Chinnu, all of 13, wants to ride bikes and become an engineer. That’s his dream. But reality is very different for this boy who works in the Madiwala vegetable market after he finishes school. His story is one of the several, told by young children, through photos they have taken of their life. He takes you to his school, his home, the squalor around, his role model, the heaps of onions and other veggies at his workplace, his friends, locked doors he comes home to…
These photographs, and others taken by young children who work part-time or full time, and photographs taken by volunteers who try to get them back to school, form part of a photography-based awareness exhibition that takes off in Bangalore on July 19.
Child Rights and You (CRY) is running an Annual National Photography Campaign called the “Click Rights Campaign” aimed at sensitising people on issues affecting child rights in India through photography. It’s simultaneously running across Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, and Bangalore.
Click Rights seeks to inspire everyone through photography to advocate for child rights, “as photographic evidence is the most effective medium to spread awareness and increase participation for the cause” believes CRY. This year’s theme is Child Labour. CRY volunteers who work through the Public Action Group (PAG) forum, encouraged children to attend photography workshops, and handed them an aim-and-shoot camera to chronicle a day in their life. Children living in slums near Koramangala, Madiwala, Yeshwantpur, and Bangalore East were part of this venture.
Rajakumari Michael, a senior manager of CRY’s Volunteer Action Unit points out that the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act covers children up to age 14, as does the Right to Education (RTE). Employers have begun to tap into this age group to find cheap labour. “Kids around this age drop out of school when others around them lure them into working at petrol bunks and malls; many of the older children get a commission for bringing in younger boys to work. Schools don’t pay much attention to these dropouts or make an effort to bring them back to school either, because they are not covered by the RTE.” Some of them work part-time after school, or during holidays, lured by the additional income they can bring their families.
Young children are specially picked to work at vegetable markets because they can scream out loud for long hours and attract customer attention, points out volunteer Sakshi Jain, 24, a software engineer with Oracle. She’s been working in the N.S.Palya area of Madiwala, and while they create records for all the children working in the market, they pay special attention to those who don’t go to school at all. “A lot of the children are migrants from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu who work with their parents. They have difficulty problem s getting enrolled into government schools as they have difficulty getting migration certificates; language too is an issue. Older kids are more interested in earning money; younger ones are eager to go to school,” she points out.
Jenifer Mary Francis, (21) and a CRY community volunteer for five years now, quotes herself as an example to parents, to coax them to send their children to school. Hailing from Sidhharthanagar in Madiwala, Jenifer completed her degree and landed a job in HP as a process associate. Jenifer says most of these children find it difficult to understand maths and science, so they easily drop out of school; parents too can’t help them, nor afford tuition. Jenifer offers to tutor such children. “I also studied in a Kannada-medium school. I can explain to them in a language they understand. I help CRY identify kids who don’t go to school and try to convince their parents not to look at short-term benefits of the small money their children earn. I tell them, ‘Look at me’….”
FOLLOW THE PHOTOS
The photos will be on view on July 19 and 20 at Rangoli Metro Art Gallery, M.G. Road, (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.), on July 22 and 23 at Forum Mall, Koramangala, (11 a.m. to 7 p.m.), on July 26 at Atta Gallata, Koramangala, (noon to 7 p.m.), on August 2 and 3, at Mantri Mall, Malleswaram, (11 a.m. to 7 p.m.). The exhibition will also travel to offices and colleges in the city during this period.
