstreamed in class two, where most of his peers belonged to the age group of 6 to 7 year. This disparity in the age group, coupled with the difference in physical appearance (obviously a 10 year old would look much older that a 7 year old) created a psychological complex in the mind of the later mainstreamed children. This perpetuated his inability to adapt to the social environment of his classroom leaving him isolated. This isolation lead to behavioural problems in children who, most often than not, turned out to be bullies perpetuating violence on their younger peers. This behavioural aberration leads to diversion from academic pursuit.
Second, for a child who has enjoyed unrestricted freedom (out of school children belonging to poorer sections of the society generally enjoy the independence of working, roaming around in the streets at will etc with no sanction for the same by their guardians), without being accustomed to any kind of discipline , find it extremely difficult to readjust themselves to the routine that a mainstream school demands. This resulted in low attendance and frequent absenteeism leading to eventual dropping out.
Third, a strange kind of provincialism characterises the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan schooling system. While private schools employ a variety of up-to-date technological innovations, the teachers of government schools use extremely traditional forms of teaching without the application of innovative methods that could motivate children towards the pursuit of academic excellence. Use of computers and AV are things that are unheard of in Government schools. These schools are also devoid of libraries and play areas. Though the Smart School Programme of the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan has reached some districts, most schools are yet to be upgraded under this scheme. This incompleteness fails to retain the attention of students leading to low educational outcomes.
Fourth, the recurrent use of corporal punishment by teachers is a major reason why children drop out of school. Despite the ban on corporal punishment and cruelty towards children under IPC 83, Ministry of Women and Child guidelines 2010, Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice(Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, of the 100 school-going children from the Hafiznagar No2 slum community, 52 children(from the age of 6 to 18) have admitted to have faced corporal punishment in their schools. The trauma has had a negative impact on the child's mind. Moreover, the public humiliation associated with corporal punishment compelled them to drop out of school.
Fifth, the environment at home is not suitable to support educational pursuit. The parents(both the father and the mother) of all the children living in Hafiznagar No2 community are illiterate. Therefore, there is a complete void in the culture of educational attainment in the community at large. The quest for survival becomes more important than the pursuit of education, which is considered to be a waste of time in so far as it takes many years for its accomplishment. Guardians of these children feel that if their children went to school they would be unable to share the economic burden of the family, which can only be fulfilled if children start to work early in life.
Sixth, the infrastructure at home inhibits educational achievement. The children of Hafiznagar No 2, live in one-roomed shanties without any natural lighting or electricity. This stalls the child's ability to study or complete his homework after school. Recurrent inability of children to complete their homework attracts a variety of sanctions from their teachers, which eventually leads to disillusionment and finally to dropping out.
Also, gender plays a huge role in education. While male children are expected to earn money for the family, a noticeable reason for the girl child dropping out of school has been due to the pressure of marriage, exerted on them, by their parents. As soon a girl child attains puberty, the parents are in a rush to get her married off. The reasons for child marriage range from economic liability of maintaining a girl, to the fear of public shame in case the girl child were to get pregnant out of a wedlock. From 2011-2014, six girl children from the Hafiznagar No2 slum community have dropped out due to child marriage.
Again, the children of Hafiznagar No2 belong to migrant population. Most of their parents had moved into Guwahati in search of better livelihood opportunities. This movement was mostly propelled by displacement due to flooding and loss of traditional livelihoods in their villages. However, high rents and steep cost of property in Guwahati left no other options for the people but to settle in empty stretches of land near industrial areas. The inhabitants of Hafiznagar No2 slum community have settled upon a 900 metres stretch of land alongside a railway track, belonging to the Indian Railways. This settlement is viewed as illegal by the Railways and, year after year, the Railway authorities have conducted eviction drives. During these eviction drives most of the properties of the inhabitants are destroyed, including the school books of children. The child is reduced to a state of homelessness, post these demolition drives. A homeless child losses all interest in schooling. The trauma of witnessing these violent eviction drives leaves a scar in the minds of the young. Moreover, with the loss of all his educational stationary the child is left with no other option than to drop out.
Additionally, childhood malnutrition in the Hafiznagar No2 slum area impedes educational attainment. A nutrition camp conducted in collaboration with the North East Nutrition and Dietetic Association (NENDA) in July 2015, at the Hafiznagar No2 slum community with a sample of 72 children, revealed that 80% of the children were found to be malnourished (severe-moderate) and the rest 20% being mild-moderate, and that most of them were found to be anaemic. Irregular dietary practices, long stretches of hunger and maternal malnutrition are some of the reasons for malnourishment in children of the community. Undernutrition in childhood are related to scholastic backwardness (Tizard 1974) as the cognitive and emotional development of children are delayed due to the same. Children in Hafiznagar No2 have dropped out due to slow learning and failure in examinations.
