Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill

This long awaited landmark bill was passed in parliament on Tuesday 4th August 2009. This will now allow all concerned to take legal action against parents or guardians who refuse to send their children to school. India as a nation has shown a strong political will in passing this bill and has now joined a select global club, stating our intentions of getting every child between 6 to 14 to school. The law is unique because while providing compulsory education, the school authorities would not fail any student till class VIII, making provisions in both government and private schools to provide 25% quota to "disadvantaged children".

We are aware of the numerous one teacher government and private schools in the country with students over 100, the poor quality of teaching/learning where students tested before leaving class VIII, are barely able to read and write one sentence and failing to do simple mathematics. If the bill is intended to serve the purpose for which it has been finally enacted, the policy makers and planners should make adequate resource allocations in building more schools, upgrading existing facilities such as toilets for girl children, appoint more teachers and upgrade their skills, so that children in schools are not short-changed in the name of education.

CINI has been promoting education of children from deprived communities since the early nineties, and developed a unique child tracking system in Kolkata municipal schools to prevent drop outs in the CINI ASHA urban programme. In Jharkhand, CINI has been designated as the "Mother NGO" for education by the Government of Jharkhand and has been implementing various programmes for deprived urban and rural children in the state. In the next few months, CINI will discuss the bill with the community, the teachers and the elected representatives in its project area, and ensure that children are not deprived of their basic right to compulsory and free education in the world's largest democracy.

How the poor cope or not at all!

For the last few months, high unemployment figures in the west, falling sales of consumer items, bank closure, relief packages for the car giants in Detroit have captured media attention. The news of the rich who have suddenly become poor, giving up their exotic holidays, buying at cheap stores, giving up purchases of designer clothes, living with their old car for one more year have been regularly appearing in the media.
Very few reports or none at all have come out on how the poor who are already living on the brink, cope. Let us examine food first. In poor communities almost 80 per cent of the daily wage is spent on basic food items, now with lower incomes or no income at all the poor often go hungry, missing out on meals. The first item to vanish from the diet is the source of protective and body building protein such as eggs, fish and legumes. Vegetables and fruit go next, making growing children and pregnant women vulnerable to disease.
Health care suffers when disease strikes, giving up the seeking of early treatment and care for girls and women, rather than boys and men, and often reverting to poor quality public health services, if and when available. Education is the next to suffer, families pulling out girls first and later boys, sending them on to various forms of child labour and exploitation.
At this crucial juncture, as a nation we should not allow the situation to aggravate any further for about 20 to 30 per cent of the population who live below the poverty line. Grassroots workers of CINI are regularly monitoring nutrition, health, education and protection indicators among vulnerable children and women and working with elected representatives to find appropriate local solutions. The Child and Woman Friendly Community (CWFC) approach adopted by CINI is very useful to monitor such vital events. CINI sends its appeal to all donors and supporters to remain by its side so that the poor and vulnerable get a second chance.

Financial crunch leading to fewer resources for poverty alleviation

During the last Indian financial year, spanning from 1st April 2008 to 31st March 2009, CINI has received fewer donations as compared to the previous fiscal cycle. While it is acknowledged that competition for limited financial resources is increasing among a growing number of charities, there is also evidence that individual donors are becoming more prudent in contributing to social causes. The traditional supporters of our work in India are the same middle class persons who, in Western economies, are losing their jobs, their houses and the security of a steady income. Charities such as CINI, which in the developing world have been active in bringing about improvements in the areas of nutrition, health, education and protection for the poor, are now risking losing an important source of support. The growing middle class in India and other Asian countries has started contributing gradually, but it will take years for it to match the levels of contribution that has been built up over time by its counterparts in wealthier nations.
Over the past 35 years, CINI has extended its reach to poor and marginalized communities living both in rural and urban areas, particularly in preventing malnutrition, which is still the commonest cause of childhood mortality in India. With fewer resources available, life-saving programmes are going to suffer. The motivation of professionals who work at CINI on already low salaries will be further tested. We encourage all our donors to keep their faith in the work of CINI. If the practice of giving and sharing continues even during difficult times, there will be an opportunity for those who have been hit by the global financial downturn to cope with the crisis by extending their solidarity to those communities who need help the most now.



Dr. Samir Chaudhuri

Director

Children growing up in poverty show learning impairment

Working in poor villages and informal urban settlements in India since 1974, we have often witnessed how poverty and deprivation seriously affect children’s capacity to learn. A recent article published in The Economist’s neuroscience and social deprivation section (4 April 2009), titled I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom told, reports the results of revealing research studies carried out by Dr. Martha Farah of the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently by Drs. Gary Evans and Michelle Schamberg of Cornell University, which substantiate the evidence gathered from our daily experience among deprived communities. The studies show that working memories of children raised in poverty have smaller capacities than those of middle-class children’s. Working memory is the ability to hold bits of information in the brain for current use - the digits of a phone number, for example. Developing a working memory is a prerequisite for learning permanently, as a child seeks to do when s/he undergoes school education. It is crucial for comprehending languages, reading and solving problems. The studies demonstrate that reduced capacities in the memories of the poor are the result of stress affecting the way that childish brains develop in conditions of deprivation.
CINI seeks to bring about human development by creating Child and Woman Friendly Communities, physical and social settings where children and young people can grow up in a protected, enabling environment. Health, nutrition, education and child protection services are provided with the mobilisation of key community members, starting from the family, the service providers and the local self-governments.

Dr. Samir Chaudhuri
Director

17th Rotary India Award 2008

CINI was chosen from many NGO applicants in India for the 17th Rotary India Award 2008. This award is being presented to CINI in public recognition of its unique and unparalleled contributions and the replicable model in combating Child Mortality in India. The selection committee comprised of a Jury chaired by Smt. Justice Leila Seth, former Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh and they highly appreciated the work done by CINI. The award ceremony carrying a cash prize and a citation, will be held on Monday April 13, 2009 at the auditorium of PHD Chambers of Commerce, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi at 4:p.m.

Restructured Website

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