Change Stories - ING Vysya Foundation
Name: Rubina Khatoon
Age: 10 years
Rubina Khatoon is a bright girl from one of the learning centers sponsored by ING-Vysya Foundation in Lucknow. She has done wonders in the Rajasthan Government School Class V board examination. Out of 167 girls, appeared from IIMPACT (NGO partner of the Foundation), 149 girls have scored first division. Rubina Khatoon has topped the list by scoring 91.71% in the 5th Std. board examination.
Rubina has lost her father when she was very young. Her mother did not have any source of income to her three children. They barely had anything to eat. Rubina’s mother could not send them to school. As her mother didn’t have any source of income, Rubina joined the informal work force to take care of her mother and two younger brothers.
Oneday, IIMPACT opened their learning centres in Mehboodabad. Life of this little girl changed as her mother decided to send her to the learning centre. Rubina’s mother admitted her to the centre and started working in the field for taking care of the family. Mrs khaton is a proud mother now – she says ‘Rubina has learnt a lot and she now teaches her younger brothers at home too. I am illiterate but my daughter helps me in keeping the account of the money that I earns from working in the fields”. Mrs Khatoon proudly says ‘My present is dark but my future looks bright. I will not marry my daughter until she is an under-graduate”.
This is not an isolated case, your contribution can build the future of many such children, living in difficult circumstances that often do not allow them to join school and enjoy their childhood. In the IIMPACT learning centre, the joyful method of studying has made books their friends. Now they are ready for the formal education as they are confident to take on the World with their knowledge.
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Name: Jayaseelan
Age: 17 years
“Without My Teacher, I’d Still Be a Coolie” Source: Tamil Nadu Final Report, October 2008
Jayaseelan was a full-time stone carrier and Yashodha worked as a coolie on the land. A teacher, Saravanan, saved them from child labor. And, thanks to ING Chances for Children and UNICEF, they now go to school every day.
After first grade, Jayaseelan (17) left school to work as a menial laborer. For two years, he carried stones all day in Panjapalli in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu — until Saravanan contacted him and registered him in a special school for former child laborers. At this ‘bridge school’, which ING Chances for Children has been supporting since 2005, children like Jayaseelan get extra tutoring so they can advance into a standard local school.
Jayaseelan just passed his exams, thanks to the help he received from his teacher, Saravanan. In fact, he felt so inspired by his teacher that he wants to become a teacher himself. Soon, Jayaseelan will start teacher training in Bangalore. Saravanan has arranged for a loan to pay his education. “The friendship I have formed with my teacher is for life,” Jayaseelan says.
“Without him, I would have wasted away under these stones.” Perhaps the more important story is about all the efforts Saravanan went to on behalf of his charge outside school — more important even than releasing him from a life of servitude. “Now, I can find a job that pays well,” Jayaseelan says. “Without his help and perseverance, I could have never come this far.” Six years ago, Yashodha was also a menial worker on the land. She’s is also very grateful for the teachers at her bridge school. She very much wants to continue her studies. “I don't know if my father will let me go to school next year,” Yashodha says with a tear-stained face. Her father had already arranged a job for her in a clothing factory. But, her teachers won’t let her go that easily. They are doing all they can to convince her father.
Making a Difference
Thanks to the efforts of one teacher, Saravanan, 346 children have already been removed from menial labor, and two hundred of those children have advanced to standard schooling. Getting the victims of child labor into school is a complex process. By talking with teachers at local schools, Saravanan finds out which children have stopped and why. He then makes contact with their parents. He talks with them about the value of good schooling while always keeping the problems of the family in mind. On average, it takes between fifteen and twenty meetings with the parents to convince them.
The success rate percentage is between sixty and seventy. The teachers from the bridge schools are deeply committed. Not only do they help children with their studies, they are also involved in the problems at home. “The children become part of our lives,” says Saravanan, who has been involved in the project since its start in 1996. “There is no other job I’d rather have, not for any money. Here, I have the chance to make a real difference.”
Child Laborers Go to School
UNICEF and ING Chances for Childeren support 720 National Child Labour Elimination Programme Schools – also called bridge schools – in Tamil Nadu. Former child laborers get extra tutoring so that they can advance into standard education. The teachers do more than give lessons. They also seek out the victims of child labor and serve as social workers.
