Kolkata Mary Ward Social centre | We cannot accomplish all that we need to do without working together

We cannot accomplish all that we need to do without working together

August 18, 2017

KMWSC dosent consider the issue of Brickfield children in isolation. It is integral to the concerns of child protection, education and social security. It is important for the government department to institutionalize mechanisms of working together to address multiple issues of Brickfield children.With this in view the KMWSC Brickfield team completed its fourth phase of Nawada intervention from 31.07.2017 to 04.08.2017.The Nawada Intervention is carried out at regular interval by KMWSC in order to follow up with different government departments like Education, Labour, ICDS etc for proper follow up so that the migrant children get all kinds of facility which they should get being the citizen of the country.

The team of four led by director, Sr. Monica Suchiang, successfully accomplished a few activities. They met the DM of Nawada district, to talk about the glaring issue of seasonal migration, from Bihar to West Bengal. Besides the DM they met the Director of Educational Department, Nawada and raised the issue of school admission for migrant children and residential facilities that these children could avail.

An extensive monitoring was carried out by the entire team; they met the warden of 3 Kasturba Gandhi Homes in Nawada Block, Pakribarawan Block & Rejauli Block. Their living condition, safety and security issues , nutrition, health and hygiene and education status of the children were evaluated. They met the Head Master of primary school at Eruri village of Pakribarawan Block to find out about the brick field children who were admitted in various schools in the last two months.

During the visit they also met some of the high school head masters and students who were admitted over the last few years.The team could also successfully mainstream 1 girl child from Eruri village, and also met the residents of namely Jaisin Bigha and Akuna village, and also with the parents of those students, who were admitted in Kasturba Gandhi Home and Government Primary Schools.

KMWSC believes that a holistic vision is needed for the migrant children as far as their aspirations, their expectations, and their real concerns are concerned. Children need to be viewed not just as beneficiaries of specific schemes, but as living entities that are affected by steps, big and small, taken or not taken by various government departments.Their needs ought to be reflected in government plans for services like education, health. Collaboration with organizations and government agencies and residential homes will help build alliances and share resources at all levels to address problems of people living at the Brickfields.

Definitely the visit to Nawada provided a platform for Brickfield Team to interact with each other and learn and grow from each other’s strategies and best practices. The collaboration will lead to a collective processes in bringing about social change surely.