Suggested area of Intervention

      A few points need to be made before we can discuss intervention -  

1.      The age group with whose education we are concerned with is the 4-14 year group, who should be in pre school, lower primary or upper primary school.  In view of their ages it is clear that they must live under supervision, care and protection of parents or at the very least adults who can stand in for parents such as grandparents or other willing relatives.  Their emotional security (provided easily by living with family) is as necessary a precondition for good education and development as their physical safety and well being.

2.      It should be the right of the parents to decide whether they will leave children behind or take them along when they migrate.    

3.      Many older girls will migrate with parents to allow older women to cut cane by taking over household chores at destination sites.  For their own security, too, parents will not leave older girls behind in villages.

The above three points imply that, first and foremost, availability of schools should be ensured both in villages and at destination sites for all three levels.

Many villages do not have upper primary and high schools.  The number of out of school children needs to be determined.  Options of parents about whether children will stay or go with them must be obtained and a plan of action based on these members can be worked out

II. On a school to school basis efforts should be made to overcome all shortcomings.  Not only that, but efforts should aim at making the school, whether in the village or at the sakharshala  - an attractive place in which parents and teachers can take pride.

This may require action in a number of different ways namely -

a)      A advocacy with education department

b)      Actually Providing the school with whatever is needed in terms of materials, structure, educational inputs, etc.

c)      Helping to raise level of interaction between parents teachers and other villagers and to enhance their awareness of importance of school activities and find ways to raise level of participation in school activities of all three groups.

III. The school teacher is the pivot of the educational activities in a village.  We have seen that in most schools the teachers are also educationally qualified to carry out these responsibilities.  However, we find that teachers are not quite satisfied with their conditions of living and working and this is reflected in the low learning achievement levels we see in all our schools.  It is imperative to find out and obviate any real difficulties teachers may be facing.

However, the more important fact is that the 1 or 2 teachers in a village function alone cut off from the rest of the teaching community.  Thus, they feel isolated.  Poor and uneducated parents, even if they wanted to, cannot extend any appreciation or encouragement which could enhance the teachers self-esteem.  The difficulties the teachers face due to their living conditions, real or perceived lack of support from the department and in teaching children who are first generation learners must be quite frustrating.

The office of the kendra pramukh is in a position to deal with this predicament of the teachers.  Its regular meetings is meant to be a forum for dealing with logistics as well as for professional exchanges and learning new skills.

Intervention at this level can yield rich dividends in the form of improved teacher skills, morale and self esteem.  It is also a forum at which intervention may not be perceived as presumptuous interference by outsiders and, therefore, rejected.  Helping the kendra pramukh to provide the right kind of academic leadership will have pervasive and lasting benefits.

IV. We have seen that most families do not change mukadams and, therefore, factories.  If mukadams and parents could arrange things so that children could go to the same schools at destination sites every year this would considerably reduce the disruption of schooling and reduce time and stress of readjustment to new schools every year.  This would be sure to raise achievements levels.

V. The mukadams have mentioned the need for improving living conditions of migrating families by providing them with basic amenities.  Also, insurance, compensation, membership of trade unions are also issues in relation to which advocacy with sugar factories or education of workers would help.  Sensitization all mukadams and motivating them to take the initiative in these matters could also be another area of intervention.

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