Bal Bandhu

Guidelines for Eliminating Corporal Punishment

in Schools

NatioNal CommissioN for ProteCtioN of Child rights5th Floor, Chanderlok Building, 36, Janpath, New Delhi - 110 001

Phone: 011-23724027, 23478200 Fax: 23724026Email: [email protected] Website: www.ncpcr.gov.in

Corporal Cover:Layout 1 07/08/12 1:44 PM

Bal BandhuIn Defence of chIlD RIghts

NatioNal CommissioN for ProteCtioN of Child rights5th Floor, Chanderlok Building, 36, Janpath, New Delhi - 110 001

Phone: 011-23724027, 23478200 Fax: 23724026Email: [email protected] Website: www.ncpcr.gov.in

National Commission for Protection of Child RightsNew Delhi

Bal BandhuIn Defence of chIlD RIghts

Document compiled by Usha Rai, Swapna Majumdar and Rimjhim Jain

Photographs by Ravi S K , Rekha Abel, Rajiv Kumar, Roy, G Padmanabhan and all Bal Bandhu Resource Persons

Designed and Printed by Dharana

CONTENTSPREFACE page 7

Introduction page 9

ANNEXURES page 113

mentors of bal bandhus page 119

Glossary page 132

54321

MAHARASHTRA page 101

GADCHIROLI District

CHHATTISGARH page 89

SUKMA District

BIHAR page 47

East CHAMPARAN DistrictJAMUI District

ROHTAS DistrictSHEOHAR District

ASSAM page 25

Kokrajhar DistrictCHIRANG District

ANDHRA PRADESH page 13

Khammam District

IN DEFENCE OF CHILD RIGHTS * 7

PREFACE

The journey to protect the rights of children in areas of conflict through the Bal Bandhu Scheme piloted by the National

Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has been challenging as well as heartening since it has been one of

resolving conflicts and in the context of civil unrest, also one of giving hope.

This pilot supported by the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund since December 2010, aims to focus on and attempt to resolve

the predicament of children in the context of unrest by ‘Bal Bandhus’, the local youth who are specially trained as child

defenders. And through a process of social mobilization, they prepare the community to interact with the functionaries of

all departments related to children even as the government and the entire system gets oriented to respond to community

demands. In the process of bringing public institutions close to the community, the Bal Bandhus have succeeded in

reviving the community’s faith in these institutions, thereby, developing an environment of mutual trust and respect

between the people and the government.

The poor, particularly, are wary of new messages and new messengers. They take time to assess the organisation, its

purpose and genuineness. The first two years of the Bal Bandhu Scheme (BBS) in the Naxal areas of Andhra Pradesh,

Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra, and in the areas of ethnic strife in Kokrajhar and Chirang in Assam have shown

that the Bal Bandhus have endeared themselves to both the district administration and the community by working with

both to ensure that children get the their entitlements and are protected in spite of the unrest.

The Bal Bandhus as child defenders thus build a consensus that children have rights and they must not be exploited. In

an atmosphere rife with tensions, fear and anxieties caused by insecurity, the issue of children’s rights become talking

points at bus stops, weddings, religious and private functions, while fetching water and fuel wood or at farms, work

places and in deep jungles. Indeed, the Bal Bandhus make it a point to see that children occupy centre stage in a village

and its consciousness. They have ensured that government, gram panchayats, local youth, opinion makers and parents

have made it their business to put aside their differences for the sake of children. They talk to political leaders, opinion

makers, school teachers, anganwadi workers, ANMs, ASHAs, members of gram panchayats and women’s groups. Each

one is a partner or a potential partner of the movement to protect children’s rights.

As they go about their work with quiet dedication and inner confidence, the child defenders face many risks as do their

families. Yet, they manage to remain neutral and pursue their goal of child rights so that children are not hungry or

malnourished, child marriages are stopped, and child labourers eventually become students

The challenge is to ensure that the government responds to the legitimate demands made by the community in areas

affected by civil strife with a sense of urgency and knowledge of the risks entailed if there is a delay in providing services.

These include getting the school teacher to be regular, returning school fees to children as it is in violation of the RTE Act,

fair distribution of text books and school uniforms, ensuring toilets, drinking water and proper classrooms.

The government has also sanctioned new residential bridge course centres in a couple of places, increased the capacities

of hostels and ashramshalas, repaired school buildings and sanctioned new ones. Several anganwadi centres are now

8 * IN DEFENCE OF CHILD RIGHTS

functioning well and supervisory staff has worked hard for timely arrival of supplies. All services are gradually getting

streamlined, and one must acknowledge that this is being done in spite of odds.

In strengthening schools and anganwadi centres, children are getting a window of opportunity to come out of a state of

uncertainty, fear and insecurity and to focus their energies instead on education, progress and development.

In protecting children’s rights, these child defenders have given credence and legitimacy to public institutions. They

have shown that even for the poor, things can be different and better.

There is sustainable change when people charged with empathy, take informed decisions and collective action for the

betterment of children. It can happen when government and society collectively become uncompromising in their bid

to uphold child rights, and institutional arrangements keep pace with the aspirations of this societal passion.

Imagining a programme like the BBS and grounding it in such difficult areas was possible due to the whole hearted

support NCPCR received from the central government, especially the Ministries of Women and Child Development,

Home Affairs, Education, Tribal Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office. We express our gratitude to all the officials

who have constantly encouraged the scheme. The state government officials, especially the District Collectors, Deputy

Commissioners, officials of education, health, labour, revenue, police and women and child development departments at

the district, block and cluster levels have responded to the community and shown the resilience of our public institutions

in accommodating the pressures even under unusual circumstances. It is because they have been creative in reaching

out to the last child that we feel the BBS can be taken to scale, perhaps even in areas where there is no civil unrest.

An ambitious program of this nature and expanse was possible because of the wholehearted support it received from

Ms. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women and Child Development. Her concern for children’s rights and protection of

children of dalit and tribal communities has been a source of inspiration and encouragement for all in the program. We

express our sincere gratitude to her.

I would like to acknowledge the contribution of Mr Lov Verma, who endeavoured to fit the programme within the

framework of government rules and procedures as Member Secretary, NCPCR, without diluting the processes of social

mobilization and, to Ms Dipa Dixit, Member NCPCR, who sought to link the local efforts with the government at all levels

and constantly looked at possibilities of institutionalizing the programme despite it being a ‘pilot’.

Shantha Sinha


INTRODUCTION

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has been addressing issues of child rights in areas of

civil unrest in Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Tripura, Assam etc since its inception in 2007. It conducted

field visits, followed up with specific complaints on violation of right to education, health, nutrition and protection of

individual children in these areas and took suo moto cognizance of their problems.

Based on its findings it launched a three year pilot, the Bal Bandhu Scheme (BBS) for Protection of Child Rights in Areas

of Civil Unrest with support from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund in the five states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam,

Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. The objectives of the scheme also tied in with the landmark Right to Education Act

of 2009 which made education mandatory for every child whatever the situation.

The focus of the pilot is to mobilize the community on child rights, and give it confidence to access institutions for

children such as primary health care centres, anganwadi centres, schools, ashramshalas, hostels, Kasturba Gandhi

Balika Vidyalaya’s (KGBVs) and all other entitlements. It also seeks interaction with the government at the block and

district level to bring to the fore their problems in getting these services and facilities. The final objective — to ensure that

children enjoy all their rights including the right to education, health, nutrition and protection.

The Commission found that children’s rights are violated at every step. Families become unstable even as they migrate

to escape violent situations, children lose parents and supportive siblings in conflict, and the economy of the household

is affected due to loss of livelihood. Trying to rebuild lives in an alien place is traumatizing. Institutions for children such

as anganwadis, schools, hostels and health centres cease to function in conflict affected zones and age appropriate rights

to their development come to a halt.

The government’s emphasis on law and order maintenance often compromises children’s right to education. Schools

and ashramshalas are occupied by security forces disrupting the education of children. Many of these school buildings

are then targeted by the insurgents for harbouring the security forces.

In the course of working in areas of civil unrest it was found that there have to be specific programmes to prevent children

from either being recruited to armed conflict or being trafficked for labour and other forms of exploitation. It was also

important to identify all children that have been missing from the villages, either because they have been trafficked for

child labour or because they have been recruited by the Maoists/ other outfits or are in the process of being initiated

through the ‘Bal Sanghams,’ the youth cadres of the insurgents.

Initial steps for prevention of children from being recruited to armed conflict or trafficked is by the community who track every

child in the area with the support of women’s groups, youth groups and gram panchayats. The community is motivated to

ensure enrolment of all out of school children and review regularity of their attendance in schools, hostels and ashramshalas.

Children who remain out of school are contacted on a one on one basis and given confidence to get back to schools,

hostels and ashramshalas. All these institutions are simultaneously prepared to accept such children unquestioningly


and without insisting on formalities or documentation. A child friendly atmosphere is created in the area by enabling

gram panchayats to review the status of children in the area; sensitizing school teachers to accept school dropouts and

children who are irregular back into the school; and formation of local groups for protection of child rights.

Such an atmosphere is considered important for children who have been recruited to armed conflict as well as those

trafficked to want to return home. When they do return the system has to be ready to mainstream them for education.

The new strategy to help children in disturbed areas was on the lines of a Hyderabad based NGO’s tried and tested model

of community mobilization to end child labour and ensure education of all children in Andhra Pradesh. This NGO had

worked in areas of civil unrest like Chhattisgarh, Assam and Bihar with the support of UNICEF, state governments and

Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) to bring children back to school and this was another reason why they brought in their

expertise to the Bal Bandhu Scheme. The success of the programme hinged on the selection of appropriate Resource

Persons and with their help the Bal Bandhus or child rights defenders who are the lynch pins of the programme. These

Bal Bandhus have studied at least up to class 10 and have leadership qualities.

The 20 Resources Persons selected had considerable experience in working in disturbed areas. Some of them had

worked with the SSA and had experience in community mobilisation for child rights. The young Bal Bandhus, girls and

boys, were selected with community support and specially trained for their work. A three day orientation cum training

session was held in Hyderabad. They visited successful, community driven initiatives to understand the residential

bridge courses and learnt the techniques to get community support. After the training, the Bal Bandhus went back to

their blocks inspired and fired with a new enthusiasm.

The scheme was introduced in December 2010 to the district administrations by the nodal officer of the scheme and the

then member secretary of the Commission, Mr Lov Verma. Officers from the departments of Welfare, Social Welfare, Rural

Development, Health, Education, SSA were present. The member secretary explained the strategies for implementation

and how important it was for the officers to respond to the petitions from Bal Bandhus and community leaders about

services and facilities required for ensuring child rights for children. The response to the scheme from the district and

state officials was positive.

The NCPCR zeroed in on Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh, Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, Kokrajhar and

Chirang districts of Assam, Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and four districts of Bihar – East Champaran, Rohtas, Jamui

and Sheohar. In each of these districts the focus was on one block…all difficult areas to work in, not just because of

the conflict situation but because they were remote areas with hardly any public transport, minimal power supply

and large areas of abject poverty. There was large scale migration from these districts and many schools, anganwadi

centres existed only in name.

Twenty Bal Bandhus were recruited for each block and had special responsibility for their gram panchayats or villages.

They worked closely with the community through youth groups or Bal Mitras Sangathan (committee of friends of the

child) as well as Mahila Sangathans (women’s groups). They were constantly in touch with parents and panchayat

leaders like the sarpanch, mukhia and ward members. It is this collective of the community that is able to talk to and

even pull up headmasters when schools don’t function properly or uniform money is not distributed to the students.

They are able cut through the corruption and red tape to get students admitted to schools without paying an admission


fee. They also procure transfer certificates without bribing teachers. It is they who watch over the midday meals so that

rations are not siphoned off and persuade parents to bring their children to the anganwadis.

If necessary, they get the community to write letters to the mukhia for allotment of land for a school building. They have

been able to stop child marriages and ensured that caste and community barriers are overcome and Hindu and Muslim

children eat, sing and study together.

There is a community celebration of Women’s Day, International Day against Child Labour and of course Independence

Day and Republic Day. Massive rallies and marches are held periodically to create awareness about child rights and seek

public support against child labour.

The challenges and the achievements of the Bal Bandhus working in the conflict zones in Bihar, Chhattisgarh,

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Assam have been detailed in the ensuing chapters.

Activities and Achievements from December 2010 – March 2012

Activities Achievements

Gram Panchayats/VCDCs contacted 212

Community meetings 4,787

Meetings held with block officials 155

Meetings held with district level officials 104

Children enrolled in school 14,889

Schools made functional 963

Anganwadi centres made functional 931

Children enrolled in ashramshalas/RBC/KGBV 2,497

Schools vacated by police/armed forces 7

Children contacted for support during final exams 13,257

Rallies, marches 389

Orientation on Right to Education Act (RTE) 861


ANDHRA PRADESH

chAPteR 1


SSavitri, a graduate who did labour work till she was selected as a Bal Bandhu for Naxal

affected Cherla block of Andhra Pradesh, exemplifies the tremendous courage and

guts of the Bal Bandhus, the child rights defenders. Pusuguppa panchayat, to which

she belongs, is close to the Chhattisgarh border and has strong Naxal presence.

In fact it was Savitri’s brother who was initially selected to be the Bal Bandhu but

within a few weeks of his beginning work, there was a diktat from the underground

that he should step down. Savitri was allowed to step in. This young girl was a true

champion of child rights. Whether it was food or any other facility, she ensured that

children were never deprived of their dues. She was even able to retrieve the food

meant for children that had been siphoned off.

BRINGING JOy TO TRIBAL KIDS

• Cherla BloCk, khammam DiStriCt, anDhra PraDeSh •


There were several restrictions on Savitri’s movement and

use of mobile phone. Since no vehicle was allowed to ply in

the area, Savitri had to cover the panchayat allotted to her on

foot. Though the Naxals do not pose a problem to children

accessing educational and health facilities, they watch over

the movement of children going out of the village and are on

the lookout for children they can recruit for their movement.

This frightens parents from sending their children to

school but Savitri’s spirit is indomitable. She is not afraid

of confrontations whether it is with the Naxals or orthodox

people in the village. She has succeeded in bringing children

to schools and the special facility of the Kasturba Gandhi

Balika Vidyalaya for those who have never been to school.

Like Savitri, Muttiah from Kurnapally panchayat, who

studied up to Class 12, was a casual labourer till he became

a Bal Bandhu. One day he found three boys taking the cattle

for grazing and tried to persuade them to go to school. Their

parents were willing to send the children to school but the

children were not interested. So he followed the children

every day for a week, befriended them and did not give up till

they agreed to go to school. With the three boys now in school

the respect and recognition for Muttiah has enhanced. In one

of the villages where the teacher was habitually absent, the

community reprimanded the teacher and held up Muttiah as

an example of dedicated work and perseverance. “If he can

come everyday, why can’t you. You are being paid to do this

job,” the teacher was told.

Similar inspiring stories can be told about each of the Bal

Bandhus working in Cherla mandal of Khammam district

on the banks of the Godavari river. Bordering Chhattisgarh

on the east, Cherla is primarily inhabited by tribals – the

Koyas and the Gottu Koyas or Moniyas who have migrated

from Chhattisgarh. Cherla has a long history of civil unrest

arising from Maoist insurgency. There has been a huge

influx of migrant tribals fleeing violence in Dantewada

and Bijapur districts of Chhattisgarh since 1995 and this

increased significantly between 2006 and 2008.

The civil unrest in Chhattisgarh, resulting mainly from

the conflict between the Salwa Judum and the Naxals, has

forced many families to seek refuge in Andhra Pradesh. It

is difficult to estimate their numbers but different reports

put it between 30,000 and 120,000. Over the last decade

close to 15 Gottu Koya habitations have come up in Cherla

mandal. The tribals – especially the Gottu Koyas – live a life

of insecurity and fear. Caught in the conflict between the

state and the Naxals, they are at the mercy of both. Viewed

as informers by the Naxals and as Naxal sympathizers by

the police, the tribals have moved to remote tribal areas

from where it is difficult to access schools, anganwadis and

health facilities.

It is to address child rights issues in such situations that

the Bal Bandhu scheme is being implemented in Cherla,

a block overlooked by most development agencies till

2007. It was selected by the district administration in

February 2011, almost two months after the work started

in the other conflict affected blocks. The two Resource

Persons, Satyanarayana and Bharath, have good academic

qualifications as well as teaching and community work

experience in Naxal areas. Assisted by 20 Bal Bandhus they

are implementing the scheme in 14 gram panchayats--

Cherla, Devarapalli, Gommagudem, Kudunuru, Kurnapally,

Moganapally, Peddamidisileru, Peddipally, Pusuguppa, R

Kothagudem, Satyanarayanapuram, Subbampeta, Tegada

and Upparigudem covering over 100 habitations, including

15 of the Gottu Koyas.


While infrastructure is poor in most habitations,

it is particularly bad in the Gottu Koya villages. In

Peddamidisileru for example—which has nine Gottu Koya

habitations, people residing in the interior villages face

several obstacles to education:

− The villagers actually need “permission” from the

naxals to send their children to school

− In Peddamisileru gram panchayat (GP) that has

19 habitations, there are only 15 anganwadis, of

which nine are full fledged centres and six are mini

anganwadis

− In the Gottu Koya settlement in Kaliveri village of

Peddipally gram panchayat an Alternative Learning

Centre was set up but it had no building, no furniture

and no teacher. This is the common feature in all the

Gottu Koya settlements in Cherla block.

− As there is no literate member from the Gottu Koya tribe,

teachers recruited from other communities, most of

them Telugu speaking, make teaching/learning difficult.

The community at Cherla, which had never seen the big

city or a good school, had modest expectations from the

school. They said it should have a building, toilets, water,

a compound wall, a school gate, adequate classrooms and

a playground. But none of the schools listed had all these

minimum infrastructure related facilities. The Alternative

Learning Centres (ALC), which have been largely started

in the Gottu Koya hamlets, do not have even one of these

basic requirements.

Even where residential facilities were provided, the NCPCR

found several lacunae. The ashram school for boys at

Unjupally, for example, had inadequate water supply; food

was not prepared according to the menu; health services

were poor and since there was no link with the PHC, if

children fell ill they were sent home. There was neither a

playground nor the required sports equipment; there were

no cots or mattresses for children to sleep on and they had

to make do with durries or rugs at night. To add to their

woes teacher attendance was irregular.

At the ashramshala for girls at Peddamidisileru too the

basic facilities were inadequate. The playground was small

and needed expansion; water supply was inadequate and

there were just three bathrooms and four toilets for the 150

inmates. In the absence of cots and mattresses children

slept on rugs. The boys and girls hostels at Cherla mandal

too had similar problems. The boys’ hostel in fact did

not even have a compound wall or a dining hall; health

facilities were inadequate and no linkage to the PHC.

FinDing aPProPriate Bal BanDhuS

The Bal Bandhus (17 boys and 3 girls) have some education,

are interested in working for the programme and have

leadership qualities. Most of the youngsters, even those who

had completed their graduation, were working as labourers.

All of them are highly energetic and have the trust and

confidence of the community.

The two Resources Persons, selected by the NCPCR to lead

the Bal Bandhus in Cherla block, had several meetings

before zeroing in on the most competent for the Bal Bandhu

posts. The final selection was by a panel that included the

Gram Panchayat Villages Gottu Koya

villages

Cherla 22

Devarapalli 7

Gommagudem 3

Kudunuru 3 1

Kurnapally 10 2

Moganapally 7

Peddamidisileru 19 9

Peddipally 5

Pusuguppa 2 1

R Kothagudem 5

Satyanarayanapuram 2

Subbampeta 7 1

Tegada 5 1

Upparigudem 5

Total 102 15


sarpanch of the village and other local leaders. In fact the

Bal Bandhus are the heart and soul of the project and the

Resource Persons are like elders steering them with advise

and where necessary throwing in their weight for policy

level interventions.

The selection of the Bal Bandhu is so transparent that a

community member said “There is no political backing and

no corruption. We found a good candidate for our village.”

Survey oF ChilDren

The project began with a survey by the Bal Bandhus and

Resource Persons on the status and situation of children

of 0 to 18 years in all gram panchayats. While child related

information was being collected the community got to

know the entire Bal Bandhu team. The survey was not just a

statistical exercise, but a tool for community mobilization.

It revealed 2,250 child labourers in the 6 to 14 age group, as

against the government data of 610. Of the 2,250, around

200 were persuaded to join school almost immediately.

Each Bal Bandhu had all the details of children in his or

her gram panchayat and this helped in monitoring their

movement and activities.

Armed with this information meetings were conducted

in all gram panchayats focussing on the status of children

and their rights, especially on the Right to Education.

Survey results were shared with the community which

included women, parents, youth groups, women’s groups

and of course the sarpanch. There were also monthly

review meetings of institutions dealing with children to

discuss their education, health and absence from schools.

Lists of non school going children and children engaged in

labour were drawn up and shared with all panchayats. The

DWCRA groups, education committees and other groups

with sub committees on education were oriented on child

rights and it is they who have been steering the agitation if

children are not taken into schools.

In Kothagudum, some children were noticed bringing their

own lunch box from home. Probing revealed that due to some

lacunae in providing dry rations, the helper (ayah) cooked

the meal at her home and served it to the children in schools

instead of cooking and serving in the school. The women’s

groups discussed and resolved the issue. In some villages the

women’s groups themselves cook the midday meals. They

share their problems relating to kitchen sheds and availability

of water with the Bal Bandhus and community leaders.

The Bal Bandhu support group ensures that community

members think about children’s needs and address them.

This is also the group responsible for protecting the rights

of children by monitoring their access to their entitlements

and putting pressure on the institutions to deliver. Four


gram panchayats have community support groups.

Satyanarayanapuram has a particularly strong and active

group that includes the sarpanch and ward members.

The Veeraraju, Samayya and Samakka community who

support group members in Kothagudam explained their

commitment to the programme “We have known about

child labour from the time we were children. Now we

have remodelled ourselves as Bal Bandhu supporters

because we want our children to study and improve

their lives. Their future has to be better than ours.” Since

teacher absenteeism is a major problem in the block, the

community cajoles and reprimands teachers to come

regularly and on time while the Bal Bandhus follow up on

petitions submitted by the community to the government

on different issues.

The Bal Bandhu support groups have undertaken several

interventions such as freeing bonded child labourers;

sending them to school; asking for additional teachers

where there is a shortage; promoting government schools

as against private schools; identifying government

schemes that can benefit children and the community at

large; ensuring training of teachers in remedial teaching

methods; ensuring the government schools function as

per the RTE guidelines without parents paying for their

children’s education; awareness raising among farmers

who employ children during the harvest season; and

identifying and addressing the needs of children who have

migrated from Chhattisgarh.

A dedicated Bal Mitra from Mamidigudem, Adarsh Rythu,

spells out the ingredients for a successful school, “a good

teacher, A good cook who prepares exciting, wholesome

midday meals, a spanking new school (especially if the

old one is leaking) and good sports equipment to attract

children to school through games.” He is also constantly

asking for more teachers as currently there is one teacher

for 53 children. Residential facilities have to be provided

in the village to ensure regularity of the teachers and the

ANMs, says Rythu. To attract mothers and children to

anganwadis, he emphasizes the need for a clean toilet

attached to the anganwadi. This committed Bal Mitra has

the zeal and the drive to get a model school for his village.

All that he needs is a little more training on the RTE Act.

engaging with gram PanChayatS

Engaging with the gram panchayat has been a core

objective of the project since its inception. In Andhra

Pradesh though the panchayati raj institutions have been

dissolved and elections are yet to be conducted, the project

has engaged with the outgoing panchayat structure and

with other influential members of the community.

On selection of the block, the project functionaries met

the block officials and discussed the action plan. Over

150 people, including the mandal education officer, child

development project officer and PHC doctor attended

this meeting which focussed on children’s education,

their health and other needs. This meeting added to the

GPs and villages’ understanding of child rights issues.

All subsequent meetings were conducted at the GP level

with the support of the sarpanch and ward members. The

number of people attending these meetings varies from

20 in smaller habitations to 65 in the large villages. In fact

community mobilization is central to the programme as

community ownership leads to establishment of child

friendly villages.

All Bal Bandhus interviewed said that they had enrolled

children in the local schools or mobilized and brought

girls who had dropped out of school into the KGBV,

garnering the respect of the community. The help of Bal

Bandhu Nageshwar Rao of Kurnapally was sought when

people from his village fell ill. Rao immediately went

to the PHC and on his request an ANM was sent with

medicines. Rao was happy to have earned the trust of the

community that sought his help. He was happy to have

influence at the PHC.

Bal Bandhu Abraham from Devarapally, at the behest of the

people, organized a meeting of all stake-holders with the

panchayat to spell out the responsibilities of the teachers.

Community recognition and acknowledgement of their


services means a lot to the young Bal Bandhus. Rajini from

Tegada actually complained against her grandmother (the

cook responsible for preparing the midday meals) pilfering

the food given for the children. The grandmother who was

moved out was angry with Rajini but the young Bal Bandhu

stood her ground saying, “I felt it was my duty to bring to

public notice the misappropriation of rations for children.”

To motivate children to return to school, Bal Bandhus

organised day long camps for out of school children. They

then got them enrolled and ensured their attendance. Six

girls from one village were motivated to join the KGBV after

a day long camp in September 2011. It was not easy, says

Bal Bandhu Narsimha Rao of Kothagudem panchayat, an

energetic, committed worker. It was particularly tough in the

case of a 14 year old girl because her parents were reluctant to

send her out of the security of the home to the KGBV. The girl

too was not keen on academics. But once motivated to join

the KGBV, the children themselves become change agents

motivating other girls to join them. The recognition he has

received from the community has been a great motivating

factor for Rao’s work. Full of ideas, he has organized a dance

competition for children and is now planning to organize a

sports event in the memory of his sister.

For Abraham too it has been an uphill task earning

the trust and confidence of the community. Having

studied up to class 10 and trained as an electrician, he

did not have job options but it was the challenge of the

programme that kept him going. When he started work

as a Bal Bandhu he found that parents had all kinds of

excuses not to send their children to school. While one

said that there is a language barrier, another said “first

ask the teacher to come and then we will send our

children.” In one hamlet he was also accused of being

a trafficker who wanted to take their children away. But

with his persistence, and the support of a school teacher,

he managed to find a place in their hearts. He has found

allies in the unlikeliest places.

In one village, when he was trying to motivate parents to

send their children to school, he was accused of receiving

a commission for admitting children to school. The

community could not comprehend why he would do

something which did not directly benefit him. In such

situations there is someone in the community who speaks

up for me, says Abraham. He even had to confront the

powerful community of Rajus who had bonded child labour

working for them. However, he managed to motivate them

to free the children and in the process gained a few allies

among the Rajus. These Rajus then began to motivate

other Rajus, resulting in a Raju-Raju motivation to stop

child labour and bonded labour. “If you are sincere, the

trust and respect develops gradually,” he says.


Nageshwar Rao from Kurnapally too articulates the

changes he has brought about despite limited resources.

When he first started working as a Bal Bandhu, there were

86 children out of school in the three habitations he was

responsible for. In few months he managed to bring the

number down to 52. But it was tough, he admits. There was

no proper road to the hamlets. Teachers came at 11 a.m.

and left at 2 p.m., almost as if their only job was to oversee

the midday meal. On days that it rains teachers did not

come at all. The teachers were also not willing to stay in the

village. The quality of education was very poor. Nageshwar

Rao has been demanding an RBC as most children have

dropped out after Class five. He also faces pressure from

the Naxals who do not want the youth to leave the village

as they fear they may be informers. So participation in

training programmes and even giving reports to the

Resource Persons becomes a problem.

Bal Bandhu Venkatramaraju from Satyanarayanapuram

has such great faith in the BB scheme and the government

that he persuaded his family to hand over the school they

were running to the government so that the community

could benefit. “I know that child labour has always been

there, I have seen it when I was a child, but there is now

an opportunity to change that. We want our children to be

educated,” he says. Venkatramaraju has intervened with

farmers to get children released from bonded labour and

sent them to educational institutes. A boy that he released

was also working in a hotel. He acknowledges that there are

problems and the private schools appear to function better,

but believes that if the government schools could improve

their services and if teachers are sincere in imparting

education, the demand for private schools will decrease.

Venkatramaraju is not the lone crusader in his village,

Gopi – the panchayat clerk helps him and is as committed

in bringing children into school. He is full of ideas and

threatens parents and farmers with the law if they do not

withdraw children from work and send them to school.

Gopi is impressive in his knowledge of child rights. He

would like the programme to focus in Maganapally and

Peddamiliseru, the areas from which children are taken to

work in the chilli fields. “Work cripples childhood,” he says.

Suri Kannaiah from Venkatcheruvu in Pusuguppa

panchayat is illiterate and working as a labourer but he is

the voice of the Gottu Koya—articulating the issues that

confront them. He along with the only educated member

of the community, submitted a petition asking for a school

in their village. Of the 26 children in the 6-14 age group in

Venkatcheruvu, only seven are in the upper primary school.

He keeps reiterating the importance of having a proper

school in the hamlet. After Class five, children drop out

and the experience of the ALC for primary schooling is not

inspiring, he says. He would like a proper anganwadi in

place of the mini anganwadi that barely functions. Rations

do not come and the anganwadi teacher comes once in two

days. He is, however, determined to get the systems working

and is banking on the support of the Bal Bandhus.

Nearly 1130 children were motivated by the Bal Bandhus

to join schools and 41 anganwadi centres have been made

functional. They prepared 234 children for admission in

government schools, in government hostels, in ashram

schools and in private schools. The total number of non

school going children in the entire block, categorized

age wise, was 2409. About 331 children from various

panchayats were followed up during exams in April. The

children who were not going to school were separated

panchayat wise. Similarly, children in the 3 to 5 age group

who should be in anganwadis were separated. Separate

lists of boys and girls were prepared for children in the 15

to 18 age group so that their admission to ashramshalas

and hostels for girls could be followed up.

making it haPPen

Among the big achievements of the programme in Cherla

block is making the KGBV functional. Though the KGBV

was started for girls, they were not identified nor was there

an outreach programme to find out of school children. For

want of girls the KGBV was almost closed. When the BB

functionaries Resource Persons, Bal Bandhus and others

got to know about this, they appealed to the project officer

of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency, Mr Pravin


Kumar, to give them time and they would find the girls for

the school. The KGBV was begun in an ashramshala and

the BBs found the 125 girls to study here. Now the KGBV is

fully functional but it is still in the ashramshala. In 2011-12,

Rs 1.5 crore has been allocated for the building and other

infrastructure for the KGBV.

However, a large number of schools and anganwadis need

improvement and upgradation. The system of alternative

schools and main and mini anganwadis to increase coverage

in the smaller habitations needs overhauling. Rudimentary,

makeshift structures are being counted as schools and

anganwadis. The basic structure needs to be robust.

Nearly 15 orientation meetings for youth groups were

conducted in the mandal project development office

(MPDO). In each of these meetings, two young people

were called from each village (a total of 20). These youth

have been very supportive of the BBs and their work

conducting meetings and motivating children.

Four block level meetings concerning right to education and

right to health and food were conducted with 30 headmasters,

teachers, anganwadi workers, supervisors and child

development project officer (CDPOs), all health workers,

ANMs and PHC doctors. At these meetings all of them said

that they were not ready to enter villages and habitations that

were located deep within the forest zones. Now, however,

with the support of the BBs and other groups, they are ready

to go to the interior villages and GPs.

Though the programme staff has a good rapport with

government functionaries at the mandal and panchayat

level, they acknowledge a better link is needed at the

district level. Every time a district collector is changed,

those in charge of the Bal Bandhu project need to meet

At the meeting with the Mahila Sanghas on RTE

several problems surfaced.

Charging fees: In Cherla block some schools

have been charging examination fees and school

development fees. The Bal Bandhus along with the

parents took up this issue and met the headmasters

and teachers of a few schools and convinced them

to refund the fees. During this meeting, the schools

were educated on RTE and the fact that under RTE,

no fees can be charged from any child studying from

class 1 to 8.

Lack of infrastructure: In some villages despite

the demand there were not enough AWCs. In some

alternate centres, children were found staying on

though they needed to be in the second or third class

of a regular school. After discussion, it was decided

that children in the third standard be shifted to

ashram pathshalas or to a hostel.

Lack of other provisions: It some schools there are

not enough uniforms for the number of children

enrolled. In a class of 30 children, dresses may be

available for only 15 students.

Although the RTE is under implementation in

Khammam, there are 32 child labourers in the

district, some of them in bonded labour.


the new officer and update him on the project. The state

administration also needs to be updated on the project to

enhance effectiveness.

StriDing aheaD

In village after village, it is evident that the Bal Bandhus are

well known and are seen as community helpers. In addition

in every village, there is at least one “bandhu” for the Bal

Bandhu who provides support in bringing the community

together. There is awareness about the programme and the

community speaks about the need to send children to school.

The creation of a cadre of committed Bal Bandhus is the

biggest asset of the programme. Within a short time the Bal

Bandhus have made the transition from unemployed youth

to community workers with a sense of purpose. A Bal Bandhu

said, “Earlier I was no one, but today I am recognized and

people listen when I speak. That is very empowering.” The

Bal Bandhus are emerging as multi purpose workers who are

seen as the link between the community and the system.

Since the inception of the BB scheme, panchayat elections

not have been held and there are no elected sarpanchs.

The programme has been successful in creating groups of

child friendly activists or Bal Bandhu Support Groups. Their

numbers are growing and currently there are 200 members

in these support groups in the block. They could influence

the PRIs, block officials on child rights issues.

The programme has created an atmosphere of constant

dialogue around child issues. More and more people are

thinking about their problems and from mere citing of

problems, they now seek to find solutions and are asking

the Bal Bandhus to follow up. In Venkatcheruvu village of

Pusuguppa panchayat, Surikannaiah a parent of a child of

school going age said, “How can we even think of sending our

children to school, if there is none in our village? The school

has to be in our village and we should see it everyday, then it

will become a habit for us to send our children to school. We

have already given a petition to the officials for a school, but

so far nothing has happened.” The programme has created

awareness on the need for education for education’s sake and

not for the sake of employment. No one said “what will our

children do with education” – this seems to be the result of

the kind of mobilization that has happened.

Awareness on the RTE Act, 2009 is evident. In practically

all villages, community members knew RTE was one of

their fundamental rights.

The panchayat level meetings and rallies have been

responsible for creating an environment of child rights

awareness in the villages. Community members in

all villages spoke of the need for more teachers and

infrastructure. They realize that anganwadis and schools

are child institutions and if their children are to have

a better life than what they have had, they need to have

these institutions. In one of the Gottu Koya villages, a

community member was able to identify the need for a

language facilitator for the children of his community as

the teacher was not from their community and there were

language difficulties when children joined the school.

This increased awareness on child rights extends to the

drawbacks of child marriage. Eighteen is recognised as

the legal age of marriage for girls but early marriage is the

norm. Only four child marriages have been stopped so far.

The role of the Bal Bandhus cannot be over emphasized.

The conviction with which they speak of the need for

change and their recognition of issues points to the

effectiveness of the orientation and ongoing training. An

example is their knowledge and concern regarding the

seasonal dropout of children during the chilli harvesting

season. Each of them had at least one story of how they had

motivated children to go back to school, released bonded

labour by influencing the local farmer and motivated

parents to send their girls to the KGBV. Confident of the

safety of their daughters in the KGBV, parents are now

sending their children to this special facility before they

are mainstreamed into schools. It was the Bal Bandhus

who were able to talk to parents and convince them to send

their daughters to these schools forcing the government to

raise the capacity of the KGBV to 200.


