ICTpost Media Action Bureau
Thousands of children of Indian migrant workers are missing out on school education. Children of slums and of migrant workers suffer the maximum in the most affluent and expanding commercial and high tech cities of India. Parents have no means to educate their children and care for them. Children take to the streets for begging and waste picking. They wander around and some even attempt stealing. Some take to drugs. Many children are forced to work at building sites, homes, hotels, shops etc. We can see even six years old children helping their parents in carrying bits of bricks and stones. Children are subjected to cruelty and violence. They experience physical, mental and emotional hardships. The life of growing girls is in danger. Children are hungry. They are sick. They do not go to school. They are wholly illiterate. They are faced with a horrible situation of total insecurity, hopelessness and fear. The rights and needs of these children and young are ignored. Young boys and girls are increasingly becoming victims of exploitation.
A Response:
The Radiophone Project brings learning material from Sesame Workshop India Trust, the television program and now radio series, Galli Galli Sim Sim, to 40 government primary schools in Gurgaon via internet streaming accessed on smartphones managed by teachers. The School Program of the Radiophone Project specifically reaches out to the migrant workers? children who study in government schools of Gurgaon.
The Radiophone Project is a partnership between The Restoring Force, an NGO that has been working in Gurgaon schools for over a decade and which also supports the community radio station, Gurgaon Ki Awaaz; Sesame Workshop India Trust and Gramvaani. The use of mobiles was conceptualised to counter the built geography of Gurgaon that prevents school children from accessing educational material via radio because of high rise buildings that block FM reception. Children routinely call into the program via the phones in their classrooms to share their experiences, or just enjoy the empowering feeling of getting their voices on air.
The Radiophone Project uses freely available mobile technology to reach schools within Gurgaon block spread across a 100 square km area. Teachers have been given Micromax A-70 Android smartphones with a 3G internet and a talk time pack that ensures that they can access the thrice-a-week program via a free streaming program. The content, the Galli Galli Sim Sim program, is provided by Sesame Workshop India Trust and Gurgaon Ki Awaaz Community Radio Station.
Program has expanded to 8 other locations in north India across 5 states. In each of these locations, partner community radio stations are working with 10 primary schools in their footprint and bringing children’s voices onto radio via their teachers’ mobile phones. While in the first phase of the program, the project touched approximately 2500 students, in the second phase that number has gone up to over 4000. editor@ictpost.com
