World Street Children News

Govt, Unicef plan education on wheels for slum, street kids
Tenzing Lamsang

New Delhi, May 2: Buses will be used as mobile education resource centers for the first time to educate slum children, street children and those in red light areas as per a joint project by the central and state governments along with Unicef.

Government officials say corporate houses have evinced interest and are willing to fund the project, which is part of the Delhi government’s pilot project — Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

Unicef Education Project Officer V Ramchandani said, “The buses will be designed to include a mini-library, audio-video equipment and latest st-udent-friendly teaching aids.”

Delhi Project manager for SSA Doctor VP Singh said, “High quality teaching aids like animated books, CDs, education films developed under Unicef’s Meena Education Program will be provided in the bus.”

Initially, two buses provided by the Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation will be redesigned, officials said. The bus, which will be designed so that it can reach crowded slums, will cover four areas a day. The bus, on reaching a particular area, will ring an alarm signalling its arrival.

Focus will be on school drop-outs and children who have never gone to school. The bus will also be instrumental in spreading awareness on malaria, dengue and environment, officials added.

A teacher trainer, a community development worker, a counsellor and a qualified teacher will form the crew, apart from the driver.

“NGOs will play a prominent role as many are already on the ground. Once the project gets off, they will also be asked to handle these buses,” said Ramchandani.

Street kids get new lease on education

(02-05-2007)

HCM CITY — Children whose families were migrants living in slums in the City’s Ward 10 gained a chance to study when the evening class of Nguyen Thanh and friends began last year.

The three young teachers are members of the residential quarter’s Youth Union.

Ten years ago, when he was a 10th-grade student, Nguyen Thanh left his birthplace in Nghia Hanh District, Quang Ngai Province, for the city to earn money to continue schooling.

He stayed at a rented house in the Ward 10 slums, the home to many migrants who had left their native lands in the southwest region to seek work in the City as well as of citizens whose houses had been torn down to make way for construction projects.

There, he gained a thorough understanding of the disadvantages and lack of study opportunities that local children suffered.

"They sell lottery tickets and ice cream and clean shoes to help their families," Thanh said. "They have no idea about education, but they have learned a lot of bad things at a tender age. Some can not even go to school because they do not have birth certificates."

He realised that it was time for less talk and more action. "What I can do for them?" he thought.

Thanh asked Hoang Ha and Minh Tien, two friends and both members of the local Youth Union, to help him out in starting a class at the Union offices.

At first, he was rejected when he visited the slum tenements to encourage children to attend his class. Undaunted, he began the class with just a couple of students.

Nguyen Van Tuan, 15-years-old but looking even smaller and younger than his age, came to the class every evening. Earning a living by selling ice cream at the Cho Lon bus station, Tuan supported his family in the southern province of Dong Thap with the hope that he could save up enough money to return to his native province and build a house for his family.

The class for poor children lacked almost every necessary educational facility, but Thanh and his friends even spent their own money to buy books for the kids.

Gradually, the children learned not only how to read and write but also how to behave themselves.

Now, the class has around forty students and is a source of pleasure and pride for the local Youth Union branch of Residential Quarter No 2. Some parents who used to reject Thanh are now asking him to teach their children.

They now have use of the offices of the residential quarter to study and have desks donated by the Phu Dinh primary school.

The class has been called "5-in-1" because students from the first grade to the fifth grade sat in the same room under the guidance of members from the Youth Union.

Many of the kids were older than their grade levels so Thanh has had to talk them into sharing their dreams and troubles in life. He also taught his students martial arts afterclass.

"To learn martial arts is to learn how to behave which can help them realise what’s good and what’s bad to become useful citizens in society," Thanh said. — VNS

PC Amber Thorne in her day job (EL506-8985)

A POLICEWOMAN has vowed to help as many Rwandan street children as she can following a visit to the East African country.

PC Amber Thorne, 25, who works at Chingford police station, flew out in February and spent a month doing voluntary work for charity Streets Ahead Children’s Centre (SACCA).

During her visit she taught street children to play hopscotch, volleyball, and bat and ball games and gave motivational talks as well as doing administrative work at SACCA’s offices.

PC Thorne said: "Ultimately, I saw street children who had been abandoned, abused and neglected now happy, enthusiastic and appreciative children leading normal lives."

"Doing voluntary work for SACCA was a rewarding experience and having seen first hand the great efforts of this charity, I am dedicated to helping street children in Rwanda."

She added: "The country is very green and reminded me of Scotland. It was not what I expected. I thought it would be dusty and dry but there were lots of banana plantations and it was very rural.

"Living among the community was a unique experience and I got used to the stares and hearing muzoongu’ foreigner being called out at me. They were actually very friendly and were fascinated by my presence because you rarely saw a foreign person in the poorer villages."

During the weekend PC Thorne went to Akagera National Park, a safari park, the Artists Village and the Genocide Museum both in Kigali, and Jambo Beach, which has a lake.

She also enjoyed the food which was mainly vegetarian but beef, goat and fish dishes were available and ate some of the best Indian cuisine she had ever tasted.

After returning to Britain, PC Thorne decided to sponsor a child through SACCA.

She said: "I am selecting a child on the priority list who needs the most help.

"Just £13 per month will pay for school fees, uniforms and medication."