Children who have been influenced to return to school

have become ‘child mobilizers,’ drawing others into

the folds of education. Girls who have joined the KGBV

expressed their commitment to bringing their friends

who are not in school to join the KGBV. They are the true

advocates of the programme.

overComing the ChallengeS

The stories of Savitri, Nageshwar Rao and other Bal

Bandhus exemplify the manner in which the challenges

are tackled in an area of civil unrest. Unease and fear

permeates the atmosphere. In this environment children

are often traumatised and there are increasing chances

of dropping out from schools. The young Bal Bandhus

have to be “permitted” by the underground to work. Any

meeting or village level activity has to be preapproved and

can be cancelled at any time. Under normal circumstances

access and communication is a problem in this area. These

problems are magnified in the more sensitive villages

where nobody is allowed to use a mobile phone, severely

hampering communication.

No one can predict when a bandh will be called or when the

programme will be halted. In such a situation, the already

barely functioning schools are severely affected. The

atmosphere of fear and uncertainty also deters teachers

from coming to the villages. Attendance of teachers

and anganwadi workers is low in many villages because

they come from other villages since there are minimal

residential facilities in their place of work. Because they

have to walk long distances to these villages, they come

late and leave early. This affects the functioning of schools

and other institutions for children. The situation worsens

during the rainy season when culverts overflow, cutting off

villages from each other and making it difficult for children

from other villages to attend school.

Children from the Gottu Koya settlements also face a

language problem since they do not speak Telugu and

there is no one from their community who qualifies to

teach in their own language.

A lot of work and convincing is needed to change

the mindsets on child labour and child marriage. As

a community member said, “We have all been child

labourers and our children too work”. But if a school is

available in a village there will be greater motivation to

send them for education. So providing a school is vital.

In Cherla block, which has a tradition of early marriage of

girls, by enrolling them in the KGBV the girls are removed

from an environment of early marriages.

Those in the 15 to 18 age group are the most difficult to reach.

Parents and even the Bal Bandhus are not sure how to reach


out to this age group, especially those who have never been to

school. Yet it is important that this group be protected since

they are the most likely recruits for the underground Naxal

army. They need to be put into a learning environment that

provides them at least vocational skills.

While the programme seems to deal entirely with education

in the field, the work of the Resource Persons and the

Bal Bandhus extends to several other departments. The

education department includes the SSA, the Integrated Tribal

Development Agency which manages ashram schools, the

Indira Kranti Programme (IKP) to bring the women’s groups

in more effectively and the women and child development

department for the anganwadis. Relationships need to be

built from the level of the gram panchayat to district and state

level so that petitions from the community on child right

issues receive the attention of the state.

ConCluSion

Despite all the ups and downs of the Bal Bandhu programme

in this remote, tribal dominated and Naxal affected block of

Cherla, a new energy is visible in the community and there is

greater awareness of child rights. The programme needs to be

strengthened and sustained till the State, children as well as

their parents see schooling as a necessity to counter Naxalism

and their children being drawn to child labour. Besides,

the programme has continued relevance till the rights of

internally displaced children from Chhattisgarh are addressed

meaningfully. They have been bearing the brunt of civil unrest

in their home state as well as in the host state. •

Activities and Achievements from December 2010 to March 2011



Community meeting 293

Meetings with block officials 39

Meetings with district officials 25




Children enrolled in Ashramshalas/RBC/KGBV 234

Children contacted for support during final exams 331

Children tracked and restored to families 31

Rallies, marches 41

Based on report by Rekha Abel

ASSAM

chAPteR 2


FFrom the time when Rafiqul Islam was a small boy working after school in Kokrajhar’s

Bidyardabri village alongside his daily wager father, he knew it was his schooling

which would ensure he did not remain a manual worker all his life like his father.

Rafiqul, now a Resource Person for the Bal Bandhu programme in Kokrajhar district’s

Kochugaon block, says he resolved back then itself to assist others in his village to

also make their way ahead in life through studying. Completing college through great

financial hardship, the experience left a lasting impact on him. “Getting educated is

a challenge for children in our villages. They need all the help they can get and I am

there for them because I have been through the struggle myself,” he says.

The struggle for schooling is particularly marked when the shadow of the gun falls over

children’s education, as it does in Kokrajhar district of Assam, caught in the grip of civil

SUPPORTING THE STRUGGLE FOR SCHOOLING

• koChugaon BloCk, kokrajhar DiStriCt, aSSam •

Bal Bandhus giving training to children in school


unrest. Schools close down whenever a bandh is declared

by insurgent groups; paramilitary forces occupy schools;

fear of kidnapping keeps away many students; threats of

extortion and killing by militants prevent teachers from

discharging their duties; and in relief camps schools are

non functional or simply do not exist.

In just three months, more than 10 people were abducted

from a single block in Kokrajhar district, with a boy being

daringly kidnapped from the National Highway. People

restrict their movements after dusk. Militant groups have

made several attempts to extort money from teachers to

fund their activities. Frequent bandh called by militant

groups and student unions result in schools shutting for an

average of three-four days every month. In August 2011, for

instance, schools were closed for six days. When a formal

movement for a separate state of Bodoland was launched,

the All Bodo Students Union blocked the National

Highway. Civilian life gets disrupted even when militant

leaders are killed in conflicts. During local body elections

parents withhold children from school, apprehending

violence. The overpowering psychological influence of

militancy inspires some older children of 14-17 to join

the cause. Parents have never questioned student unions

or militant groups about the impact of their activities on

children’s education.

Unrest in the area has its root in the dominant Bodo tribe

seeking its own state of ‘Bodoland’ and its clashes with

the other major tribe in the region – the Santhals. Since

1989, ethnic violence has killed and displaced hundreds

of thousands of people. An accord led to the creation

of the semi autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council

(BTC). The state had already been in the clutches of

civilian protest by student bodies like AASU and militant

groups like ULFA against the influx of Bengali speaking

immigrants. With the state government’s efforts thus

directed at ensuring security, development issues like

education have been neglected.

In addition are the usual problems that plague school

education, such as poor infrastructure and quality

of teaching and child trafficking. From January 2011,

however, the Bal Bandhu Programme started building

a thread of hope for the children in the area when the

NCPCR identified Resource Persons Rafiqul Islam and T

Subhan Goud to implement the scheme. They selected 18

Village Council Development Committees (VCDCs) in the

district’s Kochugaon block for the project.

teething trouBleS

Introducing the programme to the deputy commissioner

(DC) and other district and block level officials, the Resource

Persons met their first roadblock. Officials warned them of

problems from militants in following the education agenda.

An indifferent district elementary education officer kept them

running around his office for over a month. Simultaneously,

the Resource Persons began interacting with the community,

holding meetings in every VCDC (a VCDC represents a

gram panchayat comprising 5-17 villages) to publicise the

programme and understand the block situation on child

labour and functioning of schools and anganwadi centres.

The meetings were also a platform to identify suitable local

youth for recruitment as Bal Bandhus.

The 18 Bal Bandhus recruited in Kochugaon – one for

each VCDC – are between 20-29 years of age, many

having passed at least Class 12, while some even have a

Rally organized on World Day Against Child Labour


master’s degree. Three are women. They represent a mix

of the area’s prominent communities – Bodo, Nepali,

Rajvanshi and Muslim. Many of them had been active

in student unions like ABSU or AKRSU. Says Resource

Person Subhan, “Though we spoke to the gaonburas or

village headmen on the matter, we considered it strategic

not to depend on them or the panchayat members but

make our own selection based on community feedback

and certain tasks we gave these youngsters to test

them informally.” The ICDS project director was

annoyed at not being involved in recruiting the Bal

Bandhus, objecting to the programme’s method of

functioning. He was told recruitment procedures were

set by the NCPCR.

After their orientation, training and an exposure visit to

Andhra Pradesh, the Bal Bandhus immediately started facing

problems with both police and insurgents as they went about

the door to door survey. Team members, including Resource

Persons, were repeatedly asked to prove their identity by

showing their recruitment letters and getting their baggage

checked. Once the Bal Bandhus understood they were

working for a noble cause, their confidence grew and they

also started extending support to one another.

Presuming they were one of the many NGOs in the region,

most block level officials initially did not offer the Bal

Bandhus cooperation. Teachers and anganwadi workers

also refused to assist them or provide details of their

functioning, taking them to be NGO representatives who

had lodged complaints against some of them on occasions.

Since the Bal Bandhus also did not have identity cards with

them at the time, the ICDS supervisors intervened to get

the anganwadi workers to cooperate.

Though warned by the police against campaigning at night

because of the disturbed situation, the Bal Bandhu team

got into stride once it found it had gained the trust of the

community. Says Resource Person Subhan, “We have

no problem in holding meetings anywhere at any time

because community members’ themselves look out for us

and help us in every way.”

ComBining ForCeS

The Resource Persons with their experience in working

on child rights issues and the Bal Bandhus conversant

with the local situation together form the link between the

community and public institutions. Bal Bandhus keep in

regular touch with gaonburas, VCDC members, the village

level student unions and other opinion leaders to keep them

informed of the school 0going status of children in each

VCDC as well as the functioning of public institutions; they

counsel parents of out of school children and hold school

meetings to foster linkages with teachers. The support of

line department officials is also regularly sought.

Typically, Bal Bandhus visit one school or anganwadi centre

in their VCDC every day to track its functioning. Issues relating

to classroom transaction, teacher irregularity and collection

of fees are discussed with head teachers and attempted

Boon For Bal BanDhuS

For many of those selected as Bal Bandhus, the

programme has come as a life-changer. Bal Bandhu

Sumi Hasda of Ballimari VCDC was a scrawny

neglected-looking Santhali girl when the Resource

Persons happened to visit her village. Though her

father was a gaonbura, he was a drunkard who ill-

treated her and she was living in extreme poverty.

“We selected her,” says Subhan, “seeing a spark of

character in her and also with the hope of improving

her condition. Our choice was right with Sumi

now being one of our most active team members

with achievements like getting the most number

of children into schools. She has also resumed her

studies, having failed her SSC earlier.”

One Bal Bandhu left to join the Sarva Shiksha

Abhiyan, from where she extends her support to the

programme when she can. Another left because he

had passed the Teachers’ Eligibility Test, and the

Resource Persons say they congratulated him for his

achievement.


to be resolved in the school itself. Issues such as student

absenteeism, basic school needs and attitude of teachers are

brought to the notice of the gaonbura and VCDC members.

Issues such as the unavailability of school books, the need

for additional teachers and infrastructure requirements are

referred to officials such as the block elementary education

officer and the ICDS supervisor. Door to door mobilisation

drives are undertaken with the participation of gaonburas,

School Management Committees (SMCs), women’s groups

and student unions to bring pressure on teachers and

anganwadi workers to improve their functioning.

Resource Persons convene fortnightly review meetings

with Bal Bandhus to facilitate experience sharing, giving

them troubleshooting tips. For instance, when Bal Bandhus

present the outcomes of their daily visits to a school or

anganwadi, the Resource Persons help them identify the

gaps and how to address them. Based on feedback from

the Bal Bandhus, action plans are drawn up for the ensuing

fortnight. Both Resource Persons of Kochugaon meet with

the two Resource Persons of Sidli block in Chirang district,

which is the other area under the Bal Bandhu project in

Assam, on a bimonthly basis to share experiences and

plan at the project level. Thereafter, they update the office

of the DC on the progress made every month.

Community moBiliSation

Armed with precise information on the situation of child

rights in Kochugaon, Resource Persons and Bal Bandhus

kicked off the programme by holding interactive discussions

with thousands of people through 62 community meetings

attended by panchayat and SMC members, parents and

student unions, and 30 orientation meetings for different

stakeholders on their role in implementing the RTE Act.

Special mobilisation drives were held, such as on Anti

Child Labour Day when a meeting was held at the BTC

office in Kochugaon with officials and student unions. At

a massive youth rally against child labour, the chairperson

of the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child

aiming at moDel SChoolS

The Bal Bandhus have adopted eight lower primary

schools in the block in order to transform them into

Model Schools where all RTE norms are met. They

visit the schools every day along with the gaonbura

or an SMC member, maintaining a checklist to track

various aspects of the schools’ functioning such as

daily student attendance. They also handle teaching

duties for an hour a day.

Placards giving the message of the importance of education A Bal Bandhu Committee of Ballimary VCDC


Survey ProviDeS roaDmaP

The Bal Bandhus’ door-to-door survey revealed that of

34,760 children between 0-18 years in the project area in

Kochugaon, 21,003 were enrolled in the 511 schools in the

block, while 2,750 children were out of school at the start

of the programme. Qualitative school information charts

were also compiled with information like availability

of science laboratories in high schools as mandated by

the RTE. Strategies were planned based on the survey’s

information – such as the enormous dropout rate of

children aged 15-18 when they moved from middle to

high school due to marriage, entry into the workforce or

alcohol and drug abuse. “We have submitted a plan on

how to handle addictions among vulnerable youth,” says

Resource Person Rafiqul.

The survey is a continuous process, says Rafiqul, pointing

out that 154 children were contacted for support during

the final exams, having been identified on the basis of a

‘long absence survey’ of children missing from school

for over 15 days. “Had we not followed them up and

counseled them and their families, they would have

become additions to the number of school dropouts.

Some children were given exam support because though

they had been attending classes, due to poor teaching

they were still not prepared.”

The problem of schooling without learning came

to the fore when the Bal Bandhu team met a vexed

father in Ballimari’s Bodhiaguri village who could not

understand why his 11 year old son named Sakai Tudu

had stopped going to school despite all pressure. Sakai

finally told Bal Bandhu Sumi Hasra, “It is useless going

to school because even though I have reached Class 4,

I cannot even write my own name.” Finally, after being

counselled by Sumi, he is back in class.

The survey brought out the problems in accessing

schools, cutting through harsh terrain and water

bodies. Students also frequently dropped out after

primary school if the middle school was far away.

Children employed in work such as fishing were highly

irregular. There was a high incidence of child trafficking

to Delhi, Meerut and other cities.

Lack of infrastructure was the major problem in lower

primary and middle elementary schools. Often, five

classes were held simultaneously in a single hall.

Students had only mats to sit on. Attendance of both

students and teachers was highly irregular. Absence

of drinking water and compound walls having no

security was another deterrent to schooling. Most

schools remained closed from January to March/

April 2011, as Assamese and Bodo language textbooks

had not been issued. There was a severe shortage of

teachers as schools waited for the Teachers’ Eligibility

Test to be conducted.

Schools set up under the Education Guarantee Scheme

were no better, as also the community initiative

Venture Schools promoted by the Assam government

that had not got upgraded to Provincial Schools as

promised earlier. Volunteers here had not received

payments for over a year.

Using Bodo language in schools marginalised the large

number of Santhal children. Several children from

minority communities had not received their pre-

matric and post-matric scholarships for 2009-10.

In relief camps and resettlement areas, schools and

anganwadi centres were not provided for or were barely

functional. Despite widespread malaria and anaemia, the

closest medical centres were three-four kilometres away

on average. With PHCs being only recently sanctioned in

all VCDCs in the state, villagers often travelled over six km

to reach the nearest facility. Some PHCs were inaccessible

during the monsoon and ill equipped even for testing

malaria. Only one out of 10 ASHA workers was trained

and the ANM did not visit villages in the monsoon.


Rights, Mr Rajeshwar Sharma, made the point that child

labour could not be attributed to poverty alone but also to

the poor functioning of children’s institutions. On School

Reopening Day on June 12 in Hatigarh, a rally and a public

meeting were held with 600 people including officials.

Regular enrolment drives are also mopping up children

out of school. In three special drives in Mojoti VCDC

aimed at the 200 out of school children, 14 of them were

brought to school.

teaCherS get a leSSon

The Bal Bandhus found that not only were schools closed

whenever a bandh was declared but in places teachers

themselves would shut the school for 3-4 days. Many

schools were being closed on the weekly Bazaar Day. With

many teachers opting for postings in disturbed areas in

order to bunk school, the Bal Bandhu team facilitated a

dialogue with officials of the education department and

community leaders on teacher absenteeism which has

now reduced.

Teachers are urged to keep schools open during bandhs,

and about 20 per cent schools have started doing so. Says

Subhan, “We arrive at schools that are closed during a bandh

and call the head teachers from the premises. Enquiring if

they received official orders to shut down their school, we

ask them to immediately report to work as we are waiting for

them. In most villages the teachers live nearby and have no

problem in coming to school during a bandh. It was just their

mindset that needed to be changed.”

Also, taking advantage of the civil unrest most schools

would open late and shut by noon. Around 25 schools

that had shut for holidays in December 2010 had not

started functioning even till April 2011. The Bal Bandhu

team would turn up at such schools early in the morning

and then go to the villages to get the children to school.

“For a few days we even ran these schools ourselves. The

parents would be mobilized to complain against the loss

being suffered by their children. Eventually, with the active

cooperation of BEO Amarsingh Brahma, almost all schools

have started functioning on time,” says Subhan.

Bal Bandhus employ several methods to deal with erring

teachers. They are made aware of their responsibilities and

also threatened with filing of complaints against them by

the community. Bal Bandhu Manojit Mushahary said that

after the gaonbura and SMC president should intervene as

the two teachers in the lower primary school in Sengmari

in Bhorpur were highly irregular, the gaonbura convened

a meeting in the village with 40 people, including the

negligent teachers the next day. “I made a presentation on

children’s rights and reminded the teachers of their duties.

The head teacher, who earlier used to disappear from

school to run his shop in the village, stopped doing so after

this meeting,” says Manojit.

He also got the teacher of No. 202 Gaonsulka lower primary

school to attend school regularly. “For three consecutive

days I visited the school but the teacher, who lived quite far

away, never reached the school,” says Manojit. The school’s

52 students were just whiling away their time. Finally, he

went to the teacher’s home, only to be rudely told he had

no business interfering in school affairs. Explaining that

he was formally entrusted with monitoring the school,

Manojit informed the teacher of his duties and also warned

him that a complaint would be sent to the BEO if he did not

report to work regularly.

Villagers taking oath in a meeting to send all their children to school


Bal Bandhu Abinash Hembrom in Balagaon managed to

gain the cooperation of the teacher in Bollomjhora lower

primary school who would earlier visit a tea shop during

school hours on the excuse that the school’s 20 students

were hardly ever present. Advised to retain the children

in school by reaching out to them personally, the teacher

held a meeting in the village with Abinash’s help and

succeeded in motivating the parents of 17 children to send

their children regularly.

Abinash says that teachers who justify their irregularity on

the grounds of low remuneration, such as a teacher in No.

553 Balagaon LP school who told the SMC president that he

did not bother to apply for leave because he only received

an honorarium of Rs 1,800 per month, are told that the issue

of concern was the teacher’s regularity and not his salary.

Anthaibari Bal Bandhu Mohammed Hajib-ur-Rehman told

a teacher who objected to his complaint to the ABSU about

his irregular work timings that if required, the matter could

be referred to the deputy commissioner because the loss of

children’s education was a serious matter. Later, the teacher

was summoned by the gaonbura to a village meeting where

his responsibilities were listed in public. “Since then he has

started reporting on time,” says Mohammed. The gaonbura

reciprocated by deputing an educated youth from the village

to share the teacher’s burden.

Teachers are also asked not to misuse school funds or

make financial demands from children. The Palasguri

lower primary school teacher returned the school uniform

allowance he had diverted for gardening work when he

was questioned about it. Thakampur’s Bal Bandhu Milton

Brahma pressurised the Kochugaon middle elementary

school to take in 15 children aged above 12 into age

appropriate classes despite their low learning levels.

The school is now bringing them up to the mark through

special coaching conducted early in the morning.

During cluster level meetings a few teachers, particularly

from single teacher schools, expressed reluctance to

support the Bal Bandhu agenda as they felt implementing

the RTE norms would add to their work burden.

linking ParentS anD Community

with SChoolS

The relationship between schools and the community was

quite weak initially, with most parents and the community

not being aware they had a say in the administration of

schools. No one bothered when teachers came and left or

that SMCs were rarely convened.

To catalyze the community and engage in institution

building, 66 village level Bal Bandhu Committees

comprising youth, women and other active community

members have been formed so far. The Bal Bandhu team

has been training these committees which hold monthly

review meetings to discuss actions plans for implementing

child rights in their villages. The power of this grassroots

level initiative was visible when the problem of just one

teacher looking after 220 students in Shimultapu lower

primary school was solved by the villagers themselves. The

Bal Bandhu Committee was told by the area’s Bal Bandhu

that according to the RTE the student teacher ratio should

be 30:1. Members came up with the idea that Class 12

students who had just given their SSC exams and were idle

till their results came in three months time could be roped

in to teach at the school. The Bal Bandhu Committee

leader’s daughter, who was waiting for her results, set the

example by volunteering to take classes.

The power of the community also came to the fore when

villagers intervened to counsel the parents of seven

children who had not been attending classes in their

school in Jaleswari because they would be sent to work in

nearby farms, graze livestock or fish. “At a meeting with 56

villagers present, the parents were summoned and urged

to take care of their children’s education. Since then, the

children have become regular in school,” says Jaleswari Bal

Bandhu Ratia Basumatary.

Similarly, Mojoti Bal Bandhu Jakaria Borgoari says, “The

villagers of Jogendrapur were surprised they had so many

rights when we discussed their lower primary school’s

functioning.” In No. 789 Joymagaon lower primary school,

a new teacher was posted within a week of the villagers


sending a letter to the BEO that the school had been closed

for two months after both the teachers posted there had died.

In another instance, 44 children of No 843 Kaimari lower

primary school went back to school after six months at home

when villagers cleaned up its surroundings from where an

intolerable foul smell had been emanating. Gambaribil Bal

Bandhu Sanjay Brahma says the extended closure of the

school had come to light during the survey.

In another instance, parents paid Rs 25 each to employ a

volunteer in place of the regular school teacher who became

busy with a court case filed against him. Says Rafiqul, “This

was an idea that came from the parents’ themselves. Our

block development officer is very supportive and when the

matter was brought to his notice he quickly ensured the

transfer of a new teacher to the school.”

Parents who raised fears of kidnapping when asked to

enroll their children in RBCs, were assured of their safety

by the Bal Bandhus.

The Bal Bandhu team found that in most cases the RTE

norms relating to SMCs – that 75 per cent of its members

and the president ought to be parents and half the members

should be women – were being flouted. SMC presidents were

generally leaders with political clout. The block education

officer promised to take action. In the formative meetings

of SMCs in August-September, Resource Persons informed

members on their role in implementing the RTE Act.

Regular training of SMCs is taking place. In March 2012,

for instance, 200 SMC presidents were imparted training.

The SMC in Anthaibari’s Pauraguri lower primary school

found an alternative location for an anganwadi that was

operating from the school itself, greatly burdening the

two teachers of the 220 student school. The discipline

situation in the school has improved since then. The SMC

president in Nabinagar’s Baganpara village even provided

temporary accommodation at a cost of Rs 6,000 to a school

in the village that had no building of its own. Bal Bandhu

Anil Murmu says, “This was the outcome of a meeting in

the village where the 40 participants raised this issue and it

was immediately taken up by the SMC president.”

Awareness raising of VCDC members is also undertaken,

with exposure visits for one member per VCDC to Andhra

Pradesh. Since then, they have focussed more actively on

monitoring schools and anganwadis. In three VCDCs, the

members mobilised voluntary child rights education bodies

called Shishur Adhikaar Suraksha Samitis (SASSs). Parents, the

Bal Bandhus interacting with villagers during the survey A Bal Bandhu interaction with villagers


gaonbura and SMC members of the EGS School in Nayanagar

village in Burachara joined Bal Bandhu Philip Murmu in

making door to door visits against the school remaining closed

for three months.

StuDent unionS BeFrienD SChoolS

The powerful student union networks of the region are being

encouraged to become agents of change. After a meeting with

the Bal Bandhu an ABSU unit got its village school vacated

of construction workers staying there on the invitation of the

teachers because a road was being made in the village. Though

the school had been closed from January to March, its 12

students hailing from extremely backward families had not

taken up the matter.

Such active involvement in the campaign has been the

result of a series of meetings convened with leading student

unions such as ABSU, All Assam Minority Students Union

(AAMSU), All Kochrabonsh Rajbangshi Students Union

(AKRASU) and All Assam Gorkha Students Union (AAGSU).

Community members are also discussing with student

union leaders about excluding schools during bandhs. “It

has pointed out to these unions that the community for

whose upliftment their activities are centred will only go

deeper into poverty if the children are not educated,” says

Subhan, who claims a change is visible now. The ABSU,

for instance, followed up to ensure the regular attendance

of anganwadi workers in two centres in Burachara’s

Pakariguri, who had taken advantage of their political

clout to leave the running of their centres to ayahs. The

ASSU took up the issue of seven children trafficked

from Nandipur VCDC to work in a slaughter house in

Meerut, where one of them died because of the inhuman

conditions. The student union referred the case to the

NCPCR which sent a report on the matter to the deputy

commissioner. The DC set up a committee to look into the

incident. Following this, the children were brought back

and two of them enrolled in school.

Gambaribil Bal Bandhu Sanjay Brahma requested ABSU’s

unit president in Durabil village to help a very poor student.

“The parents of 12 year old Pungka Brahma had approached

me saying they could not afford to get him books or clothes

and that he had dropped out of Class 6 after being ridiculed

by teachers for wearing the same tracksuit every day,” says

Sanjay. “The ABSU president sponsored clothes worth Rs 500

for Pungka, who is now back in class.”

CatalySing government oFFiCialS

Bal Bandhus who were viewed with indifference, if not

hostility, in the first few months of the programme, now

get the full support of the district and block officials. When

Bal Bandhus and community youth identified more than

20 cases of children in the block who were being trafficked

to Delhi, the district administration along with the police

swung into action to rescue the children.

A Task Force has been constituted at the district level with the

representation of key line departments to address children’s

issues as mandated by the NCPCR. Along with the Bal

Bandhu team, the education department has gone all out

in organising the community to protest against the closure

of schools due to bandhs. Their efforts have paid off with

groups of both parents and senior citizens starting to demand

exemptions for schools during bandhs. After officials held

talks with student unions asking them not to pressure school

managements to shut down, most of them spare schools

during the examination period at least, though there is little

relief when a bandh is called by a militant group.

The education department regularly instructs teachers to

enroll children as and when they seek admission, while the

additional deputy commissioner and block level officials

have been catalysed to counsel malleable youngsters who

were being influenced to join militancy. The situation has

been remedied to the extent that many youth are now keen

on becoming army officers.

The block development officer has held three meetings

with the chairpersons of all VCDCs asking them to be

vigilant on child rights issues and assuring them of his help.

Convening meetings with various officials he has called

upon them to inform him about child rights violations


and invited the Bal Bandhu team to make presentations at

these meetings on the impact of civil unrest on children’s

rights, gaps in the functioning of the government and RTE

provisions. “When we started, government officials would

get very angry that we were going around villages giving

them a bad name,” says Subhan. “We told them that in fact

we were there to save them from becoming badnaam.”

To get anganwadi workers to take their duties seriously, an

orientation session was organised for 200 workers across the

block in June 2011. The Bal Bandhu team also succeeded

in linking four anganwadi centres in Raimona to lower

primary schools for pre school education. Binyakhata Bal

Bandhu Samaina Brahma did not spare her own mother, an

anganwadi worker in Dobhai village, who attended the centre

just one or twice a week. Told by her daughter that she was

embarrassed by her fellow Bal Bandhus expressing shock at

her behavior, Samaina’s mother gradually started improving

and she now reports at the centre every day.

Unafraid of an anganwadi worker’s militant links, Bal

Bandhu Abinash Hembrom took her to task for her long

absence from work. When the supervisor of the centre in

Alinagar village said that the missing worker leveraged her

husband’s membership with a militant group, Abinash

says, “I asked him to hold back the worker’s salary for a

month. When she questioned the supervisor, he referred

her to me and I told her she was being penalised for

neglecting her duties. I also told her that I would inform

the CDPO if she did not report regularly,” says Abinash,

who is still following up on the issue.

intrePiD Bal BanDhuS

The Bal Bandhus go to great lengths to ensure schooling for

every child. Fulthi Roy, studying in Class 2 in No. 1004 LP

school in Hatigarh, was forced to work in place of her elder

sister who left her employer midway. Three months later,

when Bal Bandhu Pradip heard about it, he counselled her

father for a whole month to send the the elder daughter

back to work instead of Fulthi. When he did not agree,

Pradip counselled Fulthi’s mother, telling her to send the

younger girl to school as her entire education was being

supported by the government. Though her husband was

apprehensive about retaliation by the employer, Fulthi’s

mother eventually withdrew her from work and admitted

her in Class 4 in a local school.

Tipped off by student union members about 16 Santhali

children being trafficked to Delhi, Bal Bandhus tracked

the movement of the brokers who were escaping with

the children in a jeep. The brokers were members of a

dangerous gang notorious for attacking with weapons and

poisonous blinding powders. With the help of the police

and Railway Protection Force, some of the brokers were

caught and seven children rescued. Similarly, Gambaribil

Bal Bandhu Sanjay Brahma stopped some families that

were secretly migrating under cover of night, counselling

them to leave their children behind. As a result, the

parents of 10 year old Shahid agreed to leave the boy with

his relatives.

Bal Bandhu Sanowar Hussain Mollah followed up the five

children absent for a month from among the 300 enrolled in

No. 188 Sapkata lower primary school. Taking their details

from the head teacher, she tracked the parents. “I got three

children back by counselling their parents that they should

People reading a pamphlet distributed on World Day Against Child Labour


care for their children’s education because the government

was doing a lot for children like theirs,” says Sanowar.

Binyakhata Bal Bandhu Samaina Brahma succeeded

in convincing the father of 11 year old Majid-ul-Ali who

was taken out of Class 3 to work for Rs 2,800 a month for a

contractor who sent him out of Assam. “The father realised the

importance of educating his son even though the combined

income of the family was thereby reduced by more than 50

per cent,” says Samaina.

Samaina also identified four migrant children above 12

years in her VCDC and got them admitted directly to Class

6 in Navajyothi middle elementary school in Raimona

VCDC. The teachers initially refused to take the children

on the grounds that the school’s performance would be

adversely affected. However, they are now setting aside

5-10 minutes in each class for additional teaching of

these children. Says Samaina, “The head teacher told

the BEO there has been a lot of change in the children.

They are often the best groomed children in class, highly

disciplined and the most regular in school. A tutor has

also been arranged to provide them supplementary

academic inputs and the teachers are very confident they

will pass the exams.”

teStimonialS oF Change

A VCDC member who made the exposure visit to Andhra

Pradesh says, “We had never looked at children’s issues

in the past, but after our return we began to speak of the

overall development of the child. We realised we are lagging

behind others because of lack of education. The Bal Bandhu

scheme can help improve the situation. We will involve the

MLA and other elected representatives in the campaign to

create a child friendly environment in the district.”

Student leaders express pleasure at the changes that

occurred after they began working with the Bal Bandhus,

saying that though there was conflict between student

unions on various other issues, all of them were now

united on the agenda of children’s education. Sushanto

Narzary, assistant secretary of ABSU’s Kochugaon anchalik

committee says, “Significant changes have taken place after

the arrival of the Bal Bandhus. The block education officer is

now cooperative. We have begun to focus on strengthening

schools and pressurising teachers to attend regularly. We

PoSitive outComeS

• 80 teachers have become regular in their duties, the

midday meal has been streamlined in 16 schools

• In some schools special classes are being conducted

for older children who have been mainstreamed

directly to Class 6 and above

• Fewer schools are closing during bandhs

• Drop in child trafficking and migration recorded

• Several schools no longer charge fees under various

heads

• Money raised for treating a five year old affected by

cerebral palsy at a community meeting organised

for the purpose, with the child thereafter referred

to an NGO for challenged children

• Advocacy to get Education Department to approve

two new RBCs for boys and girls in the block

• Education Department has instructed teachers to

enroll children as and when they seek admission

The migrant children now studying in Navajyothi middle elementary school in Raimona


recently met the Minister to ask him to upgrade all Venture

Schools to Provincial Schools. We have raised donations

to meet the salaries of 18 school volunteers. A Kasturba

Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya is being set up in the block partly

in response to pressure from ABSU.”

Equally encouraging is a testimonial by ASSU’s Saimun

Baskey – “We are lucky as our Bal Bandhu is also a member

of ASSU. We are focussing on the education of girls, have

prevented the trafficking of 15 children and conduct

tuitions for Class 10 students in the summer vacation.

From having just about five-six matriculates a year a short

while back, this year our community had over 30 students

clearing their exam. Support is extended to needy children

for books and fees. We are also demanding Santhali

medium schools.” •




Community meetings 124



Children enrolled in school 252



Children enrolled in Ashramshalas/RBCs/KGBVs 41



Rallies, marches 7

Orientation meetings on RTE for youth, SMCs and teachers 397

Child marriages stopped 6

SASS/Bal Bandhu Committees formed 66

Children enrolled in non residential special training centres 44

Based on report by G. Padmanabhan


mMotorcycling through dense jungles to reach a group of parents in a village in Bengtol,

Bal Bandhu Raising Tudu and Resource Person Mohammad Khaja were on the move

despite a bandh call by an extremist group. With the meeting having been decided

before the bandh was declared, they did not want to let the parents down in case they

did turn up. A Bodo insurgent who confronted them was, however, unimpressed with

this commitment. Shoving their motorcycle into a ditch, he threatened them with dire

consequences, letting them proceed only after Raising assured him that they only had

the welfare of children in mind.

Photographs sent to the NCPCR headquarters in Delhi from Nangal Bhanga showing

children learning their lessons out in the open because their schools were occupied by

paramilitary forces, had an immediate impact. The Commission wrote to the state

FIGHTING FOR CHILD RIGHTS

• SiDli BloCk, Chirang DiStriCt, aSSam •

Village level awareness meeting organised by Bal Bandhus


government as well as the union ministry of home affairs

asking for the schools to be vacated. The pictures were taken

by the children’s parents, who had initially sought police

protection against the militants. Their decision to oust

the forces housed in schools came after their interaction

with the Bal Bandhus. Eventually, the central government

released Rs 1.5 lakh to the district commissioner to build an

alternate shelter for the forces, putting 476 children back

into their school buildings.

Be it taking on militants or paramilitary forces, the Bal

Bandhus in Sidli block of Assam’s insurgency hit Chirang

district have the aplomb to confront anyone for the sake

of children’s rights. Neither are they deterred by the

programme having had to pull out from the state’s NC Hills

district where the Bal Bandhu team encountered threats.

Chirang and its neighbouring Kokrajhar district share the

same situation of insurgency and civil war, due to which

children are the worst sufferers.

For Resource Persons Mohammad Khaja and C Srinivas, the

challenging journey with the Bal Bandhu programme began

when they turned up in Sidli as rank outsiders to the state in

December 2010, without even knowing the language. With

some initial help from the NGO ANT that had been working

in the region for some time, they reviewed the Village

Council Development Committees or gram panchayats in

Sidli that could be covered by the project.

Eventually 20 VCDCs covering 448 villages in Sidli block

were selected for implementing the programme, all remote

and backward areas where education support was required.

Eight VCDCs are located along the Bhutan border in a heavily

forested belt. Says Srinivas, “Though I have worked for several

years among the forest tribes of Madhya Pradesh, I have not

been in such dense jungles earlier.” The Bal Bandhu survey

found that a large number of children in villages along

the border migrated across to Bhutan to work in the stone

breaking and construction industry and also for menial work.

Many children in the area worked in shops, did construction

work and fishing to supplement the family income. The

extremist group ULFA has a strong presence here. The

initiation of the Bal Bandhu programme was a novelty in this

remote area where few outsiders ventured.

removing BeginnerS’ BloCk

During meetings with district and block level officials, the

Resource Persons were warned against meddling in a volatile

situation. The district social welfare officer hinted community

mobilisation could lead to abduction and threat to life. Some

officials, however, went out of their way to encourage the

programme, such as the ADC of Chirang who convened

a meeting with all line department officials to support the

Resource Persons.

