At eight, Ahalya Dharua should have completed learning the Odia alphabet. But, she is still struggling with the basics due to periodic absences from school.
The little girl had moved in January from Balangir in western Odisha with her parents, who found work in a brick-kiln in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijaynagaram. She returned in the last week of May. The break meant she had missed the most of the academic session for the year, including crucial year-ending exams.
And there seems no end to her in-and-out routine at school. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ahalya has neither been given a set of textbooks nor is she helped with a bridge course ahead of her re-enrollment in her regular village school at Saramuhan in Belpada block.
During the last migration season, more than 100 families of Saramuhan had left for other States, most of them to work in brick kilns. And with them were at least 50 school-going children, forced to turn their backs on even basic education.
Not far away from Saramuhan, 13-year-old Padmanabha Bhoi has returned to his village school in Antarla, in Saintala block after six months. His parents and three brothers had moved to Ganjam to make bricks. Of the 50 families of Antarla, 24 had migrated this year.
Instead ciphering and writing, Padmanabha helped prepare the clay for the bricks. Since his return to the village, the eighth standard student has been aimlessly wandering around his village, not having been issued books from school.
Likewise Puja Bhoi, a fourth standard student, returned to her village Gurunda in Muribahal block of Balangir from Telangana. A total of 19 families had left Gurunda to work in the brick-kilns, forcing 10 children between 6 and 14 years to miss school. Though Puja, too, has not been provided any books, she is managing by borrowing old books from other students in the village.
Ahalya, Padmanabha and Puja are waiting to be re-enrolled as their year-end tests are yet to be conducted. They are among thousands of children who are at risk of dropping out of education as they have missed a major part of the academic session. While the seasonal migration is a routine of life for the deprived rural communities, the pandemic-induced closure of schools seems to have hastened their disconnect from academics.
Odisha’s efforts to prevent school dropouts in migration-prone western Odisha districts have been half-hearted at best. In Balangir district this year, 62 seasonal hostels were opened to accommodate school-going kids and help them continue their studies while their parents migrated.
While the number of children between 6 and 14 who migrate with their families is estimated at more than 15,000 in Balangir district alone, just 2,500 children were provided shelter in the seasonal hostels.
Generations of children from the western Odisha districts of Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bargarh, Subarnapur are forced out of education due to poverty-induced migration. These children very soon follow their parents’ footsteps as migrant labourers, given the lack of livelihood options as a result of inadequate education. The number of school-going children accompanying their parents from these districts could be as high as 30,000 to 35,000.
During the past few years, some workers from these districts have been persuaded not to let their children miss school due to the migration. Thanks to continuous advocacy by some non-government organisations, the education of some of these children has been facilitated near the worksites in other States.
When they return to their villages, children are provided with testimonies of having attended classes which enable their readmission in schools.
But the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that many children have failed to collect proof of their onsite education following the abrupt shutting down of these schools after the lockdown.
“These out-of-school children require to be re-enrolled. Regular students have received books while the returnees have not got anything,” said Umi Daniel, head of the migration unit of Aide et Action, an NGO.
“Children who accompany their migrant parents are excluded from their schools. From an early age, they begin work as child labourers. Earlier they used to get their places back in the village schools. But now the pandemic has blocked these opportunities. They are now doubly excluded,” said Mr. Daniel.
“The government should focus on these children. Remedial classes should be taken up on campaign mode. The government must ensure children are taken back in schools,” said Jyoti Prakash Brahma, a researcher on child labour.
None of Padmanabha’s three older brothers, now between 15 and 20 years, has gone past Class XII; all now work in brick-kilns like their parents. Forced out of the school system, the teenager seems destined to join them.
