Children - Terre des Hommes

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about the status of children in this municipality. According
to their records there are 3,390 children below the age of 6
years and the Table 2.21 gives the status of children’s nutrition
levels as per the records of September 2009 in Birmitrapur
anganwadi. The Table shows that only 41 per cent of children
are barely or just above malnourishment.
of the municipality. In Birmitrapur there are 15 government
schools, one college and three high schools. The dakua group
(women’s SHG) of Birmitrapur which met the team at the
anganwadi centre, stated that at least 20–25 children from
each ward do not go to school and that every year at least 30
per cent of school-going children drop out of school.
Table 2.21: Children’s health status: Birmitrapur
anganwadi
Grade Total children Percentage to
total children
Normal weight 1,397 41
Grade I 1,363 40
Grade II 582 17
Grade III 20 0.59
Grade IV 02 0.05
Source: ICDS office Birmitrapur
In Kansbahal village the anganwadi centre has no infrastructure
and operates under a tree. The anganwadi worker stated that
atleast 12 children are absolutely malnourished and around
50–100 cases of TB have been identified from the village.
In Chanabahar village according to the villagers, around 100
children (80 per cent of the total children) below the age of
6 years are malnourished. In short it was reported in almost
all the villages that a majority of children are malnourished
and a considerable number of children drop out of school.
None of the villages reported that they receive development
support for children either in the form of education, nutrition
or medical facilities from the mining companies operating in
the area.
Education
The overall district literacy rate is 65 per cent but a look at
the elementary education statistics shows an alarming drop in
student rural enrolment from 82,016 at primary level to 7,425
at secondary education level. This reflects the poor access to
higher education that adolescents in the district have, which
further reflects the poor social and economic conditions of
the majority population.
In this backdrop, we present here the situation of children
living in Birmitrapur block which is one of the worst mining
affected regions in Orissa. There are around 4,000–5,000
children below the age of 18 years living in Birmitrapur town
No infrastructure for this anganwadi. Children and animals attending the
anganwadi under the trees, Brahmanimara, Sundergarh
(Photo November 2009)
According to the villagers and the local organisation
Gangpur Adivasi Forum for Social and Cultural Awakening
(GAFSCA), the poverty of most families, becomes a cause
for many children not to attend school regularly and to
drop-out after primary school. The women stated that
another reason for children dropping out of school is the
poor teaching and teacher absenteeism. In Mundatolli
village, which is a small settlement of around 25 households,
we found that there were atleast 55 children of school going
age. As there is no government or private school in this
village, none of the children have opportunity to go to school
except for five boys and four girls who are in high school and
walk to the Don Bosco school in the neighbouring village,
every day.
In Bramhanimara village there is only one teacher in the
school with a total strength of 25 children Table 2.22). The
DISE report card (September 2008) gives the enrolment for
class I–V as around 219. According to the teacher there is no
Table 2.22: Enrolment in Bramhanimara primary
school in 2009-10
Class ST SC GENERAL
Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls
I–V 7 2 3 8 3 2
Total 9 11 5
Source: Attendance register, Bramhanimara primary school, Bramhanimara