At a block review meeting with officials in June 2011,

where Bal Bandhus shared VCDC data on out of school

children, the block elementary education officer wanted

to know why they were working with children aged 0-18

when the RTE Act targeted only those between 6-14

years. The Bal Bandhus clarified that anyone below 18

was a child according to the UN-CRC. The official initially

disagreed that the number of out of school children in the

block was as high as they claimed but they told him the

figure was based on a door to door survey. He replied that

the statistics presented by the education department were

also based on surveys. The Bal Bandhus clarified that all

government surveys did not involve door to door surveys

Bal Bandhus going village to village during the survey


while the Bal Bandhus had visited every house in the

villages to collect the data. Acknowledging this, he agreed

to assist the programme.

VCDC members like the chairperson of Tukrajhar VCDC

were also initially apprehensive of the Bal Bandhus.

They suspected the BBs belonged to an NGO that had

implicated some VCDC members in the embezzlement

of NREGS funds. The Bal Bandhus managed to convince

them that their agenda was to protect child rights. There

were those felt the community would respond better if the

Bal Bandhus were chosen from the majority community.

Resource Persons also met Border Security Force

representatives for their support.

Interacting regularly with the community, the Resource

Persons soon selected one Bal Bandhu for each VCDC

based on their active participation. The Bal Bandhus belong

to the Bodo, Nepali, Muslim and Rajvanshi communities.

“There is a lot of conflict between these communities so

we made sure that all of them were represented through

the Bal Bandhus,” points out Srinivas.

The first Bal Bandhu recruited was Raising Tudu of

Bengtol, who had volunteered to assist during the visit

of then NCPCR member secretary Mr Lov Verma to his

resettlement camp when the groundwork for the project

was being laid. Raising belongs to a family of erstwhile

indentured labour from the Santhalese community

that was worst hit when the conflict in the present day

Bodoland area was at its height.

In April 2011, 16 Bal Bandhus went on an exposure visit

to child friendly areas in Andhra Pradesh and were

orientated on the RTE Act and other related issues. For the

Bal Bandhus who could not attend this training, a two day

workshop was organised in the block. They were initiated

into the programme by being given a series of small tasks

by the Resource Persons, such as collecting details on the

number of public institutions in their respective VCDCs

and information about schools. In the beginning, Resource

Persons accompanied the Bal Bandhus everywhere. The

Bal Bandhus working in villages along the border with

Bhutan, such as Malivita, Patabari, Dadgari and Santipur,

had to be assured that no harm would come to them or

their families.

Bal Bandhu Kangresh Mardi of Kashikotra VCDC where

75 per cent of the population is Bodo, faced opposition

because he belonged to the Santhal community. Even

some VCDC members opposed him. Faced with non

cooperation from the community, he was assisted by a

few other Bal Bandhus in conducting the door to door

survey. Kangresh eventually gained acceptance when he

succeeded in getting six children admitted to school.

Community moBiliSation

The programme gathered steam by holding extensive

village level meetings to discuss its child rights agenda

with schools, anganwadi centres, health centres, ASHAs,

members of VCDCs, SMCs, parents, youth and student

unions. Information was shared and brainstorming

sessions held to deliberate on strategies for countering

child labour, child trafficking and other issues. A total

of 225 community and awareness meetings with 5596

participants were held in the first four months.

Meetings were held in all VCDCs on International

Women’s Day on March 8, 2011, with as many as 350

Awareness meeting on child rights with Muslim community in Nangal Bhanga VCDC


women’s groups attending the programme where the ill

effects of child marriage were highlighted and village wise

lists of out of school children presented. The Bal Bandhus

publicly pledged to bring all children to school. Thirty

four children were enrolled immediately at a cluster level

meeting of 354 participants in Santipur.

In the last week of March, Bal Bandhus stayed overnight in

their respective VCDCs as part of a special drive to interact

with parents and the community on the functioning of

schools and other public institutions. During this drive,

a significant achievement was enrolment of 15 children

from Paddapur VCDC into an RBC. On Anti Child Labour

Day on June 12, orientation sessions were organised for

as many as 345 student unions in Dadgari, Kashikotra,

Santipur and Bengtol VCDCs.

Sidli’s popular weekly Bazaar Day was used as a platform

to educate the community on the RTE Act and children’s

rights. Road shows and cultural performances were

also used to reach out to the community and campaign

pamphlets prepared in Bodo, Hindi and English with

information on the RTE Act and other child legislations.

A special drive was undertaken to protest against 12

middle elementary schools in the block charging fees

from students for Saraswati Puja and school admission.

Meetings were held with teachers who were urged not

to collect any money as the children’s parents were poor

and the RTE Act prohibited imposition of any fees. Some

teachers had issued receipts, copies of which were sent to

local education department officials and the NCPCR. The

issue was also brought to the notice of the ADC. Teachers

were instructed to return the fees.

While enquiring why seven infants died in a single month

in October-November in Santipur’s Deosri village, Bal

Bandhus found that all the deliveries had taken place

at home, without any pre natal checkups. Further, both

mothers and infants were severely malnourished. Following

this, the Bal Bandhus launched an extensive campaign on

maternal and child health care.

In several areas the community mobilization resulted in

formation of Shishur Adhikaar Suraksha Samitis (SASS) to

institutionalize the child rights programme at the grassroots.

reaChing out to teaCherS

Most teachers, it was found, were unaware of the provisions

of the RTE Act. They had been charging fees from children,

demanding certificates at the time of admission and taking

payments from children for some reason or the other like

observing festivals in school. They had also been refusing

to admit mainstreamed children above 12 years in age

appropriate classes in line with the provisions of the Act.

At the same time, in the strife torn civil rights situation of

the area, the teachers were working under great pressure.

For instance, enquiring why a teacher from a middle

elementary school in Nangal Bhanga had suddenly

stopped coming to work, Bal Bandhu Lalmiah Sikder

discovered the teacher had received a death threat from

militants who wanted him to cough up Rs 5 lakh. Police

officials to whom Lalmiah referred the matter advised that

the teacher should stay away from school for some time.

“Extortion and kidnapping are daily realities faced by

teachers in the area,” says Mohammad.

At a meeting in Hatipota lower primary school in

Kadamtola, teachers pointed out that the key areas of

Meeting with Santhal community on child rights and the RTE Act in Sidli VCDC


concern in schools were infrastructure and midday meals.

Many schools ran in a single room accommodating several

classes together. Teaching was a difficult proposition

also because 63,685 children in the project area had not

received both Bodo and Assamese medium text books

till several months after their academic session began.

Teachers complained of being underpaid, with a number

of them saying they ought to be paid Rs 40,000 a month.

Several cluster level school meetings were held with

teachers and head teachers. Regular interaction with the

Bal Bandhu team has led to changes in their mindset and

attitude. At one such meeting with 67 teachers in Patabari

VCDC, Bal Bandhu Dipak Nirola pointed out it was

inappropriate to charge Rs 20 from each child to celebrate

Saraswati Puja. The teachers expressed ignorance of the

RTE provisions on the issue and the discussions resulted

in the headmaster of Hatipota middle elementary school

reimbursing the Rs 68,700 he had taken as school fees from

the parents of 229 children. The head teacher of Purba

Ankorbari lower primary school, who had been charging

fees for school events, was advised to list budgetary

requirements for all events scheduled in the academic

year and submit it to the school management committee

which would release the required amount.

Similarly, lacking full knowledge of RTE provisions, the

head teacher of Paschim Ankorbari middle elementary

school in Kadamtola had not only been charging students

under various heads but had also prepared lists of children

below and above the poverty line so that the uniform

allowance could be released only to the poorest. Bal

Bandhu Dipak Roy advised him instead an annual plan

of school expenses and submit it to the block education

officer so that uniform allowance was given to all children

even if it was for just one set.

Finding out why two children seeking admission in Jaraguri

PGR lower primary school in Kochugaon’s Makthaigaon

VCDC were not being allowed to attend classes, Bal

Bandhu Ansumwi Basumatary discovered the teacher was

adamant on their birth certificates. “The parents had said

they would submit the documents later but he was not

allowing the children to come to school,” says Ansumwi.

“When I told him that under the RTE birth certificates

could not be demanded, he said the children were not

being admitted because actually no books were available

for them, an equally unacceptable excuse.” Ansumwi’s

intervention ensured the children were finally admitted.

He also pressurized the teacher to shift a 12 year old girl in

the school from Class 3 to Class 6 in line with the RTE, and

to mainstream two children into the 65 student school.

At a block level teachers meet attended by 212 participants

in Paddapur VCDC, the head teacher of Pothmopur lower

primary school expressed reservations about the RTE

provision of not using corporal punishment and other

teachers agreed with him. When Bal Bandhu Akram-ul-

Hoque visited the Pothmopur school and found that a

teacher had reported late but had manipulated the entry

time in the register. Akram raised the matter with the head

teacher and pointed out that corporal punishment for

mistakes made either by adults or students was not the

solution.

Two teachers belonging to a 35 student EGS school in

Santipur Relief Camp, who used to come to teach in a

drunken state, mended their ways after the gaonbura

complained to Bal Bandhu Shiv Kumar Katwal. Shiv visited

the school and also convened a meeting in the village on

the issue along with NCPCR official Mr Dhananjay. The

villagers decided to lodge a complaint with officials if the

teachers continued to come to school drunk. Frightened of

losing their jobs, the teachers have stopped arriving in an

inebriated state.

Simultaneously, support for teachers is mobilised among

the community and officials. For instance, the Bal Bandhus

intimated the district education officer about the lack of

textbooks in schools despite the start of the academic session.

At review meetings with the district commissioner and

district education officer, Bal Bandhus regularly raise issues

related to infrastructure in schools and anganwadis, midday

meals and drinking water facilities.


Of the change brought about by the Bal Bandhus, Kailash

Panchkuti, head teacher of No 730 Hathisar LP School in

Dadgari, who singlehandedly teaches all 400 pupils in

the school besides also functioning as the RTE resource

person for the block, says, “Hardly 100 children used

to attend classes regularly. I, the Bal Bandhu and the

VCDC chairperson counselled parents intensively and

also publicised the different schemes launched by the

government for children. We also invited the assistant

commandant of the SSB to visit the school. Noting that

we faced acute water shortage, he sponsored a pipeline.

Our school was also upgraded from Class 4 level to Class

5 level this year. However, we still have serious problems

that need to be addressed at the earliest.”

Strengthening SmCs, ParentS,

vCDCs anD Community

Extensive discussions have been held with every SMC in

the project areas, on issues including RTE, midday meals

and anganwadi centres. In Hatisar VCDC where eight

meetings were held with SMCs, the issue of getting support

for children to prevent them from dropping out was raised.

Since 350 children passing out of the various primary schools

every year had to undertake a hazardous bus journey to the

nearest middle elementary school in Devsri 15 km away

and to a high school even further in Santipur, sometimes

even having to travel on the roof of the bus, many children

including girls dropped out of school.

The midday meal in Hatipotha lower primary school,

Kadamtola, was not being cooked in the school during

Ramzan as 70 per cent of the students were Muslims. Bal

Bandhu Dipak Roy told the head teacher it was not right

to starve the rest of the children. SMC members promised

to ensure that the holy month of Ramzan did not turn into

a period of starvation for non Muslim students. In Purba

Ankorbari in Kadamtola VCDC, SMC members managed to

get eight girls who had been withdrawn because they were to

be married, back to school.

Meetings with parents have also been convened by the

Bal Bandhu team to work out action plans to address non

functioning of anganwadis and poor quality midday meals.

The Bal Bandhus efforts resulted in 84 anganwadi workers

becoming regular in their duties and the midday meal

scheme being streamlined in 35 schools. Parents have now

begun tackling instances of negligence by teachers.

Parents of the children studying in Purbi Ankorbari lower

primary school complained to Bal Bandhu Dipak Roy that

the school would be shut down by the teacher two hours

after it began at 10 am. The teacher, however, claimed that

he started the school at 8 am. To check on the matter Dipak

turned up early in school one day to find that not a single

child had arrived and nor had the teacher. He helped the

parents convene a meeting on the issue with 60 villagers

who urged the gaonbura to take his duties more seriously

and pull up erring teachers.

With the incidence of child marriage being quite high in

some areas, village leaders have been urged to put a stop

to the practice. During a debate on the issue in Deborgil

and Naturbaary villages in Subaijhar where most girls

regular teaCherS meanS regular

StuDentS anD viCe verSa

The turnout of children in two schools in Subhaijar

has gone up from 40-50 per cent to 65-70 per

cent after their teachers started coming to school

regularly. Earlier, both teachers and students of the

lower primary schools in Dodragury and Domgaon

Khagrabary villages would blame each other for

their irregular attendance. Summoned by the

SMC and other villagers to answer for their non

attendance, the teachers had claimed there was no

point in coming to school as hardly any children

were there. A public meeting was held thereafter

in the village, in which the gaonbura and SMC

members urged parents to give importance to their

children’s education while calling upon the teachers

to work properly, resulting in the regular attendance

of both.


are married at 12-13 years, a participant said parents

were keen to marry off their daughters early because

they felt insecure about their safety particularly since

several incidents of rape had occurred. “Parents who

were of the opinion that there was no use in educating

girls, were told that educating one girl could benefit

three generations,” says BB Tebarswan Brahma.

In Deosri VCDC where knowledge of the importance of child

rights issues was low, the chairperson was non cooperative

and indifferent at first, refusing to give Bal Bandhu Shobha

Sarma any time. However, his attitude changed after some

student union members counselled him. The gaonbura of

Dadgari VCDC was motivated enough to personally prevent

11 children from migrating, encouraging them to enroll in a

residential bridge course camp (RBC) instead.

Gaonburas of all 15 villages of Runikata VCDC were

very supportive, assisting Bal Bandhu Rita Adhikary in

streamlining the implementation of the midday meal

in two schools and jointly identifying 93 out of school

children, 12 of whom were brought back to school.

“By spreading awareness on the RTE Act, we have mobilized

the community to avail of the school uniform allowance,

ensure no capitation fee is charged, see that children are

admitted to schools, the midday meal scheme is properly

implemented and instances of corporal punishment are

reported to officials,” says Resource Person Mohammad.

The figures speak for themselves. In one year, from April

2011 to March 2012, Bal Bandhus helped 482 students avail

of their uniform allowance of Rs 400, thus getting over Rs

19 lakh released from school funds. The community has

also been saved from making payments to schools that had

been charging parents under various heads, with the savings

estimated to be to the tune of Rs 5.5 lakh.

The presidents and secretaries of all leading student

unions like ABSU, AGSU, AMSU and AASU participated in

a special drive to reach out to children employed in hotels

from Chapaguri to Kajalgaon along the National Highway.

Thirty two children were identified and notices issued to 16

hotel owners warning them of heavy penalties. Though the

children could not be immediately put into schools, their

parents were motivated and assured that they would be

shifted to school in the next academic year. Most children

belonged to Paddapur and Kadamtola VCDCs.

ABSU members in Nangal Bhanga came forward to

form a 12 member Shishur Adhikaar Suraksha Samiti to

our Daily log

A sample of the specific problems noted by Bal

Bandhus in Sidli as they went about their work:

• The teacher in charge of a school in Polasguri gets

drunk and drops out of school every Thursday

• The SMC president of No. 424 Gorsing Para lower

primary school drinks a lot and often abuses the

children

• Only tea and black tea is served as midday meal

to children in a school in Pachim Para, Asra Bari

VCDC

• Katribari lower primary school in Asra Bari has

just one teacher for 143 children and no furniture

in its two rooms

• Over 45 fake names identified in Subhaijar’s

Gandagageb lower primary school, No. 368 Purba

Domgaon LP school and No. 213 Chotto Nilibary

LP school

• The agency providing the midday meal takes Rs 10

per child as transportation charge in Birinchiguri

No. 2 Salbari LP school in Tukrajhar

• Though meant to have facilities for instruction in

both Bodo and Assamese mediums, there is no

teacher in the Bodo section of the high school in

Patabari

• Six of seven anganwadis in Deosri are almost

defunct, with no one in the villages being aware

who the anganwadi workers are

• Given additional charge of Aeidubri LP school,

the cluster resource centre coordinator (CRCC) of

Patabari is irregular in his duties


campaign for child rights. The committee, some of whose

members are parents, assembles on a bimonthly basis to

review the situation of children in its area and follow up on

out of school children.

A block level orientation session was held for 50 ABSU

members in Sidli in June 2011, where child rights issues

and civil society’s role in strengthening schools and

anganwadis was discussed. A zonal level orientation

session was organised for 65 student union leaders in July

in Runikata VCDC. At a block level youth meeting at the

ABSU office in Gosaigaon in September, 60 youth were

oriented on how to identify children’s issues and address

them with petitions. Members chalked out a schedule for

visiting schools in their respective villages.

winning over government oFFiCialS

A major achievement of the Bal Bandhu programme in

Sidli has been to progressively strike a rapport with an

initially unresponsive bureaucracy. From viewing the Bal

Bandhu team like non government activists, officials have

come to accept it as its partner in government. Officials

had been unwilling to accept the BB’s door to door survey

– which showed the number of out of school children

in the project area as much higher than what was being

claimed by officials.

To change this situation, the Bal Bandhu team went to the

extent of recording on video what teachers said to them,

playing it out before the district commissioner in his

house. “Please accept our suggestions, we told him,” says

Mohammad, “not as complaint but as feedback for the

benefit of children.”

Now the BB team is invited for every district development

committee (DDC) meeting in which all 39 departments of

the government are present. The team was asked to make a

detailed presentation on the problems they encountered in

the field. The DC assured them that all the issues would be

looked into by the next meeting. “We get an SMS from the

Commissioner now enquiring where we are, if we miss any

meeting,” laughs Mohammad, “Since January this year the

education department contacts us in advance to ask about

the issues we intend to raise.”

On most occasions, representations made to government

officials have had a salutary effect. The district commissioner

intervened to prevent a kickback being taken from a

contractor who refused to begin construction of a pucca

building in an EGS school in Balapara 1, Bengtol VCDC. The

school was continuing in a temporary bamboo structure

even as its grant of Rs 7.48 lakh remained unused in the bank

because the contractor demanded a 20 per cent commission.

The DC was informed that their attempt was to strengthen

the school and not to point a finger at anyone. Work has now

commenced on the school building.

Officials also swung into action to construct a bridge after

Subhaijhar villagers petitioned that the bamboo bridge

they had built for students to cross River Aie to reach

Bodiagury lower primary school, had got damaged in the

monsoons. A public meeting had been held to discuss the

inaccessibility of the school for most of its 115 students.

Anganwadi workers in Nangal Bhanga have begun

accommodating children in Venture Schools and other

school buildings after they attended orientation and

awareness meetings in which they were told about their

responsibilities with regard to the RTE Act, Right to Food

Security, child protection issues, immunisation and the

importance of education.

every ChilD matterS

Determined and thorough, Bal Bandhus succeeded in

freeing three children in Subaijhar employed as bonded

labour. Their employers told the Bal Bandhus that the

children were their relatives and were going to a local

school. When the Bal Bandhus saw the children emerging

from their employers’ home instead of a school and

questioned them, the truth came out. The employers were

sternly warned and forced to let them go. The children are

now regularly attending school.

After Babita, an orphan, employed as a domestic help in


Bengtol left work, her employer began pressurizing her

to return. He asked the Bengali Federation to send the

girl back. The members of the Federation said they would

pursure the matter only if Babita wanted to return. Since

Babita wanted to go to school Bal Bandhu Raising Tudu

admitted her to a local school.

When Bhirangaon Bal Bandhu Gandip Brahma came to

know that the mother of eight year old Gwmsar Musary

from Amguri village was planning to withdraw him from

school after the death of his father, he counselled the

child’s mother and ensured that the child was brought

back to school. •



Gram panchayats/VCDCs contacted 20







Children enrolled in ashramshalas/RBCs/KGBVs 91




Rallies, marches 4

Orientation meetings on Right to Education 112

Reimbursement of fees Rs 6,87,850

Anganwadis provided after community petitioning 29

Campaign programmes with community 4 VCDCs

participation

Based on report by G. Padmanabhan

BIHAR

chAPteR 3


iin the village oF angutha chaaps

At tola Bhagwanpur, Badashankar panchayat, Patahi block of East Champaran

district, people gather around the mukhia Sher Mohammed, as he narrates the

travails and the progress seen in his panchayat over the last couple of months.

“Till two years ago the only educated man in the village was Siraj-Ul-Haq,” he says

pointing to a grey bearded man in his sixties. He had studied till matric and was held

in great esteem by the panchayat. The rest were angutha chaaps (illiterates using

their thumb impression).

Today there are 150 children going to school from the 74 houses in this Muslim

dominated tola. A primary school was sanctioned in the village in 2009—then

cancelled. Ever since the NCPCR’s Bal Bandhu Scheme of mobilizing specially

A MOvEMENT FOR CHILD RIGHTS

• Patahi BloCk, eaSt ChamParan DiStriCt, Bihar •


selected young people from the community to enforce

child rights began, there has been a push for education,

says the mukhia. The community and the Bal Bandhu

Vijay Kumar Ranjan have submitted a petition for a

school. Land has been allotted but construction has yet

to begin. However, for a few months now children have

been going to a school 1.5 km aways. To ensure that the

school going momentum is sustained, young volunteers

or Bal Mitras, who assist the Bal Bandhus, have been

visiting homes and getting the children to brush their

teeth and look clean and tidy when they leave for school.

In the monsoons it is difficult to get to school because

there is a canal that has to be crossed.

Ward member Ansar-ul-Haq too says proudly that

three of his six children are going to school after being

influenced by Bal Bandhu Vijay. The younger three go to

an anganwadi centre (AWC). Though there are nine AWCs

in the panchayat, two are run by the helpers since there is

no anganwadi worker. Though 40 children are registered at

each AWC, very few attend it. Food distribution at the AWC

seems to be irregular, for Haq says there is a bigger turnout

when food is distributed.

Siraj-ul-Haq has kept aside a piece of his land so that

a school can be built for the tola. He knows the value of

education and has educated his five sons—four of them

are doing business outside the panchayat. The eldest lives

with Siraj and looks after the land.

worSt aFFeCteD PanChayatS

Patahi block was selected for the Bal Bandhu Scheme for

protection of child rights in December 2010 as one of the

civil conflict ravaged areas of the country where enforcing

the Right to Education Act was a challenge. Two Resource

Persons, Ravi Kumar and J Sambashiva Rao, with experience

in working in conflict areas and bringing out of school

children into the mainstream of education, were given the

responsibility. Five of the 15 panchayats of Patahi block were

identified as the worst affected by the Resource Persons—

Bokanikala, Parsaunikapur, Betona, Champapur Bakhri and

Balua Julphekarabad.

Their first job was to recruit young Bal Bandhus between

18 to 30 years from the community with leadership

qualities and commitment to child rights. Twenty Bal

Bandhus were recruited to mobilize the community and

work with the local and district administration to enforce

child rights in the 15 panchayats. The Bal Bandhus, who

had passed at least their matriculation, were put through

training sessions to understand child rights as well as the

RTE Act. They were taken on an exposure visit to Andhra

Pradesh to get a first hand account of how children were

brought into the school system. Back in East Champaran,

they also learnt about the other entitlements of women

and children and how to access them.

Community members—youth and women, have come

together to form support groups for child rights. There are

11 youth groups or Bal Mitra Sangathans and 11 women’s

groups or Mahila Sangathans in Patahi block. Based on

surveys, master lists were prepared of the total number of

children in the 15 panchayats and the number out of school.

The Bal Bandhu Scheme in Patahi block is fortunate to have

an office of its own where the BBs and Resource Persons meet

regularly. In this block, the Bal Mitra Sangathans and the

Mahila Sangathans have played a significant role in getting


children into schools—those who were never enrolled as

well as those enrolled but not attending school regularly. It

is through the support of these groups that the Bal Bandhus

have been able to address the many challenges that prevent

parents from sending children to schools. On village walls

across the block, slogans have been written in red colour

to entice children to school, and extolling the virtues of

education. The BBs themselves are an extremely motivated

group with the capacity to challenge the system.

youth anD women SuPPort BBS

BB Vijay Kumar of Bada Shankar panchayat works with a

youth group of 20 people between 18 to 22 years, all educated.

Fifteen of them stay in the villages around Bada Shankar

and five outside. On November 17, 2011, Vijay and his team

found that a 13 year old studying in Class 5 of Rajkiya Kanya

Vidyalaya was to marry a 40 year old chowkidar of Thana

Patahi. The group went and spoke to the girl’s parents and

when they refused to listen, asked SP Bambam Chowdhury

to intervene. The marriage was stopped. Around the same

time, the wedding of a 12 year old studying in the KGBV was

stopped. The girl had gone home for the chhat puja when the

alliance was struck but the girl resisted marriage. When she

did not come back, the BBs found out about the proposed

marriage. The story of the 12 year old’s proposed marriage

was picked up by the media and she was asked if she wanted

to study or get married. She was clear she wanted to study

and the marriage was stopped.

In fact, 38 child marriages were prevented in Patahi block

in a year by the Bal Bandhus and their support groups. The

children, who were 10 to 16 years of age, were pushed for

marriage because they were not going to school and the

parents felt it was safer for the girls to be married than to sit

at home. Having averted marriages, the Bal Bandhus have

got the children into KGBVs and into age appropriate classes

in schools.

Shailendra Kumar, a Bal Mitra, is a student in Motihari

but feels a sense of social responsibility because his father

who was illiterate, pushed him into education and this has

improved his job prospects. In 2009, he and his friends, all Bal

Mitras, joined a summer camp organized by UNICEF to teach

children and found it a satisfying and enriching experience.

“Even if I get a job and move to another city, I will send money

for books, pens and even chocolates to encourage children to

go to school. Our group has decided to build a team to take

our place when we move out of Patahi,” he says.

Ajay Kumar, a Bal Mitra of Narvana panchayat, gives free

tuitions for one and a half hours every morning to 20 children

who cannot afford to pay for tuitions but need support. Like

him, there are five other Bal Mitras giving tuitions. Also

expressing active support is Bal Mitra Bechan Paswan of

Mohmmedpur village who put a lock on the door of a school

when he found teachers were not reaching school till 12

noon and the midday meals were not given regularly. The

community was angry with the teachers but felt helpless.

After five days when the locks were removed and the school

reopened, the teachers were cooperative.

DynamiC women leaDerS

The role of the Mahila Sangathans is equally phenomenal.

Chitra Lekha is the president of the Mahila Sangathan in

Bokanekala panchayat since February 2011. Behind her slim

build and soft exterior is a tough woman with determination.

When Guddi Kumari, Bal Bandhu of Bokanekala panchayat,

sought her support to get children into school, she had no

hesitation. She found the work interesting and went from

Children at a KGBV


ward to ward on a fact finding mission. She also held a

few meetings with other women of the panchayat. When

she found that Mukesh, 12, was going to work in a barber’s

saloon, she approached his mother not to ruin her son’s

future and allow him to continue schooling. Manju Devi, the

mother, said she had four more children to feed and needed

financial support. Mukesh had finished Class 7 and when

Manju Devi relented, Chitra and Guddi got him into Class 8.

Geeta’s son, Akhilesh, also 12, was sent off to a brick kiln to

make chimneys. Akhilesh had been working for four months

and was earning Rs 150 to Rs 200 for every 1000 bricks

he assembled in the kiln. His father was an alcoholic and

Geeta needed the money Akhilesh provided for the family.

Whatever the circumstances, child labour is a non negotiable

for all the Bal Bandhus and their supporters. The challenge

is in convincing parents of the long term advantages of an

educated child. Under the pressure of the women’s group,

Geeta relented and Akhilesh, who had never been to a

school, was admitted to Class 4 and additional tuitions were

provided to bring him on par with the others in his class. His

five siblings too have been sent to school and to the AWC.

The 10 members of the Mahila Sangathan have taken

the lead in sending all their children to school regularly.

The sarpanch and the ward member at Bokanekala give

full backing to the Mahila Sangathan and the 19 year old

Bal Bandhu Guddi Kumari. It is this integrated approach

that is the key to the success of the child right initiatives

at Bokanekala. Now, some school headmasters even do

a quick head count between 10 and 10.30 am and tell the

women’s group which child has not come. Since October

2011, the headmaster of another school in Narainpur calls

mothers on Saturdays and updates them about their child’s

progress in school as well as their regularity in attendance.

integrating hinDuS/muSlimS For mealS

Chitra’s other big achievement was getting the Hindu and

Muslim children to sit together and eat their midday meals.

At the Urdu school, the cook was a Muslim so the Hindus

were reluctant about their children eating in school. Though

the Hindu and Muslim children were studying together,

they just would not eat together. So Chitra, a Brahmin, took

her son to school and made him eat the meal there along

with Nisha, whose mother was objecting to her eating in the

school. Now there is integration even at mealtime.

At Betauna village the fear of Naxal violence hangs like a

dark cloud ever since the Maoist commander of the area

was killed in 2008. But since the formation of the Bal

Adhikar Sangh headed by ward member Phoolkanti Devi,

women are at the forefront of the campaign to get children

into school. Today, 1,300 children are going to school and

since there are just seven teachers, a campaign has started

to get more teachers.

Bal BanDhu aS Change agentS

The backbone of the Bal Bandhu programme, however,

are the charged and motivated young people who have

been groomed for their responsibilities as Bal Bandhus.

Mukesh Pandey of Saraiyagopal panchayat found that

all the nine schools in his panchayat were charging Rs

10 for admission of a child. So he called members of

the community and told them of the RTE Act and their

right to free education. For close to three months, says

Mukesh, there was confrontation between the teachers

and the community on the admission fee levied. Finally,

Mukesh was able to get 35 children admitted without a

paisa being charged.

Getting girls into school


In a primary school in ward 6 of Saraiyagopal, the

government funds for uniforms for students were not

being disbursed. The teachers said no money was received

from the government. Then, 150 people of the village

assembled and the school register was pulled out to see

where the money was being diverted. The Rs 25,000 meant

for uniforms was recovered and distributed to the children.

Two 13 year old children of the same panchayat dropped

out of school after Class 6 and 7 because they were not

getting the books they were entitled to. Both stayed at

home and went to work earning Rs 100 a day. They then

found more lucrative work in a garment factory in Surat

and left the village. With the support of their mothers,

Mukesh asked them to return to school, but they said “you

did not get us the books.” The books were assured and the

kids are now back in school.

In Bokanekala, when parents refused to send their children

to school because teachers would knit sweaters in classrooms

and not teach, Guddi, accompanied by members of the

community visited the school and found the charges were

correct and the children were happily playing in the fields

while the teachers were chatting and knitting. The school

did have not a building and was functioning under a tree.

Some children were even throwing stones at one another.

After pressure from the Bal Bandhu and the community, the

teachers have stopped knitting in school and 260 children

have got admission. In another school, where the teacher was

charging Rs 20 for every admission, the money was recovered

and returned to the parents.

Charging For aDmiSSionS/

tranSFer CertiFiCateS

Seeking money for admission of children as well as for

issuing transfer certificates was seen in several panchayats.

Bal Bandhu Raj Bharti of Betauna panchayat, where a

Naxal commander was killed in 2009, said that for a whole

week in June 2011 he held a torchlight rally. Since 1500

children were out of school in this panchayat, a meeting

was held in the school premises and among the reasons

given for children not going to school was the Rs 20 to

Rs 30 admission fee being levied. This stopped after the

intervention by Raj and the community on the right to free

education under the RTE Act.

Though there were seven teachers in the school, they were

irregular and the women teachers were invariably absent.

Nukkad nataks were held on the role of the BBs and on

making schools functional. The activist role of Raj was

resented and he was attacked in the fields by a group of

people. Fortunately, a Bal Mitra came to his rescue. Now,

not only are teachers regular but some of the boys who

attacked him have become Bal Mitras.

taCkling ChilD laBour

Each Bal Bandhu has a separate story of the fight for child

rights. Santosh Kumar of Patahi West panchayat saw 10

year old Zakir cutting grass instead of attending school.

On questioning, Zakir said his father had died and he was

working for a land owner named Sanjay Pande. His job was

to cut grass and fodder, feed the cattle and take it grazing. At

night he would press his master’s feet. Zakir was being paid

Rs 200 a month. Sanjay Pande’s wife was the headmistress

of one of the five schools of the panchayat.

Santosh and Resource Person SS Rao asked the labour

inspector to take action. Since the action was sought

through the NCPCR, Zakir was relieved of his domestic

chores but investigations showed that the labour inspector

was being bribed not to take action against those employing

children. Ashok, 12, also engaged as a domestic help and

cattle handler, was similarly rescued and put in Class 6.

Bal Bandhu Harikishore Singh of Jihuli panchayat ensured

that a school functioning out of the home of a headmistress

for six years was moved into a school building lying vacant.

Harikishore found the school was shifted into headmistress’

home so that it was easier for her to siphon off the midday

meal rations. “I could not have done it without the support of

the community and the mukhia,” he says.

The achievements of Santosh Kumar, Bal Bandhu of

panchayat Balua Julphakarabad, are equally impressive.


He found there was no school in Dumri Baiju village.

Earlier the children were walking one kilometer through

fields and crossing a water channel that overflowed in

the monsoons, to get to school. Thanks to the combined

pressure of the community and the Bal Bandhu, in March

2011 a school was sanctioned for Dumri Baiju village.

But the struggle to build the school continues. Currently,

classes are held for 168 children under a tree.

Till the Bal Bandhu Scheme was introduced, the eight

AWCs in the panchayat had been shut for two years. Now

five of them are functioning and there is daily monitoring

by the Bal Bandhu.

Bal Bandhu Jitesh Kumar of Parsaunikapur panchayat says a

school was sanctioned for a Harijan toli but since there was

no building, the children were studying under a tree. After

speaking to mukhia Sanjay Singh, three kattas of land was

released for the school. Though funds have also been allotted,

construction of the school building has yet to begin. Guddu,

who had studied till Class five, was sent to Delhi as a house

painter. With the intervention of the Bal Bandhu and his

youth supporters, when Guddu came home, his parents were

persuaded to readmit him in school. Now Guddu is in Class 7.

Migration from the panchayat has lessened and 275 children

are going to school.

reaChing women through health SuPPort

Bal Bandhu Govind Kumar of Champapur village,

Bakhri panchayat, has been able to garner the support of

women of the panchayat after ensuring health facilities

were provided to 88 maha dalit pregnant women. All of

them received iron supplements and the women who

delivered at the PHC were given Rs 1,500 through the

Janani Suraksha Yojana. Now the women of the panchayat,

who have formed a Mahila Sangathan, are sending their

children to the AWC and to schools. Govind has ensured

uniform funds for those children who were not getting it

earlier and proper distribution of midday meals. But there

are still a few older girls who need to go to a residential

bridge course (RBC) facility before being mainstreamed

into education, says Govind.

Fifty percent of the children don’t get books but at the KGBV

in east Patahi, the BBs found books being used to light a

fire for preparing the midday meal. The tragic irony of the

incident was brought to the notice of the NCPCR and a

strong message that such incidents should not be repeated,

was sent to all those involved in providing grassroots

education. More books were acquired for the KGBV.

Many Bal Bandhus’ have performed better than school

inspectors. Their constant vigil and interaction with the

community has helped them resolve many problems.

When Bal Bandhu Vandana Bharti visited the East Patahi

KGBV, she found that till 12 noon, children had not got

breakfast. The warden of the home was using the young

girls of KGBV as domestic helps —getting her baby ready

and fetching hot water. When the girls complained, they

were thrashed. Thanks to Vandana’s intervention the

warden was reprimanded and the functioning of the KGBV

has improved.

