2 youth take ‘sugar class’ for migrant workers’ kids

Eleven-year-old Divija Darekar’s visit to her sugarcane farm at Bhokari village in Padgha, Bhiwandi turned her into a teacher of 20 children of migrant workers who are deprived of primary education as they keep migrating with their parents for livelihood.

Never in her dream had Divija thought that she would take up teaching and get attached to her students so well. She now plans to carry forward this initiative in future too.

Divija, a resident of Pune, came to the sugarcane farm with her parents as her school was not running due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A student of Class 5, she used to interact with the migrant children at the 14-acre sprawling farm. These children used to wander in the farm with their parents all day.

As soon as she learned that these children were deprived of basic education, she started teaching them. Later, she took help from her 14-year-old friend Sejal Pawar, a student of Class 9.Sejal too started to take classes with her and together, they named the teaching sessions as sakhar shala or sugar class.

Sakhar shalas were temporary schools in the settlements of sugar cane farms, which intend to provide primary education to children of sugarcane labourers. The aim of the sakhar shala is to help the children continue their education which is severely hampered due to migration. It also helps children get back to mainstream education. Janarth, an Aurangabad-based nongovernmental organisation (NGO) in Maharashtra, started this innovative intervention of sakhar shalas in 2001-02 with 882 children of migrant labourers at two cooperative sugar factories in Ahmednagar. The NGO further provided education to around 10,000 children till 2014.

“These sakhar shalas, which were a huge success, are not operational now as the NGO stopped all of its field activities. However, the NGO could carry it forward and motivate others to take up teaching such children across the state,” said Usha Mahajan, who represents the NGO.

The young duo used to teach the group of children aged between three to 13 for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. The teaching and learning process comprise of basic learning such as alphabets, numbers and crafts and paintings. The duo also instructed the children to do stone painting, drawing, colouring, mud modelling and physical exercises. They also explained the importance of cleanliness and hygiene, health care and education to the children.

“I used to play with them initially, and during my interaction with them I learned that they are deprived of basic education. I decided to teach them. When I began with it, I realised I would need help from one more person to plan the sessions. I called up my friend Sejal from Pune who joined me. Then we planned each day and taught the children,” said Divija, who aspires to be an IAS officer in future.

In one of the classes, the duo asked each student to introduce themselves in front of others and mention their dream career.

“Some students said they want be police personnel while some said they want to be doctor. This means they do have dreams but they lack direction. We are trying to be the direction for them,” added Divija. “The learning process was not only beneficial for them but also for us as we could revise all our previous lessons. When Divija asked me to join, I was so excited and joined her right away,” said Sejal.

Chetan Pawar, 16, brother of Savita Pawar, a three-year-old student, said, “I am in Class 10 and used to go to school in Malegaon. I always wanted my sister also to get education as she was deprived of it due to migration. Sakhar shala motivated her a lot and she now tells me that she want to go to school. I will try my best to help her out.” As the young duo’s sakhar Shala gained popularity on social media, it also gained attention of Vikas Shankar Kharage, principal secretary to the chief minister, and sugar commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad, who appreciated the initiative.

“The principal secretary then contacted the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Bhiwandi and arranged a health check-up camp for the migrant workers and their children and also arranged for an educational session where they were taught about cons of child marriage, importance of health care and primary education,” said Ashwini Darekar, 40, mother of Divija and a social activist from Pune.

Although the teaching sessions are not being conducted now, the migrant children make sure they learn on a daily basis and send videos and photos to Divija and Sejal.

“We want to teach more such children in future and we will take this up for all kinds of migrant children who are deprived of education,” added Divija.