Children - Terre des Hommes

59
In Kallali village, where there are 200 families, the problems
are similar to Kariganuru where the people are suffocating
with the iron ore dust and are living in appalling conditions.
Here also the school is located dangerously close to the road
where the dust, blasting and traffic of heavy vehicles are always
a threat to the safety and health of the children. It is an irony
that there is a boundary wall that provides no protection to the
school. In the entire stretch of the highway between Hospet
and Kallali village we found children working in the tea
stalls, cycle shops, hotels and even in the private dispensaries
rather than in the school. As Dr. Shankar C. Nair of the
Community Health Centre (CHC), Hospet stated,
“Children are working everywhere, it is difficult to
give an exact number. Rather, what is required is
the acknowledgement of the alarming situation of
the children working and living here.”
Ironically, we found a child working in his own clinic, helping
in the clinic activities.
The people in Kariganuru reported that although there is a
local primary school, only children from the economically
stable families attend school and only about 25 boys attend
college in the nearby town of Hospet.
Children in Tent Schools
Organisations based in the area, like READS and Social
Economical Educational Develeopment Society (SEEDS),
run tent schools for children of mine workers, particularly
the migrant families who have no access to regular schools.
According to a survey conducted by READS in May 2009,
there are 1,307 children out of school from 27 villages in
Sandur taluk, and majority of these children are working in
the mines.
In Neerahalli village there are 40–42 families hired by
contractors to work in illegal mines. The tent school has very
young children who used to work in the mines until READS
provided them this opportunity. Shivganga is an 8 year old
girl who worked in the mines with her mother and also took
care of her younger siblings. Bharati is another migrant girl
who never went to school but has to continue working in the
mines part time while she attends the tent school for a few
hours each day. She earns Rs.30–40 per day for breaking iron
ore and this money is important for her mother to raise the
family. A 12 year old boy has to tend to cattle, so he has found
his own solution—he sends the cattle to the grazing area near
Children of mine workers in a tent school at Neerahalli, Sandur run by READS,
with support from TDH, Germany (Photo January 2010)
the tent school and keeps an eye on them while he attends the
school. His parents work as daily wage labour in the mines.
These are just a few examples of the background of the
children who come to the tent schools. Yet, while they
provide a temporary relief from the mines, these schools are
not an alternative to formal education that every child has
a fundamental right to, nor do they keep the children away
from mining work. Children such as these do not figure in the
child labour statistics as they are attending school, but their
part time work is not accounted for.
In the survey conducted by READS in 27 villages of Sandur
taluk with respect to children of mine workers and on children
not attending school, a total of five gram panchayats were
covered having 27 villages and 3,665 families.
Tent School for Children of Mine Workers, run by SEEDS, Sandur with support
from TDH, Germany–children attend the school and also work in the mines
Photo taken by SEEDS
Table 2.02 shows the situation of children who come to the
tent schools in this area while they also work either in the
mines or in other activities at home or outside in Sandur.