When the Naxals of Bakhri panchayat asked the Bal

Bandhus to join them in celebrating Women’s Day, the

occasion was used by Govind and others to talk about

child rights. As Bal Bandhu Vandana Bharti points out,


before elections all kinds of promises are made like getting

the voters Indira Awas Yojana houses, roads, irrigation

facilities or BPL (below poverty line) entitlements but

no one talks about giving children their rights and

entitlements. Now child rights are being mainstreamed

into all election manifestos and campaigns by the BBs.

Vishwas Kumar, the second Bal Bandhu of Champapur

Bakhri, found that a father who was allotted work under

NREGA was sitting at home and sending his 14 year old son

to work in his place. The boy was rescued and sent to school

and the NREGA supervisors were motivated not to employ

children. Mohammed Wazir Ansari, another Bal Bandhu

of Nonfarwa panchayat, was also able to rescue a dozen

children from child labour and send them to school. Five

of them, nine to 13 years, were employed by a shopkeeper

for packing tobacco. When Mohammed spoke to the

shopkeeper, he maintained the children were all members

of his family and he was merely utilizing their services. The

children would hide every time he approached the shop.

Finally, he managed to speak to the children and found

out which villages they came from and the names of their

parents. He then spoke to the parents and rescued the

children. They are now studying in Classes 2 to 4 though

they are slightly old for their class.

Bal Bandhu Mukesh Paswan of Parsaunikapur found that

primary school children were being given Rs 300 for their

uniform whereas the sanctioned amount was Rs 500. When

he spoke to the headmaster, he assured the remaining

amount would also be given to the children. The next day

when the children went to school they were thrashed for

speaking to the Bal Bandhu. Then the Resource Person and

the Bal Bandhu went back to the headmaster and confronted

him. He apologized and paid the remaining amount for the

uniforms. Sixty children got their full uniform fees.

Bal Bandhu Mohammed Shafiq of Belahiram panchayat

found that children of a primary school were not getting

their uniform fee and asked the community and parents

to take it up with the school authorities. During the

confrontation one of the teachers fainted and a case was

filed against the parents and students, says Shafiq. It was

after a long struggle that the case was dropped and money

for uniforms given to 65 children.

Bal Bandhu Chandni Kumari of Gonahi panchayat was

approached by the Mahila Sangathan for help in a school

where children were being charged Rs 20 per child as

exam fee. Chandni went with a group of supporters and

confronted the school teachers who said they were charging

this amount for buying material to teach handicrafts. When

it was pointed out that this was not allowed, the teachers

were forced to return the money. At a primary school at

Gonahi, Chandni put a locked box where students could

drop their complaints and suggestions. After eights days

the box was opened in the presence of several people

including local representatives and parents. There were

several complaints against teachers who did not come to

school or left early. It embarrassed the teachers and they

are more regular now.

in goD’S own kingDom

Ajay Kumar, 13, was studying in Class 4 when

a Ram Lila toli gave his parents Rs 5,000 and

took him to Ayodhya for a year to perform at the

Ram Lila. The parents agreed because the money

seemed good and they felt their child would benefit

learning the Ramayan in God’s own kingdom.

The child who has returned and is now studying

in Class 6 has still not got over the horrendous

experience of Ayodhya. The Ram Lila was held at

night and children had to stay awake till the wee

hours of the morning. For children like Ajay who

could not learn the passages assigned to them it

was a nightmare. Their chotties (long tufts of hair

left on top of the head) were tied to a nail in the

wall so that they sat upright and stayed awake till

they had learnt their scripts. There were several

other children like Ajay ‘bought’ from parents to

perform at the Ayodhya Ram Lila.


With the support of Bindu Devi of the Mahila Sangathan,

Bal Bandhu Vandana was also able to confront a

headmaster who would give neither admission nor transfer

certificates without getting Rs 20 to 30 per student. Bindu

Devi and Vandana were able to bring this case before the

BDO and the BEO who reprimanded the headmaster. The

headmaster is a changed man and the ‘controls’ are now

very much with the enlightened community.

Though the work done by the Bal Bandhus in the area of

education and rescue of children from the work force has

been significant, they have not had the same measure of

success in streamlining the AWCs. However, Ram Sagar

Prasad of panchayat Padumaker narrates the story of the

anganwadi in the Musahar toli that was surrounded by pigs

every day just when the children sat down to eat. It was

a terrible sight and there were chances of infection. After

several rounds of discussion with the Muslim community

he was able to persuade the pig owners to take their pigs

elsewhere. Water pipes and taps that were being stolen

because they were outside anganwadis and schools have

been moved into the buildings.

A toll free helpline for children of the area has been

demanded by the Bal Bandhus. In April 2011, a toll free

helpline—18003456160—was provided by the Bihar

government for complaints and queries regarding ICDS,

education etc. In one hour 70 complaints were recorded

but then the service was terminated.

Bal Bandhu Satish Kumar Giri, 21, of Padumaker

panchayat had done his BA honours in Psychology and

was preparing for competitive services, when he heard

Resource Persons Ravi Kumar and SS Rao talking about

child rights at a public meeting in his village. Satish felt

inspired and went and met Ravi and asked if he could join

this unusual project for child rights. His first task was to find

out the exact population size of Padumaker panchayat, the

number of schools and AWCs in the block and their status.

This information he was able to get from the mukhia. Then

he was trained as a BB in Hyderabad and Patna as well as

at seven district training workshops.

For Bal Bandhu Satish, one of the most challenging

assignments was getting 191 children admitted to a school

that their parents were comfortable with. The school for the

children of Nunia toli in ward 3 of Padumaker, was in Naxal

affected Dhaka block and to reach the school they had to

cross a canal. The men folk of Nuniatoli were migrant workers

and the women were reluctant to send the children to Dhaka.

So the headmaster of the Kanya middle school in Padumaker

took members of the community to the Dhaka school and got

permission that this school would not object to the children

joining the school in Padumaker. Now, 121 children who were

not going to school have joined Padumaker middle school

and the remaining 70 are also getting themselves admitted to

the school. The Padumaker school is nearer for the children

of Nuniatoli but due to some administrative demarcation the

children had to make the long trek to the school in Dhaka.

In addition, in a basti in his own village Narainpur, Satish

has formed a 12 member Bal Sansad (children’s group)

and every Sunday organizes painting competitions, sports

events etc. Children who were playing marbles and cards

have been diverted to other games and creative activity.

Now the members of Bal Sansad, largely children of 11

to 14 years, are involved in getting out of school children

into schools by talking to parents and the children. A

prabhatpheri (an early morning walk to sensitize the

community) is held every Friday since September 2011.

On October 2, Gandhi Jayanti, a sampoorna swachh

(village cleanliness) campaign was launched.

reSPonSe oF BloCk oFFiCial to BB SCheme

Anil Kumar Singh, who heads the block resource centre,

sees a significant improvement in school and anganwadi

development since the introduction of the Bal Bandhu

scheme. School enrolment, attendance of students and

teachers, midday meals, availability of text books and

school uniforms has improved vastly, he maintains. “The

tempo built up the Resource Persons will be sustained

even if they are moved out,” he assures. The chief minister’s

cycle scheme now includes two to nine free text books

per student. The books are sent from Patna based on the

block’s demand. However, there still seems a shortage of


books because Mr A K Singh said only 60 percent of the

books had been received and there have been complaints

to Bal Bandhus from children who have not received

books. At least 20 days in a month there is provision of

midday meals, Mr Singh said.

There are five high schools in East Champaran District,

each school accommodating about 480 students in the

senior classes. Mr Singh also stated that BDOs and BEOs

were regular in inspections—a statement that could be

challenged. However, even if they support the work of the

BBs and follow up on their investigations it would help

development in the region.

Mr Singh said there was a demand for three RBC facilities

for Patahi block and one may start soon. Up to 50 children

can be admitted to one RBC before being mainstreamed

into age appropriate classes in schools. There is need

for one more KGBV (for girls) in the block. Though there

was a demand for three RBCs, only one was granted for

Bokanikala and 50 students are studying there.

For operating in areas of civil unrest it is important to

check out the areas and get local support, says RP Ravi

Kumar. Initially just child rights issues were raised in these

panchayats and the same level of support and importance

given to child rights as other needs like Indira Awas Yojana

or water. At every panchayat, the locally recruited BB was

introduced to the community as their representative and

supporter of child rights.

During their initial investigations, the RPs found though

there was an office for the CDPO (child development

project officer) he never visited it. Though the pradhan

sahayak (chief assistant) has visited the block, he claims it

is not his responsibility to make field visits.

hallmark oF eFFiCienCy

Close monitoring and supervision of each

responsibility entrusted to the Bal Bandhus is the

hallmark of their efficiency. In Patahi block of East

Champaran, the Bal Bandhus maintain 18 registers

which could well be more than the number of registers

maintained by the overburdened anganwadi worker.

The register of complaints received against anganwadis

and schools is seen regularly for speedy redressal

of community grievances. It serves as the block’s

report card. There is a register of children who come

to the anganwadis and another of pregnant women

and those who have just delivered a baby. The names

of malnourished and highly malnourished children are

maintained in a separate register so that they can get

special nutrition. Children not attending the anganwadis

are entered in a separate register so that there can be a

follow up. Names of all children of 0 to 6 in a panchayat

are in a separate register. All children of the panchayat

studying in class 1 to 8 also feature in a register.

Since 2012, there is a register of children who have passed

class five (primary school) and class eight (middle school)

and have been enrolled in the next class. There is yet

another register of resident, underprivileged children who

do not go to school. Names of children who have passed

classes 5, 6, 7 and 8 and have then dropped out are also in

a separate register.

Another register takes stock of all children studying in

classes 5 and 8 in all schools of the panchayat. Names

of all children who have been enrolled in 2012 are

maintained in yet another register. There is yet another

book to record children participating in the Children’s

Parliament and Meena Manch, platforms for improving

child oratory skills.

There is also a register of all the Bal Mitras and the Mahila

Mitras (youth and women’s groups that support the

Bal Bandhus). Other registers keep track of all weekly

visits to the block schools; children studying outside the

panchayat; follow ups and minutes of meetings.


With the formation of a Teacher’s Forum, there is good

support from teachers in the block for the school programme.

But the functioning of AWCs has been unsatisfactory. They

don’t run properly and there is not enough support from the

administration. Ravi Kumar points out schools are supposed

to get 22 days rations in a month for midday meals but

according to the teachers they get rations for just 15 to 16

days. A K Singh of the block resource centre had said that

rations are provided for 20 days of the month. According to

teachers, the BRC does not forward the ration request on time

to the headquarters from where quotas are dispatched.

The new DPO Amar Bhushan is supportive of the BB

programme and on the sixth of every month he holds cluster

meetings. He is also invited for the monthly review meeting

of BB programme and advises them to dress simply on field

visits and work without getting into confrontation. The DPO’s

intervention has improved the linkage of the BBs with the

district administration since August 2011. Since September a

register is maintained and based on attendance of students,

model schools are being formed. Model schools are being

linked to model bastis based on cleanliness and school and

teacher performance. A complaints book has been placed

and every second Saturday meetings are held with teachers,

senior students and community members and the attendance

of children is reviewed. A model school and a model basti is

to be developed in each panchayat.

With teachers and students coming to school regularly,

academics have improved, maintain Rao and Ravi.

However, it may take time to measure the progress in

academics. No one talks of corporal punishment but in

Bokanikala the Mahila groups threw away the chhadis or

rulers of teachers for disciplining students. •



Gram panchayats/VCDS contacted 15







Children enrolled in ashramshalas/RBC/KGBV 114



Rallies, marches 81

Orientation on Right to Education 89

Exposure visits 3

Follow up and motivation for retention of children in school 7,239

Child marriages averted 38

By Usha Rai


eEvery morning when 19 year old Sunila Hazda sets off to work, she is not sure what

time she will return home. Her work as a defender of child rights or Bal Bandhu

requires her to traverse through dense forests, cross steep hills and be prepared to

negotiate snakes and other animals as she walks from village to village in this remote

naxal affected Harkar panchayat in Khaira Block, district Jamui, Bihar.

Although she has been born and brought up in this Santhal dominated panchayat, the

lack of roads and electricity makes her unsure at times. However, there is one thing

that the small built Sunila is sure about. She will stop at nothing to get every child to

where she belongs—the school.

Having gone through a long and difficult struggle to study, Sunila, the daughter of a

woodcutter, doesn’t want others to face the same obstacles. Her parents sold firewood to

garner resources for her education and allowed her to stay in a hostel 110 kilometers away

GIvING WING TO CHILDREN’S DREAMS

• khaira BloCk, jamui DiStriCt, Bihar •


to pursue her dreams. “If I had not studied, I, too, would have

been selling firewood. Education has given me a job and an

identity,” she said.

Proud as she is to be known as the first girl in her Santhal

community to reach Class 11, Sunila is equally keen to

help other children of the community get their right to

education. It was this zeal that led to her being chosen as a

Bal Bandhu or friend of the child under the government’s

Bal Bandhu programme.

the Programme makeS itS DeBut

Introduced in December 2010 by the National Commission

for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the Bal Bandhu

programme aims to protect children’s rights in areas of

civil unrest with the help of Bal Bandhus or child defenders

chosen from the community. Two Resource Persons for

each district have also been deputed to facilitate the three

year programme being piloted in 10 districts in nine states

impacted by civil unrest.

In Bihar, four districts have been selected for its

implementation. These include Jamui, Sheohar, Rohtas

and East Champaran.

In Jamui, the programme is being piloted in Khaira block.

Here, the Bal Bandhus (BBs) are slowly and steadily

mobilising the community to take responsibility of upholding

the rights of their children and convincing them to send

their children to anganwadis and schools not just in Sunila’s

Harkar panchyat but in 20 of the 22 panchayats in the block.

What has helped immensely is that of the 20 Bal Bandhus

chosen (one for each panchayat) by the two Bal Bandhu

Resource Persons (RPs), nine are women. Although the

BBs hail from different backgrounds, they all share a

common passion to do something for their community

and a commitment to work for children.

And their hard work has paid off. Since they began work in

December 2010, they have, with the help of the two RPs,

catalysed change in the block.

Interviews with the Bal Bandhus revealed that they have

managed to turn around almost half of the non operational

schools. Before the onset of the programme, 48 of the 226

schools in the block were non functional. By regularizing

39 of the 48 non functional schools, they have managed

to motivate 1396 children, who were already enrolled

in school but irregular, to attend regularly. About 183

children have been enrolled in residential bridge camps

and 2112 children who dropped out are being monitored.

FulFilling ChilDren’S DreamS

Even parents, who considered sending their children to

school a waste of time, said they were forced to change their

minds when they found Bal Bandhus willing to go out of their

way to facilitate their child’s education. Kundan’s mother had

sent her 13 year old son to work in the fields after the death

of her husband. She considered his being employed a better

utilization of time than studying and turned down Kundan’s

requests to send him to school.

It was during a meeting with Pappu Kumar, the local Bal

Bandhu, that Kundan, who had never been to school,

expressed his keenness to study. Some days later, Kundan

was takenaback when Pappu came to enroll him in

school. He learnt that ‘Pappu bhaiya’ had convinced his

mother that Kundan would get an opportunity to lead

a better life without her having to spend any money on

his education. Kundan said that if Pappu bhaiya had not

helped him, he would have never known that it was his

right to go to school.

Sonu, on the other hand, was a recalcitrant boy and his

mother, Amla Devi, a resident of Dumakola village in

Khera panchayat had tried all means to get the eldest

of her five children to school. Sonu would set off for

school but never reach there. “My other three children

would go to their class but the eldest would run away to

catch fish. After the Bal Bandhu came into our lives, he

found that my son didn’t attend because he hadn’t got

his uniform. He spoke to the authorities, managed to get

his uniform and today my son does not miss a day of

school,” she stated.


In fact, one of the ways the Bal Bandhus got the parents

on their side was to address complaints of denial of school

uniforms. In the past 16 months, they have helped all 99

children in the 6-14 year age group, who had been deprived

of free uniforms, to access this right given to them by the state

education department.

Parents also revealed that when Bal Bandhus provided

counseling support to their children to build their

confidence to the take the final examination, they realized

that the BBs were genuinely interested in the future of

their children. So far, 3140 children have been helped to

give their final exams. This has been extremely useful since

most children drop out if they fail to make it to the next

class and then join the labour force.

winning Community ConFiDenCe

The BBs further gained the confidence of the community

when they were also able to enroll into residential bridge

courses (RBC), 183 children who had already dropped out

of school.

But, as the Bal Bandhus found during their survey of

their panchayats, many children remained missing and

several had left their homes in Khaira block in search of

employment. During their meetings with the parents

of these children, the Bal Bandhus and the RPs were

requested to help bring them back. The intense efforts by

the BB team to track these children have helped them trace

69 children who had migrated for work. The Bal Bandhus

won the trust of the community when they were able to

reunite the children with their grateful families.

They were also able bring the community on board to protect

the rights of children in the age group 0-6. When the BBs

found that of the 250 anganwadis in the block, about 120

were defunct, awareness was raised about its importance

within the community. They were motivated to meet their

anganwadi worker and ask questions. In turn, some of the

anganwadi workers became inspired by this community

demand. Many of them revealed that for the first time,

they began to take pride in their work. So much so that the

anganwadi in Devlater village in Garhi panchayat, allowed

60 children although only 40 are mandated. The AWW said

she could not turn the additional children away. So far,

this partnership has helped to get 70 of the previously non

functional anganwadis going.

the ProCeSS oF Change

These achievements are significant especially in light of

the fact that the programme began in December 2010.

However, it has not been easy. What has contributed to

this process of change is a lot of hard work and patience

dovetailed with a structured plan to bring stability in the

lives of children living in these areas of civil unrest. Regular

monitoring and evaluation of their work has helped them

to make changes in strategies to ensure children received

their entitlements to education, protection, health,

nutrition, sanitation and safety.

Difficult in terrain and sensitive in environment, Khaira

block presented many challenges. Sharing borders with

neighbouring state of Jharkhand, also stricken by Naxal

turning DeteCtive to StoP traFFiCking

In Chuah panchayat, Bal Bandhu Chhotu Kumar had

to turn into a detective to prevent children from being

trafficked. While talking to the families during his

routine visit, he learnt that the parents of two boys had

accepted Rs 1000 in lieu of their sons being taken for

work outside the village. That night, he followed the

boys so that he could nab the contractor red handed.

Unfortunately, the boys managed to give him the slip.

However, Chhotu did not give up. He knew they would

come home for the Durga Puja festival in October.

So he waited and in the interim, kept motivating the

parents with the help of the Resource Persons.

Thanks to their efforts, the parents agreed to send

them to school instead of allowing them to go back

after they returned home in the holidays. Both boys

are now enrolled in school.


activities, has added to the existing sense of insecurity

prevalent in the block. Before the Bal Bandhu programme

was launched, Jamui witnessed several incidents of

violence involving the Naxals and the police.

In these far from normal circumstances, motivating people

to cast aside their fears and participate in protecting child

rights was always going to be a difficult task. It would take

special effort and commitment to stitch a partnership

between the people and the state to restore confidence

in government institutions and achieve the objectives of

the Bal Bandhu programme. Thus, the choice of the two

BB Resource Persons (RPs) was going to be critical to the

success of the programme. Not just because they had

to mentor the young Bal Bandhus but also because the

prevailing milieu would need them to think out of the box

to make the process participatory and transparent.

Once the RPs were chosen, the next step was to

introduce the programme formally to the Jamui district

administration by the Commission so that the concerned

officials would be aware of the new scheme and also lend

their support and cooperation. It was also important

to underline that the programme did not intend to

undermine their authority, but would work in partnership

with the district level officials from relevant departments

of education, health, women and child development, rural

development, police and forest. Thereafter, it was left to the

Resource Persons to do their job.

the CritiCal role oF reSourCe PerSonS

The first RP chosen for the programme in Jamui was

C. Srinivas. Having already worked in Bihar with the Sarva

Shiksha Abhiyan, Srinivas was an ideal choice. Not only

was he familiar with the language and spoke it fluently,

he possessed the right blend of courage and diplomacy

necessary to handle the sensitive issue.

Mithilesh Kumar, a native of Jamui, was also a natural

choice as RP since he had a background of working on

child rights. He was familiar with the topography and

landscape of the region and is a good organiser.

As they interacted with the community, the RPs realized

that that unless they won their trust completely,

implementing the programme, especially improving the

attendance of children in schools, would be difficult. So

when they found the head teacher of the school in Bujahed

in Goli panchayat had taken advantage of the absence of

children to siphon off the money available for their uniform

by signing against their names, the RPs questioned her.

Unable to justify how children had signed when they had

not even attended school, the head teacher was forced to

refund the money.

When parents saw that the Resource Persons were

genuinely concerned about protecting the rights of their

children, attendance in the school went up significantly.

The community also asked the RPs to visit their village at

least once a week.

DiSSeminating aCCurate inFormation

Besides being sensitive to the situation, the Resource

Persons have to be patient and willing to listen. Recently

at a meeting at the cluster resource centre housed in the

middle school in Dumakola village, Kheda panchayat,

members of the community complained about their Bal

Bandhu not getting them an anganwadi centre while

the BB in their neighbouring panchayat had managed

to do so. Instead of promising to get them the centre,


Resource Person Srinivas gently explained to them how

an anganwadi centre was sanctioned. He told them that

if they wanted an anganwadi, they would have to get

their ward member to write a petition. The Bal Bandhu

could only facilitate the process, not write the petition,

he informed them.

Although they intervene when required, the Resource

Persons prefer to let the Bal Bandhu be the face of the

programme. Thus, once they explain the process, they let

the concerned Bal Bandhu work out the details so that he

remains the focal person for the community.

But for this to be done satisfactorily much depends on the

individual ability of the Bal Bandhu. So, the selection of the

Bal Bandhu was equally crucial.

SeleCting the ChilD’S BeSt FrienD

The first quality the RPs looked for while choosing the Bal

Bandhu was their commitment to protect child rights.

Secondly, the BB had to belong to the local community,

be between the ages 18-30 and have a minimum

education of Class 10. Considering the socio economic

conditions and literacy levels of the block, it took the RPs

several meetings with the youth and community in the

DiFFuSing DeliCate SituationS

In August 2011, when Bal Bandhu Savitri Kumari went

to the Parati primary school in Arnuwabank panchayat

to participate in the hoisting of the national flag on the

occasion of Independence Day, she found the villagers

gathered there very agitated. They told her that the

neighbouring school had been warned by the Naxals

not to unfurl the flag. Seeing the uncertainty and fear in

the community, teachers and students, Savitri phoned

Resource Person Srinivas for help and advice.

After Srinivas reached the school, he asked the

community whether the Parati school too had received

a specific warning. When the reply was in the negative,

Srinivas told the community to decide what should be

done considering the children were looking forward

to the occasion. The villagers decided to go ahead and

asked Srinivas to do the honours in absence of the

acting headmaster of the school. However, Srinivas

declined explaining that this should be done by the

community and asked them to nominate a village

elder to do so, thus diffusing a delicate situation. Not

only was the flag hoisted but the children also got the

chance to participate joyfully.


panchayats to shortlist the Bal Bandhus. With panchayats

in Khaira block being far flung and difficult to reach,

especially during the monsoons, it took them three

months to finalise their selection.

After their selection, all the 20 Bal Bandhus were

oriented on the objectives of the programme, various

Acts like the Right To Education and laws related to

children as well as to engage with all the stakeholders.

This included discussion of strategies to involve youth,

women, children, men, and other village functionaries

and create child rights support groups to mobilze

government officials.

Forming BonDS

It was decided that Bal Bandhus would try and turn one

village into a model one to illustrate that child rights could

be protected with the cooperation of all. But for this to

be possible, all stakeholders had to be brought on board.

This needed engagement at several levels. On the one

hand, they had to motivate the community to petition the

administration to uphold child rights and make institutions

for children like anganwadis, schools, hostels/residential

institutions and health centres functional. At the same

time, the BBs needed to build links with panchayats and

block and district administration officials to facilitate

cooperation with the community.

However, for this demand to be generated, the BBs needed

data on how many children were registered at their local

anganwadi centres, how many were out of school, how

many were enrolled but rarely attended, how many had

dropped out and how many had migrated out of the village

and were working as child labour.

As they went about collecting this data by conducting

a survey of children in the 0-18 year age group, the Bal

Bandhus got their chance to meet the people and establish

their identity as a friend of their children.

gaining Community aCCePtanCe

Realising that they too needed friends within the

community to gain acceptance, the Bal Bandhus went

door to door to talk about the programme. After women

SChool oPenS, Begging StoPS

When Resource Persons Srinivas and Mithilesh

visited Rajla Sirsiya village in Harkhar panchayat,

they found about 200 children begging in a nearby

temple. On inquiring from the community, they

were told that since the school remained closed, the

children helped their poor parents by begging. The

money and gifts doled out to the children by visitors

to this temple further exacerbated the problem.

A complaint about this violation of child rights was

made both verbally and in writing to the District

Education Superintendant. But no action was

taken. The RPs continued to pursue the matter even

while working with the community to rehabilitate

these children. Finally, after repeated reminders,

action was taken.

While the good news is that these children have

now been enrolled in school, the Resource Persons

continue to campaign with the community since

some of them continue to beg. This is a challenge

that Bal Bandhus are still dealing with.


showed a high degree of interest and desire to send their

children to school, it was decided to make them the

pivot of community mobilization. Having been a part

of the Meena Manch, (a girls’ club), in her school, Bal

Bandhu Naushwa Naz, 19, used skills she learnt to raise

awareness about education rights especially of girls. As

a resident of Garhi panchayat, Naushwa knew that girls

were married young, many soon after they turned 12. So

to reach out to the mothers, she attended a health camp

and used the opportunity to talk about the programme

and her role. She followed it up by making several visits

to their houses and advocating for the continuance of

the education of their daughters.

The occasion of Women’s Day also helped to attract

women. During a programme organized in Garhi

panchayat, 35 women who had never participated in such

a programme before were so motivated that they promised

to do something about eliminating discrimination against

girls. Women were also informed about children’s right to

education and all entitlements and schemes provided by

the government.

Simultaneously, she made efforts to form Bal Mitra

Sangathans or child support groups. She was able to form

one comprising likeminded boys and girls of her age who

pledged to work for children. It was during its formation

that she got to know that the younger sister of her former

schoolmate was being married although she was only 14.

It took several meetings with the family before they were

convinced their daughter needed to be back in school.

Besides her persuasive skills, Naushwa was aided by

members of the Bal Mitra committee and other mothers

she had already motivated on child rights.

oPening DoorS For the marginaliSeD

What adds to the Bal Bandhu’s motivation is the desire

expressed by the girls to continue their education. In

Bhimai panchayat, some girls had being taken out of

school by their parents. While one of them was married

off, the groom for another girl was being sought. Both girls

wanted to study but their names had been struck off for

non attendance after their parents had employed them to

roll bidis to augment the family income. After Bal Bandhu

Shobha Kumari met the girls she convinced the parents to

allow them to go to school for a couple of days in a week.

Even while motivating parents to send their children to

school, the Bal Bandhus directed their attention to making

schools fully functional and ensuring all teachers took classes.

One of the ways they were able to involve teachers was to hold

meetings with them on a regular basis. After identifying active

and open minded teachers, an informal teacher’s forum has

been formed which meets every month to discuss how to take

the programme forward. According to Sunil Kumar, assistant

teacher at Goli primary school, Goli panchayat, “It always

helps to discuss the problems. When I joined, only 24 of the

75 students enrolled would attend school. Now with the help

of the Bal Bandhus, this number has increased to 50.”

It has not just the numbers which have gone up. More

importantly, it has opened the doors to those traditionally

girlS get eDuCation oPPortunity

Although there is a high demand for secondary

education among girls, a majority of them are unable to

continue beyond Class 8 for various reasons including

a lack of resources. Keen to see that these girls were

able to pursue their dreams to study further, the

NCPCR decided to provide financial support to help

them realize their ambitions.

In February 2012, monetary support for 67 girls from

Jamui district was sanctioned by the Commission. Each

girl is entitled to a sum of Rs 1,500 per month and Rs

4,000 a year to pay for their tuition, accommodation,

food, uniform, books, travel and sports.

This is the first time such an initiative has been taken

to facilitate the continuation of education of girls

beyond Class 8 once they pass out of the KGBVs.


liFting morale DeSPite naxal hitS

The lives of 553 students enrolled in the middle school

in Garhi panchayat came to a standstill in March 2011,

when their school was targeted by the Naxals. A big

part of the school was destroyed by a bomb planted by

the Naxals to prevent the government from housing a

battalion of the central reserve police force (CRPF) in

the school premises. The CRPF had moved out of the

school in January, two months before this incident, and

they were expected to return in time for the panchayat

elections to be held in the state in March.

According to Nikhat Parveen, the headmistress of the

school, the blast created panic and fear within the

community, particularly among students and their

parents, who stopped their children from coming

to school. “I had to go door to door to persuade

them to return. But it took a long time to gain their

confidence. It was with the help of the Bal Bandhu

Resource Persons and the teachers, that we could make

alternative arrangements and begin teaching these

children again. We have had to cram children because

of the shortage of space. However, the 30 girls who were

studying in the RBC had to go back home because their

building was badly destroyed,” she pointed out.

When the matter was raised with the district education

officer Mr Rajdev Ram , he promised to rebuild the school.


excluded from education. “The Bal Bandhus had been

instrumental in getting children of the Mahadalits to

school. Dumakola has a large population of Musahars,

a community traditionally involved in catching rats and

whose children have never been to school. Now, thanks

to the Bal Bandhu of our panchayat, these children are

learning,” said Om Prakash Arya, headmaster, middle

school Dumakola village, Khaira panchayat.

Bal Bandhu Pappu Kumar recalled that when he first

started visiting this hamlet, he found the community

living in extremely unhygienic conditions. “I found the

children and their pigs eating from the same plate. I took

it up as a challenge. I told them about the neighbouring

community which was living a better life ever since they

adopted hygiene. It took many home visits and the help

of the tola sevak, a person employed specifically for the

marginalized hamlets by the state government, to inspire

them. Now I use this Mahadalit tola as example for

others,” contended Pappu.

getting PanChayatS into the aCt

Protecting child rights was not seen as a priority among

many of the panchayat leaders before the introduction of

the programme. In some cases, there was a nexus between

the head teachers, anganwadi worker and panchayat

leader to grab the money meant for uniforms, midday

meals and infrastructure. It required many meetings with

them to create awareness on child rights and their role in

upholding them.

With elections to panchayats being held in May 2011,

the Bal Bandhus had to go through the entire orientation

process again with the newly elected leaders.

But their efforts have not gone in vain. Many of the new leaders

hail from the backward classes and they see this programme

as an opportunity to give back to their communities. After

training and capacity building workshops for these panchayat

members, key leaders were chosen for an exposure visit

to child friendly areas to see how to link all stakeholders to

protect child rights.

Brahamdev Ravidas, mukhiya of Kageshwar panchayat

was a little unsure of how to exert his authority after he

took over in May this year. Not just because he belonged

to the scheduled caste but more so because he was much

younger than the previous mukhiya who was from the

upper caste and was chosen as his deputy. But after his

visit to Hyderabad, he grew in confidence.

At a meeting organised in Manjhgai village, Kageshwar

panchayat, even while being respectful of the former

mukhiya (now his deputy), he made it clear that his would

be the final word. “I know that I have the authority to appoint

a local person to teach in the school as a para teacher on a

monthly salary of Rs 500. I will exercise this power when it is

required,” he stated.


In fact, Mr. Ravidas has been actively involved in

getting children to school in partnership with Kumari

Rinkumala, the BB of Kageshwar panchayat. The village

Bal Mitra Sangathan (BMS), the first to be formed in the

block, has also pitched in. According to Nirmal Kumar,

BMS president, monthly meetings held by the mukhiya

with his deputy, the teachers and ward members

indicated that one of the reasons why only one boy from

their village managed to reach Class 10 was because he

travelled eight kilometers every day to reach the high

school. Since most children were unable to commute

this distance, they are now lobbying for a high school in

their village.

warD memBerS alSo PitCh in

It is heartening to see that even ward members have been

involved in the programme. If it was not for Sameer Ahmed,

the ward 6 member, many girls would have remained out

of school in Banpur panchayat. When his panchayat Bal

Bandhu, Mohammed Naseemuddin, told him about the

girl’s bathroom in the Urdu middle school being locked

and thus forcing them to stop coming to school, Mr.

Ahmed immediately got into the act.

He accompanied Naseemuddin to the school and began

questioning the teachers. He told them that strict action

would be taken against the culprits. When he was told that


the engineer had locked it because he had not been paid

his full dues, Mr. Ahmed was able to use his good offices

to resolve the issue and have the bathroom opened. Since

then, the girls have returned to school. “We are lucky to

have Mr. Ahmed on our side. He doesn’t bother about

formalities or his own convenience. Whenever there is a

problem, he is there to help us,” said Naseemuddin.

joining ForCeS with the government

It is not just panchayats that have joined hands with the

Bal Bandhus. There has been strong engagement with the

education department at the block and district level and with

district administration officials. Over the past year, the BBs

have held 19 meetings with block level officials and seven

with district level officials to discuss the BB programme and

work out strategies to redress the problems together.

Jamui district education officer, Mr. Rajdev Ram, accepts

that the biggest problem is the lack of residential schools

for both boys and girls. “We need more facilities for tribal

girls who are unable to study beyond Class 8 after they

finish schooling in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas

(KGBVs). We need to build more hostels,” he said.

ProPoSalS in the PiPeline

The district education officer also pointed out that they

were in the process of recruiting one lakh teachers through

an examination to meet the shortage of teachers so that

the quality of teaching could also be improved. At present,

with the teacher pupil ratio being 61:1, quality teaching is

a distant dream in Jamui government schools. The district

needs at least an additional 1,463 teachers.

Mr. Ram has shown his willingness to go that extra mile

to see that every child gets her right to education. “The

work done by the Bal Bandhus in raising awareness and

bringing children into school is commendable. We are

linking with them so that together, we can expedite the

process,” he stated.

ChallengeS remain

In a district constantly under the shadow of conflict and

fear, the Bal Bandhu programme has given many young

people a new way of life. With over 466 meetings held

with the community and 87 rallies organised since the Bal

Bandhu Scheme began, the Bal Bandhus have sustained

active engagement on child rights. In the process, they

have inspired not just the youth in these villages, but

parents, teachers, panchayats and anganwadi workers to

protect child rights.

However, challenges remain. Bureaucratic delays, corruption,

lack of buildings for schools, residential schools/hostels and

anganwadis, and the geographical vastness of the programme

area have proven difficult. But the progress made by the Bal

Bandhus and RPs despite these obstacles has given hope that

the Bal Bandhu programme is a real friend of children living

in areas of conflict. •

By Swapna Majumdar




Gram Panchayats/VCDS contacted 20


Meeting with block officials 19








Rallies, marches 87


Books , scholarship and uniform support 521

Follow up of children who had dropped out of school 2112


rRohtas district of Bihar, adjoining Jharkhand, has high Naxal presence. Caught in

the crossfire between the Naxals and the police life had become difficult for the

people in this area and education of children, particularly tribal children, had been

severely affected.

In December 2010, when the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

was looking for disturbed areas where it could pilot its novel Bal Bandhu Scheme

for implementation of child rights, the Commission as well as the district collector

zeroed in on Rohtas block of Rohtas district. The reign of terror in the block, especially

in the villages surrounded by forests on the Rohtas hillock, had virtually brought

schools, anganwadis and other institutions for children to a halt. The high level of

poverty in the area combined with the Naxal threats were forcing people to migrate

WORKING IN HARMONy TO GET THE BEST FOR THE CHILD

• rohtaS BloCk, rohtaS DiStriCt, Bihar •


from the area. There was a dire need for confidence

building in the community so that they could assert their

rights collectively.

