Spotlight Story: Manab Unnayan Kendra (MUK)
Helping Child Domestic Servants Become Educated
Helping Child Domestic Servants Become Educated
In the areas where MUK works, most of the families live below the poverty level. Generally they are peasants, landless, as victims of river erosion or other natural disasters, and generate very little income. These vulnerable people usually have migrated from rural areas and have taken residence in the slum areas of larger cities like Dhaka and Chittagong. Poorer parents cannot provide the proper necessities and sometimes lack the time to provide adequate guardianship. As a result, children are growing up without enjoying their minimum rights. Children, 6-7 years old, are involved in different hazardous jobs to supplement their family's income.
Children that perform certain types of child labor lead incredibly precarious lives. Their very lives and livelihoods are dependent upon the disposition of their employer. If the hazardous conditions in which these children work persist despite labor regulations, it is due to the very nature of their work; these children are hidden, scattered, and isolated within the homes in which they work. This isolation and dependency on their employers lays the ground for potential abuse and exploitation. Because the child's workplace is the same as his or her home, the very basic boundaries of employment are tenuous and unclear. Employers can, and do, expect children to clean or cook at any time of the day or night, whenever needed.
April 2004. These child domestic servants do not have any access to formal education systems. Parents cannot afford their child's education costs, so huge numbers of children remain uneducated and cannot participate in their community's development. CIRCLE partner MUK met with different stakeholders and decided that a Non-Formal Education (NFE) program would be the best first step to educating child workers. The first objective of NFE program is to improve the local NFE system, programs, and facilities, and the second, to raise parents' and community member's awareness of the hazards of child labor and the educational alternatives that can replace it.
Children that perform certain types of child labor lead incredibly precarious lives. Their very lives and livelihoods are dependent upon the disposition of their employer. If the hazardous conditions in which these children work persist despite labor regulations, it is due to the very nature of their work; these children are hidden, scattered, and isolated within the homes in which they work. This isolation and dependency on their employers lays the ground for potential abuse and exploitation. Because the child's workplace is the same as his or her home, the very basic boundaries of employment are tenuous and unclear. Employers can, and do, expect children to clean or cook at any time of the day or night, whenever needed.
MUK has established 15 NFE centers near the workplaces of these children. Fifteen teachers are conducting NFE classes for 450 child laborers using child-centered methodologies. Class-time involves much discussion among students. Co-curricular activities and site-visits are integral parts of the class routine; children participate in theatre activities, singing, and art competitions to help reinforce their curriculum. A Center Management Committee (CMC) and Local Coordination Committee (LCC) for overall management have been formed to facilitate the NFE programs. The committees are comprised of members from the local government, religious leaders, employers, parents, media, and formal educational institutions. MUK has trained both of these groups on child labor issues.
The communities are becoming more aware of the need to recognize and nurture child laborers. Children who never dreamt of going to school are attending. Other formal teachers outside of the NFE system are changing their attitudes towards the potential capacity of child laborers as well: they are conducting special sessions in their classrooms on child labor issues. Sixty-eight child laborers, mostly former domestic servants have been enrolled in grade-III and IV of formal schools.
Salma, 13, is the oldest child in her family. At a very young age, Salma had to face the reality that she must forego her education: her mother was sick and needed someone to earn money for the family. Neither she, nor any of her other brothers and sisters were able to attend school. They had to work as domestic servants and scavenge on the streets.
After MUK discovered Salma's situation, they enrolled her in a Non-Formal Education program. After only nine months, she scored fourth out of her class and is now enrolled in grade 3 in a government school.
Salma never imagined that she would be able to write her name on a piece of paper, much less attend school. Though she still must work as a servant to bring money to her family, MUK has afforded her the chance to free herself and secure a better future for her family.