Society

The people of Nangavalli panchayat in Salem district had lost their crops to famine and their children to power looms. Schools were a distant dream. How could they think of education for their children, when their survival was at stake?

The entire family worked. Even the four year olds. Take the case of Murugesan. He had completed his Class VIII exams, and he was sure that he would score well. But what was the point? He would not go to Class IX because he had to start working as a coolie handloom worker to help his poverty stricken family in Avadattur.

Nangavalli panchayat in Salem district is one among the backward districts in Tamil Nadu. The main area of the block is connected by road but the interior villages are inaccessible by public transports. The only means of livelihood is agriculture, which has been extremely poor due to the lack of rain.

Salem and Erode are well known for power looms; in this block alone there are 10,000 power looms. The rich landlords who have shifted their business from agriculture to weaving hold most of the power looms and run the power looms by employing the local community. These looms employ women, children and adults and the wages are paid in piece rate, which is meagre. Some families have small looms -- one or two per family -- which involve the children in weaving and resulting in school dropouts and from there to child labour.

The Multi-purpose Action Social Service Society (MASSS) began work in 1997 in this block. Started by Subramanian, MASSS was a step towards bringing some change. My faith kept slipping now and then…nothing seemed to change for long. I waited and gave it my best, says Subramanian. When MASSS met Murugan, and his family, they started regular counselling sessions with them. Finally his parents agreed to let Murugan study in private. Two years later, Murugan completed his Class X with top marks.

Education was not the only issue that MASSS focussed on.

The campaign against Sex Selective Abortion (CASSA) states that 1,218 girl babies were killed during 2000. Forty per cent of the girls get married before the age of 18 in Salem district. Marriage is done at an early age of 14, which leads to high incidence of divorce and infant and maternal mortality.

It is this condition that MASSS has set out to change. But I realised that I had to make the people responsible for their children, they had to understand the importance of education for their children, and realise that by employing their children they are only charring their childhood, says Subramanian.

MASSS began working at various levels in the community. Firstly towards providing NFE (non formal education) to working children and mainstream them in regular school. Secondly, to focus on rehabilitation of mentally and physically challenged children through the Community Based Rehabilitation programme and lastly to address the issues of female infanticide by training the women s group members.

The organisation has started direct intervention and moved to community mobilisation through formation and strengthening of community-based organisation to address the issues of survival, protection and development of children.

MASSS began providing income generation programmes for women and addressing the child labor issue in the power loom sector. The organisation has built a good rapport with the community all these years, supporting in the implementation of the community-based programmes. It has extended its work to the entire block through self-help group programme supported by the banks and the government.

It has just initiated intervention to address the infanticide situation. The female infanticide programme covers four panchayats in the block of Nangavalli. Currently the organisation conducts awareness programmes and provides counseling for women, especially pregnant women. The self-help group members help in the process of identification and inform regarding the risk cases among the pregnant women and lactating mothers.

The organisation has initiated a community-based pre-school to provide access to education for the pre-school age children, relieve the mother from the burden of baby sitting to enhance the income for the family, provide opportunity for the other siblings to attend school and to attain 100 per cent enrollment.

CRY supported the salary components and play materials for the children in the beginning for two centres and later extended it to four. The community and the women s groups contribute food, infrastructure, place, etc for the centres. Currently, CRY supports four centers teachers salary cost and all the remaining is taken care of by the community and women s self-help groups. An additional five centres are run by the self-help groups themselves, where all the cost, including the salary for the teachers, is taken care of by the self-help groups. The CRY pre-school is a model for the remaining village in the panchayat to address the issue of the early child care education.

MASSS community pre-school is one of the pioneer models in Tamil Nadu for the community-based pre-school, which can be replicated by other NGOs.

The organisation works with mentally and physically challenged children at their homes. A special teacher makes regular visits to the homes of the mentally challenged and provides training to the parents to handle these children and gives exercises to the children. During this year 10 children have received ADL (activities for daily life) skills and referred to the medical treatment to the district hospital. 

The physically disabled were linked with a bank to avail of the benefits under the welfare programme. Ten such groups have received loans and started small businesses. This has provided recognition to them.

A striking aspect of this organisation is the rapport it has established with the community, and the awareness it has raised among the people of these villages. The effect is clearly evident from the fact that the community has understood and taken responsibility for their children, and has contributed to bring a change in their society.

CRY has been supporting this organisation since 1999. In all the projects that CRY has worked with, the key to making 100 per cent enrolment and 100 per cent retention in schools a reality has been the active involvement of the community. CRY recognises that the community needs to be responsible for the well being of their children. It has disbursed $684 million to 163 child development initiatives across the country. Yet, much remains to be done.

As the CRY pledge reads - Before anything else, I am an Indian. And so is this little child. The rights I enjoy as a citizen of this free country are hers too. She has a right to be free. She has a right to be happy. But I am going to fight for her because she has the right to be a child. I am going to fight for her every single day, every single moment. With my skills. With my resources. With my heart. I am going to fight for her because I CAN. And she can't. 

For more information please call 
CRY at 044-4671828/4672241 

email: comm.mds@crymail.org

Picture Courtesy: CRY photo bank