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Education for Children of Migrant Construction Workers
 

The construction industry is a key employer for many of India’s many internal migrants.  The migrants come from across India to work long hours in return for little pay and few, if any, benefits. As workers often change construction sites, families are highly mobile and, as a result, children are left out of the regular schools. Frequently, as both parents are engaged in construction, younger children are left on-site to tend for themselves.

Older girls are often forced to drop out of school to care for their siblings. It is also not unusual to find these children engaged in casual labor. Further compounding the problem, it is notoriously difficult to track the movements of migrant children, both within the city and to and from their home villages. As such, ensuring continuity in education is a key challenge.

Our GOALS
In order to improve and create continuity in the educational opportunities available to migrant children, DRF aims to provide high quality bridge courses, both residential and on construction sites, and develop better systems to track these highly mobile children. 

Our PROGRAM
DRF launched its education programs for the children of migrant construction laborers in 2008 with support from the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, American India Foundation and other government and private sector partners. In the first phase of programming, DRF focused its activities on establishing access to schooling and scaling up its work so as to provide as many children as possible with safe shelter, adult supervision and basic educational provisions during the workday. Now, in Phase II, DRF’s primary goal is to improve the quality of education in each of its facilities.

DRF’s migrant education program includes the following initiatives:

Transit Education Centers
These are temporary schools housed on construction sites, where migrant laborers live and work. Currently, they provide over 4000 children (aged 6-14) with a bridge course curriculum in Math, Environmental Science, English, Telugu and Hindi. DRF operates 100 centers in seven mandals of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.


Residential Bridge Courses (RBCs)
The RBCs are designed to regularize schooling for migrant children so that they will be able to better transition into the formal education system. DRF operates six RBCs in Hyderabad covering more than 600 children. DRF works closely with parents and children to encourage enrolment in RBCs and provides ongoing support to students and parents as they adjust to the residential program.


Our FUTURE PLANS

Daycare Centers
Given the high proportion of children aged 3-6 currently attending Transit Schools, DRF plans to establish specific Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programs for children 0-5 years of age. DRF?s ECCE facilities will provide integrated health, nutritional, recreational and educational services.

NGO Network
DRF hopes to create a strong network of NGOs with similar interests to share best practices and develop common understandings and goals for providing access to quality education to all children living on construction sites.

Building Inter-Sectoral Partnerships
DRF plans to involve the private sector and government as more active collaborative partners in setting up educational provisions for migrant children.

Research and Innovation
DRF will explore the effectiveness of existing interventions aimed providing education to migrant children, with the goal of providing policy alternatives and new strategies to better address the educational needs of children living on construction sites.?

 
 
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