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Name: Chandra Kala
Age: 15 years
Chandra Kala: “My favourite subject is maths”
She may only be 15 but Chandra has had some rough times in her family. Her mother left home because her father used to drink and beat her. Chandra was terribly upset and stopped going to school. Instead, she went to pick rose petals with her aunt. These are used a lot in Tamil Nadu for flower garlands and decorations as offerings to the Hindu gods. Thanks to the efforts of a social worker, Chandra is now back at school after a four year absence. Chandra: “I couldn’t go to an ordinary school because I was too old. But luckily, I was able to get a place at the transition school which I love. Of course, I’m a bit behind in the lessons, but the teachers give me extra help. And it’s going well; my teacher is proud of me. My favourite subject is maths. When I finish this school, I want to go on studying to become a policewoman. I think it’s an exciting job in which you can help people.”
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Name: Abib Hosina
Age: 12 years
Abib Honisa: “Singing and dancing is my life”
12 year old Abib looks lovely with her braids and ribbons in her hair. She comes from a poor family and even went to the ordinary school for a couple of years. She is one of the dropouts, having left school to go to work with her mother picking and peeling fruit from the Tamarind tree. The fruit is very popular in southern India and is used in cooking. Abib has now been attending the transition school for about a year and is having a great time. She laughs a lot and enjoys her young life. She says “School is very important, because I am learning reading, writing and arithmetic. I’ll need that later because I want to act in a Bollywood film and then you have to be able to read scripts and know what you are going to earn. My classmates like it when I sing and dance and it’s something I love doing too.”
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Name: Shankaran
Age: 15 years
Shankaran: “I want to be a policeman”
Shankaran is not very big, so he looks younger than his 15 years. He has already been through a lot. You can see it in his lovely dark eyes. He says “I used to go to the ordinary school, but when my father died, I had to go and work in a brick factory. The work was very hard, but my family needed the money. Later I took up my father’s carpentry work and I was able to go back to school. I was very happy about that”. But before and after school, Shankaran still works because his family is poor and every rupee is welcome. Shankaran: “In the mornings, I work from 6 to 8 o’clock and in the evening I work again from 6 to 8 o’clock. I then do my homework and then I’m so tired that I go to bed. But I definitely want to finish this school, because I want to be a policeman, so that I can protect people from drunkards. My father was an alcoholic so life wasn’t always very nice at home”.
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Name: Nagma
Age: 10 years
Nagma lives in Indaura Village of Mehmoodabad Block in Sitarpur, Uttar Pradesh. Nagma is the youngest daughter of Late Mr. Mehmood and has 4 elder brothers and 3 elder sisters. All her brothers and sisters are married. Nagma’s mother is not educated and she takes care of household work. Her brothers are labourers. Nagma helps her mother in the household work. She also does embroidery to earn some money for the family.
Like her sisters, Nagma too never went to study as there was no school in the village. There is one school in another village which is quite far. When IIMPACT-Nalanda learning center opened in Indaura, the teacher Namita contacted Nagma’s mother with a request to send her daughter to school. Initially Nagma’s mother was not ready to send her to school. But the persistent efforts of the teacher in sensitizing her, making her understanding the importance of education, bore results. Then she started sending Nagma to IIMPACT learning center. Today Nagma is studying in Class 2 Level 2 and is the smartest student in the class. She is getting all the support from her family. She has even taught her sisters how to read and write. According to her mother, “if IIMPACT school was not started in Indaura, my daughter would also have remained illiterate like her other siblings”.
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Name: Nanhi
Age: 9 years
Nanhi is from a very poor agricultural family. Her mother passed away when she was 6 years old. Nanhi took care of her 2 younger brothers. Slowly she learned cooking and other household work. Her world was far removed from education. The IIMPACT-Nalanda center was started in Nanhi’s village, Bilaspur, on 17th April 2007. One day when Nanhi came to the center and saw girls of her age reciting poems, she really liked it and she also started aspiring to learn this. Initially her father did not allow but her constant efforts yielded good results. She came to the center to learn poems, but soon became a regular student at the center. Today, Nanhi is studying in class III and she comes to learning center after finishing all her work at home. Her father says, “I will educate my daughter at least till the class IIMPACT teaches her”.
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