CAP MAVAL
During our yearly distribution of note-books to children in village schools in MAVAL TALUKA, we observed that, there are many VEET BHATTIS ( brick factories) in this area, which work only from OCTOBER TO APRIL every year. They recruit poor unorganised landless labour for their work. Many, poor, daily wedge workers come with their families, from faraway places ( some come even from LATOOR, DHULE, BULDHANA, ODISHA etc. ). They live in most primitive thatched huts on the fields, with no provision for clean drinking water (even the children drink the dirty water that is used for making bricks ). There is no electricity, no medical aid, no toilets & no protection from snakes, rats or wild animals. They live for six months on the open fields in the most miserable conditions. Since their children cannot attend any school for more than six months, they are unable to get admission in any school. These small kids start working even at their tender age. It is heart breaking to see a three year old child, bare footed, covered in dust & carrying heavy loads on her head. Since they would grow up as ‘ILLITERATES’ in these horrible conditions, their future is also sealed.
However intelligent a child may be, he/she will have no chance to get out of this cruel ‘catch 22’ situation. Every flower here, no matter how fragrant, is destined to be trampled in the mud before it has a chance to blossom.We at our NGO, felt that we must do some thing, to rescue these unfortunate kids & open the world of opportunities for them. After some brain storming, we decided on the ambitious project of starting a school in the close vicinity of five ‘VEET BHATTIS’ near VADIVALE village, some 4 km from ‘ KAMSHET’ railway station.
We got in touch with the NGO ‘DOORSTEP SCHOOL’ who runs schools for construction labour at many building construction sites ( housing complexes ) in cities like MUMBAI, PUNE etc . We got full guidance, training, educational kits & material etc. VITBHATTI owner gave us permission to use one empty tin-shed which was used as a godown. Our members themselves cleaned the shed & painted it with colourful pictures to attract children’s attention.
We approached , all the families living there, explained our mission, expelled all their fears & doubts, and got their consent to send their children to our school every day, as long as they were living there.
With a lot of this pre-planning & dedicated work by our members, the school was inaugurated on 26 th January 2020. We were highly encouraged by the enthusiastic response from the children ( around 20 to 25, aged from 3 years to 15 years ) and their parents. We engaged a good teacher living in the village to teach them, not only to read & write but also, PERSONAL HYGINE, GOOD BEHAVIOUR ETC. Besides this, we tried to inculcate in them, good habits like, brushing their teeth, taking bath daily, washing & combing their hair, attending school punctually, sitting in one place in the class for four hours, observing discipline etc. In a few weeks, we noticed welcome changes in the behaviour & personal hygiene of the children. We have taken the responsibility to make them eligible & to get them admitted to ‘ZILLA PARISHAD’ school. Unfortunately, we had to close down our school because of the lock down due to the CORONA-19 pandemic. We have, however, not given up ( we, never will ). We shall renew our efforts with even stronger determination & reopen our ‘VEET BHATTI SCHOOL’ as soon as the current pandemic ends. In future, we want to start more such schools all over the MAVAL TALUKA. In future, we plan to give them, training in trade skills like, plumbing, mason work, welding, carpentry, electrical work, cane work, painting, handy-craft, sewing etc. These skills will enable them to live a decent life.