Migrants' kids suffer most during Covid pandemic
Saturday, 17 July 2021 | SUDHIR MISHRA | BALANGIR
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The outbreak of corona pandemic not only posed a serious threat
to the healthcare system and claimed lives but also disrupted the livelihood
and education of children, especially migrants' children who remain invisible
to the people and administration.
Due to the unprecedented Covid-19, despite preventive measures
taken up by both the State and Central Governments, thousands of migrant
workers and their children including infants and adolescents faced a lot of
hardship. During the first wave of the pandemic, around 10 million migrant
workers were traumatised and suffered massively due to the lockdowns. The
Supreme Court in April directed all States to inform about the number of
migrant children and their condition on a petition seeking directions for the protection
of Fundamental Rights of migrants' children amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The
Covid-19 pandemic forced the authority to close schools and the system of
imparting education was changed.
Online teaching and learning enabled through television,
WhatsApp and web-based education were the options. As children of seasonal
migrant workers in normal times spend half of their life in movement from
source to destination, there is always a problem of enrolment and retention
among them. The pandemic situation further added to their vulnerabilities.
Migrants' children are disadvantaged in terms of enrolling and attending
school, and are at a lower grade for their age with the disparity deepening
with age progression. The Covid-19 has immensely affected the education of
these vulnerable children. These children not only were excluded as usual but
lost education both at source and destination. The second wave of Covid
pandemic forced their migrant parents to take them along from place to place.
According to a study by Aide et Action, in 82 brick
kilns in Patna, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar and Chennai and 27 construction sites in
Hyderabad it was found that a majority of migrating parents are
from Odisha (52 parents) followed by Telangana (23 parents) and Bihar (18 parents).
Rest were from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Maharashtra. The school
going age children was 56% out of 213 children there. 79per cent migrant
parents informed that closure of schools due to Covid-19 compelled them to
bring their school going children with them and only 11per cent of the parents
said that since there was no one to take care of the children at the village,
especially the girl children, they had to bring them with them.
The Covid-19 pandemic also witnessed a rise in the number of
migrant children this year than the previous year. 49per cent of children were
in the age group of 6-14 years who migrated along with parents this year. The
reasons for the rise in the number of migrant children to worksites were
closure of village school, lack of safety for girls and closure of seasonal
hostels. Besides, a majority of migrant children don’t have access to online
classes. "I have been migrating to brick kilns for the last two
years. Since the school was closed, I took my children along with my
family. However, there was no facility of education available in the worksite
and my children have not received any education since I arrived," said
Mahadev Sa (27) of Matiabhata Village of Khaprakhol block.
Even though some migrant families had smartphones, as they
carry mobile phones to work sites, children could not avail the facility during
the day time, not to mention those who are without it. More interestingly,
other parents said they did not want to put additional burden on buying internet
data. However, some parents lamented that even after their return they could
not enrol the children in school "I could not enrol myself in the school
as the school was closed," said Jharana Sahu(15) of Matiabhata village in
Khaprakhol block. "I had gone to brick kiln with my parents and after my
return I could not enrol myself in school as the school is closed for last two
years.
Moreover I do not have smart phone .Hence I cannot avail online
class," said Jharana.According to the survey, 56% of parents said they
left most of their children with the grandparents. 30% did it with
relatives while only 2 % of parents left their children in seasonal hostels
initiated by the Government."All schools at the source should create a
comprehensive database of migrant children and never enrol children and other
school dropouts and a special drive for reintegration of migrant children into
the education process at the source be initiated.
Government needs to encourage education volunteers to initiate
remedial classes at the households for children to prepare for
re-schooling," said programme manager, Aide et Action, Bhubaneswar, Saroj
Barik. Moreover, the administration should take steps to accommodate the
returnee migrant children and stop them from re-migrating again in the next
upcoming migration cycle through expansion of seasonal hostels, opined Barik.
Director of Migration and Education,Aide et Action International Umi Daniel
said effective functioning of mechanism for interState coordination for migrant
children’s education is badly required.
On a priority basis migrant children who have been
systematically excluded from accessing the online classes and various
Government entitlements like Mid Day Meal(MDM), text book, uniforms and other
financial support should be provided with all facilities.
More children should be accommodated in the seasonal hostels and
those migrating out should be provided education,care and protection at
the destination States. Those who are recruited as child labourer at the source
be prevented, rescued and effectively rehabilitated. A comprehensive migrant
child monitoring and tracking drive should be undertaken as soon as possible,
Daniel emphasized.
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