Mumbai: Sustainability expert plans to create boarding facilities for street children

Three years ago when sustainability expert Dr Miniya Chatterji became a mother she decided to prioritise her child over all other commitments ldquoWe were living in Delhi at the time and the contrast between the care I would give my child and how I saw street children being treated was glaringrdquo she recounts The fact that India has approximately 11 million children on the streets was a statistic that she couldnrsquot overlookThe pilot project will be implemented at the Kamathipura Municipal School The team has received an oral confirmation and now awaits a written oneAs founder and CEO of Sustain Labs Paris a sustainability incubator that transforms large organisations into social entrepreneurship entities Dr Chatterji decided to match the owners of schools whom she knew with nonprofits that worked with kids ldquoI would frequently fly down to Mumbai only to meet entrepreneurs who owned companies that ran schools I found that while the owners of the private schools were altruistic and eager to accept children living on the streets in their schools the implementation of orders by senior and middle management staff was erraticrdquo What was needed she adds was a countrywide systemic solution to make welfare and education accessible to all childrenThe workshops involved art and pictograms to understand subconscious indicators for experiences with violence and abuseWith the help of the BMC Dr Chatterji and her team of experts including human rights specialist Janna Fuhrig and Joseph Rajni Asir Sustain Labsrsquo creative director are working at creating a boarding facility for street children in Mumbai The Kamathipura Municipal School at 7th Lane has been chosen to kickstart the pilot project The learnings from this will be used to scale up the idea to a nationallevel policy and replicate the model in other cities depending on each statersquos specific needsDr Chatterji says the municipal school in Kamathipura ticks all the boxes it is semivacant wellmaintained relatively new compared to other municipal properties and located in a quiet neighbourhood ldquoIt is spacious and lit from multiple points which is good for the mental health and overall wellbeing of the children There was access to a designated play area and open spaces for children to userdquoStreet children during a workshop conducted by Dr Miniya Chatterji and her team In collaboration with NGOs Hamara Foundation and Pratham they conducted the sessions with 40 kids to gauge the childrens reaction to their solutionThe team presented their solution to experts in the field of childrenrsquos rights education health for feedback During this process they built partnerships with professor Priya Rajagopalan of University of Pennsylvania who came on board to lead the research on the health of street children Alpa Krishnadas of UNICEF advised them on the legalities and MLA Amin Patel provided them with information specific to Mumbai while offering them access to the municipal school Finally they asked the children themselves what they wanted ldquoIn collaboration with NGOs Hamara Foundation and Pratham we conducted workshops with street children in Mumbai to get their feedback on our solutionrdquo says Asir It involved a threestep process starting with participatory mapping where art and pictograms are used for dialogue with the participants while also looking for subconscious indicators for experiences with violence and abuse personal interviews to collect additional details on family background history of abuse perception towards the outer world and lastly focussed group discussions for slightly older children aged 12 to 17 years ldquoWe found that the children viewed their future aspirations based on their current challenges For instance a child who has an abusive family member wants to become a police officer or army official Therersquos also a strong desire to be integrated into a normal functioning society where they are rooted to one place They had a deep bond with their peers but there were also traces of playful bullying among the children in both genders They tend to look at outsiders who come to study them as saviours who will help free them from the conditions they are inrdquo says Fuhrig The reasons these children end up on the streets range from running away from home because of physical and psychological abuse being born on the streets the whole family lives on the street and being held in exploitativestructures forced to beg and earn moneyShahid Shaikh a member from MLA Amin Patels team guides the midday photographer around the school Patel helped Dr Chatterji identify and get access to sunlit airy vacant BMC schools PicsPradeep DhivarIn India street children rag pickers runaways and orphans committing petty crimes for subsistence or begging in the country fall within the category of Children in Need of Care and Protection CNCP and Children in Conflict with Law CCL as described in the Juvenile Justice Care and Protection of Children Act 2015 Dr Chatterji says there are multiple legal provisions which look promising on paper but given the size of the country and the number of children on the streets it is implementation thatrsquos a challenge The primary responsibility of the execution of the JJ Act 2015 lies with the state governments and Ministry of Women and Child DevelopmentDr Miniya Chatterji and Janna FuhrigThe biggest challenge for the team is to attract the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government to implement the policy solution and implementation plan for affordable shelter and education Dr Chatterji says the children and most often their parents do not vote and hence they are off the map of democracy ldquoSo they are never the priority of the government These children can tip Indiarsquos future either towards burning entrepreneurship and progress or increased crime We do have a solidly vetted plan for a solution Can the PM please hear usrdquoHow they plan to do itFunds A law that all education trusts in India catering to various levels of education earning above R50000000 in annual revenue for the three consecutive years contribute 2 per cent of their revenue to any of the lsquochildrenrsquos boardingrsquo built by the government They could contribute towards the fees living expenses and infrastructure developmentChildrenrsquos boarding Vacant government schools and buildings will be refurbished to cater as attractive lsquochildrenrsquos boardingrsquo in Mumbai Delhi Jaipur Kolkata for temporary and longterm purposes and will be managed with the funds raisedParticipating schools Private schools and government schools that are located within a 20 km radius of the lsquochildrenrsquos boardingrsquo will be identified to incentivise financially from the funds raised and nonmaterially to afternoon classes and train the children as per mandatory provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education RTE Act and its 25 per cent reservation clause A special emphasis will be on vocational skills The governmentrsquos decision as to whether an identified school in the zone qualifies for the aforementioned programme will be facilitated by a study conducted by a team of experts The results of this study will determine whether an identified school could potentially contribute to the programmeParticipating NGOs To bring on board a selected list of NGOs specialising in working with children on the street providing day andor night shelter to at least 150 children at a time in the past five consecutive years and having an annual average child retention rate of no less than 95 per cent during that period They will be responsible to reach out to homeless children and bring them to the childrenrsquos boarding operate the facility and ensure they retain them therein