Visit to Aloor Camp of M V Foundation

	Maheshwari---Married at age of 7, husband died later. Picked rags in Hyderabad, before resuced by Foundation volunteers.Now happily stays at Aloor Camp.
	Neelofer--Erstwhile domestic child labor, was resuced after 10th Oct ban on such labor. She belongs to Waarangal district. Her mother has expired earlier, step mother is cruel & father, the jeep driver doesn't have resources to lend her a dignified life. She finds a new life at camp
	Jayshree. A 13 year old orphan child. After death of elder sister, she was left with her brother in law. She came at camp in June 2006,studies in 7th class & wants to be a dancer

Aloor is a quite village in Chevella Mandal, Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh. Quite is the vicinity of child care camp run by MV Foundation here. Stood at a lonely road, one would barely notice any activity around the camp. Jayshree, however, is an exception. And such exceptions are many in this camp. Jayshree moves, her feet moves in rhythm as she caresses a dream of becoming a dancer one day. Within the beat of her thirteen year old heart, her past seems to be a distant, a foregone entity. She forgets of being an orphan & working as a child labor before rescued by the staff of MV Foundation. Now she studies in 7th standard here & performs reasonably well in studies, besides dancing in her spare time. As her teachers notice, she has wonderful ability to learn dance steps from TV programs within minutes. Significantly, the camp has access only to DD national network & camp rules allow her to watch TV only on Sundays.

She is not alone in this transit camp for erstwhile child laborers. There are 170 odd girls of 9-17 years supervised by 11 teaching & 12 non teaching staff. That places one staff per 8 students. A breath holding staff to student ratio by any count.

Perhaps that explains this silent revolution taking place in camp even as a dedicated team works to efface traumatic past of these girls. They worked as house maids, agriculture laborers, rag pickers or simply helped their poor parents in labor. Most of the younger girls are either illiterate or have barely gone to school. For them a bridge course is undertaken which enables them to learn basic education ranging from nursery to 4th standard. After completion of bridge course, MV Foundation helps them take admission into government schools in 5th class. For girls, who had few years of formal education & are slightly elder in age, camp offers 7th class course, after which they become eligible for admission into 8th class in regular government schools. There are 4 sections of 7th class & 4 of bridge course in the camp.

Strategies adopted
Since, most of these may be bread earners of their family, how does MV Foundation deal with the challenge of bringing child labors to residential camp? Manjula, camp in charge tells about enormous campaigning volunteers of the Foundation undertake to convince parents for sending their children to the camp.

These volunteers bring the children from all the 37 mandals of Rangareddy district to the camp. When the child is an orphan or deserted, volunteers often have to resist even fight with local employer. At times, even child, who has lived an unrestricted life, feels uncomfortable in camp environment. However, these are teething troubles. As time passes, they settle down well within the new surroundings. Parents often visit them & feel satisfied at their progress, thanking Foundation for releasing their children from wretched conditions

The camp follows the idea of Shantha Sinha, NGO leader of M V Foundation that any child out of the school is a child labor. It debunks claims & figures of government on child labor & places child labor close to 100 million. The Foundation operates in two stages. In first, it rescues a child labor & brings her to transit camp where she learns essential lessons of education. In second stage, it ensures entry of child into formal schooling. The volunteers undertake follow up action to facilitate smooth transition of child into formal schools.

Holistic learning
At the camp, apart from curriculum, girls learn their first lessons in community hood & joy of sharing & caring. Various affairs of the camp are managed by these girls themselves. Several committees including food, water, cleaning & cloth committee are formed comprised of inmates, taking care of these departments. When IndianNGOs.com visited the camp, we found girls of food committee serving the lunch & girls of water committee arranged water from taps.

Afterwards
The camp disproves several theories. First, child labor due to their peculiar psychological condition can't be easily brought into the mainstream. Second, poor parents suffer economic setback once their child is sent to school. In fact, IndianNGOs.com met few parents who revealed that noticing their children into schools has given them great mental & social comfort. Third, vocational education should replace formal education for marginalized children. MV Foundation clearly establishes that formal school education has no alternative. It builds base of a child & prepares him for future. Accordingly, this camp is at best a transit one. The goal lies in entry into mainstream schooling.

For votaries of informal education, who rejects formal schooling claiming it be too trite, pedagogical & based upon rot memory, a teaser? How many of them would like their children to attend vocational, non formal courses, avoiding formal schooling of CBSE or ICSE.

Ashutosh Bhardwaj