The forgotten ones. a story of street children and schooling in South Asia
Remington, F.
Integration 37: 40-42
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0916-0582 PMID: 12345101 Document Number: 329610
The number of "street children" in India and Nepal is increasing at an alarming rate because of urbanization. Each year an estimated 150,000 young Nepalese girls are sold as prostitutes in India where the number of working children under age 14 has grown from 13.59-18.17 million during 1981-90. Indeed, these figures may be unrealistically low, with actual numbers of street and working children in India at 44 million. Street children are at risk of exploitation by adults in hazardous, or even banned, jobs. The children recognize that the skills provided by learning centers offer them their only hope of an improved life. The experiences of 3 such nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in India and Nepal shed some light on the special needs of these children. Alternative schools are ideally set up in the slums where the children live and work. The curriculum of the schools should include opportunities for enhancing self-esteem and learning income-producing and survival skills as well as basic literacy training. It may take several years to create a curriculum specific to the children of a particular area. NGOs would benefit from international assistance in using new technologies and strategies to help learning-disabled children. Donations from international, sources could also facilitate an exchange of information among NGOs, which now view each other as competitors for scarce funds. NGOs try to persuade parents that the education of their children is more beneficial for families in the longterm than putting the children out to work. The children come to school in various stages of cleanliness, but they find acceptance there; fun is incorporated into school time, and teachers assure the children of their worth and act as important role models for them. It is hard to find teachers trained in nonformal education to work for the minimal salaries NGOs can offer. Funding is a special problem, since governments tend to ignore these children, but international donations could provide much needed learning materials and teacher training. Governments must realize that it is less expensive to meet the current needs of these children than to incur the longterm cost of harboring millions of ignorant young people.