2. 21st
April 2016, Thursday
With quite a lot of struggle Rajkumari ma’am and I were able to arrive at the awaited meeting at the
Karnataka State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) regarding the hopefully
successful,highlyrightsprotectingandreformativecampaigncalled ‘Shaaleyede Nanna Nade (My Step
Towards School) in order to enquire, make aware and encourage the rightful beneficiaries i.e. the
children to continue/go to school. It’s imperative to do so and this is backed up by the Right to
Education (Free and Compulsory) Act of 2009.
Mr. Mariaswamy has been in charge of organisation and 28 Taluks are being covered with the plan of
mass enrollment. Every area has a nodal NGO that will be converging together for the campaign to
ensure efficient results. For their precious presence the children will be given refreshments.
22nd
April 2016, Friday
Today was an eventful day and catalyst towards the awaited campaign. For the purpose and
understandingof the issue there was an extensive survey conducted to investigate and infer upon the
root causes of school drop outs/children yet to get into schools. Societal and cultural reasons were
focused upon with an added stress on child marriage. More importantly the enquiry was on why they
participatedinchildmarriage.The SamajaParivarthane Janandolana(SPJ)isthe NGOthat has organised
this survey in all six districts of Karnataka with a sample of 20 case studies each. This is a CRY funded
venture and in addition the NGO individually enquires into many other issues other than child rights
with a 15 year gap.
We as internswere asked to observe the coding and correction making process with two impressively
enthusiasticmembersof the SPJ(Mr.Murugeshand Mr. Narayana) andan experiencedsurveyinspector
at a data entryoffice.The questionnaire thatwe came across was excellently worded and investigated
intothe root aim of the surveywithefficientease.Many instances arose where we were baffled of the
ground reality and participated in a lively debate on the issues discussed with the SPJ representative
(Mr. Narayana). They are hoping to successfully compile the inferences into a booklet as soon as
possible.
23rd
April 2016, Saturday
The most awaiteddayhad arrivedandthe streetswere bustlingwith
hundreds of children, volunteers and representatives of BOSCO,
Sparsha,APSA, Paraspara and Surabhi along with other nodal NGOs
as well as KSCPCR around the Mysore Bank circle. It was very
overwhelmingtosee the immense dedicationand interest each and
every member of the campaign was showing. The march was to be
conducted till Jain University where the official awareness drives
would take place.
The march wasimpressivelysuccessful withmanyof ussurprisedyet
proud of the energy and talent that the children had regarding
3. slogan shouting, banners and most importantly the groundbreaking
drum performance that a group of girls from Sparsha (a nodal NGO)
led the procession with. That led to a successful result of the aim of
the campaigni.e. to make a lot of people attracted and interested to
know aboutthe campaignthateducationisimperative andrightful as
the RTE clearly states, most importantly though their literal step
towardsschool.Here itwouldbe incomplete if the alliance organized
sound system and vehicles were not mentioned and applauded on
their enthusiastic and moving announcements of slogans of
“Shaaleyede Nanna Nade” along with other inspiring slogans. Also
were itnot forthe immense supportof the CRY volunteers the march
wouldn’t have been successful. Their enthusiastic aid during
refreshments distribution as well as food made for an efficient food
flow during the program.
The awareness drive was highly inspiring and encouraging with
various words of the wisdom from the panel of esteemed and
eminent persons from various fields, both educational and non-
educational. Not to forget the continuous encouraging words and
support that Mr. Mariaswamy gave at every turn of the program. His
effortsanddeterminismisquite applaudable, where he’s even going
to the extentof transformingthisventureto the 7 educational blocks
of Karnataka. It was very moving to see him encouraging students to
showcase their talents in turn giving them a push towards grabbing
onto their rights and equal status in the society. This was glaringly
evident when the Sparsha girls did another round of drum
performances which got a blaring round of applause. The sounds of
theirfeet,drums,instrumentsandmostimportantlytheir continuous
chant of “Hai” made for quite a vivid image of empowerment.
With the gaps and loopholes still found in the RTE act it is extremely
imperative thatreformative ventures like this take place and we as interns are extremely grateful and
proud to have been a part of this excellent effort. We would like to thank CRY for collaborating in this
project and Rajkumari Ma’am for being our continuous guide and mentor.
4. -A report by interns AkshayReddy and Prerna Nautiyal