Twenty young people were recruited as Bal Bandhus in

Rohtas block and each of them had the responsibility

ensuring child rights in the panchayat allotted to them. The

needs of the children in each panchayat are handled by two

Bal Bandhus (BBs). The selection of the Bal Bandhus was

left to the two Resource Persons (RPs) with the proviso that

they should be young people of 18 to 30 years who have

studied till Class 10 and show initiative and leadership

qualities. So the selection of the most appropriate persons

as Bal Bandhus was central to the success of the scheme.

reSourCe PerSonS are maSter PuPPeteerS

The RPs have been chosen equally carefully by the NCPCR.

Many of them have experience in getting children out of

child labour and into schools; others have worked with

the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or in conflict affected areas and

know how to ensure child rights without treading on the

toes of the Naxals or the local authorities. These Resource

Persons, somewhat like master puppeteers, are low key,

almost self effacing but hard working and dynamic.

Because of the difficult areas they operate in most of them

are men. But in Rohtas there is a young woman Smita

Kumari, who had worked earlier with an NGO and the

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’s slum cluster project in Patna. A

Bihari from Patna, Smita is the mother of two, but finds

the time and the energy to be the driving force for the

Bal Bandhus. R Venkataramana is the other Resource

Person in the block. He had been president of a youth club

in Naxal affected Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh,

under former chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s Yuva

Shakti programme involving youth in ministering to the

needs of villages. Both of them were able to instill in the

20 hand picked Bal Bandhus the ability to work with the

community, youth groups, women’s groups and grassroots

political leaders to lobby for child rights. Confrontation

was taboo. They worked in harmony with the government

and the community to get the best for the child.

naxalS Begin to truSt BBS

Rohtas block has harsh, undulating terrain and one of the

panchayats, Rohtasgarh, is situated on a hillock and is not

accessible by road. There is strong presence of Naxalites in

Rohtasgarh and after one of their leaders was killed in an

encounter in June 2011 terrified villagers ran away from

their homes. To restore the confidence of the villagers and

ensure that schools function and teachers take classes,

was a challenge. Bal Bandhus too have been confronted,

threatened and brow beaten till the Naxals and the police

began to trust them.

Bal Bandhu Ashok Singh, 19, recalled how his father, who

was grazing cattle in the forest area, had been picked up and

kept for three days by the Naxals. Ashok was frightened for

his life and ran away and hid in a residential bridge course

school for three days. The police was confiscating mobiles

to ensure that they were not misused to give information

to the Naxals and both were watching every movement of

the villagers.

Asit Pandey, 31, of Uchaila panchayat was the first to be

selected and is the oldest Bal Bandhu. A resident of Rohtas,

Asit had taught Class 8 students in Varanasi till December

2010. He felt he could do the work of a Bal Bandhu,


propagating child rights and building on the self esteem

of his panchayat. No wages were discussed. It was the

challenge of the work—making Rohtas a model for child

rights—that attracted him to the assignment. Initially, he

had to collect people and Smita would talk to them about

the programme. Only men attended the first couple of

meetings. Then he began forming Bal Mitra Samoohs

or groups of young supporters of children. By the end

of February he was able to get 150 people for a meeting

and spoke to them of child rights and sought community

support. Bal Mitra Samoohs were formed in two villages

–Baskatia and Uchaila—with 17 to 18 youth in each group.

inCreaSing attenDanCe at awCs, SChoolS

With the support of the anganwadi sevika (helper) he was

able to form two women’s groups for child rights. A survey

on the status of schools, anganwadis and other facilities

showed that of the seven anganwadi centres (AWC) in his

panchayat, two of them had no helpers. Each anganwadi

regulating attenDanCe

There is the unusual case of Shivmuni, who had

studied in the middle school in Akbarpur for three

years but when he asked for his transfer certificate to

go to secondary school in April 2011, the headmaster

refused saying he had never been enrolled in the

school. His enrolment was in another middle school

close by. The child may have dropped out of school

but the community and the Bal Bandhu persuaded

the head master to backdate his enrolment and

provide the transfer certificate (TC).

During the survey of children going to school,

the Bal Bandhu found that a four year old child

was registered for Class 2. The child was actually

attending an AWC but to show good attendance

of children in the primary school his name was

included in the school register.


is supposed to cater to 40 children but hardly eight to 10

children were attending and even the monthly meetings

of the centres were not being held. There was one middle

school and two primary schools in the panchayat but the

community was reluctant to send the children to school

and questioned the facilities provided. Teachers too would

not give information on the number of children attending

schools. Cheating during exams seemed to be an accepted

norm and groups of 10-12 children would run away with

question papers to the fields and submit them after filling

them up collectively.

turning SurveyS into seva

There were numerous hurdles in the beginning. When the

master register of children of 0 to 18 years in the panchayat

was being filled, the villagers almost attacked them saying

“you only do surveys, where is the seva (service)?” Now the

same villagers seek the help of the Bal Bandhus and the

Bal Mitras for enrolment of children in schools and getting

transfer certificates without having to pay bribes of Rs 20

and Rs 50 respectively.

To define the work of the Bal Bandhus beyond broad

generalities is not easy. There are new challenges all the

time. Traversing areas under their charge is not easy. They

use cycles or walk. In Kakariya mohalla, a primary school

was functioning out of a temple. To drink water, children

would trudge home in their uniforms, says Asit. Though

there was money in a bank for getting basic facilities for the

school, the two teachers of the school were constantly at

loggerheads. Now with the intervention of the Bal Bandhu

and the community, differences have been resolved, the

school building has been constructed and there are 182

students with two teachers. The community has written to

the mukhia asking for more teachers.

In all panchayats, with the support of the community the Bal

Bandhu are striving to establish at least one model school

and a model AWC. In Uchaila, the model anganwadi is in

Govindapur. There are 21 children who come regularly to

the AWC. Every Friday there is a meeting with the parents

of the children and the rations taken home by pregnant

women and lactating mothers are accounted for by putting

their thumb impression in a register. Twenty children of

the anganwadi have been enrolled in the primary school.

But in the other six AWCs of the panchayat though just 20

percent of the children were attending regularly, 90 percent

attendance was shown and the uncooked food siphoned off.

It is graft at the grassroots and there are no social movements

to deal with it, only the Bal Bandhus—young, still gaining

experience but with a lot of energy and commitment.

Trying to put systems in place, schools begin with

prayers; school management committees are being set

up and during the election of ward members, school and

anganwadi problems are raised.

ProviDing a SChool For girlS

For Ashok Singh, 19, Bal Bandhu of Rohtasgarh panchayat in

the heart of Naxal affected territory, the biggest challenge has

Sunita goeS to SChool

Sunita Kumari, 14, had never been to school. Her father

was a farmer who tilled his own land. One day she met

Bal Bandhu Ashok and expressed interest in education.

He then met her parents and tried to persuade them

to send her to the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya

which had residential school facilities. They, however,

were keen to get her married. Along with Bal Mitras

and influential members of the community, the

parents were told about the illegality and hazards of

such an early marriage for their daughter.

When the parents relented, instead of going to the

KGBV, which was 40 km from her home, she was sent

to the RBC facility at Devi block since she had never

been to a school. However, accompanying her to

Devi were three other young school going girls from

her village. Even after they get into a KGBV or RBC

there has to be follow up and persuasion to ensure

they are not pulled out, says Ashok.


been in providing a school for girls. Like Asit Pandey, Ashok

has been meeting the community and creating awareness on

child right. There are 26 villages on the hilltop of Rohtasgarh

and five schools but none for girls. They have to walk five to 15

kms to get to a school from Barkhabudhwa. In October 2011,

the mukhia was approached to get a residential bridge course

(RBC) facility in Barkhabudhwa, and he in turn wrote to

various officials of the block as well as the district education

officer for the girls bridge course facility. The district collector

responded to the petition and it has been set up at Banzari,

40 kms from Barkhabudhwa, accommodating 100 girls,

including those from the surrounding area.

A survey done soon after the programme started showed

that of the 1,226 children of 0 to 18 years, 383 children were

out of school, 449 were between one and five years and 13

children of 12 to 14 years had migrated for work. Twenty

two boys of 11 to 14 years who were looking after cattle

were brought to the residential bridge course facility after

several rounds of discussions with their parents that they

should not jeopardize their childrens’ future by denying

them education.

Just about 50 students attended the government Dhansa

Vidyalaya. Parents said they preferred to send their

children to the private James School. After a great deal

of advocacy with the parents, the number of students

attending the government middle school has gone up to

250. There are just two teachers and to ensure that classes

are taken regularly, they have been persuaded to find

accommodation on the hilltop at Rohtasgarh.

When investigations by the young team of child rights

activists showed that an AWC was leased out by the sevika

for Rs 500, the community confronted her and she is now

back on the job with greater awareness of child rights. The

number of children at the AWC has gone up from 22 to 30

though the target is 40.

Although just 19 years old, Ashok is now addressed as

‘Ashok Sir’ and heard with a great deal of respect. He is

the most educated in his panchayat which has just four

matriculates. Ashok’s grooming as a Bal Bandhu has made

him confident and outspoken.

Umesh Kumar Yadhav, 20, partners Ashok as a Bal Bandhu

for Rohtasgarh. There is an RBC facility in Tardi for children

of 11 to 14 years who have never been to school. Many of

the children in and around Tardi were working in small

hotels and tea shops. First Umesh went from hotel to hotel

to find out the number of children they had employed,

then he went to their parents and succeeded in persuading

some of them to withdraw their children from hotels for

education and a better future. Eight children working in

hotels and 42 others were admitted to the RBC.

Umesh’s other contribution has been in ensuring that

the schools work to a schedule and with regularity. After

watching the functioning of the schools for three to four

months, he galvanizes the community to write letters to the

teachers, the headmaster, the mukhia and the BEO to ensure

discipline and regularity in school functioning. Umesh has

never been harassed by the Naxals but, he says, the teachers

out of fear of Naxals don’t take classes or come to work.

enSuring SCholarShiPS, uniForm money

At the middle school at Kodiyari, scholarships and money

for uniforms were not being distributed regularly. Some

At an anganwadi centre


got only part of the money due to them. Now the local

administration has said these funds will be disbursed in

the presence of the Bal Bandhus and all the 129 children of

the school are getting it. Umesh has also ensured that the

parents of all 40 children registered at the AWC collect the

rations due to them. There is growing confidence in the

community as well as the local administration in the Bal

Bandhu’s ability to ensure fair distribution of books and

other benefits earmarked for children.

Bal Bandhu Lavkesh Ram of Baknaura panchayat with

five villages is a graduate and values the education he has

received. During the survey he found that 401 children,

enrolled in the school, were not attending classes. They

would take cattle for grazing or cut wood in the forests.

After several rounds of meetings and persuasion of parents

by the community, he succeeded in getting 300 children to

attend school regularly. During the master register survey

of children in the block, a red mark was put on homes

where the children were out of school and a green mark on

homes where they attended school.

In the course of his survey, Lavkesh was made to wait 25

minutes at a primary school at Koriyatika. The teacher in

charge said, “I don’t recognize the Bal Bandhus—leave my

school.” Lavkesh sought the help of the community and

the teacher was pulled up. He not only gave the details of

the number of students attending the school and taking

exams but now when Lavkesh visits the school, he even

offers him a chair.

When Lavkesh found that a girl who had passed Class

eight was not going to secondary school because her

father worked in Andhra Pradesh and her mother wanted

her at home for the house work, he made several visits to

the home and used community support till the mother

relented. The transfer certificate of the girl had also expired

but using his clout the problem was resolved and the girl

is now in a secondary school. Baknaura panchayat has one

model school and one model AWC.

eight Dalit kiDS Brought BaCk to SChool

Rinky Kumari, 21, is the Bal Bandhu of Samhautta

panchayat which includes three villages with a middle

school, a new primary school and seven AWCs. Like

Lavkesh, Rinky is a graduate and had worked with the

Nehru Yuvak Kendra before joining the NCPCR project for

enforcement of child rights.

When she began talking of child rights, she was threatened

and asked to lie low. The school principals refused to give

data or allow her to check the number of children enrolled

and those actually attending school. In fact she was even

thrown out of the school. The principal and teachers of the

school were taking money from students for giving them

various certificates. Eight Harijan children were asked to

leave the school but by putting community pressure, she

had all of them readmitted. “I had a lot of problems initially

in getting the cooperation of the teachers,” she says. Now

there is a change in the attitude of the teachers. The school

functions full time, beginning with prayers. There is a

mandatory one hour allotted for play. The primary school,

however, still functions under a tree at Lebura village while

the search is on for an appropriate piece of land. The district

administration has provided the funds for the school.

With great difficulty, Rinky has even been able to form girls

and women’s groups. Initially the girls were not encouraged

At an anganwadi centre


by the family to take group photos or give their mobile

numbers. Now, the 16 member youth group participates

in awareness campaigns on child rights and even travels to

Patna and other places for meetings. Rinky has also been in

touch with the ASHAs (accredited social health activists)

and works with the mahila groups to ensure that the large

number of purdah clad women in her panchayat have access

to medicine. She has also been able to get 14 year old Usha

into the ninth class and stopped her parents from getting

her married. She has been able to get 8th pass Deepali, a

challenged girl who could not board a bus to go to the senior

government school, into a private school close by. Deepali

has no mother and was in the care of her grandmother.

While the Bal Bandhus are striving to set up a model school

and AWC in each panchayat, the mukhia of Samhautta,

oriented on child rights, is determined to make his an

“adarsh (model) panchayat”. He has asked the BBs for a

list of out of school children, working children and those

who are migrating for work so that he can persuade their

parents to bring them to school.

Pilferage has been a dominant feature of most AWCs, but an

enlightened sevika of one of the seven AWCs of Samhautta,

Kaushaliya Kunwar, goes and personally brings to the AWC

the 35 to 40 children registered with it. In the backward,

remote areas of conflict ridden Bihar, it is people like the

mukhia and Kaushaliya that have energized and sustained

the campaign for child rights.

When Gulshan Khatoon, 20, a BB of Tumba panchayat,

began her child rights mission just 250 of the over 800

students were attending school and parents said there is

no regularity in the schools, so why should we send them.

School teachers were dismissive saying “you are kids.

What can you teach us on how to handle these students?”

BellS announCe SChool haS Begun

So Gulshan, who has passed her intermediate and

worked earlier with a call centre, went to the school

regularly for a few days, held prayer meetings and took

classes. She found that the teachers would not reach

school till 11 am. Teachers were persuaded to buy a

school bell and now it is rung to show the community

that the school is starting on time. Teachers are now

coming to school regularly.

Fourteen girls who had passed the Class 8 were not going

to secondary school because it was far off. So Gulshan met

their parents and persuaded them to send them to the

secondary school. Her own achievement as a Bal Bandhu,

travelling to remote areas and meeting people, convinced

parents that if she could do it so could their children. Then

she ran around and got transfer certificates for all of them.

Three girls and a boy who had studied in the primary

school had also dropped out, so she met their parents

and persuaded them to to send their children to school.

These children did not have age proof so with the help of

contacts in the government she got age proof affidavits

and admitted them to middle schools.

Transformation can also be seen in the Bal Bandhus’ own

personality within 12 months of work in the villages of

Rohtas. They have become articulate, confident and have

internalized child rights with all its perspectives.

getting raju BaCk into SChool

Raju was in the seventh class when he got into a fight

in the school and after being thrashed by the teacher,

he was thrown out. Raju went and joined an adjoining

school till Bal Bandhu Gulshan was able to talk to the

teacher to take him back. However, the headmaster

insisted that Raju should pay a fine of Rs 1,000 and give

a written apology that he would not get into another

fight before being readmitted. Gulshan was able to get

the fine waived and Raju is back in his old school.

The headmaster is now supportive of Gulshan’s

mission and the teacher who beat up Raju

accompanies Gulshan to motivate the community to

send children to school.


Some PoSitive outComeS

• A Teachers Forum for Child Rights with 40 teachers has

been formed in Rohtas block. There are 55 government

schools in the block and 175 teachers.

early aChievementS

• In each of the 10 panchayats of Rohtas, one Bal Mitra

Samooh and one Mahila Samooh formed.

• ASHAs and anganwadi workers absorbed in Mahila

Samoohs.

• Girls who studied up to class 8 now motivated for

secondary school

• A model school and AWC in each panchayat.

• Mukhia of Samautta keen to make it a model panchayat

• Marriages of school going girls postponed.

• Schools working more regularly with a schedule. Begin

with prayers

• Check on pilferage of midday meal rations; funds

earmarked for scholarships and uniforms for school

children

• With the cooperation of government officials and

the community, a block resource centre has been

established with an ASHA as manager.

In September 2011, mukhias of all 10 panchayats of the block

Singing before school


and ward members attended a two day meeting on child

rights and Right to Education. While Resources Persons

and Bal Bandhus spoke on the first day, on the second day

a government official listed the various programmes of the

government and how they could be accessed. In the new

atmosphere of cooperation, there is now discussion on the

nutrition being provided at anganwadis.

jagruti CamPaign ContinueS

From October 12 to 16, 2011 a campaign was held to create

awareness on child rights and to provide the community

with information on the various government schemes for

education and well being of children. In all panchayats,

rallies were organized and stalls set up giving information on

child rights. In addition to the public meeting, at Akbarpur

a candle light rally was organized. Between 1,000 to 1,500

people participated in the programme every day. Bal

Bandhus also held nukkad nataks (street plays) to sensitize

people on the hazards of child labour and child marriages.

Community mobilization has been central to the work of

the Bal Bandhu Scheme in Rohtas block. Building contacts

and engaging with officials at the block and district level

has been the forte of the Bal Bandhus and the Resource

Persons. After elections to the panchayati raj institutions in

2011, RPs and BBs sent congratulatory letters to all of them

and sought their attention for child right issues in their

jurisdiction. Between July and September 2011, they held

meetings on child rights with the elected representatives

and involved them in improving school and anganwadi

infrastructure and teacher attendance. Twelve panchayat

members were taken on an exposure visit to child friendly

panchayats of Andhra Pradesh and came back committed

to ensure that no child will be out of school, no child will

work or marry before the legal age of marriage in their

panchayat. Systematic changes were brought in for the

children’s right to education in the context of civil unrest.

The district administration has been able to respond

positively to the petitions put up by the Bal Bandhus,

whether it was for schools or anganwadis. In Tardi, there

was a petition from the community for additional rooms for

a middle school to accommodate 447 children including

the 99 from the RBC. •

By Usha Rai




Gram panchayats/VCDS contacted 10











Rallies, marches 3

Orientation and training on Right to Education 52

Number of students who received uniform allowance 7,852

and got back fees/donation they had paid

Campaign on RTE and enrolment of children 3


tTen year old Chanchala has no memories of her father. She was only one when he left

their home in Chaksurgai village in district Sheohar, Bihar, to seek work. After waiting

for eight years for him to return, her mother remarried and left her daughter in the care

of the child’s grandmother. Used to doing all the chores at home, Chanchala did not

complain when her uncle left her at home when he enrolled his own children in school.

The first time she realized she had the right to education was when a young woman

came to her house in March this year and asked why she was out of school. After

introducing herself as a Bal Bandhu or a friend of children, she told Chanchala that

she had every right to go to school just like her cousins.

In fact, Bal Bandhu Neetu Kumari did not stop at that. She took up the matter with the

family and found Chanchala’s grandmother was in favour of her going to school but

GIvING CHILDREN HOPE

• tariyani BloCk, Sheohar DiStriCt, Bihar •


not her uncle. To prove that girls could become achievers if

given the opportunity, Neetu organised a meeting between

Chanchala’s grandmother and the Surgai panchayat samiti

member, mukhiya and sarpanch. All of them were women.

After meeting and talking with these women, Chanchala’s

grandmother was so inspired that she overruled her son’s

diktat and enrolled her granddaughter in school. Now in

Class 3 and doing well in school, Chanchala has never

been happier.

innovative Programme initiateD

It was to help children like Chanchala realize their potential

that the Bal Bandhu programme was initiated by the

government. Conceived and implemented by the National

Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), this

innovative programme helps uphold child rights in areas

of civil unrest with the support of Bal Bandhus or friends

of children, chosen from the community. They are assisted

by two Resource Persons appointed for each of the 10

districts chosen in nine states impacted by insurgency.

In Bihar, the three year programme is being piloted in the

districts of Sheohar, Jamui, Rohtas and East Champaran.

A Naxal hit district, Sheohar has five blocks. Among

them, Tariyani block was chosen for the programme after

discussions with the district administration. During their

meeting with the district magistrate to formally introduce

the Bal Bandhu programme, Tariyani was selected after

taking into consideration the degree of civil unrest and poor

child development indicators. Not only were there 14,728

school children who were enrolled but rarely attended, but

there was also no residential bridge course (RBCs) in the

entire block. High teacher absenteeism contributed to the

large number of non functioning schools and a majority of

the anganwadis existed only on paper.

But since the introduction of the programme in December

2010, the block has seen winds of change. Over 3718

children have been enrolled in schools, 64 schools and

54 anganwadis have been made functional and four RBCs

have been established. To ensure that the students did not

drop out, about 3915 children have been given counselling

to support their preparations for school examinations.

the ProCeSS oF Changing minDSetS

But it hasn’t been easy. Tariyani block, which has 16

panchayats, is situated between Sitamarhi and East

Champaran, two backward Bihar districts with the latter

being affected by civil unrest as well.

With teachers and children staying away from schools out

of fear of Naxals, the 20 Bal Bandhus have had to tread

gently. It has been the experience of the Resources Persons

appointed to mentor the Bal Bandhus that has played a

crucial role in the success achieved so far.

gettingthe right PeoPle

This is why getting the right persons to implement the

programme has been important for the Commission.

While Resource Persons Umesh Sao and Binod Kumar

hail from Bihar, Mohammed Jafar is from Andhra

Pradesh. The advantage is that all three Resource

Persons are well versed in responding to tricky situations.

Mohammed Jafar, in particular, has had a brush with a

group purporting to be with outlawed groups when he

was implementing the Bal Bandhu programme in North

Kachar Hills, Assam. He was relocated to Bihar after

militants threatened to kill him if he did not pay them

Rs one lakh.


The Bal Bandhu team learnt to take such encounters in

their stride as they went about to assess the situation

in the block. It was during their meetings with the

community, youth and panchayats representatives to

explain the objective of the programme that they were

able to select Bal Bandhus or friends of children from

within the community. Between the ages of 18-30 and with

a minimum educational qualification of Class 10, the Bal

Bandhus chosen have shown extraordinary commitment

to protecting child rights.

In fact, between December 2010 to March 2012, 572

community meetings have been held to discuss child

rights issues. In addition, 13 block level and eight district

level meetings with officials to review implementation

of the programme and address child rights issues at the

villages have also been held. Further, 80 rallies have been

held and many young persons from the community have

been trained in child rights and community mobilization.

This has been bolstered by a visit to child friendly areas so

that they could learn from the processes of change.

learning to Brave inner DemonS

For Bal Bandhu Naresh Kumar, change has meant

overcoming his own fears. A student of first year of

college, life was all about adjusting in a Naxal affected

area for this resident of Tariyani Chapra panchayat.

However, he managed to continue his education despite

caste wars between the upper and backward community.

Just before the Bal Bandhu programme was launched in

his block, the block development officer was kidnapped

by the Naxals. So, for children to feel afraid and not go

to school was natural. It was in these circumstances

that 19 year old Naresh was selected to implement the

programme in his panchayat. “I was also afraid but

having being chosen as a BB, I was determined to do

something,” said Naresh.

Spurring this determination was the new found confidence

of being a Bal Bandhu. Despite belonging to a backward

caste, Naresh fought his fears and feeling of inferiority

and worked up the courage to meet the mukhiya, who

belonged to an upper caste, to introduce the programme.

He talked to him about the children who were enrolled

but were irregular, midday meals not being given, and

the need to ensure teachers came regularly. Although the

mukhiya heard him out, he didn’t show much interest.

Naresh didn’t give up and persisted until he agreed to use

his powers to do something for the children.

Now, in two of the three middle schools in the panchayat,

children are being given their midday meal and regularity

of children and teachers has been ensured by the

constitution of the school management committee (SMC).

Since the SMC comprises parents, teachers and PRI

representatives, it is able to keep an eye on the school.

In fact, Naresh’s perseverance also motivated teachers to

sign a pledge that they would not charge any money from

students as admission fees or for transfer certificates.

Change ComeS within anD without

Not only has the programme brought change within,

as experienced by Bal Bandhu Naresh, but it has also

transformed others. Bachchi Devi used to work as a

domestic help before she contested from the seat reserved

for scheduled castes in Surganhi panchayat in the elections

to local government held in 2011. When Bal Bandhu Neetu


Kumari went to discuss the programme, Bachchi Devi

confessed that since she was uneducated, she did not

understand these issues. She took Neetu to the house of

her former employer. There, Bachchi Devi sat on the floor

near her employer’s feet and quietly listened as Neetu

spoke about the programme.

Later, when Neetu asked her why she did not sit on the

chair, Bachchi Devi revealed that she did not dare to sit

with her employer. She was also obliged to her to her

employer who had filled in her nomination form. It took

Neetu several interactions with Bachchi Devi to build her

confidence and convince her that as mukhiya, she was the

leader of the panchayat and that she was inferior to none.

Now, not only does Bachchi Devi sit on the chair, she has

become actively engaged in upholding child rights. After

participating in several awareness meetings on child

rights, she organized and led rallies against child labour.

Strategizing linkageS

Getting PRI representatives on board has been an

important part of the Bal Bandhu programme. An

interesting strategy to break the ice has been the badhai

patra or a congratulatory certificate given on behalf of the

programme to the newly elected PRI members. For Sone

Lal Ram who was elected as ward member in the elections

in May, this certificate proved to be a great morale booster.

Having dropped out after Class 8, Mr. Ram had always

wanted to study. So, when Kamod Rai, BB of Sonbarsa

panchayat gave him the certificate and asked him to join

their efforts to get children into schools, he immediately

agreed. He also became a member of the Bal Mitra Samiti

(Friends of Children committee) so that he could be an

active defender of child rights.

This tactic also worked to change the mindset of the ward

member of Surgahi panchayat, who also won from a seat

reserved for the scheduled caste. She used to run a shop

and would get her nine year old son to sit with her. Her

other two children had been sent to Delhi to earn a living.

Even after becoming ward member, she continued sitting

at the shop with her son. On learning about this, BB Neetu,

while giving her the congratulatory certificate told her that

as a ward member, she held an important position and

her help was needed to ensure no child remained out of

school. But how could she ask others to send their children

to school when her own child was out of school? It took

some convincing but finally the ward member understood

that every child had the right to education under the

law. Now, she not only sends her son to school but also

motivates other parents.

“SenD me to SChool or i’ll Beg

my way there”

A 14 year old boy who had dropped out of Class 8

and was working to augment his family income, was

so motivated by the campaign against child labour

that he told his mother that unless she allowed him

to study, he would start begging and use that money

to pursue education. When Nirmala Devi, the Bal

Bandhu in Hirauta Dumma panchayat heard his

story, she facilitated his enrolment in Class 9 and

arranged for private tuitions so that he didn’t fall

behind in class.


PartnerShiPS make an imPaCt

Engaging with the panchayat members at different levels

has been an important step in the process of change. By

taking PRI representatives on an exposure visit to child

friendly areas in Andhra Pradesh, the programme has

been able to tap the potential of active members. Krishna

Nadan Misra is an MBA from Patna and in his second

term as sarpanch of Narwara panchayat. On hearing

about his campaign against corruption in schools,

Misra was taken to Hyderabad to learn more about the

programme and their role in making it work. “During my

first term, I sat on a hunger strike in protest against the

corruption in our schools. Now that the BBs have come,

my hands have been strengthened. We are raising our

voices together and our joint efforts are bringing positive

results,” contended Mr. Misra.

This partnership has worked wonders in Chhatauni

panchayat to restore rights to children. Bal Bandhu Nand

Kishore Paswan found out that the anganwadi sevika would

get mothers to put their thumb impression against their

share of take home rations (THR) but not distribute it. He

spoke about this to the mukhiya Vijay Kumar Singh. Since

he had been taken for the exposure visit to Hyderabad, Mr.

Singh had become a valuable ally of the Bal Bandhu team.

He had started to take great interest in the BB programme

and made child rights a part of the agenda. So, on hearing

about children being denied their right to nutrition, he

initiated an inquiry.

In fact, he went from house to house with the Bal Bandhu

to check how many mothers had really got the rations. On

finding that not even half the women mentioned as having

taken their rations, had actual received it, he ordered

action against the sevika. He also told the community that

in future, they would also have to monitor whether or not

their children’s rights were being protected.

According to Resource Person Mohammed Jafar, one

of the reasons for their success in raising awareness was

the multipronged approach adopted to focus attention

on child rights. One such strategy was to link with the

Vikas Mitra, a local resource person appointed by the

state government under the Mahadalit Vikas Mission to

empower the marginalized communities.

The role of the Vikas Mitra is to enroll and ensure retention of

students from Mahadalit families and also ensure access to

other schemes. So it was a matter of synergizing their efforts.

Tariyani block Vikas Mitra Rajesh Kumar stated that the BBs

had contributed immensely towards getting children of the

Mahadalits to school. “We have worked together to motivate

parents of this community and convince them about the

importance of education. It gave us great satisfaction when

they agreed to stop spending the uniform allowance for their

children to buy alcohol,” said Mr. Kumar.

joining ForCeS to StoP ChilD laBour

Another important impact of this partnership has been the

prevention and rescue of child labour. So far, 11 children have

been tracked and restored to their parents. In fact, they have

been able to persuade even the mukhiya to stop employing

child labour. Before he won, the current mukhiya of Athkoni

panchayat was a brick kiln owner and used to employ

children. He continued to do so even after his election. When

the BB team and the Vikas Mitra went to meet him and give

his congratulatory certificate, they asked him about these

children. “It took us two months to convince him that what


he was doing was illegal and he could be jailed. He realized

his mistake and in August 2011, enrolled 12 children he had

employed, in school,” said Rajesh Kumar.

Even parents have begun to realize that education is the

best option for their children. Before the BBS was initiated,

many would send their children to Gujarat for work. When

the Bal Bandhu team was conducting its survey in Surgahi

panchayat, they found out that 35 boys had been picked up

by an agent. The team went to the parents and narrated the

story of 12 year old Vikas Kumar who had lost an arm while

working in a factory in Ludhiana. Although his parents

received monetary compensation, Vikas was now disabled

and could not work. Had he studied instead of going to

work, Vikas would have been a different boy today. This

motivated the parents of 29 children to bring them back.

But one mother, who was in desperate need of money,

was reluctant to stop her minor son from working. When

the Bal Bandhu team told her that child labour was illegal

and banned by law, she agreed to get him back. The team

then went to the employer and informed him of the

consequences of employing child labour. When he heard

that he would have to pay a fine of Rs 20,000 and could also

be jailed, he allowed the team to take the boy home. He

also promised not to employ children again.

enSuring government engagement

An important part of the programme has been the

sustained effort to include relevant government officials in

the entire process. Over 20 meetings held with block and

district officials have ensured collaborative engagement.

Officials have come to accept the BB team as an important

partner and are showing greater willingness to be a part of

the change process.

The four RBCs started were mainly due to the positive

response of the government. The education department

pitched in by holding training programmes on RTE for

headmasters and teachers of the district. In fact, the

engagement with the government helped to expedite

petitions from the community for building classrooms and

streamlining midday meals.

Donning DiFFerent hatS

The programme has been able to train the young

Bal Bandhus to think out of the box. This means that

sometimes they have to don different hats. When Nirmala

Devi, the Bal Bandhu in Hirauta Dumma panchayat,

found the midday meal in a primary school was not

being eaten by the students, she decided to investigate.

She found that the children belonging to the Hindu and

Muslim community would bring their own meals and

eat separately. So, Nirmala called the children and their

parents and ate food brought by a Hindu child and a

Muslim child in their presence. If I can eat it, why can’t

you, she asked the parents. After some hesitation, a couple

of parents followed her example and since then, children

of both communities have eaten together.

In the case of Bal Bandhu Shambhu Kumar of Khurpatti

panchayat, even while raising awareness about the right to

education, he was equally concerned about the high infant

mortality in the area. Keen that women understand the

importance of breastfeeding their newborn child, he does

not wait for the accredited social health activist (ASHA)

or the anganwadi worker to demonstrate the correct

method but does it himself. “Having worked with UNICEF

earlier, I know that lives of newborn can be saved if they


are breastfed in the correct manner. So I don’t feel shy in

speaking about it,” said Shambhu.

touChing liveS

It is not just parents who have been touched by the Bal

Bandhus. Headmaster Madan Singh of middle school,

Salempur, was so inspired by the programme and the

efforts to retain children in school made by BB Binod

Kumar that he even sweeps the floor of the classrooms

if required.

Ajay Kumar of Narwara panchayat began giving free

tuitions to poor children after he was motivated by his

classmate Ashok, the Bal Bandhu from his panchayat. He

also became a member of the Bal Mitra Samiti. “Having

interacted with the community as a BMS member I have

seen the impact BBs have made. They are like amrit (nectar)

for children. I am contributing to their work by giving free

tuitions to 20 children who are academically weak and

cannot afford to pay for extra coaching,” said Ajay.

Another BMS member, Mr Mahato, became so galvanized

after being trained in child rights that he has become an

inspiration for the Bal Bandhus. It was his untiring efforts

that brought about change in Revasiya village, Madhavpur

Chhata panchayat. Children studying in the village primary

school were forced to sit cheek by jowl for four years

because there were not enough classrooms. Despite funds

being available for construction, the school building was

not completed as the headmaster had taken the money to

finance the marriage of his daughter.

When Mr Mahato became a BMS member, he called the

headmaster for a meeting in the village. He also invited

the parents and panchayat members. In their presence, Mr

Mahato asked the headmaster why the building had not

been completed. The parents contended that they would

petition the district collector if the headmaster did not start

work within a week. The headmaster admitted his mistake

and agreed to do so within the stipulated deadline.

the Domino eFFeCt

For many years, students of the middle school in

Rajdiha village in Athkoni panchayat suffered in

silence as the headmaster made them pay for their

transfer certificates. When this became known

to the Athkoni Bal Bandhu, he and block Vikas

Mitra Rajesh Kumar went to meet the headmaster.

On inquiring, they were astounded when the

headmaster not only admitted to charging money

but also dared them to take action. He considered

himself above the law because he belonged to the

upper caste.

One of the teachers of the school who was also

present there asked the headmaster not to speak so

dismissively. He revealed that his father, a teacher

in a school in Patahi block in the neighbouring

district of East Champaran had been suspended for

resorting to corporal punishment. This action was

taken after a complaint made by the Bal Bandhu

working there. So, he advised the headmaster not

to underestimate the Bal Bandhus as they knew the

law and unless the headmaster stopped charging

money, he, too, would find himself suspended. Since

then, no money has been charged.


Now, even teachers are coming on time and the quality

of the midday meals has improved thanks to regular

monitoring by Mr Mahato.

Daring to go, raring to go

Clearly, the programme has managed to tap the potential

of the young Bal Bandhus by making them defenders

of child rights. Since they began work, they have gone

where many officials of the state machinery have not

dared to go. This has been a big advantage for the many

children deprived of their rights. Rescued from toiling

in street side restaurants, fields and factories, several of

them have realized their dream of going to school. Being

given a school uniform has motivated many others to

stay in school.

