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Case Study

Janvikas Samajik Sanstha

Rs. 13,269,327 awarded over six years to Janvikas Samajik Sanstha

Children of migrant labour at a day centre where they are able to continue their education.
Children of migrant labour at a day centre where they are able to continue their education.

Marathwada in Maharashtra is a major centre for the sugar cane industry. Despite the availability of mechanised methods, sugar cane cutting remains labour-intensive and workers and their families are frequently exploited. Whole families migrate for several months at a time to live on sugar cane farms. There they live in makeshift shanties, with no protection from the harsh weather. There are no toilets or sources of drinking water, and the sites are hotbeds of misery and disease.

Janvikas Samajik Sanstha (JVSS), an education charity, works to get children who have been taken out of school to work on the farms back into education. To achieve this, it set up children’s day centres in local villages, leading to over 2,500 children rejoining schools. However, the day centres were not available to the large numbers of children migrating with their families.

Through a sustained effort, working with parents, school teachers and care providers, JVSS pioneered the idea of seasonal residential hostels in the workers’ home villages. With our support, JVSS was able to set up the hostels and secure government funding to continue running them.

The schools take responsibility for children during the day, and, if necessary, make accommodation arrangements for the child while their parents are away. Classrooms are converted into makeshift dormitories.

Since initiating the idea three years ago, JVSS has been able to hold back over 20,000 children from going with their parents to the sugar cane farms. Parents were initially hesitant to leave their children behind. However, JVSS managed to build their confidence in the scheme and assure them that their children would be safe and looked after.

There is now growing demand from parents in other villages to set up similar hostels. This year, JVSS will seek to reach even more children to keep them in education. PHF support of the initiative is in its fifth year.