ILP's vision for this project is to lay the foundation of education in the community over the next few years and to develop a model that creates a self-sustaining large scale literacy program in the North Karnataka region. Our long term action plan aligns with our strategy of comprehensive support for people in the 0 - 35 years age group. We have started by focusing on various activities associated with children and will gradually extend to the larger community.
In the first year of the project, our activities will focus on these key areas:
a) Enrolling children in schools
b) Preventing children from dropping out of schools
c) Improving the quality of education
d) Enforcing child labor prevention
Enrolling children in schools
'Catching them young' is critical! In the first year of our project, we will focus on children in the 6 - 8 years age group. A number of awareness campaigns that include street plays and public meetings will be combined with focused door-to-door campaigning to bring these children to school. This will build the momentum for us to eventually bring back the older children into schools as well.
Preventing children from dropping out of schools
Our extensive interviews with parents in the 13 villages of Kolda cluster have made one thing very clear: People mention several different excuses to justify taking children out of school. 'We cannot have enough food if the children don't work during the harvest season', 'we cannot repay our loans if they go to school', 'girls do not need to go to school after attaining adolescence' are but a few such reasons.
Changing such a mindset warrant extensive social campaigns that raise awareness of the necessity for continuing education for children. We will specifically work with families that are identified as more likely to send their children to work in the cotton fields. Meetings will also be held with employers of various business establishments like hotels, garages and bars. There is nothing more powerful than children being aware of their own rights to education. So, child rights clubs will be formed in the schools to raise awareness of child rights.
Improving the quality of education
Initially, ILP and CDF will focus on child care centers (also referred to as anganwadis). Having young children in the age group of 3 - 6 years attend these child care centers sets up the right platform for their continuation into the primary school. Rejuvenating these centers is direly needed in the Kodla cluster. We will begin with training the Anganwadi teachers and helpers.
In the case of primary and high schools, the school principals and teachers will be exposed to innovative methods of education and creative class environments via seminars, tours etc.
Enforcing Child labor prevention
We will be working with the local government / administration authorities to address the reported cases of child labor. Enforcement workshops will also be held to this effect. Currently, on average about 2 to 5 percent of children in the 13 target villages are involved in child labor. Child labor is definitely not a widespread phenomenon in the area, but the fact that it exists suggests that there is a strong need to change the mindset of the villagers. One of the first steps that ILP and our project partner CDF is planning on is to approach at least 50% of the local shops and enterprises and make sure that child labor is eliminated from such enterprises. Following on to that, we will request them to display boards that they are "child labor free". A proclamation from inside the community will be the best way for us to get rid of this issue.