More importantly, the programme has given children hope

that the government cares for them. These expectations

from children, parents and the community have helped

to increase the motivation of the Bal Bandhus. So despite

the existing challenges, they are determined to work even

harder so that they can live up to these expectations. •

By Swapna Majumdar






Meeting with block officials 13








Rallies, marches 80


Stoppage of charge of fees 76

Campaign on child rights 1

CHHATTISGARH

chAPteR 4


tThe first few shots killed two guards. The second round was fired in the air to scare

away the crowd. “Running away at top speed like everyone else, I turned around when

I reached the forest to see the district collector being pulled away by about 50 heavily-

armed attackers. At least 10-12 rounds must have been fired.” It was just another day

at work for G Ramesh, Resource Person for the Bal Bandhu child rights programme in

Naxal torn Sukma block of Chhattisgarh.

Ramesh, along with Bal Bandhu Ghansham Nayak, was witness to the sensational

abduction of the then Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon by Naxalites on April

21, 2012, at a public meeting in Manjhipara village in Keralapal panchayat. The two

were eagerly waiting to tell the Collector about the work they had achieved in the village.

REMOvING CHILDREN FROM THE CROSSFIRE

• Sukma BloCk, Sukma DiStriCt, ChhattiSgarh •

Bal Bandhu awareness programme in Sukma


Menon’s interaction with the public was part of the Gram

Suraj Yojana in which officials regularly discuss the progress

of welfare schemes with the community. The Bal Bandhu

team had met Menon on several occasions earlier in his

office. “Though the DC was aware of the overall progress of

our programme, I did not want to miss this opportunity of

meeting him in Keralapal itself where we have done so much

work in the villages,” says Ramesh, revealing the extensive

networking that the Bal Bandhu team engages in.

However, Ramesh and Ghanshyam did not get a chance to

tell Menon about the Bal Mitra Samiti which is a support

group set up in Manjhipara and the numerous times it

has met since its inception, or even about the Porta Cabin

school with 350 students that the community itself had

mobilised in the village. “I was trembling uncontrollably

and could not speak a word for half an hour after the

shocking incident,” says Ramesh. On an earlier occasion,

he had missed by a whisker being present at the location

where a CRPF jeep full of jawans was blown to bits by a

landmine blast. “I always think that if we are ever directly

confronted by naxals then I will tell them that we are only

doing good work for the children,” laughs Ramesh.

These are the dangers that he and his team of 18 Bal

Bandhus, along with the other Resource Person in the

block, K Narayana, have become accustomed to in the

one and a half years since they speared the government’s

Bal Bandhu programme. Though the team did lie low

for a few days after the abduction incident, it has now

returned to making forays into remote jungle villages.

Chattisgarh’s Sukma block has long been a hotbed of Naxal

insurgency. A part of Dantewada district till it separated

to become an independent district in January 2012, the

newly formed Sukma district now compises three blocks –

Sukma, Chhindgarh and Konta. It is a tribal area primarily

inhabited by Gonds, Dorlas and Halbis.

Caught between the state and the Naxals, the people of

Sukma are viewed as informers by the Naxals and as naxal-

sympathizers by the police. The tribals’ rights are being

violated on many fronts by armed opposition groups as well

as the state. According to the State of India Indigenous and

Tribal Peoples Report, 2009, the tribals here face violation of

their right to life, arbitrary arrest, detention and torture, and

also repression due to forest laws. In 2007, NCPCR conducted

a fact finding mission to assess the status of children’s health

and education through public hearings and visits to villages

in Dantewada and Khammam districts of Chhattisgarh and

Andhra Pradesh. It found the state’s Salwa Judum campaign,

launched in 2005 to counter the Naxalites, had splintered

communities and caused massive displacement. Villages

were forcibly evacuated and moved to relief camps and

children’s education was severely impacted. The camps

are now being closed as several people are moving back to

villages, but the village infrastructure needs to be rebuilt.

However, the families of those who joined Salwa Judum are

unable to return for fear of repercussions from the Naxals

who continue to inhabit these areas.

ChilDren Caught Between naxalS anD

Salwa juDum

In the crossfire of the civil war condition prevailing in

the area, the education of children has been completely

disrupted. When the Salwa Judum was formed and full

scale counter insurgency operations launched by the state,

the Special Police Forces evacuated schools and occupied

Bal Bandhus reach out to out of school tribal children like these


them. Spaces reserved for children’s learning were

overnight converted into police camps. Naxals destroyed

some schools to prevent their occupation by the police.

Following the Supreme Court injunction that schools

should be vacated with immediate effect, the police have

moved out but the repair and rebuilding of the schools is

a massive task. Despite the court’s injunction, in certain

areas Naxals are not permitting construction of permanent

school structures, making the restoration of children’s

rights more challenging.

The children live in fear and insecurity, witnessing violence

at close quarters. Their own parents, brothers or uncles are

sometimes brutally punished by either side of the warring

faction. The Bal Bandhus report it is common for an entire

village, including children, to be summoned by insurgents

to witness the punishments to deter others from defying

their diktats. They report of instances where children are

asked to perform for the insurgents during their meetings.

While child marriage was always prevalent, it is now a

form of protection for puberty age girls to prevent their

recruitment by armed groups. Three of the four female

Bal Bandhus in Sukma said attempts had been made to

induct them into an insurgent group, one of them being

just 14 when she was approached. The Salwa Judum is also

known to recruit and arm children. Nearly every child in

the region has spent at least one night in the forest, having

fled their village to escape being caught in the crossfire

between the Salwa Judum and the insurgents. In addition

to these extraordinary conditions, the children of Sukma

also face the other vulnerabilities like child labour and

trafficking faced by other poor children in India.

It is in such a context that the Bal Bandhu scheme was designed

for the area and is being implemented since December 2010

in 100 habitations spread over 20 gram panchayats.

oPPoSition to Bal BanDhu Survey

Selected jointly by the Resource Persons and the sarpanchs

on the basis of their leadership qualities and social

responsibility, the 20 Bal Bandhus (two have subsequently

left the programme) underwent a three-day exposure visit

to child friendly areas in Andhra Pradesh.

Returning to Sukma, they soon got a taste of what was

in store for them. They were forbidden to carry out the

baseline survey on public institutions and the situation

of children aged 0-18 in the project area. The data

collection was aimed not only at helping to plan out

project activities but also as a mobilization tool for the

Bal Bandhus. However, they initially faced hurdles from

those who thought a recruitment drive for the police force

was underway. However, the Bal Bandhus engaged in a

great deal of persuasion to explain to the community the

purpose of the survey and its importance in ensuring the

rights of children. Eventually they succeeded in carrying it

out in all but one gram panchayat.

Analysis of the study data showed that of the 2,178 children

out of school in the project area, a greater number was girls.

The number of dropouts also increased as the children’s

age increased. There was a shortage of anganwadi centres

in the project area. The workers in the existing centres, as

well as school teachers, were highly irregular in attending

work. Due to the volatile situation, most of them lived away

from the village where the centre or school was located,

even though community members assured them that their

accommodation and safety would be ensured.

A Bal Bandhu community programme


Access to schools was difficult as hamlets were widely

scattered and transport to interior villages almost non

existent. Teachers and anganwadi workers from outside

therefore tended to arrive late and leave early. Access to

schools became worse in the rainy season when villages

were cut off due to flooding.

turning Point Came with SarPanChS

Struggling all by themselves in the initial months of the

project, the Bal Bandhus had little hope of getting any active

support from the sarpanchs who, despite being all powerful

in their communities, were largely indifferent towards child

rights. The turning point of the programme came, however,

when 17 sarpanchs undertook an exposure visit to Andhra

Pradesh in September to view community involvement in

children’s issues. The Bal Bandhus suddenly found ardent

supporters in the sarpanchs. For most sarpanchs who had

never stepped outside their block since the civil conflict

began, the visit was path breaking. Expressing it poignantly,

one of them said, “We saw what it is to live in a state of peace.

We have travelled so much in the last three days without

seeing a single gun wielding policeman or citizen. People

and children are walking around in such freedom.”

The sarpanchs now have faith in the power of education

to restore peace to their region. Recognising that schools

are safe places for children, sarpanch Manju decided

to give space in her own house for an anganwadi in her

gram panchayat. When a sarpanch was arrested for

being a Naxal sympathiser, Bal Bandhu Reena Mandavi

mobilized the community to elect another sarpanch. This

sarpanch was initially unwilling to take the post, but after

Reena motivated her, she is performing diligently. A major

success of the programme is in getting the sarpanchs to

assume a central role for the development of the village.

From the beginning, the Resource Persons engaged with

the sarpanchs, whose support has made it possible for the

programme to function in the insecure atmosphere. They

were included in the panchayat consultations held with the

district administration to select the areas to be included

in the project. Though respected and recognised in their

community, it has not always been easy for the sarpanchs

to stand behind this government programme, as they are

accountable to both the state and underground groups.

That their support is crucial for the Bal Bandhu programme

in Sukma is clear from the fact that the programme had to

withdraw from one gram panchayat where the sarpanch

did not cooperate.

initiating Community Dialogue

on ChilD rightS

The Bal Bandhu programme brought about several never-

seen before features to the strife torn region. On November

14, it organised a massive rally on child rights in Sukma

town. Attended by 1500 people, the rally was organized

with the participation of all panchayat members and it

drew the leaders of various political parties. A non political

rally of this scale had never been seen in Sukma earlier.

The programme brought about awareness and dialogue

on child rights issues.

Having been selected through a process of community

mobilisation themselves, the Bal Bandhus in turn are

community mobilisers responsible for conducting

village level meetings to identify and solve the problems

of children. The Bal Bandhus conducted a 1,000 village

level meetings in the first six months of the programme.

The power of their mobilisation strategies ensured that

Villagers gather to listen to Bal Bandhus


even though most of those attending the meetings were

unlettered daily wage labourers, they participated in issues

related to their children’s education.

In village after village, the Bal Bandhus found community

members vociferously demanding anganwadis, wanting

schools to be restarted and teacher absenteeism to reduce,

without knowing how to leverage their power with the

authorities. In the forefront of the Bal Bandhus action plans,

therefore, was organising the community to put forth its

demands. Community members were willing to ensure

the teacher attendance. Where facilities were provided for

teachers to stay in the village it was found the attendance and

performance of teachers was better and a larger number of

children attended school.

Every parent wanted the safety and education of their

children, some being determined to admit their children

into residential schools which were seen as the only hope

for safety, others keeping their children with them no

matter what the situation. There were also parents who

sent one child to school and kept the other at home to add

to the family income. The parents viewed the Bal Bandhus,

who came from backgrounds similar to their own, as role

models for their children.

The Bal Bandhu team set up Bal Bandhu Support Groups

and Bal Mitra Sanghams to mobilise the community from

SarPanCh inSPireS even aFter Death

The story of Shri Bhima, the iconic sarpanch of Nilavaram

panchayat in Sukma and a friend of the Bal Bandhu

programme, is the stuff legends are made of. Gunned

down in a senseless act of violence in September 2011, Shri

Bhima had risen to the protection of the children in the area

even before the Bal Bandhu programme began in Sukma.

He personally facilitated the education of more than 100

children who fled from neighbouring Konta block when

violence escalated and both warring sides perpetrated

brutalities on hapless children and villagers. When he was

alive he inspired and exhorted his fellow sarpanchs from

other blocks to take up cudgels on behalf of children and

ensure that they were educated.

At least two of the Bal Bandhus owe their lives and

education to him. Bal Bandhu Anil Kavasi was one of those

children from Konta who fled when violence peaked and

found his way to Nilavaram panchayat. He says he also

wanted to escape from home as his parents did not want

him to study. He was taken in by Shri Bhima who made

sure that he had security and pursued his education.

Nilavaram Bal Bandhu Sunita Sodi also ran away from

home when she was being pressured to join the Naxals

and sought refuge with Shri Bhima who introduced her

to the Bal Bandhu programme that changed her life.

Sunita had studied upto Class 10 in a hostel, after which

she was at home in Gadhiras helping with agricultural

work for a few years. Her troubles began when she was

16. As she was at home and unmarried, the Naxals started

continuously pressurising her to join them even though

she refused. Her father has passed away and her mother

used to attend the Naxal meetings. Eventually she ran

away and came to Nilavaram when on one occasion she

was asked to dress in a sari and carry a bag of rice to a

Naxal camp where she stayed for just a day – even though

it was common for women to be kept in such camps for a

week or two before being allowed to return.

Things took a turn for the worse for her again after Shri

Bhima was killed. Regarded with suspicion, she was

taken for questioning by the insurgents, as was her

brother who came back only after 10 days. Sunita feels

that Nilavaram, which used to be the most vibrant and

responsive village in terms of child rights, is now in a

bad state. People are scared to attend the meetings that

she calls. However, despite these setbacks, she speaks

with pride about her work, pointing out that she just

admitted 20 children in the ashram school.


the grassroots and create a sense of ownership. Support

group members were identified in each gram panchayat

during community meetings, and these support groups

have undertaken several interventions such as sending

child labourers back to school, asking for additional

teachers where teachers were not sufficient, petitioning

authorities for the setting up of additional schools and

hostels, identifying government schemes for the benefit of

children and the community at large, helping Bal Bandhus

trace missing children and bring them back to school,

preventing child marriages and monitoring the school

attendance of children in their villages.

The Bal Mitra Sanghams are groups of 5-20 youth and

parents who help the Bal Bandhus create an atmosphere

of child rights in the gram panchayats. By mobilising and

questioning the community, the Bal Mitra Sanghams

convince recalcitrant parents of the power of education.

About 100 Bal Mitra Sanghams have been set up, and

taking their cue from the brave Bal Bandhus themselves,

on one occasion the members of a Sangham in Badisetti

continued with their activities in the thick of firing between

police and Naxalites. Four Mahila Bal Mitra Sanghams

have also been formed. In addition, in every village there is

at least one ‘bandhu’ or friend who helps the Bal Bandhus

in bringing the community together.

Collecting records of children who are out of schools

and anganwadis, the Bal Bandhus have worked with the

community to ensure the enrolment of 750 children in the first

six months itself. Dropouts are mobilised to enroll in RBCs,

KGBVs and other hostels and continue their education. Bal

Bandhus facilitate the community in submission of petitions

to authorities, monitoring the functioning of schools,

anganwadis and hostels, ensuring money is returned to

students in schools where fees have been collected from them

in contravention of the RTE Act, campaigning against child

marriages, tracing missing children and bringing them back

to the safety of their schools and hostels, and also addressing

a wider range of community issues. Says Resource Person K

Narayana, “A major achievement has been revitalising the

School Management Committees.” The Bal Bandhu team

found out who the SMC members were, told them about

their responsibilities and ensured that the SMCs no longer

existed only on paper.

Recognising the fact that in the current situation children

in some areas were safest when away from home, there

has been a massive drive to demand hostels and RBCs.

In addition, the programme ensured two schools in the

project area that were occupied by security forces were

vacated and returned to the children.

Though there is widespread acceptance of child labour and

child marriage, with a community member saying, “We have

all been child labourers and our children too work,” the Bal

Bandhus can see the path out of this mindset because the

community is also clamouring for education. “If we have a

school in our village, we can send our children to school,”

is their oft repeated demand, offering the hope of removal

of backward notions in classrooms. Encouraging enrolment

in KGBVs has proved important in removing girls from

the environment of marriage fixing. Girls who have been

mobilised to join KGBVs in turn mobilise their friends to join.

A challenge for the Bal Bandhus is to reach out to the

most difficult segment of children in the 15-18 age group,

especially those among them who have never been to

school. Whether they can re enter the formal education

system at this stage or whether they should be placed in

a safe learning environment that is more vocational and

skill based, the Bal Bandhus recognise the imperative of

extending them protection given that they are the most

likely recruits for armed groups.

engaging with the government

While on the face of it the programme seems to deal

entirely with education, in the field, Resource Persons

and Bal Bandhus need to deal with not just the education

department but also the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the ITDA

which manages ashram schools and the women and child

development department that looks after anganwadis etc.

The team has managed to strike a rapport with officials

from the gram panchayat to the block and district level,


with the district collector personally intervening. In the

risk filled working environment of Sukma, the support

of the district administration is particularly valuable for

the Bal Bandhu team. Block and district level trainings of

officials on child rights and the RTE Act are regularly held.

In fact, the extremely successful training programmes of

officers, select headmasters and ITDA officials regarding

implementation of the RTE Act has been one of the most

effective outcomes of engaging with the government. The

impact of the training was seen in the action taken by the

state for dealing with out of school children and increasing

facilities in Residential Bridge Course Centres.

aChievementS anD ChallengeS For

Bal BanDhu team

Having made the transition from being unemployed

youth to community workers with a sense of purpose in

a short span, Bal Bandhu Anil speaks for the others when

he says, “Earlier I was no one, but today I am recognized

and people listen when I speak. That is very empowering.”

Though he could have derived a sense of power from

joining the Naxals, who wooed him for long as he is a

graduate and they valued educated persons, Anil says not

only did he turn down their overtures he also stopped his

sister from joining the insurgents. “She was willing to join

them but I told her that she would have to forget all about

us.” Whenever he returns to his home in Konta to meet

his family, he has to explain in detail about his activities

to the Naxals who grumble about him not working in his

own block.

Happy to be working for a cause, the Bal Bandhus are not

deterred even by incidents like Bal Bandhu Reena being

picked up by the Naxals when she was working in the

field. “I was questioned closely for four hours and finally

in exasperation I told them—you people have managed

to create an atmosphere of fear because of your own fear!

Why don’t you let the children live their lives in a fear free

atmosphere?” She was finally allowed by the Naxals who

told her that though they approved of her work, they would

not allow construction of any new school buildings despite

the old ones being in a dilapidated state. Children were

also prohibited from leaving the village for education.

Eventually, Reena had to leave Badisetti gram panchayat

and take charge of another.

vigilanCe yielDS DiviDenDS

The community mobilisation by Bal Bandhus resulted

in members of Sonakukanar panchayat themselves

identifying the need for another anganwadi in

this large gram panchayat. In another village, the

issue of training for teachers was raised after an

assessment of the learning levels of the children. In

one gram panchayat, the community threatened

to confiscate the ration cards of those who did

not send their children to school despite there

being a sufficient number of schools. Villagers of a

panchayat even pooled together money to rescue a

child from their village when they came to know he

had been trafficked to Andhra Pradesh to work on a

construction site. They coordinated with the Andhra

Pradesh labour department to ensure the child was

released and brought back to Sukma. In Chikpal, the

community regularly monitors the functioning of the

school and provision of midday meals.

Child Rights rally on Children’s Day, November 14


The fiery young Reena, who roams around fearlessly on a

motorcycle, had even taken it upon herself to negotiate

with the Naxals to gain permission for villagers to get

Aadhar cards. Thinking independently and coming up with

solutions, Reena has traced six missing children and got

them admitted to school. The children had gone missing

while on their way back to their ashram school after a

vacation. “With the help of other Bal Bandhus I managed

to trace them. The children however refused to return to the

ashram school where they used to be beaten by the warden.

I complained to the SDM who summoned the warden

and severely reprimanded him. But when the children

still refused to go back, I arranged their transfer certificate

and got them admitted to another school,” says Reena

triumphantly.

The Bal Bandhus are especially watchful over missing

children as their own experiences have shown them the

dangers that exist. Dondpal Bal Bandhu Ramesh Kumar

Kashyap says, “I studied in an ashram school despite

opposition from my parents who wanted me to work.

I completed Class 10 with great difficulty even while I

was being made to do domestic work for my uncle and

engage in fishing with him till late in the night and then

go to school on an empty stomach the next day. I know

all the adverse situations children can face and I want to

save them.” The programme has created an environment

of concern for child rights. Bal Bandhu Vijayanthi of Japra

ensured the safety of girls in an RBC which had no female

warden and was located where passers-by could look in.

She mobilised the community to submit a complaint on

the matter. Vijayanthi also complained to the SDM when

a school refused to admit six former child labourers,

who were then given admission. She secured the release

of two children whom she had found working in a hotel.

Bal Bandhu Kosaram keeps newpapers updated on the

a Fine BalanCe

The Bal Bandhus have somehow managed to find a

way to work around the iron writ of the Naxals for the

sake of the children. They have fine tuned a dangerous

and delicate balancing act. When circumstances made

it difficult for them to work in a particular panchayat,

they moved to a new gram panchayat. Meetings

conducted in panchayats to focus on the status of

children in the area and their rights in relation to the

RTE Act, are attended by incognito Naxals too.

The young Bal Bandhus face the difficult situation of

being ‘permitted’ to work by underground groups. Any

meeting or village level activity has to be pre-approved

by them and can be cancelled at any time. Not only

this, each time Bal Bandhus in some areas leave their

villages to attend the review and planning meetings

held at least once a month, they are forced to obtain

permission from members of underground groups

before leaving and also thoroughly debrief them on

their return. Despite this, Bal Bandhus never miss the

planning meetings.

Even under normal circumstances access to this area

and communication is difficult, but the problems here

are magnified. In the more sensitive villages nobody

is allowed to use a mobile phone despite mobile

connectivity being present. This severely hampers

communication. One can never predict when a bandh

will be called or when the programme will be halted.

Says Narayana, “The Bal Bandhu team is the only one

in the region that does not avoid going to even the most

difficult Naxal-infested areas.”

On how they deal with the Naxals, he says, “We don’t

have the capacity to deal with them, instead, we just

deal with the community to win its trust. Although

the Naxals have told us through the Bal Bandhus

that they would not oppose us and that we can take

their support for issues like ensuring teachers are

not absent from schools, we have advised the Bal

Bandhus that rather than taking the help of the

Naxals it is better to empower the community to

handle problems by itself.”


problems in school. Bal Bandhu Laxmi Mandavi brought

staff from a health centre to the gram panchayat to raise

awereness there on health and hygiene.

The Bal Bandhus’ strategy of visiting areas in a team rather

than singly, has helped them learn from and support one

another. They have emerged as multi purpose workers and

a link between the community and the official system. If a

villager falls ill people turn to Bal Bandhu Laxmi to take the

patient to the health centre. The extent of trust reposed in her

exposed her, exposes her to danger. On one occasion, she was

forced to take the wife of a Naxal to the doctor at a great risk.

Stopped at a police check post, she used her identity card and

the confidence that being part of the government system gave

her and succeeded in talking her way out of the situation.

Acceptance and recognition of the Bal Bandhu team by the

state, community and underground groups is crucial. While

they are now greatly valued by the community, it is not clear

if the state administration recognizes them as an integral part

of its child protection system rather than just project staff. The

Bal Bandhu team itself is careful of its public image, which is

crucial for its effective functioning and protection.

Resource Persons in particular are aware that they are not

only representatives of the state but also activists making

demands on the state. They are role models and mentors

for the Bal Bandhus themselves, constantly called upon

to advise and counsel them. Though they marshal their

experience in community mobilisation and techniques

of dealing with crisis situations, it has been challenging to

deal with the situation in Sukma which is quite different

from other difficult states.

BriDging the gulF

Despite challenges, Narayana says what makes this effort

Midday meal being cooked in a school


Based on report by Rekha Abel

worthwhile is testimonials like this one from a sarpanch,

who said with tears in his eyes, “The state and the insurgents

have turned one brother against another. While one is with

the Salwa Judum the other has joined the Red Army. How

can they ever live under the same roof again? This is why

I see so much hope in the Bal Bandhu programme – if our

children are educated they will have the resources to see

what is being done to their lives, their families and their

family bonds. They can resist both.”

Resource Persons Narayana and Ramesh say the strength of

their work in Sukma has been the building a community to

protect child rights, achieved through intensive community

mobilisation by constant engagement with it. “We reached

out to the last household in the difficult terrain of Sukma,”

says Ramesh. “A climate for child rights was built by making

that the unifying factor in a community riven by dissensions

due to the political situation.” Although Sukma is an area

where the presence of outsiders is viewed with suspicion, the

Bal Bandhu programme succeeded in maintaining a positive

neutrality for child rights. “The proof is that, whatever their

political affiliation, thousands of people turn up from the

villages to join our rallies for child rights,” points out Narayana.

The programme’s consistent effort to also build an

engagement with the state has resulted in the state and the

community coming together in the interest of the child.

“It was Shri Bhima who personified bridging of the gap

between the state and the community,” say the Resource

Persons. They are hopeful that the solid community

support the programme has built will stand the test of time

in Sukma’s era of conflict. •




Gram panchayats/VCDCs contacted 20

Community meetings 1,571






Children enrolled in ashramshalas/RBCs/KGBVs 556




Rallies, marches 67

RTE training at dist level 1

Child marriages stopped 2

MAHARASHTRA

chAPteR 5


BBraving all oDDS

A few days after the Bal Bandhu Scheme (BBS), a programme to secure rights of children

in areas affected by civil unrest, was initiated by the National Commission for Protection

of Child Rights (NCPCR), in Dhanora block of Gadchiroli district, Maharashtra, the

ongoing conflict between security forces and Maoist groups in the area increased.

The arrest of some Naxal leaders by the police angered the Maoists who responded by

triggering landmine blasts and beheading two villagers suspected to be police informers.

It was amid these disturbing conditions that Chandrakant Ghate and Byagari

Shankaraiah, the two Bal Bandhu programme Resource Persons, decided that they

would stay one month in the villages in the block so that they could win the trust and

confidence of the communities. During this time they hoped to make the community

BRAvING ALL ODDS

• Dhanora BloCk, gaDChiroli DiStriCt, maharaShtra •


aware of the recently launched Bal Bandhu scheme and

get them on board to fight for child rights.

Twenty village panchayats located in remote parts of the block

where there was a huge trust deficit with regard to government

programmes were chosen for this brave initiative.

Not only were these villages impacted by poverty but

the conflict had also led to non functioning schools and

anganwadis. Consequently, children were the worst

affected here, being deprived of nutrition, health and

education. More importantly, as these children were not

engaged in any kind of constructive activities, there was

the added danger of them being lured by Naxals.

aDoPting novel StrategieS

The two Resources Persons divided the 20 panchayats

amongst themselves and the 20 Bal Bandhus (friends of

children) chosen from the community. The next step was

to reach out to different groups in the villages. Initially

they moved from one village to the next after spending one

night with the community residing there. During the day,

the teams would visit schools, anganwadis and health sub

centres, ashram schools and panchayat offices collecting

data on the out of school children, teacher absenteeism,

non availability of healthcare facilities and services. These

issues would then be discussed with the youth, women

and other community members during the night and their

suggestions on resolving these issues would be sought.

Living with the community, an integral part of this strategy,

proved crucial in building trust. By being there all the time

over a period of 30 days, they were able to convince the

community that the BBS was not just another government

programme but one which would ensure rights for their

children with the help of Bal Bandhus.

It has been novel strategies like this that has given children

here a second chance at childhood. Since its introduction

in December 2010, 226 out of school children have been

enrolled in schools of 21 panchayats of Dhanora. About

808 children going to ashram schools were prevented from

dropping out and 112 children who had failed Class 10

were provided special coaching to help them appear for

Class 10 examinations.

remarkaBle PanChayat PartiCiPation

What has been remarkable is the participation and

involvement of panchayats in this process. Motivated by

the BBs and the RPs, they have taken ownership of schools,

anganwadis and health centres. The result has been the

formation of three Bal Adhikar Suraksha Samitis or Child

Protection Committees, opening of primary schools,

some of which were closed for over three years, ensuring

presence of teachers and repairing of schools. Anganwadis

too have been followed up by the panchayats and the

services of many of them have been regularised.

initiating ProCeSS oF Change

In December 2010 when the programme was launched, not

many believed that it would be possible to bring about change

in Gadchiroli. Located in a remote part of the Vidarbha region,

the rich forest cover and difficult terrain of the tribal district of

Gadchiroli has made it the hub of Naxalite activity in the state.

Declared as one of 250 most backward districts in the country

since 2006, Gadchiroli has the lowest Human Development

Index figures in Maharashtra. Poverty, compounded by


inaccessibility and unavailability of government services has

exacerbated the situation. However, these challenges did

not deter the Commission from choosing the district for the

programme.

Committed to the goal of restoring child rights, the

Commission was clear that the process of change could be

brought about only by engaging the community and local

government institutions and making them believe that

together they could make a difference.

The NCPCR knew that unless they chose the right Resource

Persons, they might not be able to make any inroads in

the block. Selecting Chandrakant Ghate as one of the two

Resources Persons was a good choice since he had worked

in Gadchiroli before and was familiar with the conditions.

Although Byagari Shankaraiah, the second Resource Person,

had no experience of working in Maharashtra, his association

with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and his resourcefulness and

prior experience in motivating children and their parents to

value education, made him an ideal choice.

Once the Resource Persons were selected, Dhanora block

was chosen for the programme after discussions with

the local administration. “Dhanora is full of jungles and

initially I was tense. But after several meetings with the

community, I was able to gain their confidence. Many

a time I have to walk back alone from villages located in

deep forests. Now, I am no longer afraid because everyone

has realized that my only aim is to work for child rights,”

recounted Shankaraiah.

For Chandrakant too, Dhanora was unfamiliar territory.

“Although I was unknown to the community there, I was

confident that having worked in the district I could win

their trust,” said Chandrakant.

SuSPiCion turnS into truSt

Chosen for their vast experience in working with children

in a similar milieu, the first thing Chandrakant Ghate and

Byagari Shankaraiah did was to conduct door to door

visits in the block. Treated with suspicion at first, it took

the two Resource Persons many meetings with panchayat

members, local youth, teachers and women to explain

the programme and its objectives. Not only did they try to

familiarize the community with child rights issues during

these home visits but they also systematically codified the

status of children.

What helped to boost the process was a visit by the NCPCR

member secretary to introduce the programme officially to

the block level officers from revenue, education and tribal

development departments, block development officer,

members of school management committees and elected

representatives of panchayat.

Further, a public hearing held by NCPCR at Kamangad on

August 8, 2011, which was attended by the Commission

chairperson, district collector and CEO of Gadchiroli

district, gave the community an opportunity to voice

their problems. Since the chairperson’s visit was made

in response to the complaint made by the villagers, the

panchayat and gram sabha, her presence underlined

the commitment of the Commission to upholding child

rights. More importantly, the fact that the Commission

was willing to come to remote villages affected by Naxal

violence to protect child rights helped to build the

trust and confidence of the community in the Bal

Bandhu scheme.


This interaction also helped to familiarize them with the

programme and reiterate the commitment of the team

implementing the scheme to uphold child rights even in

zones of conflict.

In the past year, they have reached out to 12 gram

panchayats in the block that have still not been visited by

government officials. “The government officials are afraid

to visit these panchayats. But we are welcomed by the

community. This is one of our biggest achievements so far,”

stated Chandrakant.

Delivering the gooDS

But what really got the community behind the Resource

Persons was when they managed to reopen the school at

Michgaonzada which was closed for three years.

It was during their familiarization visit to villages that

the the RPs learnt that the gram panchayat primary

school, Michgaonzada, was closed for three years. Yet,

the teacher of the school was drawing his salary without

having come for a single day. On enquiring from the

sarpanch, the RPs were told that no action had been

taken despite complaints being filed with the block

development officer (BDO), block education officer

(BEO) and other officials. The sarpanch also expressed

his helplessness saying that although many officials had

come and gone, nothing had changed.

When the Bal Bandhu team found that the apathy of

government officials had forced the community to send their

children to schools in neighbouring villages, they met the

BDO and BEO to discuss reopening of the school. However,

they did not get a positive response. After realizing that a

follow up from a higher level was required, they asked the

Commission chairperson to intervene. After the chairperson

spoke to the state government officials, they pulled up the

block officials and action was taken.

Not only did the school reopen, but the teacher also started

to come regularly. Now, children from Michgaonzada do

not travel out of their villages to study.

“The Bal Bandhu programme in our village helped our

children to study. Since the team was instrumental in

making it happen, we have given them our support in all

their efforts to educate our children” said Mala, a senior

citizen of the village.

ChooSing the right Bal BanDhuS

Notwithstanding the skill and experience of the two

Resource Persons selected for the programme, it was quite

clear that the scheme’s success hinged almost entirely on

the Bal Bandhus or the cadre of youth chosen from the

community as child rights defenders. The Bal Bandhu had

to have a minimum education of Class 10, be aged between

20-35 years and preferably be unmarried.

Since choosing the right Bal Bandhu would be crucial, the

Resource Persons decided to involve the community in

their selection. Moreover, as the Bal Bandhus would also

require the support of the panchayat members and school

management committees at every step, it was important

to involve them in the identification and selection process.

After a couple of months of participative consultations,

interviews were taken of the young persons recommended

for leadership qualities and a sense of social responsibility

and the Resource Persons were able to zero in on 20 Bal

Bandhus. Although they tried to get an equal number of girls,

the RPs managed to find only four who fulfilled the eligibility


criteria. At 20, Bal Bandhu Pushpa Wasudeo Lohambale from

Mohali panchayat who has completed Class 12, may be the

youngest of them all, but she is no less enthusiastic than her

24 year old colleague Lakshuram Gando Boga of Sawargaon

panchayat who has the done his MA in political science. So

even if their educational qualifications and age differ, the zeal

to fight for child rights is equal.

win Some, loSe Some

However, everything has not been smooth sailing. One

of the biggest challenges that arose after selecting the Bal

Bandhus, was to protect them from Naxal overtures. Since

Dhanora block borders Rajnandgaon and Kanker districts

of Chhattisgarh, also hit by civil unrest, there is a greater

intensity of Naxalite activity. So, young men and women

are in great demand especially if they are educated.

Chandrakant revealed that two of the Bal Bandhus quit

within months of being selected because of the pressure

from Naxals. “One BB was so pressured to leave the

programme and join the Naxals that she told us that the

only way to avoid them was to leave the village. She left the

programme and the village and is now pursuing higher

studies from elsewhere,” he said.

Bal BanDhu rePayS Community truSt

Just how important involving the panchayat was in the

selection of the Bal Bandhu was seen within a couple

of months of the programme. Naresh Meshram, a tribal

youth from Murumgaon, is a first generation learner. As

the eldest of four siblings, he dropped out after the first

year of college because of a lack of resources and started

working as an insurance agent. But in 2009, he was

laid off by the company. When the sarpanch of the area

was asked to recommend some people, he suggested

Naresh’s name as he knew him to be a sincere worker.

After becoming a Bal Bandhu when Naresh began a

survey to map out of school children, he found that 26

children from Charwahi village did not go to school.

On further investigation, Naresh found that the school

where these children studied had been occupied by

CRPF for their camp. Furthermore, the school teacher

had stopped coming after being beaten by them as a

suspected accomplice of Naxals.

Although the CRPF stayed in the school for a month, since

it was at the beginning of the session, by the time they left

the children had stopped coming. When Naresh asked the

parents to send their children back to school as the CRPF

had left, he was told that they were afraid their children

would be caught in the cross fire between the Naxals and

security forces. If Naresh could arrange for their children to

go to the school in the neighbouring village, then they were

willing to continue their education.

Naresh discussed the issue with the RPs and with the

help of the sarpanch was able to admit them in Japtalai

ashram school where they are now studying. “Bal

Bandhuon ko humne chuna hai aur isiliye unke kaam

me sahyog ki jimmedari bhi humari hai (Since we have

chosen the BB, it is our responsibility to support his

work),” said the sarpanch.

Thanks to the cooperation between the sarpanch and

the Bal Bandhu, the children have not missed out on

education.


Another BB left the programme after he was detained

by Naxals in the village where he had gone to distribute

leaflets and posters to motivate the community. “He was

forced to stay with them the entire day. After the Naxals

let him go in the evening, the BB was too traumatized to

continue and quit the programme. After this incident,

we had to work doubly hard to retain the motivation and

confidence of the other BBs,” stated Shankaraiah.

In fact, one of the strategies adopted to restore confidence

was to show them that it was possible to work for children

even in difficult conditions. The purpose of taking them

out of their state to visit Ranga Reddy district in Andhra

Pradesh was also to reiterate the programme’s confidence

in the Bal Bandhus and their willingness to invest in them.

