Vol. XVI Issue 2 April - June 2012 2012 Documentation ... - Nipccd

CHILD LABOUR
17. Chang, Seo Hee, Gruber, Scott and Alstine, Scott Van. (2007).
Combating child labour through education in Kolkata, India. Washington:
The George Washington University, Washington DC. 76 p.
www.elliott.gwu.edu/assets/docs/acad/ids/capstone/kolkata07.pdf
Background: Child Labour is both a consequence and resource of poverty
throughout the developing world. Education as a child labour intervention draws
upon a number of approaches that fall along this spectrum. Kolkata has a
complex educational system, and although the majority of the schools were
government run and theoretically free of charge, quality and access were two of
the largest critical issues faced by the system.
Objectives: To examine the effectiveness of the Bridge Course Methodology; to
know the children and parent’s perceptions of how the children were benefiting
(or not) from attending formal school or participating in NGO programs.
Methods: The research team visited four non-residential camps, two run by CINI
ASHA and two run by sub-grantee NGOs of CINI ASHA’s under the REACH
India capacity building grant program. The five subject groups studied were the
teachers, children, community members, parents and key NGO staff members.
Findings: The children at the Non-Residential Camp (NRCs) were learning basic
literacy and numeracy skills that were requisite for admission into the formal
schools and transferable to general future work situation; NRCs used the bridge
course methodology which focuses exclusively on achieving basic numeracy
and literacy skills; each NRC research team visited , employed a reduced
curriculum that focused on math language and arts; aside from academic skills,
the students were also learning about responsibility and order; some of the
NRCs also worked upon on singing and dancing into the school day, where the
community volunteers lead the students in reciting poetry and some moderate
gymnastic activity in the classroom; at two of the three NRCs, the community
volunteers were using a variety of methods to involve all the children in the
lesson; despite the lack of learner centered methodologies, most students were
quite engaged in their school work; by using the bridge course methodology,
students were intensively taught as much as 10 hours per day and five days per
week; weekly and monthly tests were done to assess the students progress; all
the teachers, the research team said that training helped of entire courses and
made them a better teachers; children in the NRCs observed and expressed
optimism about their educational outcomes and the effects of their NRC
attendance on themselves and their families; most students indicated that the
will recommend the NRCs to their out of school peers; cultural and arts activities
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DCWC Research Bulletin Vol. XVI April - June 2012