Six-year-old Sushma loves to play with her favourite toy bus or run around in the ground near her house. But put her in a makeshift school and she is most likely to run away.
Sushma is among 100-odd children of labourers who are working at a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) construction site opposite the under-construction Majilis Park metro station and living adjacent to it.
While some families have been living there for the past one year to eight months, others have just arrived. Their biggest concern, however, is education for their children.
The children — in the age group of three to 15 years — who are living in the temporary colony for metro workers have no access to formal school or education.
According to Section 6 (4) of the Right to Education Act, if there is no educational institution within 1 km to 3 km from the place children in the age group of 6-14 years live in small hamlets, the State government or local authority should make adequate arrangements like free transportation, residential facilities and other facilities to provide elementary education in school.
However, no transport facility has been provided for the children to reach the nearby schools. Though a makeshift tuition class has been arranged at the site, the children do not seem very enthusiastic about it.
When The Hindu visited the class recently, none of the children were sitting in the classroom or could be seen studying.
A giggling 10-year-old Akash, who lives at the site, said: “One didi comes to teach us, but we don’t study at all. She just makes us sit from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., so sometimes we run away.”
Another child added: “We do not have any facility to study here. When I was living with my parents in Himachal Pradesh, I used to go to a nearby school in a bus. The contractor had provided a bus to go to school.”
Nine-year-old Khushbu, who does not attend the makeshift school, said: “I don’t go to this school because nothing is taught there. If I have to go to a school, it should at least be a proper school.”
Though the construction workers want that their children to receive education, they are helpless.
Bihar resident Arun said: “Who does not want their children to study in good schools, but there is no such arrangement here.”
Meena Devi, the wife of a construction worker, said: “My children do not go to school. Instead, they create nuisance all day. I want them to go to school and study.”
On being asked about the issue, “M/s Sam India Built Well Pvt. Ltd., which is executing this work, has a labour camp adjacent to the work site. There is a proper crèche for the children residing in the labour camp with two teachers. However, as per labour laws there is no legal obligation to enforce the Right to Education Act,” a DMRC spokesperson said.
A senior official from the Delhi Labour Department said: “We are going to start mobile schools for children who are unable to get education, like construction sites in faraway areas. Thus, teachers will be able to go to such places and take classes. These teachers will be trained and qualified, and the children will be able to enrol in a formal school later.”
We do not have any facility to study here. When I was living with my parents in Himachal Pradesh, I used to go to a nearby school in a bus. The contractor had provided a bus to go to school
Though a makeshift tuition class has been arranged at the site, the children do not seem very enthusiastic about it