BuilDing linkageS

Besides training on child rights which included awareness

on the Right to Education Act, Child Labour Act and

Juvenile Justice Act, the progarmme also undertook the

responsibility of broadening their horizon. Since none

of them had ever stepped out of their state, the exposure

visit of the Bal Bandhus to Ranga Reddy district in Andhra

Pradesh to see the impact of community mobilization on

child rights, was a huge confidence booster.

This visit was an important component of the programme

as BBs were able to see first hand the processes involved in

getting the PRIs, community and institutions for children

engaged to protect children’s rights.

Once they were back, the Bal Bandhus put in practice what

they had seen and learnt. Several meetings with members

of 20 gram panchayats were conducted to discuss out of

school children, irregularity of children in schools and the

status of children in AWCs. In the first few months of the

programme, over 40 such meetings were held to engage

panchayats in promoting child rights by monitoring

schools, AWCs and stopping child labour.

Additionally, members from 10 gram panchayats were also

taken to Ranga Reddy district, Andhra Pradesh, to interact

with PRIs there to understand their role in upholding

children’s rights.

One of the positive outcomes of this engagement has been

the allotment of office space for the BB programme by the

panchayat samiti of Dhanora block.

Involving the youth has been one of the key strategies of

the programme. The Bal Bandhus were able to use their

influence among their peers to motivate and inspire them

to work for child rights. As many as 61 meetings were

held within the first six months to enlist their support. The

Bal Bandhus say that they have the backing of over 1000

young people of the block. “I used to earn a good salary

in my earlier job but did not have the respect and trust of

the community. As a Bal Bandhu, I have an identity in the

community. I am now being invited for events at schools

and I have the support of the community. I am proud of

being a Bal Bandhu,” said Naresh Meshram.

While reaching out to the PRIs and the youth, it was also

necessary to build a rapport with the parents, especially

those who were part of the school management

committees (SMCs). These meetings with the SMCs and

parents (not part of SMCs) were held to disseminate

information on the Right to Education Act (RTE) which

made it mandatory for all children to be given access to

free education in schools. In this context, their role in

getting children back to school was also discussed. These

interactions also provided the BB team details on gaps in

the education infrastructure in the villages which in turn

was used to plan future campaigns.

Dhar Pati Chal Shala CamPaign

The Dhar Pati Chal Shala or ‘Take your slate and come

to school’ campaign to enroll children was started after

a survey conducted to identify out of school children in

19 panchayats showed 591 children had dropped out and

were working as agricultural labourers. Although 57 of

these children were readmitted into schools thanks to the

efforts made by the Bal Bandhus, a decision was taken to

campaign for a larger enrolment drive.


As a part of this campaign, a one day workshop was held

at Dhanora. Sarpanchs, panchayat members, teachers,

headmasters, SMC members, education extension officers,

kendra pramukhs and other key government officials were

among the 150 people who participated in this workshop.

Sarpanchs, SMCs and headmasters agreed to take the lead

in initiating the enrolment drive in their respective villages.

A poster and pamphlet specially developed by the BB team

in the local language on the importance of education and

RTE was also officially released by the block level officials

and distributed to all.

This was followed up by wall writing in the village and

schools exhorting children to enroll in schools. Also,

rallies to encourage parents to send their children to

school were held on the first day of a new school session in

20 village panchayats. Thanks to the rapport built though

their various meetings, the BBs were able to get the youth,

teachers, SMC members, PRI members and women to

participate in this rally.

Awareness on RTE has meant that now no fees are charged

for transfer certificates or for examinations. In fact, the SMC

took the initiative to address complaints of non availability

of midday meals (MDMs) because of a lack of manpower

and corruption by making a list of teachers responsible for

MDMs and putting it up so that their names were known to

all and they could be held accountable.

motivating Community ownerShiP

Even while campaigning for enrolment, the BB team

continued to motivate the community to take ownership

of the schools and monitor its functioning. We are here

to help you, they told the community but unless you

demand accountability, things will not improve. It

took several meetings for residents of Heiti village to

inSPiring the Community to reoPen

anganwaDi

Success in motivating the community in Heiti village

inspired Umesh Bhanarkar, the Bal Bandhu in

charge of Kulbhatti, one of the most remote villages

in Dhanora block. Surrounded by mountains and

forests, the village was rarely visited by block or district

officials. So it came as no surprise to Umesh to find that

the village anganwadi centre was as good as closed.

Although the AWW lived in the same village, she

came only once or twice in the whole year. It was the

anganwadi helper who came once or twice in a month.

But it was only to distribute food.

When Umesh tried to ask the AWW about it, he was asked

to mind his own business and turned away. Advised by

the RPs to get the community involved, Umesh began

talking to the people. Realising that many of them,

particularly the mothers, were ignorant about their right

to demand services from the AWC, Umesh first made

them aware of the benefits of the institution run by the

government for the community.

It took several meetings and discussions for the

community to realize they were being denied their

rights. But Umesh knew that unless he was able to get the

sarpanch and the CDPO also involved, the AWW would

not be convinced. So a meeting was held with all of them

together so that each could voice their concern and the

problem was resolved amicably.


understand that unless they took up the matter of teacher

absenteeism, their children’s education, which had

suffered as a consequence for the last four years, would

continue to do so.

In this case, absenteeism had occured because the teacher,

who had been appointed by the zilla parishad school,

was teaching at another school in Dhanora panchayat.

Although the community had demanded the teacher be

brought back to their school, their pleas fell on deaf ears.

When nothing happened for a couple of months, the

parents gave up trying.

When the Bal Bandhus inspired them to do something

about the problem, the community decided, in

concurrence with the panchayat, not to send their children

to school until a trained teacher was appointed in the new

session which started in June 2011.

When the parents did not send their children to school for

four days, NCPCR asked the state government to intervene.

Thereafter, block officials visited Heti village and promised

to send the teacher back to her original posting. Now,

after four years, the Heiti zilla parishad school finally has

a trained teacher to teach for the children.

reSCuing ChilD laBour

Using June 12, the International Anti Child Labour Day to rally

the youth against child labour has proven to be a successful

strategy in protecting child rights. Not only were the young

people in the villages inspired to spread the word against

child labour, they became motivated enough to bring out of

school children engaged in child labour back to schools.

keePing oFFiCialS in the looP

In the past one year, the programme has been able to make

important linkages with village, block and district government

Saving arvinD

If the Bal Bandhus had not campaigned against child

labour in his village, 14 year old Arvind Sidam, would

have still been working in a shop. Belonging to a landless

poor family, Arvind’s parents toiled as labourers to eke a

living in village Rangi, Dhanora block.

So when Arvind dropped out of school and began to

work, his parents did not find anything amiss. After all, his

elder brother had also dropped out and was working.

When the BBs found out about him, they tried to convince

his parents to stop him from working and rejoin school.

When this did not work, they contacted Arvind’s elder

brother who was employed in the neighbouring state

of Chhattisgarh. Fortunately, the elder brother realized

the value of education and counseled his brother. The

Bal Bandhu took Arvind’s brother and some other youth

from the village to convince the shop owner to release

Arvind from work. When he did not listen, the Bal Bandhu

persuaded the sarpanch to accompany him. This time,

the shop owner allowed Arvind to go.

Initially, the teachers were hesitant in taking Arvind back.

It was only after the Bal Bandhu informed them about the

Right to Education Act and the pressure exerted by the

sarpanch, that Arvind was admitted to school. Although

he is going regularly to school, the BBs are keeping an eye

to ensure that is not lured back into child labour.


officials. Whether it has been the district collector, CEO

of Gadchiroli, project officer of ITDP (Integrated Tribal

Development Project) or officials from the departments of

women and child welfare, tribal welfare, health and family

welfare, education, social welfare, and panchyati raj, the BB

team has ensured they are all kept in the loop.

Visits by NCPCR chairperson Shantha Sinha have

strengthened these ties and has added credibility to the

programme. In fact, when Ms Sinha visited an ashram

school at Kamangad to interact with the community, she was

accompanied by the district collector and CEO along with

other officials. This was the first time when senior officials

from the district visited the interior areas of Dhanora block.

“The problems and challenges are common for the scheme

and the department and we are working together to tackle

them,” said Mahesh Chohate, BEO, Dhanora.

This visit also helped to turn the spotlight on the joint

campaign by the BB and the community to stop the shifting of

the Kamangad ashram school by its management to another

village several kilometers away. The government responded

by taking over the management of the school and handing

it to the Integrated Tribal Development Project (ITDP).

However, when the school showed no signs of reopening,

the community with the support of the BBs renewed their

demand for the school to be restarted so that the children from

the village could continue their education. After three months

of continued pressure, the school reopened and 355 students

got a chance to study again. The building of the school is

being repaired and two new rooms and one kitchen shed is

being built with the help of the community which provided

free labour (shramdaan), and helped to clean and whitewash

the school. The community has also donated rations.

monitoring StrategieS

Whether it is the decision to camp in the villages

traumatized by strife or a plan to start an enrolment

campaign or devise strategies to get recalcitrant officials

back on track, they have all been done collectively. A

review of activities by the Bal Bandhus is done every month

as a part of the programme’s monitoring mechanism.

Strategies are reviewed and necessary changes are made

to address specific issues depending on the setbacks and

progress made. Based on the review meetings, the RPs send

a monthly report on activities completed to the BB project

coordinator in Delhi who provides inputs if required.

In fact, one review meeting chaired by the district collector

has also been conducted with district officials including

chief executive officer Mr Sumant Bhange and Mr Digamber

Mendke, project officer, ITDP.

PoSitive government reSPonSe inCreaSeS

eDuCation DemanD

During the review meeting, discussions were held with

government officials on how to help the children continue

education to Class 10 and beyond. It was suggested that

one way to do this would be to improve the utilization of

the ashramshalas. The BBS found that only about 2,779

students were enrolled in eight ashramshalas when the

capacity was for about 4,000.

In order to ensure the ashramshalas functioned better

and support for the education of tribal children was

strengthened, the BBS suggested that the Maharashtra

Tribal Development Department identify committed youth

from the community who could inspire children to join

Ashramshalas and be Shiksha Mitras or friends of education.

a FirSt For triBal ChilDren

One of the achievements of the collaboration between

the BB team and local government officials has been

the approval of the proposal sent to Integrated Tribal

Development Project to support 112 tribal children

who failed Class 10 and were unable to continue their

education further due to poor economic conditions. The

Tribal Commissioner has supported their boarding and

lodging, extra classes, examination fees and uniform.

Thanks to this initiative, 109 children have given their

exams. This is the first time that this kind of support has

been given to tribal children in Maharashtra.


These Shiksha Mitras would facilitate enrolment of children

as well as monitor their retention. While doing this, they

would also monitor the functioning of these schools.

The quick and positive response from the district

administration and ITDP to the demand for education

from the community has helped to get children their right

to education. These government officials have helped

in training headmasters on RTE and orienting senior

education officers at the district level.

ChallengeS aheaD

The success of the programme in Dhanora block has

prompted the district administration to request NCPCR

for its expansion to the entire district comprising an

additional 10 blocks also affected by civil unrest.

However, the scheme faces several challenges, the key

one being the vastness and remoteness of the villages.

Scattered and located in forests, several of these villages

do not have approach roads and cannot be reached even

by motorcycles. With government officials still reluctant to

visit villages in deep forests affected by civil unrest, poor

infrastructure of schools, AWCs and health centres, lack of

clean toilets and safe drinking water continue to be barriers

for children keen to study.

While the Bal Bandhus have reached out to many

communities hitherto isolated and excluded and

managed to bring numerous children into schools in the

past one year, they know this is just a beginning. But they

are determined to cross all hurdles and show that as Bal

Bandhus, they are true friends of the children. •

Based on reports by Rajiv Kumar Roy



Activities AchievementsGram panchayats 62









Rallies, marches 19


Training on education 105

Training on health 11

Follow up of children in ashram schools and zilla parishad 999

GOvERNMENT RESPONSE TO THE BAL BANDHU PROGRAMME


Cherla BloCk, anDhra PraDeSh

Child rights programmes are looking up in Cherla with

positive support from government officials. Mandal

education officer Prasad Rao has personally visited 117

villages to motivate children to go to school and bring

back those who have dropped out. On May 15 2012, with

his support the group marriage of seven girls of 13 and 14

years of age was stopped at Kottapally village.

Then he teamed up with mandal revenue officer Babu Rao,

CDPO Pramila and circle inspector of police Ramesh to

rescue 32 children working in hotels, dhabas and welding

and repair units in April and May 2012. In June all these

children were put into the RBC in Cherla. Prasad Rao and

Pramila also rescued 300 children working in the chilli

fields in Godavari belt.

The same two officers along with Rama Devi, the zilla project

development officer, have also spearheaded the opening of

five AWCs in the first nine months of 2012, two of them mini

anganwadis. In fact, construction of 12 new buildings for

anganwadis for families from Chhattisgarh has begun under

the Integrated Displaced Families Programme.

District collector, Siddharta Jain, provided space for

the AWCs and ensured funds from the District Rural

Development Agency and other government departments

were pooled for the AWCs.

The collector has supported the construction of eight

new primary school buildings at Rs 16 lakh each.

Children studying in the thatched Alternate Learning

Centre huts will be moved into proper schools. Based

on letters from sarpanchs Pentamma, S Rattamma and

Tulsamma of Deverapally, Kottagudam and Peddapally

panchayats respectively, the collecter has taken under

the wings of the government five aided schools that were

not functioning properly.

SiDli BloCk, aSSam

The game changer for the Bal Bandhu programme in

Sidli block was the invitation by DC Upendranath Bora

to attend the monthly district development committee

(DDC) meeting in which officials from 39 departments

are present. Issues are taken up for redressal with the

concerned department immediately. For instance, when

the death of seven infants within a week in Dadgari VCDC

was raised at the meeting, district health director HC

Brahma took it up urgently.

Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) principal secretary Mukesh

Sahu and joint secretary Dinesh Boro have been helping

resolve problems and Additional deputy commissioner of

Chirang, Latifur Rahman, convened a meeting with all line

department officials and sought their support.

The present DC Puru Gupta has been implementing

the JSY, constructing school buildings, improving the

functioning of PHCs, monitoring children in relief camps

and organising district level meetings for all BEOs on the

RTE Act. DEO SN Borgoyari has ensured implementation

of the RTE Act in high schools in 20 VCDCs, supported

the admission of children to Classes 9 and 10, organised

teachers’ workshops on the RTE Act, sent children in

relief camps to school and improved the midday meal

in all schools. He also conducted teachers’ training,

undertook motivational campaigns in 20 VCDCs, enrolled

248 children in the block and opened 25 special training

centres for out of school children.

ICDS official Subhasini Takariya regularised and

reopened AWCs, implemented JSY provisions, issued

birth certificates and identified the block’s nutritionally

deficient children. Block level ICDS officials Satyamohan

Brahma monitored the status of children in 130 AWCs in

the block, mainstreamed several children after rescuing

them from child labour or child marriage, conducted SMC

training in 225 schools and teacher’s training on the RTE

Act for 320 headmasters.

koChugaon BloCk, aSSam

BEO Amarsingh Brahma has strengthened the Bal Bandhu

programme by getting the fee reimbursed in four schools,

benefitting 500 children; helped 86,000 children get


regular midday meals by ensuring prompt reimbursement

to schools; and regularised the midday meal in 60 Venture

Schools with 6000 students. He appointed eight Education

Volunteers to assist in overcrowded schools and visited

81 schools with irregular staff attendance. Sixty one

non functioning schools were regularised and 71 non

functional EGS schools restarted.

BTC officials ensured release of midday meal funds in four

districts, benefitting 3,50,000 children. RTE training was

imparted to 325 teachers and 315 SMC members. Marches

and campaigns have been organised by the BTC against

child trafficking.

District collector Donald Gill Fellon conducted review

meetings with line department officials and Bal Bandhus;

helped rescue 10 trafficked children and sanctioned

midday meals to 62 Venture Schools benefitting 4000

children. DEO NC Bora procured additional textbooks

to ease the text book shortage, benefitting 86,000

students. ICDS officer Harikrishna Mushahary ensured

distribution of nutritious food in anganwadis where only

biscuits were given. A block orientation programme was

organised by him in Kochugaon with 337 AWWs. ICDS

official Mukta Narzary regularised 20 AWCs, conducted

a cluster level AWWs review meeting and constructed a

shed with villagers’ cooperation to house 46 children.

Labour inspector PS Narzary rescued 28 bonded children,

while the police and the BTC principal secretary Mukesh

Sahu helped stop 27 child marriages and prevented over 100

incidents of child trafficking. CWC Chairman Phanindranath

Narzary restored 13 trafficked children to their homes.

BDO Richard Rangfi reviewed child rights issues with VCDC

chairpersons and rescued nine child labourers. The SSA

mission director LS Changson sanctioned four RSTCAs

and 86 NRSTCAs for 400 and 1,600 children respectively.

Secretary, Dispur Secretariat, Dheer Jingran, admitted three

children to the Guwahati Blind School. Rajeshwar Sharma

of the ASCPCR conducted a meeting with youth and local

NGOs on child rights issues, while SCPCR consultant Urmi

Mala conducted two review meetings on child rights in the

BTC with Bal Bandhus and NGOs.

Orientation and training programmes for approximately

2,200 teachers, AWWs and their helpers and block and

district officials have been conducted with the help of the

BTC and the DC.

jamui BloCk, Bihar

When the Jamui district collector, Mayak Warwade, held a

meeting with all the block development officials to discuss

child related issues, the Bal Bandhu team was also invited.

When the BB team presented their survey detailing the

number of schools not getting uniform allowance and

midday meals, the DC responded positively by directing

the relevant officials to resolve the issues immediately.

This led to the proper distribution of Rs 1,75,000 allocated

for uniform allowance. The cooking of MDMs in 62 of 76

schools began after supervision by the MDM monitoring

committee comprising block education officer Bal

Mukund Prasad, and district MDM officer Sahadat

Hussain among others.

Of the 43 non functioning AWCs, 24 have reopened and 10

mini AWCs have started thanks to the joint efforts by the

CDPO Rekha Paswan and the BB team. This has improved

the nutrition of children aged 0-5 considerably. Health

camps were also organized in Harkar and Goli panchayats

after an outbreak of diarrhoea. Money charged for health

cards during immunization drives have also stopped. Dr

TN Prasad, in charge, Khaira PHC, has contributed greatly

by motivating ANM Lalitha Devi and other PHC workers.

DEO Vashist Narain Jha, BEO Balmukund Prasad, and Ravi

Bhushan Kumar, ADPC, have collaborated with six cluster

resource coordinators, headmasters Kamlesh Kumar of

Margo Bander middle school, Ashok Yadav of Bhalwi upper

middle school and Mohammed Khalid Ansari of Chaukitar

upper middle school and the BB team to regularise teacher

attendance, distribution of uniform allowance and proper

implementation of the RTE Act provisions. Teacher


absenteeism has reduced drastically with 47 of 56 schools

reporting regular teacher attendance. In fact, the demand

for education is so high that the community and teachers

seek the help of the BB team to open schools or to improve

a non functioning school so that children get their right to

education. Teachers have agreed to teach at night so that

the children of the nusahar community, who are unable to

attend school during the day, don’t get excluded.

Patahi BloCk, Bihar

Officials of the district programme division as well as the

ICDS unit along with the child development project officer

have streamlined the functioning of the anganwadi centres

(AWCs) of Patahi block of East Champaran. From January

2012, monthly meetings are held with anganwadi workers

(AWW) and their sevikas. Facilities from uniforms to take

home food are now available at all AWCs.

Birthdays of children are celebrated at the centre, monthly

meetings are held with parents and panchayat representatives

visit AWCs regularly to ensure their smooth functioning.

ICDS officer Rajendra Paswan has issued guidelines

ensuring that AWCs function from the spaces allotted to

them, start on time and the sevika goes house to house to

collect and bring children to the centres.

The child rights division officer at Patahi, Annu Meha,

ensures that the take home rations reach AWCs on time.

On receiving complaints that the uniform allowance was

not reaching on time, she visited 102 AWCs and personally

distributed the uniform allowance. She looks into each

complaint received and has meetings with the AWW and

the community on the functioning of the centres.

Block official Sanjay Kumar Verma is also popular because he

inspects the AWCs regularly, holds public hearings and takes

action on complaints received. In the heightened awareness

of child rights, several child marriages were stopped.

After a meeting at the block resource centre, there is a change

in the attitude of teachers. They conducted a house to house

survey for children of 6 to 14 years not enrolled in schools

and then with the support of the community motivated

many of them to attend school. The names of children

enrolled in government schools but studying in private ones

were removed from the government list. Speaking to block

officials, teachers’ ensured leaking and defective taps in

schools were repaired and land was allotted to schools that

did not have land. Through the Teachers Forum all teachers

were informed about child rights and children’s parliament

and Meena Manch were started.

Patahi block has been selected by the DEO for implementing

the quality education programme and teachers are being

oriented accordingly.

rohtaS BloCk, Bihar

The commitment of government officials to the Bal Bandhu

programme is borne out by the district magistrate of Rohtas,

Anupam Kumar, making a presentation on the Bal Bandhu

Scheme on June 26, 2012 to the principal secretary of Bihar

in Patna. Among the achievements highlighted by him were

construction of 42 additional classrooms in schools of Rohtas

block, kitchen sheds in six schools, boundary walls for three

schools, 15 toilets in nine schools and construction of four

new primary school buildings. In fact one middle school was

upgraded to high school and five student hostels are under

construction, he said with considerable pride.

Some 14,000 to 15,000 people, he said, had participated

in the rallies and marches to create awareness of the

child rights programme. The participation by the gram

panchayats was heartening. A Teachers Forum for Child

Rights was formed at the block level with 40 members.

“Bal Bandhus persuaded parents to send 2781 children to

school and they are still regular in attendance,” he asserted.

Simultaneously in the last three days of February, teachers were

trained on the RTE Act at the block level. This was followed up

at the district level with training of officials on RTE.

In the first phase of creating child labour free zones, the DM

said Rohtasgarh, Nawadih, Baknaura and Tumba had been


selected. Even as sensitization of parents on education of

children was continuing, residential bridge course camps

were started for children of 6 to 14 years in Tardih, Banjara

and Gobindapur. In fact, the principal secretary was told of

the clamour for more schools and teachers. Now schools

begin with prayers and school management committees

meet regularly.

The DM has asked for a hostel for tribal and socially

excluded children, a residential high school for girls

and scaling up of KGBVs to Class 12. He has also sought

extension of the BB scheme to other blocks of the district.

Sheohar BloCk, Bihar

The determination of the Bal Bandhus to give children their

right to education has inspired teachers and principals.

Headmaster Chittaranjan Prasad, Dhorha primary school,

visits the village every morning before school begins and

rings a bell. Now, 185 of the 223 children enrolled attend

school regularly.

BEO Meena Kumar has supported the BB team’s efforts

to put an end to collection of fees by school authorities.

He issued a notice to the principal of the middle school in

Hirauta Got to stop charging money for transfer certificates,

then convened a meeting with principals of all government

schools of the block that no fee was to be charged.

Thanks to the awareness raised on the quality of midday

meals (MDMs) by the BB team, a monitoring committee

comprising SP Navin Chand Jha, deputy collector KK

Singh, DEO Satendra Prasad Yadav and, DPO Promod

Kumar Sahu was constituted. Monitoring by this

committee improved the MDMs and increased school

attendance. In particular, in middle school Ladodra,

only16 of the 614 children enrolled attended regularly. But

with improvement in the MDM, attendance increased to

374. Pilferage of rice meant for MDMs in primary school in

Chak Surgahi was also stopped.

DC Anil Kumar responded to the Bal Bandhu team’s

request to stop child labour by rescuing 46 children. He

also requested parents not to send their children to work

under MNREGA.

Importantly, the partnership between the government

officials and the BB team has not been restricted to just

a few cases. Whether it has been the rescue of children

from child labour in Gaurishankar math, Kushar, or

getting children into schools even after dates of admission

were over in the middle school, Rajadhi, getting children

their uniform allowance in middle school, Belhai Dulta,

ending teacher absenteeism in middle school, Kasturia,

sanctioning a school in Chaur Tola, Salempur panchayat

or reopening 35 AWCs, the institutional collaboration has

worked well to uphold child rights.

Sukma BloCk, Bihar

Support from government officials has been crucial in Sukma

block. Dantewada DC R Prasanna and DEO Hare Ram

Sharma helped the programme take roots.

At the block level, SDM SP Vaidya, BRCC Umashankar

Tiwari, BEO RS Gupta and the CRCC Ashish Ram were

supportive. Assistant Commissioner BR Morla of the tribal

welfare department helped many ashram school children. If

a Bal Bandhu sought his assistance for a seriously ill student,

he immediately organised a vehicle to take him to hospital.

DC OP Choudhury issued a circular that no child seeking

admission in an Ashram school should be turned away

because of seat restrictions. The subsequent DC Alex

Menon was keen to extend the Bal Bandhu programme to

other areas in the district. His successor P Dayanand plans

to hold district level meetings with officials, Bal Bandhus

and Bal Mitra Samitis. He sanctioned a high school in

Nilavaram panchayat when it was pointed out that 41 class

8 students would drop out after middle school as there was

no high school in the area. He visited all 109 villages in the

block where Bal Mitra Samitis have been formed and has

discussed child rights issues with them.

In Keralapal panchayat, the DM and SDM Vaidya helped

admit 54 children into Ashram schools by writing to


schools to enrol children first, then give them time to

produce their certificates.

CRC officials like Ramesh Kashyap, P Anil Kumar, Prabhakar

Das, Arun Wasnikar and Alfet Funa have ensured village

level support to the programme. As soon as Anil Kumar

was told that students were being made to collect firewood

for cooking MDMs in a school in his cluster, he organised

meetings with school teachers to emphasise that children

should not be working.

The ICDS supervisor Ela Bose accompanies Bal Bandhus

on anganwadi visits and organises rations when there is

a shortage.

gaDChiroli BloCk, maharaShtra

After review meetings with BDO S. Dhankar, the Sawanga

Khurd zilla parishad (ZP) school, which was not functioning

for three months, was revitalized with the help of BEO

Mahesh Chohate. In fact, monthly meetings are held regularly

to discuss the various problems of unavailability of books,

distribution of uniform allowance and lack of school buildings.

ITDP Commissioner Sambaji Rao Sakunde and his

officials, who helped 112 tribal children give their exams,

are actively supporting the BB team’s education awareness

campaigns by organising seminars on RTE. Mr Sakunde

also facilitated coaching of students who failed Class 10

exams with the help of ITDP PO, Digamber Mendke.

Joint action by CEOs, Dr Amit Saini and Sumanth Bhange

and the BB team led to reinstatement of two teachers who

were posted out of Heti ZP school and Nanvergaon ZP

school respectively.

The government partnership with the BBS also led to

completion of immunization in the three villages of

Penikmuraja, Mohgaon and Reecha, which had missed

out for six months. Key player, CDPO Lov Ramteke, was

quick to respond to the BB team’s request and with the

help of the taluka medical officer Tulsiram Hicharni and

CEO Sumant Bhange expedited the appointment of a

new ANM to provide immunization.

In Godalwahi village a PHC could not be constructed because

there was no land. The community was being discouraged

from giving land because the Naxals were afraid that with

the PHC, a police station would also be sanctioned. But the

community which understood the importance of a PHC after

a health campaign by the BB team, managed to persuade the

Naxals. Land has now been sanctioned with the support of

the DFO Mallikarjun and DM Abhishek Krishna.

The DM also gave a helping hand when the BB team asked

him to facilitate the opening of bank accounts for women

to access the monetary benefits under the Janani Suraksha

Yojna. So far, 443 institutional deliveries have taken place

after joint efforts by the ANM, ASHA and the BB team.

Fifteen gram panchayats have held Bal Adalats or

children’s courts where problems related to child rights

are resolved the same day. The presence of the school

management committee members and 10 sarpanchs has

been responsible for this success. •

Mentors of Bal Bandhus

120 * In defence of chIld rIghts

G Bharath, Khammam, andhra Pradesh

G Bharath, 36, is a tribal from

Indravelli block of Adilabad district,

who has done his BA, has a two year

ITI diploma in Motor Mechanics

and a certificate for doing a year

long course as assistant in the health

department. All this education and

sharpening of his vocational skills, however, did not get

him a job that suited his temperament. It was only when

he began working on child rights issues in Andhra Pradesh

that he found satisfaction. Foraying into education and

child rights in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, he won laurels

and appreciation from the community.

Like his colleague Satyanarayana, Bharath’s initiation

into community work began with former chief minister

Chandrababu Naidu’s Yuva Shakti programme. Despite his

BA degree in History, Economics and Public Administration,

he did not find an appropriate job and took to helping his

father on his 12 acre farm. Simultaneously, he formed a

Yuva Shakti group in Indravelli block, with the community

electing him president of the group for two years. Though

the work was completely voluntary, it enabled him to get

closer to the community and earn a lot of respect.

In 2002, an Adilabad based NGO on child rights,

impressed with his work in the community as the Yuva

Shakti president, asked him to volunteer for it. He assisted

the NGO in motivating parents to send their children

to school. Simultaneously, he worked with the mukhia,

grassroots leaders and teachers to ensure regularity of

attendance and improve the quality of education. In 2006,

he was sent to Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh to assist the

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme on education for the

adivasis. The adivasis of the block were still primitive, using

bows and arrows to ward off intruders. He had to walk 10-

12 km into remote areas to reach the tribal blocks. During

his six month tenure in Jhabua, he saw 22 residential

bridge camps and ashram schools being opened. Slowly,

the tribal children joined up to get educated.

From Jhabua he was transferred for three years to

Sheohar, a Naxal affected block. Here again he mobilized

youth and women’s groups to bring children to school and

stop child labour. Working with the traditional Musahar

community of rat catchers was the most challenging work

for Bharath. Slowly, the community began sending its

children to the KGBVs. In 2009, he returned to Adilabad and

began working with an NGO there and since December

2010, he has been working as the NCPCR’s Resource

Person for the Bal Bandhu Scheme in Khammam.

Having freed children from bonded labour as well

as child labour, Bharath loves doing community work

for child rights. He is greeted warmly by children he has

rescued and the parents are grateful to him when they see

their children’s progress.

In Khammam, he has been picked and questioned

thrice by Naxal groups who warned him against getting too

close to the police or revealing their routes in the interior

of Cherla block.

Bharath speaks three languages—Marathi, Telugu

and Hindi and moves through the rural areas of several

states with ease and confidence. Now that his daughter is

three years old, his wife who is a trained ANM, will also

look for work.

t satyanarayana, Khammam,

andhra Pradesh

T Satyanarayana, 39, is a Maths

wizard who could well be running

his own coaching centre for children

studying for IIT and engineering

colleges. Instead, he has opted to

work on child rights and for children.

Hailing from Rangapur in Ranga

Reddy district of the state, Satyanarayana did B.Sc and

M.Sc in Mathematics from Osmania University.

His interest and excellence in Maths enabled him to

set up the Spectra Education Academy, where training in

Maths was given priority, in 1991 in Ibrahimpatnam on the

outskirts of Hyderabad. Having been associated with an

NGO that worked on child rights, he put into practice at the

Academy all he had learnt. Whatever the provocation, no

one teaching here was allowed to raise their hands against a

child. In 2006, he handed over the Spectra Academy to two

friends and moved on. The Academy continues to train 800

In defence of chIld rIghts * 121

children a year in Maths.

Satyanarayana had always been getting and giving

training as a teacher and working with youth and women’s

groups. When he saw the advertisement for the Bal Bandhu

Resource Persons on the NCPCR website, he lost no time

applying for the post and was selected. Like some of the

other Resource Persons, he too has been picked up by for

questioning by the Naxals who released him when they

found him committed to child rights issues.

The current Bal Bandhu programme, he says, is cent

percent better than the earlier teaching assignments he

had been doing. It’s a campaign with the involvement of

youth and women for education.

C srinivas, ChiranG, assam

Son of a widowed washerwoman,

Resource Person C Srinivas says

the honours for his achievements

in life should go to his mother and

nani (maternal grandmother) who

kept him studying despite intense

pressure from others in the family to

get him to join them in doing manual

labour. Belonging to Peddemul village in Andhra Pradesh’s

Ranga Reddy district, he passed out of the Government

Junior College, Tandur, subsequently getting a degree

through an open university. Raising him and his brother

was a struggle for their mother who worked in homes

washing and ironing clothes, a traditional profession of the

family that belonged to the dhobi caste. Srinivas helped

her in his spare time.

Just two at the time of his father’s death, there was

pressure for Srinivas to start going for mazdoori with the

other members of his father’s side of the family. In a bid to

foil this, Srinivas’ nani took him in and educated him till he

got into a government hostel in Class 6, where he studied till

high school. After that an uncle helped him till graduation.

His brother, who is mentally unstable, had dropped out of

Class 3. “I too almost did not make it till graduation,” says

Srinivas. Disheartened at failing his English paper in the

second year of college, he left his studies to work in a travel

agency in Hyderabad. Fortunately, the mandal education

officer in Peddemul with whom his mother was employed

at the time, suggested Srinivas should return in order to

volunteer with a child rights organisation which had just

started working in the mandal.

Working as a teaching volunteer with the NGO in

his hometown turned out to be a life changing move for

Srinivas and the beginning of a 15 year association with the

organisation. He rejoined his studies and also threw himself

into mobilisation work for the NGO. Within two years he was

appointed as an Organiser, working in a tribal area in the

district. Says Srinivas,“I used to cycle from village to village

reaching out to the huge number of school dropouts. I helped

release children from bonded labour and motivated them to

go to RBCs. Improving schools was also a challenge. Children

would bring the domestic animals in their care like goats and

cows to class. I also fought against the custom of child marriage,

seeing so many girls dying due to pregnancy in early age.”

In 2001 he was made block in charge in Adilabad

district and for the first time since starting work in 1997,

he moved out of working in the villages. In January 2003,

Srinivas was sent to Kokrajhar district in Assam where the

NGO was working with UNICEF to set up RBCs under the

SSA. The one and a half years experience he gained there

was probably one of the reasons he was brought back to the

area as an NCPCR Bal Bandhu Resource Person.

For the next six years till 2010, Srinivas worked in

Madhya Pradesh under another SSA project to set up RBCs

there and carry out community mobilisation. However,

once the programme ended he had to spend a whole year

at home doing nothing till he applied for the NCPCR Bal

Bandhu programme advertisement and subsequently

made it as a Resource Person handling tricky child rights

situations in Kokrajhar again.

mohammad Khaja, ChiranG, assam

“I have always been taught to ask

what I can do for my village, not what

my village can do for me.” Guided by

this belief, 40 year old Mohammad

Khaja has gone beyond working

for the welfare of his own village

Chittigidda in Andhra Pradesh, to


working tirelessly for the children of villages in faraway

Chirang district of Assam.

Mohammad learnt early what it meant to shoulder

responsibility. He grew up in a broken family where his

mentally unstable father, an alcoholic, just disappeared

one day leaving behind two sons and three daughters to

be brought up by his wife who worked hard in the fields

as a landless labourer. To this day, however, the father has

not been forgotten. “We look at every beggar and wonder

whether it could be him,” says Mohammad with feeling,

adding, “I am the only one amongst us who went to school

and since I was quite good in my studies the family had a

lot of expectations from me.”

