BENGALURU: BOSCO, an NGO dealing with child rights, is organising ‘Shale Kade Nanna Nade’ (SKNN) or ‘ My walk towards school’ – an awareness campaign till May 27 on enrollment of out-of-school children, in support to the initiative taken by Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and Department of Public Instruction.
Four teams from BOSCO – Child Safety Network (CSN), Child Rights Education and Action Movement (CREAM), BOSCO Nilaya and BOSCO Nivas – are conducting the drive in different areas of Bengaluru, reaching out to the public through street plays and distribution of awareness material.
“Each team is working in 3-4 localities across the city,” Father Mathew Thomas, executive director, BOSCO, said. “These are slum areas with a large population of migrant families who have come here for labour. Sometimes, they send their children for work. That is why we are focussing on zero dropout and 100 percent enrollment,” he added.
The organisation is hoping to bring back 500 students this year through the initiative. “In each area, there are about 30-40 children in the campaign,” Ramaswamy, project coordinator, BOSCO, said. The endeavour involves giving the family awareness about the importance of education, admitting children into schools, education of girl child and eradication of child labour, as well as utilisation of the facilities provided at government schools.
Last year, as an outcome of the six-day campaign, over 3,000 people pledged their support for the cause of enrolling of children in schools and re-enrolling the dropouts, according to the organisation. Nearly 1,00 dropouts and child labourers were identified from areas such as Shivajinagar, KR Market, Mysore Road and Sumanahalli.