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Education | Waste pickers' union studies RTE Act, enrolls 42 in English schools -Swati Shinde Gole

Waste pickers' union studies RTE Act, enrolls 42 in English schools -Swati Shinde Gole

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published Published on Jan 15, 2013   modified Modified on Jan 15, 2013
-The Times of India

PUNE: Every morning, four-year-old Fatima Makandar dons a neatly ironed yellow and blue uniform, ties her hair with a red ribbon, wears polished black shoes with clean white socks and steps out of her cramped tenement in Upper Indira Nagar in Bibwewadi for View Valley School in Kondhwa. Fatima, a ragpicker's daughter, has crossed a social barrier and is getting good schooling, thanks to the waste picker's trade union, a body more well-versed with the Right to Education (RTE) Act than many schools and government officials.

Fatima's father, Buvaalisha, is a member of Kagad Kach Patra Kashtakari Panchayat (KKPKP), a trade union of waste pickers here which has managed to enroll 42 children in private schools availing of the 25 % reservation scheme under RTE. Buvaalisha spends all day sifting through foul-smelling garbage bins and collecting waste and is the sole breadwinner of his family. He could never have imagined sending his daughter to an unaffordable English-medium school. Though he has two sons, Akbar (9) and Asma (7), his hopes are pinned on Fatima. "We feel very proud when her teacher marks a star in her notebooks. She is doing well. Her teacher has given us a good review about her progress in the monthly meetings. We make sure we attend them," says the proud father.

Members of the union are serious about education and have over the last year, carefully read through the RTE Act, visited schools, demanded their child's right to free education in a good school and won in many cases. Dipanwita Sengupta, a social activist at KKPKP, says, "Initially, schools denied admission to these children saying they would engage in quarrels with other students. We had to convince them that they were well-behaved and wouldn't create any trouble."

Surprisingly, the biggest hurdle the union faced was poor awareness about RTE. From schools as well as the education board. "No one was sure about the Act. We carried a copy of it to every school and told them the rules and guidelines. That's how we managed 42 admissions," says Surekha Gade, another activist at KKPKP.

These parents are more aware of the leg up this opportunity has provided to their children and talk less about the 'free' schooling. Lata Kadare's seven-year-old son, Popat, refused to go to school till he got admission into Bharat English School in Shivajinagar. "I'm happy he comes home each day and speaks a few words in English. He also explains the meanings of words."

Durga Mahandale admitted her five-year-old to Magarpatta City Public School which has an annual fee of around Rs 32,000. Something this single parent can ill-afford. "I want to make sure my child has a better life than me. I am illiterate, but I want my son to study in an English-medium school. Fortunately, our trade union helped. I don't know if I would have admitted him into a school at all if KKPKP activists had not made us aware of RTE." Mahandale also gets reimbursements from the school for socks, stationary and sundry other others.

T T Burrows, principal of the school says, "We are committed to implementing the RTE Act. Teaching is after all charity and we will do our bit."

The future of many kids hinges on such charity.
 

The Times of India, 12 January, 2013, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-01-12/pune/36296638_1_rte-act-trade-union-education-board


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