He received a setback, however, when he failed in Class

10 in 1984, eventually taking his high school exam again after

a long gap in 1992. In the interim nine years he worked in

a variety of jobs – in a meat shop in Hyderabad, as contract

labour working on railway tracks and in a hotel. Having saved

some of his earnings, when he decided to attempt high school

again he found it was not easy to regain admission since he

had been a dropout for so long. He was asked to produce

a gap certificate, a transfer certificate from his old school

and explain why he had failed the first time. Eventually, an

uncle helped him meet the block shiksha parishad who

assisted him in joining the zila praja parishad high school in

Chinchilpet which was close to his village. “I have first hand

experience of how difficult it is for a child labour dropout to

get back into studies,” says Mohammad, who devotes his time

now to helping children in similar situations.

Active in his village as a student union member who had

also organised a child rights awareness programme and was

chosen as a volunteer by the panchayat to mobilise children

into schools, Mohammad was recruited by a child rights

organisation to work in the village when it visited the area

in August 1995. “I made my mark working very hard to get

the 86 children identified as out of school in our village back

into school. Most of them were working as child labourers

in fields or doing domestic work. Four of them had to be

freed from bonded labour. Eventually, I could not succeed

with just 14 children at the time of leaving the village,”

says Mohammad, who was subsequently responsible for

mobilising the community in five panchayats.

He expanded his field of work when he was sent to Sikar

in Rajasthan to work in collaboration with the organisation

Nanhi Kali which focussed on preventing children,

particularly girls, from doing manual scavenging work. “We

identified 50 of these young girls who went to the homes of

well off people early in the morning between 4.30-5.00 am to

carry out night soil on their heads. They were rescued with the

help of the administration and put into an RBC in Jaipur and

subsequently integrated into a middle elementary school,”

says Mohammad with a sense of achievement.

Returning to work in Ranga Reddy district in the

accounts department of the child rights NGO, he spent

three years subsequently in Bihar carrying out community

mobilisation for education in 23 wards in Patna where

he found many dropouts took place because children

were engaged in seasonal work such as fishing during the

monsoons or working in the fields at certain times. After

the programme ended in 2009, he spent the next year and a

half at home without employment, supporting his extended

family with great hardship till he got the opportunity of

applying for a post in the Bal Bandhu programme and

joined as Resource Person.

rafiqul islam, KoKrajhar, assam

Slipping out of home to convene

public meetings at night, dealing

with both insurgents and the

community, 32 year old Bal Bandhu

Resource Person Rafiqul Islam is

only too aware that a minimum

of three kidnappings by extremist

groups take place every month in Kokrajhar district where

he works. In this case at least, he chuckles, he is grateful

that his semi literate parents cannot read the newspaper

and are too poor to afford a television set, being therefore

blissfully unaware of the dangers their son faces every day.

The eldest among five brothers and a sister, as a boy

Rafiqul worked in the fields along with his father who still

works as a daily wager in Bidyardabri village in Assam’s

Dhubri district. Both his parents had dropped out of school

after Class 5, but were keen to see Rafiqul do higher studies.

Even as he worked after school with his father, the boy


himself quickly realised that it would be his studies that

would take him out of the back breaking manual drudgery.

Motivated constantly by his mother, Rafiqul passed

high school from his own village and then joined the

Halakura Government Higher Secondary School some

distance away for intermediate studies. By the time he

joined Halakura College for doing his B.Sc Honours in

Political Science, the family’s financial situation was so

bad that he was able to graduate in 2002 only with the

greatest difficulty by taking the help of his friends.

Giving private tuitions to support his family and

educate his younger siblings, Rafiqul says he began

his training in social work when he joined the student

organisation AASU in 2002. The next year he happened to

visit Hyderabad for a child rights NGO as part of an SSA

training programme for local youth. He had met the NGO’s

representatives when they came to Halakura to set up an

RBC there for the SSA. Back in Halakura, Rafiqul worked in

a private school and also took over as secretary of a child

rights NGO in which he mobilised 50-60 youth volunteers,

till he applied for the NCPCR post of Resource Person in

the Bal Bandhu programme in 2010.

Saying frankly that, “My extremely poor and struggling

background became in fact my biggest motivator to study,”

Rafiqul holds himself up as an example to other poor

families. “The poorer one is the more determined one

must be to study. That is the only way to get out of the cycle

of poverty. I have experienced the struggle for education

and I am there to help other children study.”

t suBhan Goud, KoKrajhar, assam

Thirty six year old T Subhan Goud is

an experienced hand when it comes

to working in Assam’s strifetorn

Kokrajhar district. In his previous 15

years of working as a child mobiliser

with a child rights organisation,

he has dealt with naxals in Andhra

Pradesh’s Adilabad district, handled tribal agitations in

Madhya Pradesh and even had a previous stint in Assam.

Belonging to Tallaram village in Chevella block of

Andhra Pradesh’s Ranga Reddy district, he studied in an

ITI after doing his graduation and joined an NGO nas a

volunteer in his village in 1995. He had also worked as a

teaching volunteer at the local primary school in Tallaram

as well as being a community mobiliser for the panchayat.

Joining the NGO, he was soon sent to Adilabad district as

a block in charge, where he worked with the Integrated

Tribal Development Project. For some time he went to

Assam to start RBCs there as part of an SSA programme.

Subsequently, he spent five challenging years in

tribal areas in Chhattarpur district in Madhya Pradesh

as the regional in charge of an SSA programme carried

out with the help of the NGO, from 2005-10. He helped

in setting up almost 200 RBCs in which 1,500 children

were mobilised for admission and enrolled around 3,000

children into schools. “I worked extensively with district

and block level officials in the state and carried out many

local community programmes including setting up Child

Rights Protection Forums,” says Subhan.

The son of uneducated farmer parents, Subhan says

he had no one to motivate him to study, despite which he

instinctively realised its importance. “When I grew up and

understood that studies could change one’s life, I ensured

that at least two of my four sisters were educated. One of

them has gone on to complete her B.Ed.” He also took the

responsibility of motivating his younger brother to study,

and his brother is now in the Army.

j samBa siva rao, east ChamParan, Bihar

Samba Siva Rao, 36, the Resource

Person in East Champaran, has

travelled extensively mobilizing

communities for grassroots work

especially education. Soft spoken and

self effacing, Rao is a gritty fighter and

an excellent leader for the Bal Bandhus.

Originally belonging to Latur district of Maharashtra, in

1960 his grandfather migrated to Uttnoor block of Adilabad

district in Andhra Pradesh. Born in the small village of

Taarihaatnuur in the block, Rao did his primary school in

the village, moving thereafter eight km away to Naarnul

for his middle and high school education. Completing ITI

training and graduation through correspondence, instead


of moving to a bigger city for employment, he chose to

work in Adilabad district which had an acute shortage

of schools and teachers. With the help of local youth and

people’s representatives, private schools were set up in 35

villages with classes from the first to the fifth. From 2002-

2004, he worked as a volunteer, organizer and division

in charge of a Hyderabad based NGO. Then he moved to

Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh where he helped

set up a residential bridge course under the Sarva Shiksha

Abhiyan. Subsequently, for a year in 2008, he worked with

a voluntary organization in the Bundelkhand area of Uttar

Pradesh. In 2009, he joined as advocacy coordinator for a

voluntary organisation, working in Amravati, Yavatmal and

other places in Maharashtra. For three months after that he

worked as mandal education resource person in Vemanpalli

mandal of Chennoor taluka.

After joining the NCPCR’s Bal Bandhu Scheme in

December 2010, he got his first opportunity to work in Naxal

affected areas. Working in East Champaran was a test of his

courage and commitment for it was here that he came face

to face with a different set of children’s problems as well as

exploitation in the name of caste and class.

Working on the project has helped him form useful

linkages between the community and the government

departments handling children’s issues. “It is for the first

time that I have experienced the challenges that Naxal

activity poses, especially in the area of education”, he says.

ravi Kumar, east ChamParan, Bihar

Ravi Kumar, 27, has literally

worked his way up to become the

Resource Person for the Bal Bandhu

programme in East Champaran. Even

while he was studying, he worked as

a child labourer to supplement the

family income, loading in vans the

soft drink bottles of a well known company. He also worked

for two months as the delivery boy for a popular brand of

pizzas and in an auction thereafter, won the responsibility

of tending to the orchard in the Vidhan Sabha gardens in

Patna, selling the fruits to support his family. Soft spoken

and low key, he has even won the Mr Patna wrestling title.

With his father being ill, after completing his intermediate

studies Ravi took a break to shoulder responsibilities at

home. In 2007, he worked as a ward volunteer with an NGO

that tried to send children living in the slums in Patna to

school. He engaged with women and youth groups and

established links between school teachers and parents

to ensure that children stayed in school to complete their

studies. Four months later, he was made the ward organizer

of the NGO’s Gol Ghar cluster which had 24 slums with

32,000 children out of school.

In August 2008, he was moved to Sitamarhi district

where as block coordinator for Dumra he had to create

a model panchayat. The block had two RBCs where he

worked for a year. He then heard of the NCPCR’s Bal Bandhu

programme and applied for the post of a Resource Person,

getting selected in December 2010. Till he moved to Patahi

block of East Champaran, he had never worked in such a

remote, conflict affected area of the state.

“I have learnt to deal with problems in a peaceful

manner without breaking links with the government,” he

says. Having dealt with the orphans created by the Kosi

floods of Bihar, Ravi found he was drawn towards working

for children. In East Champaran, it took him time to talk

to the community and gain their confidence. Twice he

was even threatened, but he slowly earned the trust of the

community. Of the 6807 children who were out of school in

Patahi, 3533 are now studying. A recent audit by the district

magistrate has lauded the Bal Bandhu project, saying it was

the best programme in Patahi.

C srinivas ChaKali, jamui, Bihar

As the only child, C Srinivas Chakali

did not face any problem in pursuing

education. He studied in village

Vikarabad in Ranga Reddy district

of Andhra Pradesh till Class 12. He

wanted to enroll for graduation but

was unable to drum up the required

money as his father had retired from the Army. Around

this time in 1996, an NGO began working in Ranga Reddy

district, mobilizing youth to rescue child labour and put

them in schools. An inspired Srinivas joined the campaign.


Seeing his enthusiasm and fervour, he was asked to teach

the children. “Since I was getting Rs 750 as monthly salary,

I decided to finish my education by using the money to buy

books and complete B.Com,” says Srinivas.

In 2005, he came to Jamui district in Bihar as a part

of the SSA. In 2010, when he was selected as BB Resource

Person, it did not come as a surprise when he was sent to

Jamui. “Since I had worked in the district, I did not find

it very difficult to interact with the community as I was

already familiar with the area,” he states.

Nevertheless, Srinivas says the difficult geographical

terrain and the ongoing violence between the police, CRPF

and the Maoists created anxiety. “In the beginning when

we set out in the morning, we were not sure whether or

not we would return safe and sound at night. After an year

of work, we became confident no harm would befall us,”

claims Srinivas.

Their biggest achievement, he says, was the gradual

acceptance by all stakeholders that it was possible to run a

government programme for children in conflict areas. “We

have been able to change the perception of people that

the government does not work for the people. By getting

schools to reopen, anganwadis to start functioning and

teachers to resume duty, the BBS has shown that people

have faith in government institutions,” he states.

Srinivas is married and has a daughter.

mithilesh Kumar, jamui, Bihar

In 1995, when his father passed away,

Mithilesh Kumar was in Class 10.

Although his two elder sisters were

married by then, the responsibility of

looking after his three younger siblings

fell upon his mother. Unable to see his

mother shoulder the entire burden,

Mithilesh dropped out of school and began accompanying

her to the houses where she worked as a domestic helper.

He would sweep, clean and wash utensils. Sometimes

he would help teach the daughter of one of the employers.

“One day, when he saw me teaching her, he asked me

whether I would like to study further. When I said yes, he

offered to help me. I enrolled in the Rajendernagar Boys

High School after he paid the admission fees. Another

employer chipped in with books. Thus, I was able to pass

Class 10,” remembers Mithilesh.

But finances were still a big problem. Instead of

studying further, Mithilesh decided to begin working and

joined the Special Education Centre at a monthly salary of

Rs 200 as a teacher. His salary went up to Rs 750 when he

joined Sankalp, an NGO working on education. In his spare

time, he managed 20 pulse polio centres and increased his

monthly income to Rs 1,200.

His mother, however, continued to work and his sister

began accompanying her in his place.

His next assignment was with Pratham, another NGO

engaged in the education of children. Here, Mithilesh

was given the responsibility of looking after 15 education

centres in the Mahendru slum cluster as a Resource Person

to monitor education under the SSA. “I lived and grew up

here. So I knew the problems. Children were engaged in

small jobs and were earning a monthly income of Rs 4,500.

This was three times what I was getting. So, when they

asked me why they should give up work since I earned so

little despite going to school, I told them that even though

I was earning less money than them, I was getting respect

which was more valuable. I was able to convince many

of them to go to school for at least four days in a week

and work the remaining two days. Having gone through

economic problems, I understood their compulsions to

work,” says Mithilesh.

It was this sensitivity that helped him after he got

selected as a BB Resource Person. “After I applied for

the job advertised by the NCPCR and was sent to Jamui,

this attitude of mine helped me win the faith of the

community. When they came to know my background,

they realized we had come to help children. We were able

to allay the fears of the Maoists who also said they would

support us. In fact, the Maoists put up posters in schools

and anganwadi centres warning officials that if they did

not function properly, action would be taken against

them,” reveals Mithilesh.

Interestingly, Mithilesh became so motivated while

inspiring children to study that he went on to complete

Intermediate and is now looking to study further from the


open school. His mother stopped working two years ago

and his sister is married.

Mithilesh is married and has two young daughters.

r venKataramana, rohtas, Bihar

R Venkataramana, 37, is truly a youth

leader and when he raises soul stirring

slogans and leads the cheering, the

whole hall resounds. Venkataramana’s

transformation from a youth icon and

a teacher to a motivator for change

at the grassroots level has been slow

but steady. With an MA in Telugu Literature and a B.Ed,

he began working as a youth club volunteer in his village

Tosham in Gudihutnoor mandal of Adilabad district in

Andhra Pradesh. The then CM, Chandrababu Naidu, had

initiated the Yuva Shakti programme where about 50 local

boys and girls with leadership qualities formed youth groups

that worked at the village level to bring electricity, clean and

green the villages and organize sporting activities for young

people. The community, headed by the mukhia, selected

Venkataramana as president of the village youth club.

Then, at the request of the community, he started a

primary school in Tosham on space donated by the village. The

school had 200 students and five teachers. Simultaneously,

he got involved in the Panduranga Shastri Athavale bhakti

movement which used the spiritual route to get villages to

clean and green their villages. His work attracted the attention

of a local NGO which sought his support for getting children

into school. He joined as a teacher at the NGO’s summer

school, moving subsequently to Boath mandal as the NGO’s

organiser and accountant. Here, he started two RBCs. Since

accommodation was a problem for boys seeking education

in Sonale village, Venkataramana joined hands with tribal

groups lobbying with the village development committee

(VDC) for physical infrastructure like roads and lights and

more education and health facilities for the village.

Since Boath was in a Naxal affected area, the Maoists felt

Venkataramana was a front for the police. He was taken away

for interrogation and it was only after he convinced them that

he was not with any group but was working for child rights,

which was verified by the mukhia, that he was released.

Venkataramana has also worked with the SSA

programme in Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh and in Morena

district of the Chambal area for two and a half years. In

2007, he worked with an NGO’s slum cluster programme

for children’s education. In 2010, he joined the NCPCR’s

Bal Bandhu programme as a Resource Person in Rohtas.

His experience in forming youth groups helped him in

forming 200 Bal Mitras in Rohtas. “This, I think, is my biggest

achievement in my 12 years of work,” says Venkataramana.

smita Kumari, rohtas, Bihar

Of the 19 Resource Persons working

in the Bal Bandhu Scheme, Smita

Kumari, 31, is the only woman and she

works in Naxal affected Rohtas block

in Rohtas district in Bihar. Completing

BA Honours in Sociology from Patna

in 2000, she began teaching English

and Social Studies in a private school. Though she married

soon after graduation, her husband, who is also a school

teacher, encouraged her to continue working. Even the birth

of her daughter in 2002 did not deter her from teaching.

In 2007, when her second child, a boy, was three

months old, she was invited by an NGO for a youth seminar

being conducted in Patna. Liking the NGO’s work on child

labour, she subsequently attended more of its meetings. At

a meeting of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, in the presence of

the principal secretary for education Smita blurted out –

“Children are willing to come to government schools but are

the teachers prepared to teach them properly and run the

school efficiently?” This impressed the audience and soon

members of the community began contacting her for help in

admissions for their children, getting transfer certificates etc.

Soon after, she joined an NGO and started working

in its slum development project. After three months as

a volunteer, she thereafter worked as a cluster resource

organizer for three years. Though she was then offered a

job as block in charge in Vaishali, she turned down the offer

because her son was too small.

Seeing information about the BB Scheme on the

NCPCR website, Smita applied and was selected as a

Resource Person. When she went for training, she found


friends with whom she had worked earlier. It was a

difficult area and soon after she joined in December 2010,

she visited the hilltop of Rohtas to see the school and

anganwadi facilities there, at the same time experiencing

the anger and resentment among people in the community.

The area had no schools or hospitals and no official had

visited it for years. Despite the tense atmosphere, she told

the community she was willing to work in Rohtas and they

were impressed. It took four months to win the people’s

trust and build her own confidence, she says.

In July-August 2011, a Naxal commander was killed

and the Naxals retaliated by picking up people suspected to

be informers. Bal Bandhu Narender Kumar called Smita to

inform her of the tense atmosphere at Nagatoli village on the

hilltop. Along with her team members, she visited Nagatoli

school and spoke to the mukhia, teachers and 60 odd

members of the community, trying to restore their confidence.

That same night three people were killed in Nagatoli in a fight

between Naxals, in which two Naxals themselves were killed.

When a school teacher refused to remove the body of one of

the Naxals, he too was gunned down.

After that dreadful night, however, the Bal Bandhus

were never stopped nor was their work ever questioned. My

job is challenging but extremely satisfying, says Smita. From

the time the Bal Bandhu programme became operational in

the block in 2010, Smita and the BB team have managed to

get 2,286 children of 6 - 14 years into school, including girls

who had stopped going to school after Class 8.

umesh sao, sheohar, Bihar

A resident of village Garahar thana

in Patna district in Bihar, Umesh Sao

considers himself lucky to have got

an opportunity to study. He hailed

from a large family of five brothers

and two sisters and his father, a farmer,

was not keen that Umesh, his third

son, should study. After all, his elder two sons had dropped

out on completing Classes 8 and 7 respectively and his two

daughters did not go to school at all. But Umesh’s mother

supported him when he expressed a desire to study. “It was

thanks to my mother that I went on to complete graduation

in Economics (Honours) from Magadh University despite

financial constraints,” says Umesh.

Instead of studying further, he began giving tuitions

to earn money. When the SSA programme was looking for

Resource Persons for the field, he applied and got through. In

2009, he got the opportunity to work for the NCPCR in Delhi

as a Resource Person for its programme to stop child labour.

“I came to Delhi and in this assignment I conducted surveys

to map the number of children in the slums of Jahangirpuri,

how many children were out of school and how many were

engaged in child labour etc. We also helped in the formation

of the Bal Adhikar Suraksha Samiti (Committee to Protect

Child Rights), comprising community members of the area.

Together, we managed to get 2,500 of the 2,929 out of school

children back into school,” recounts Umesh proudly.

So when posts for Bal Bandhu Resource Persons were

advertised by the NCPCR for the pilot Bal Bandhu Scheme,

Umesh knew he had to apply. He realized just how handy

this assignment had been when he arrived in the NC Hills

district (now known as Dima Hasao district) in Assam, as

the Bal Bandhu Resource Person. Known for its insurgency,

Umesh and his colleague Mohammed Jafar, the second BB

Resource Person there, trod very cautiously in the area. But a

few days after they arrived, they were accosted by a member

of an insurgent group. “I was walking a little ahead when

I turned back and saw that Jafarji was talking to someone

who had a gun slung across his shoulder. Later, I heard that

he threatened to kill us if we did not pay a sum of Rs two

lakh. A decision was then taken by the NCPCR to recall us

and I was sent to Sheohar in Bihar,” says Umesh.

But even Tariyani block, Sheohar, was also not without

challenges. “The biggest challenge was to win the trust of the

community and selecting the Bal Bandhus. There is so much

pressure on them to join the Maoists. However, what made

our work a little easier was when we managed to convince

them that we were there only to ensure children got their

rights. When this word got around, a BB was told one day that

some Maoist leaders wanted to meet me at 8 pm. I was a little

apprehensive. However, when I reached there and explained

about the work we were doing, he was very impressed and

said they too would support our work,” reveals Umesh.

The BB team was even given support during its candle


light march against child labour in areas considered Maoist

friendly. “I feel happy that I am a part of this change and that

children are getting an opportunity to study just like I did,”

says Umesh.

Umesh is married and has three children.

mohammed jafar, sheohar, Bihar

Although his father worked as a

gardener at a government hospital

in Godampur village in Ranga Reddy

district of Andhra Pradesh, and

his earnings were not enough to

support a large family comprising

seven children, he was keen that his

children study. However, his eldest son dropped out after

he was beaten by the teacher. He was then given as bonded

labour for a sum of Rs 250. A similar fate would have befallen

Mohammed Jafar had not his father understood his fourth

son’s desire for education. “When my elder brothers went

to study, there was no building. They studied under a

tree and the teachers were not good. They would beat the

children. By the time I went to study, a school building had

come up and the teachers were better,” remembers Jafar.

It was his desire to study that led him to walk five km

daily to attend Classes 6 and 7. Realising that his son would

not be able to attend Classes 8 to 10 as the school providing

higher education was 12 km away, his father bought him a

cycle. The cycle was later given to his younger brother, who

also followed in his footsteps when Jafar reached Class 11.

“Since the college was six km away, I walked there every day

till I completed graduation in Arts,” says Jafar.

In 1996, Jafar came in touch with an NGO working

to wean children from child labour. His ability to write

good scripts for street plays, weaving various health and

education issues, got him a job with the NGO. He was its

cluster organizer till 2000 and was then sent to provide

support under the DPEP in Nalgonda district. Later, he took

over as mandal in charge and was sent to Meboobnagar.

Stints with the SSA in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar also gave

him a better understanding of community mobilization.

All this training helped in his selection as a BB

Resource Person in 2010 when the NCPCR advertised for

the position under the BB Scheme. However, when he

reached NC Hills to implement the programme, even his

training and experience were not enough to prepare him

for the encounter with insurgents.

“My colleague Umesh Sao (the second Resource Person)

had walked slightly ahead of me when I was intercepted by

a man with a gun. When he asked why we had come, I told

him we were there only to help children get their rights. He

said whoever wanted to work in NC Hills had to pay money to

them. Even a doctor who had come some days before us had

paid up, he told me. He asked for a sum of Rs two lakh. When I

told him that we could not pay, he threatened to kill us. So the

NCPCR decided to recall us. Umesh was sent to Sheohar and

I was sent to Chirang district in Assam. I worked there for five

months before being sent to Sheohar,” states Jafar.

Although Sheohar is also considered a conflict

zone, for Jafar the greater challenge was the utter lack of

demand for education among the community. “This was

more dangerous than facing Naxals because it meant the

community was not really bothered whether its children

went to school or not. Even if some children did, the

community did not bother to check whether teachers

were coming, meals were being given or if children were

facing corporal punishment. This lackadaisical attitude was

reflected in the fact that 28 schools were being used as cattle

sheds without anyone being bothered about it,” says Jafar.

Mohammed Jafar is married and has three children.

Binod Kumar, sheohar, Bihar

If Binod Kumar was able to go to school,

it was primarily because of his mother.

His father, who worked as a peon in

a state government office in Patna in

Bihar, was not keen for him to study.

When Binod reached Class 10, his

elder brother passed away after battling

cancer. His parents pulled Binod out of school and got him

married. “My parents were afraid that after the death of my

brother, something would happen to me. Since my younger

brother was not old enough, they got me married even

though I was just 15,” recalls Binod.

However, after a year, he returned to school and


completed Intermediate before dropping out again. He

did odd jobs, even working in a boutique before joining

Ambedkar Jyoti, an NGO working to get children into

schools. Two years later, in 2007, he began working as a

part of the technical team for the SSA in Bihar.

In 2009, he came to Delhi and worked with Abhaas,

an NGO working with children. After some time he became

involved in an NCPCR project to rescue child labour in the

Jahangirpuri slums. In 2010, he applied and was selected as

a BB Resource Person and was sent to Sheohar.

“When we started working in Tariyani block of

Sheohar, we were warned by education officials that it

would be impossible to work there as the Maoists were

against government officials. Schools were found to be not

functioning in Malikana village, considered a Maoist bastion.

We decided the only way to make inroads in the area was to

go there with our local Bal Bandhu and meet the anganwadi

worker there and her husband who was a person of some

influence in that village. After we convinced them that our

goal was to get children their rights, be it education, health

or any other issue, they agreed to support us. Now the school

there is functioning very well,” says Binod proudly.

G ramesh, suKma, ChhattisGarh

A Marathi by birth, Ramesh Ghugge

never stayed in Maharashtra as

his father had migrated to Andhra

Pradesh’s Adilabad district before he

was born. Though his father, a farmer,

was keen that Ramesh who was the

eldest of his three children, should

study, he was unable to cope in a Telugu medium school. Even

after studying till Class 4 Ramesh could neither read nor write,

having learnt only how to write his own name. Put into another

government school a little further away from home, Ramesh

started all over again in Class 1. This time, fortunately, he was

able to pick up and was promoted from Class 3 to Class 5.

Soon, his desire for education was so high that he cycled

14 km back and forth to his secondary education school.

Unfortunately, he had to drop out after Class 10 because the

school offering intermediate education was too far for him to

reach by cycle. Working in a small shop opened for him by

his father, his motivation to study did not diminish and he

completed Class 11 and 12 privately even while working.

Had not a child rights organisation come into the

district to initiate its programme to rescue child labour,

Ramesh might have remained a shopkeeper. Seeing

his interest in child rights, the NGO appointed him as a

volunteer in 2001 at a monthly salary of Rs 1,000. “I even

stopped my father from getting my brother to drop out

after Class 10 by saying that I would pay for his education

instead,” says Ramesh. “How could I let my brother drop

out when I was motivating other children to go to school?”

His brother obtained a B. Ed degree and is doing post

graduation studies now.

After a stint with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in Madhya

Pradesh, Ramesh worked on child rights with the NGO

Apeksha Home Society in Amravati in Maharashtra,

returning thereafter to Andhra Pradesh in 2009 to mobilise

self help groups under the state’s Indrakranti Patakam

programme for child rights. Finally, in 2010 he was selected

to the Bal Bandhu programme.

“The challenge was winning the confidence of

the community in Sukma,” says Ramesh. “In fact, a big

achievement has been getting the support of everyone

including the Maoists.”

Despite this confidence, Ramesh reveals there is the risk of

getting caught in the crossfire between police and Naxals.

However, he says, “Despite these problems, I will continue

to motivate children to go to schools because I know the

value of education,” he says

Preparing to give his MA in Hindi, Ramesh is married

and has two children.

K narayana, suKma, ChhattisGarh

It’s the story of a family tragedy he’s

grown up with. When K Narayana

was in Class 3, his father had a fatal

accident. As he lay dying he insisted,

‘My youngest son must study. If

it is needed, sell off the property.”

Not only did the father’s dying wish

come true, Narayana, his youngest child, is also making

sure that many other children fulfil their parents’ desire for


them to study.

His father’s death did force Narayana’s mother to sell

off their property to educate and bring up her four sons and

a daughter. “Though she was not educated, my mother was

very intelligent and could help me with my studies,” says

Narayana. Growing up in Andhra Pradesh’s Tosham village

in Adilabad district, money constraints forced him to leave

his studies in the second year of college to work instead as

an accountant in Adilabad for five years. Returning in 1999

to work in Tosham, he met representatives of a child rights

NGO when they came the next year to meet youth in the

village. Narayana began working for the NGO at Rs 500 a

month and within a year he was appointed block in charge

of Gudihathnoor mandal where his village was located. He

was also encouraged to complete his graduation.

He gained experience of community mobilisation

in a tribal area in a completely different setting when he

was sent by the organisation to Jhabua district in Madhya

Pradesh to work on an SSA programme in 2004. Says

Narayana, “It was an extremely backward area where

the tribals still used bows and arrows. With dacoits also

operating there, work conditions were very difficult.

Officials were afraid to venture in. On one occasion we were

robbed and beaten by a group of troublemakers. Instead of

being cowed, I took up the matter with the sarpanch.” The

trust and respect he built through his work was such that

when he had to leave in 2007, the same people who used to

harass him refused to let him go.

His first experience in Sukma came thereafter when

he was sent to Chhattisgarh for two years on collaboration

with UNICEF. He quickly dispensed with the 5 pm

deadline for finishing work that most people followed in

this Naxal affected area. “There can be no such restriction

on timings while doing community work. After all, how

can we be scared of the community for whom we are

working? The community is my security that protects me

from any potential trouble because they know I am here

to defend them and their children,” he explains.

Returning to Adilabad to deal with a health emergency

faced by his son, Narayana came back to Sukma within two

years, this time as an NCPCR child rights defender. Known

fondly as ‘Murthy’ here, 31 year old Narayana knows he is

leaving a lasting legacy. With his team of Bal Bandhus, he

penetrates deep into the jungle to habitations that can only

be reached by foot and are not connected by roads. From

struggling earlier to get a few people to give them a hearing,

Narayana’s team now often has 3,000 people eagerly

attending its meetings.

G ChandraKant, GadChiroli, maharashtra

The youngest of three children,

G Chandrakant learnt the meaning of

poverty early in life when his eldest

brother was given in bonded labour to

augment the family income. However,

fortunately for Chandrakant, his father,

a farmer, decided to put him and his

second brother into school. Both the brothers managed to

study till Class 12 since education was free in the government

schools they attended in their village in Adilabad district of

Andhra Pradesh.

After Class 12, Chandrakant realized he would have to

work to fulfill his desire to study further. He began doing odd

jobs including giving tuitions and was able to earn Rs 500 a

month. This he used to buy books after enrolling himself in

the open school to pursue graduation.

During this time, an NGO initiated a programme to

eradicate child labour in Adilabad district. Chandrakant,

who attended a few of its meetings, was inspired by the

programme and joined the NGO as a volunteer in 2001 at a

monthly salary of Rs 1,000.

Since then, he worked in different states including

Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Bihar, motivating children

to go to school as a part of the technical team under the

government’s SSA programme.

In 2009, he collaborated with the Montfortian Child

Rights Movement in Ballarshah in Chandrapur district in

Maharashtra. Aimed at building the capacity of panchayat

members in 19 gram panchayats to work for child rights,

the programme involved conducting youth meetings and

rallies, training programmes and exposure visits to Adilabad,

involving officials of the labour and education departments

in the campaign. Besides working in Chandrapur district,

Chandrakant undertook similar work in Gadchiroli district


and managed to mainstream many out of school children.

In 2010, he was selected as a BB Resource Person and

was asked to work in Gadchiroli. “Although I had worked in

Gadchiroli before, Dhanora, the block chosen for the BBS, was

new to me. I was unknown to the community and this meant

I had to start all over again to win its trust,” says Chandrakant.

One of the biggest challenges that arose after

selecting the Bal Bandhus, was to protect them from Naxal

overtures. Since Dhanora block borders Rajnandgaon and

Kakner districts of Chhattisgarh, there is greater intensity

of Naxalite activity here. So, young men and women are in

great demand particularly if they are educated.

Chandrakant reveals that two Bal Bandhus quit

within months of being selected because of pressure from

Naxals. “We had to work hard to build the confidence

of the other BBs. They were taken for exposure visits to

Ranga Reddy district in Andhra Pradesh which has been

converted into a child friendly area, in order to motivate

and inspire them,” states Chandrakant.

Although the fear that they may run into the Naxals or

become unwitting victims of the crossfire between Naxals

and police still exists, there is greater confidence now that

they will not be targetted. “Since our work for children has not

been opposed by the Naxals, we assume it is being supported

and we will continue to fight for child rights,” he says.

Chandrakant is married and has two children.

ByaGari shanKariah, GadChiroli,

maharashtra

The eldest of four brothers, Byagari

Shankariah was sent to his maternal

grandmother’s house to study.

His parents were uneducated and

worked as agricultural labourers.

But Shankariah’s father was keen

on education for his children and

thought the only way this was possible was to send him

to his wife’s maternal home where other children were

studying. “I lived with my grandmother and went to school

with the other children. I managed to study till Class 10,”

recalls Shankariah.

When he returned to his own village and enrolled in

Class 11, his father supported his desire to study further by

buying him a cycle as the school was 10 km away. “After

school and on holidays, I would work in the fields to earn

money to help my family and also to buy books,” says

Shankariah.

However, he was unable to complete his graduation

despite joining open university because of financial

problems. During this time, the teacher of the non formal

education centre in his village left and Shankariah took his

place and started teaching at a salary of Rs 225. Later, he

worked as a resource person for the SSA programme in

Madhya Pradesh for five years.

In 2010, when the NCPCR advertised for Resource

Persons for its BB programme, Shakankariah applied and

was selected. He was sent to initiate the scheme in Dhanora

block in Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra. “Dhanora

is full of jungles and initially I was tense. But after a few

meetings with the community, I became confident. In fact,

once when I went to a village deep in the jungle to meet

the community and did not return by 6 pm, my colleague

Chanderkant became tense. He tried to call me but there

was no mobile network and he could not get through to

me. But I was not afraid even though I had to walk back

alone,” recounts Shankariah.

In the past year, Shankariah has reached out to 12

gram panchayats in the block which has still not been

visited by government officials. “Officials are afraid to visit

these panchayats, but we are welcomed by the community.

This is one of our biggest achievements so far,” he states.

While motivating children to study, Shankariah, who

is married, has become inspired to enroll for college so

that he can complete his unfinished education. •


glossarYAAGSU All Assam Gorkha Students Union

AAMSU All Assam Minority Students Union

ABRCC Asst. Block Resource Centre Coordinator

ABSU All Bodo Students Union

ADC Additional Deputy Commissioner

AKRASU All Kochrajbonsh Rajbangshi Students Union

ANM Auxilliary Nurse Midwife

AWC Anganwadi Centre

AWW Anganwadi Worker

ASHA Accredited Social Health Activist

ALC Alternate Learning Centres

BB Bal Bandhu

BBS Bal Bandhu Scheme

BMS Bal Mitra Sangathan

BDO Block Development Officer

BEO Block Education Officer

BTC Bodoland Territorial Council

CDPO Child Development Project Officer

CRCC Cluster Resource Centre Coordinator

CWC Child Welfare Committee

CRPF Central Reserve Police Force

CM Chief Minister

DC Deputy Commissioner

DEO Deputy Education Officer

DM District Magistrate

DC District Collector

DSWO District Social Welfare Officer

DFO District Forest Officer

DWCRA Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas

EGS Education Guarantee Scheme

GP Gram Panchayat

ICDS Integrated Child Development Scheme

ITDP Integrated Tribal Development Project

ITDA Integrated Tribal Development Agency

IKP Indira Kranti Programme

KGBV Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya

LP Lower Primary

ME Middle Elementary

MDM Midday Meals

MS Mahila Sangathan

MVF Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation

MGNREGA Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Act

NCPCR National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

NGO Non Governmental Organisation

PD Project Director

PO Project Officer

PHC Primary Health Centre

PRI Panchayati Raj Institution

RBC Residential Bridge Course

RTE Right to Education

RP Resource Person

SASS Shishur Adhikaar Suraksha Samiti

SCPCR State Commission for Protection of Child Rights

SSA Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

SMC School Management Committee

SWO Social Welfare Officer

TC Transfer Certificate

THR Take Home Rations

TMC Taluka Medical Officer

UN-CRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

VCDC Village Council Development Committee

Bal Bandhu

Documents

Transcript of Bal Bandhu