This morning as I was getting ready to go to work, using my favourite L'Oreal kohl pencil and Lakme eyeliner to highlight my eyes, I gazed upon my dressing table. I don't own a lot of make up and I don't intend to use a lot either, but I do spend a considerable amount on hair and body care. I think its unfair to turn them as luxuries because the amount of pollution I travel in, I think my skin and hair deserve that much of care and looking after. So after that self satisfactory justification, I was travelling to work and we got stuck at in a traffic jam.
There were these kids, barely 10 years old I think, was selling knick knacks. They seemed to be having fun doing that because they were putting up a performance while trying to sell their stuff. I called a guy and asked him if he didn't go to school. He replied that he didn't, so me being the "Oh I have a huge social conscience" me prodded him further asking him if he wanted to go to school. What he said appalled me. Briefly summarizing what he said: "I don't want to go to school. There are no teachers.The teachers who come hit me. I don't have books. The rice they give me(Andhra Pradesh government has a policy in which all school children are given free meals) is stale. The boys elder to me pick on me. Its better I sell this and eat biryani. If I do the work properly I will not get hit.It is irritating when people like you ask me why I don't go to school. I don't want to go to school. " I had never seen this angle of child labour. The kid had decided that he was better off this way rather than going through the cumbersome process of going to school.
Agreed that the education system in India is in need of a lot of reform, but when the government talks about eradicating child labour, why should it be taken in the single dimensional view of academics? Why couldn't be crafts or arts or sports? Isn't the basic aim of this program providing the child with basic skills so that he can be self sufficient and worldly wise? Then what is the use of putting him in a school with no teachers, and if there are any treat him like an animal? Wasn't rescuing him from the same fate the point of this program? What good will training him sports do you ask? Well, we all crib at the abysmal performance of our sportsmen and always wonder why such a huge country cannot produce more golds right? This could change if we can identify talent in kids and put them in a sports school so they can prosper and do our country proud. Its not a completely unrealizable idea, our neighbour China has been doing it for quite some time and they have brilliant athletes. That aside, don't you think its high time we stopped criticizing the government and step up and give something back to the society, atleast in the form of knowledge transfer? Sure that could work, but are we equipped to handle the needs of children as a teacher can? I'm not too sure of that.
Its not that people don't care here in India. They do. But what they know dissuades them from coming up to help. We all know what percentage would reach the deserving if we donate or come up to help. Its not indifference because most of the public is well aware of our country's problems. We are aware. We want to help. There are two major factors which stop us though, firstly bureaucracy and secondly, does the other party want to help? Will they take our help and not misuse it in any other way? Let me elaborate, when I used to commute to college, there used to be a very old man in the station. One day I gave him 50 rupees in the morning. I saw him in the evening again, drunk. He had used the money I had given him to drink. One or two situations like this happen to everybody at a personal level and that triggers us to think twice before lending a hand to help.
The point of this post? I was seriously considering sponsoring the kid's education. I was that impressed by his skill. India is an emerging market and consumerism is pretty high. Face it: Excess is the new mantra. Luxury is a way of life. Gone are those days that people would think twice before buying a product. Don't get me wrong, the quintessential farmer is still at the mercy of the monsoon. By people here,I mean the corporates. Make no mistake,we do always want to give back. Probably maybe the guilt that the amount of money I spent on my haircare would easily pay one year of his fees actually made me want to ask him about going to school. Until I heard his views on education. You might ask, you should've still put him in school nevertheless. No, bad idea. Kids like him are accustomed to a certain level of comfort. They need money. Not education, they are already street smart. They would only pollute the atmosphere by instigating other kids. What will happen to these kids and their kids and their grand kids? Isn't it a generation ruined? Who is it to blame? Alas, that is a question no one can answer.
