Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 30, 2005
No activist or government official working
for children can hope to inspire them like Durga. When she tells them that
education is the only way out, they tend to listen; one look at her is enough
to convince them that she's right.
Seventeen-year-old Durga Gudilu belongs to
a nomadic community from the south and now known as the Vaidu Samaj, whose
traditional occupation is begging. She and elder sister Govindi are the first
in the community to go to school. "there used to be a balwadi in the
slum where Maharastraian kids would go. We would sit at the doorstep and try
to peep through the door; they wouldn't let us in because we were dirty,"
says Durga. "One teacher, Laxmi, saw that were really wanted to study
so she started teaching us in a mandir.
Soon the kids wanted to join the local BNC
school but were turned away. "they took one look at us and told us to
go," laughs Durga. "And it wasn't easy when we got in. The other
kids would take out their dabbas and we would bring out the food, we begged
and got," smiles Govindi. The Vaidu children sat on the floor while the
others on benches.
But Durga looks back without bitterness. "We
did well in studies, drawing and sports. Now, every year, teachers come round
to our basti and ask us to send kids," she says proudly.
It wasn't easy convincing the community. Children
used to beg while the older ones took on small jobs; so school was not something
the community liked. But parents got round though there are those heart-breaking
incidents. "On boy's father was alcoholic and would get angry that his
son wasn't working. He burnt the books one night; the boy never returned to
school," says Durga. But many parents were realizing that education was
the only way out; they started looking for pens and books for their children
while scavenging.
Durga is now in class XII, studying commerce,
and Govindi is a second-year BCom student in Tolani College. But Durga's drive
hasn't stopped with her own success. "We go around and tell parents to
send kids to school. They see us and say: Okay, if you girls are going, we'll
send our kids with you. Then we make sure that they don't drop out. We convince
people not to marry daughters off and them pull them out of school."
Recently, Durga accompanied four Indian kids to the World Social Forum in
Brazil. Ministers don't talk to children before framing their schemes. We
have a right to participate in policy-making and the government has to listen
to us, " Durga, who wants to study social work and work with children,
says. After telling world leaders a thong or two about children's rights,
Durga saved her stipend, bought dozens of pens and came back to give them
to children in the basti.