Lastly and most importantly, the behavioural issue of guardians have a major impact on the educational outcomes of children. 100 % children from the age of 6 to 18, living in the Hafiznagar No2 slum community, have witnessed violent fights between their parents. The children have expressed a sense of fear and anger whenever they witnessed such domestic violence at home. Moreover, the recurrent use of physical violence on children by their parents, as a means of sanction has affected the mental health of children who have expressed various levels of post trauma disorder. Out of the 121 children of the Hafiznagar No2 slum community, 60 children have reported physical and emotional abuse by parents. Severe slapping(14%), pulling of hair/ ears (14%), throwing of heavy utensils(14%), beating with sticks/rods(13%), kicking(11%), punching (9%), forcefully dragged out of homes(9%), gagging(9%), punching(9%) and locking inside a room(8%) were some of the various kinds of abuses faced by children from their parents. Maltreated children perform lower on academic outcomes such as reading ability. Children in Hafiznagar No2 community have displayed problems in reading in writing, post mainstreaming.
From the above observations, it is amply clear that children from the Hafiznagar No2 slum community face various forms of adversities in their proximal environment like their immediate family and school environments. As a result of such adversities, children undergo tremendous stresses that in turn affect their mental health thereby affecting educational outcomes. The clear understanding of the correlation between mental health of a child and his ability to perform well in academics can lead to a sustainable solution to the problem of underachievement in children.
A major inadequacy in the Sarva Siksha Education Programme is the lack of effective interaction between the two microsystems that affect the child’s life, namely his family and his school. Continuous interactions between the child’s school and the home could create a mesosystem wherein the child’s parents and teachers could provide required support to address the varied issues faced by the child. Considering the fact that most of the children attending Sarba Siksha Abiyan(SSA) schools come from backgrounds characterized by economic poverty, illiterate or uneducated parentage, abusive home environment, it is doubly incumbent upon the schools to take the additional responsibility of reaching out to the families of such children so as to provide necessary support required for generating academic excellence. For example, a child who faces the pressure of marriage from parents could report it to the school counsellor, who in turn could take progressive measures for the protection of the child, either by discussion with parents or with the help of professional child protection agencies.
Most of the private Schools in Assam have appointed trained Counsellors to reach out to children who have social difficulties in their family and school environments. This helps children to cope up with any kind of mental trauma that could affect their academic performance. In fact, schools like the Assam Valley School have created specialized Child Welfare Officers that monitor every child’s Protection related issues like corporal punishment, mental harassment, sexual harassment among others. However, though lot of public spending has been done, none of the Sarba Siksha Abiyan Schools in Assam have Counsellors or Counselling Units for its children.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act of 2009 provides a justiciable legal framework that entitles all children between the ages of 6-14 years free and compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education. It provides for children’s right to an education of equitable quality, based on principles of equity and non- discrimination. Most importantly, it provides for children’s right to an education that is free from fear, stress and anxiety.
Therefore, there is an immediate need for the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan(SSA) Scheme to introduce a segment that specifically deals with the mental health aspect of child development, with adequate resources allocated towards the same. Exploited child labourers, children who have been subject to recurrent physical and mental harassment at home and in school, require a support mechanism that can build resilience and help the child deal with emotional pains that comes out of fear, stress and anxiety. This could go a long way in addressing the bigger problem of underachievement and dropping out rate of children in Government schools. In fact, this component should be one of the indicators required to measure the quality of education provided in schools, an aspect I wished to elaborate upon in the first part of this article.
The need to address inadequacies in retention, residual access, particularly of un-reached children, and the questions of quality are the most compelling reasons for the insertion of Article 21-A in the Constitution of India and the passage of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 in the Parliament.
Further, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 places a compulsion on the State to ensure that no child from the weaker sections or disadvantaged groups is discriminated against in any manner or prevented from pursuing and completing elementary education. The unavailability of professional mental health experts in the Sarba Siksha Abiyan Schooling system pushes to oblivion a major concern amongst children coming from marginalized and unstructured backgrounds. Any further indifference towards this crucial component of education would enhance the incidence of low educational outcomes and dropping out rate amongst children going to Government schools in Assam. This would go against the very principles of the Rights of Children, as espoused in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child 1989 and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009.
The principle of “Right of children to free and compulsory education” entails unrestricted access to education for all children. This access to education can be made “unrestricted” if proactive measures are undertaken to identify and, thereby, address some of crucial inadequacies in the policies and their subsequent implementation.
Miguel Queah
27th March, 2016
(Published in Voice of Matree)
*The references are not displayed due to technical issues associated with posting from an IPad.
