-The Deccan Herald
Eight-year-old Divya says she wants to study but her school does not provide basic facilities such as books, clean water, food and furniture.
“There are insects crawling on our food and the water smells like dead rat. Most of the desks in our school are broken. How can we study in a school which is not clean?” asked Divya, studying in Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, Shakarpur, east Delhi. Divya added that girls in her class take turns to sweep their classrooms as teachers do not pay heed to their problems.
More than 250 children from several government and private schools in Delhi raised awareness about issues they face in schools and Right to Education through “Bol Jamoore” — a street theatre festival organised by CRY, a child rights group, at Dilli Haat on Saturday.
“This is a platform for the privileged youths to showcase issues related to education of the underprivileged section of the society. This also helps children communicate their fears and hopes,” said Soha Moitra, regional director, CRY.
Children performed street plays and gathered the audience by convincing them to see their nukkad-naatak. Several schools and CRY supported projects such as Aditi Maha Vidyalaya, Mahak, Ahsas, BVD, CFAR, Pahal, Gurgaon PAG group, Delhi Public School Vasant Kunj and others performed on Saturday and will perform on Sunday as well at Dilli Haat in the afternoon.
Issues highlighted by the children include lack of cleanliness in schools, contaminated food and water, unhygienic toilets, non-availability of books, issues related with admission as schools ask for donations, non-availability of teachers and gender disparities among others.
Children from Bal Vikas Dhara, a community organisation, highlighted that most private schools discriminate between children by holding evening classes for children under the EWS quota.
Children also highlighted that for thousands of children, affordable good quality education is a far-fetched dream.