Education still remains just another word for most Kamaiya children

Sesh Kumari Chaudhari, 12, wakes up early in the morning and finishes her household chores before starting for school. It takes her more than an hour to reach Purbahira Lower Secondary School, some 5 km away from her newly built tin-roofed shed. Her parents were former bonded laborers in Rajapur. She likes to read Nepali and practice mathematics. Her teacher says she is weak in English. And she feels bad about it. After returning home everyday, it is back to what starts her morning--domestic chores.

Free time for her means finding a job, mostly in villagers' houses close to her camp. Her work ranges from baby-sitting to what they call Kamlahari to paddy plantation. She earns Rs. 50/- a day for working in the fields. Nevertheless, she aims to become a prominent figure like her teacher. "If you are a teacher, everybody respects you. I don’t know how much I have to study to become a teacher but I want to study because I like it," says Sesh Kumari. At home, she hardly finds any time for her studies. Every evening, when she comes back from work, she helps her mother in the kitchen. She sometimes goes to the nearby forest to collect wild vegetables like mushroom.

She is like any other child--singing is her hobby. For her, like many in the country, child rights is nothing more than a phrase. She likes to work because her parents want her to work and it is essential to make both ends meet. Her parents too, not surprisingly, work as daily wage labourers.

"It is difficult to collect vegetables in the forest but it is exciting to go there with friends. We sing on the way, but sometimes we are scared of wild animals such as snakes, leopards and jackals," she says. She likes to play with her friends but is unhappy that her friends do not go to school. "They say the school is very far. They do not have time for it. Had there been a school here, my friends too could have enrolled, as some of them were studying in other schools before we came to settle here in the camps," she opines.

Although, Bardiya district has more than 200 government and private schools in several pockets of former bonded labourers' settlement areas, Kamaiya children have no or very little access to them. The reason – schools are very far from their camps and almost all children above 10 years have to work for sustenance. According to the District Education Office, Gularia, there are some 110 early childhood development programs, 151 government and18 private primary schools, 40 government and five private lower secondary schools, 32 government and five private high schools, four government and one private secondary schools and one private college in Bardiya district.

And even though 80 percent children in the district are enrolled in these schools, the reach of ex-Kamaiya children to these institutions is very minimal as the primary need of these people today is land, home and employment. Parents here don’t have much of a choice for they too depend on their children's earning.

No schools have yet been established targeting ex-Kamaiya children. The government has recently launched two programs--Out Reach School Program and Flexible School Program--for these children. Outreach school program has been introduced for children between six and eight years of age and flexible school is meant for children between eight and twelve. The duration of both programs is three years.

While children enrolled under the outreach school program will be able to join grade four in government schools once they complete the three-year outreach course, children studying in flexible schools will be eligible to join grade six. According to Nayan Singh Dhami, District Education Officer (DEO), some 200 ex-Kamaiya children are enrolled in such non-formal education in 10 VDCs.

"This year we have sent proposals for opening 20 more non-formal schools to the District Department of Education," said Dhami. Though the government officials are not able to provide actual data regarding ex-Kamaiya children, their number is estimated at 3500.

Meanwhile, government officials here try not to take responsibility regarding the education of ex-Kamaiya children. DEO Dhami accused Land Reforms Office (LRO) of not being serious about settling ex-Kamaiyas thereby hindering the launching of education programs permanently. "Unless the government settles ex-Kamaiyas, it is difficult to launch any program or establish any new school for ex-Kamaiya children," claimed Dhami.

But district Land Reforms Officer, Mukti Bahadur Swanr claims that the DEO has never come up with a proposal for any such program aimed at ex-Kamaiya children; if it had happened his office could help them figure out where to launch programs. Both the officers welcomed Operation a Day's Work (OD) program in the district and believed it can bring about some change.

"OD program is a good approach but it has to be launched only after several discussions and feasibility study," said Dhami. Echoing Dhami's view, Swanr opined, "The program is the right approach to bringing changes in the life of ex-Kamaiya children but it should be launched in cooperation with the government to make it successful."

Teachers and other school-staff have a crucial role to play in running schools. But, here schools do not have adequate number of teachers. The teacher-student ratio is 1:80. For instance, Nepal Rastriya Primary School at Balati, which is running classes for up to grade eight without government's permission, has more than 150 students in a classroom. There are three such classes.

Nanda Lal Chapagain reveals that the school drop out rate is very high. Consider this: Some 200 students study in a classroom when they are in primary classes but the number goes down to 30 when they reach secondary level. "The government does not have enough quota of teachers and many teachers are paid out of local resources," said Chapagain.

Shanti Kumari Primary School, for example, has three teachers for 700 students. But the local people have recruited seven more teachers to educate their children. Many schools have sent proposals for upgrading the schools but the government has not yet decided in this regard.

School enrollment of ex-Kamaiya children is crucial for raising their status. But implementing the same is not an easy task, as it more or less depends on whether parents are entitled to regular employment opportunities. Moreover, easy access to schools can be called an important factor when it comes to increasing school enrollment.

"Mostly, ex-Kamaiya children in camps like Dhadhwar are deprived of education because such places are situated in the middle of the jungle and do not have access not only to schools but also to nearby towns," says Madan Bahadur Thapa, a teacher at Shree JanJyoti Secondary School, Shivapur.

In such a context, programs like OD can be crucial to educate these disadvantaged children, opine almost all teachers, parents and students interviewed. "Of course, we will send our children to school if they are provided free education along with educational materials," voice most parents.

If time takes a new turn and government officials realize the gravity of the problem and OD program turns out to be successful and parents send their children to school, poor ex-Kamaiya children will be going to schools pretty soon. As the DEO believes, it will take at least five years for all ex-Kamaiya children to be able to go to school.