By Jenniefer Dkhar
United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) defines a street child as “… any girl or boy… for whom the street has become his or her habitual abode and/or source of livelihood and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or directed by responsible adults.” From the definition above we may comprehend that there are two categories of street children: the first is a child who practically lives on the street with no home to return to and the second category is a child who works on the streets and returns home at night to one’s family. To whatever category they may belong to, the fact of the matter still remains that we are looking at a child who is ill provided, uncared for and deprived of even the basic necessities of life whereas it is important for a child to live in a surrounding that is well protected, loved, cared and guided in order for the child to lead an honourable life. For that reason family plays a very important role. The support and comfort of a the family acts as a source of strength and a fulcrum of comfort to an individual; most certainly to a child who is yet to understand and is in need to be taught of the meaning, value and worth of their existence here on earth. The life of a child who lives all by himself/herself with no family and home for support is a matter of great concern as he/she is homeless and is living without any adult supervision and care. These abandoned children are usually subjected to negligence, abuse, cruelty, harm and exploitation which will have dire consequences in their later lives. They inculcate several anti-social habits that would be detrimental to the entire society and themselves.
There are several causes of homelessness although it is often related to domestic, economic or social disruption, poverty, familial breakdown and political turmoil. Some of the domestic problems may be death of a parent, alcoholism in the family, separated parents, and strained relationships with step parents, abuse, violence and lots more. In the economic front poverty and unemployment in the family are major contributors. Poverty forces children into child labour and hence they are denied their right to education. This paves way for social disruption as well as the existence of a disparity in the division of labour; dividing the standard of living between the “haves” and the “have not’s” in the society. Thus many of the children who come from oppressed households are usually surrounded by illiteracy, unemployment, and alcoholism and drug abuse. Thereby some prefer to leave home and stray away into the wilderness of the unknown.
These children are constantly looking for a life that privileged children of their age are living. Failing to find happiness within the confines of their home and the lack of both financial and emotional support of their family they prefer to leave their home in search of a better life. Once on their own they are left to fend for themselves. Interestingly, at the start, they find their new independent life better than that of their home. No more violence, no more tiffs, no one to constantly nag their every move. It is only gradually that they are brought face to face with bitter reality. After all, the street is no home for the homeless. More especially for children! They begin to lead a life of nomads wondering from one street to the other with the hope of finding food to keep them alive.
Once on the streets these children indulge in all kinds of activities and labour to meet their requirements of food and subsistence. While a majority of them are self-employed like scavenging for recyclable materials, such as plastic, paper, and metal there are others doing menial work at tea stalls, repair shops, clean cars, shine shoes, sell newspapers, balloons, sweets, betel nut and cigarettes, calendars, etc. A large number are also engaged in begging, stealing, pick pocketing, etc. In the long run these children lead an unhealthy life as they lack access to nutritious food, cleanliness and hygiene and medical care. They are usually dependant on leftovers from food stalls or even garbage bins. Those who indulge in any menial labour prefer to spend whatever little money they get on entertainment and alcohol and drugs. This is a common sight in our state and the rest of the country.
Our Constitution carved certain rights especially for children and the parents/guardians that are to be put into action. For instance, Fundamental Rights Article 21A. Right to Education, “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.” This clearly implies that free and compulsory education should be made available by the government to children up to the age of fourteen. The truth however speaks otherwise as most of the deprived children below fourteen years of age are seen outside of any school. Interestingly Article 45 also states, “The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.” Sadly again, the most uncared for citizens of our country are children who are usually subjected to many vulnerabilities. Fundamental Duties: Article 51 (k) says, “It shall be the duty of the parents/guardians to provide opportunities for education to his child/ward between the age of six and fourteen.” But the point here is that economic disparity exists in our country. A majority of the street children come from households that are living below poverty line. When there is lack of food at home the question of sending their children to schools is the least of the concern of parents. Keeping these Fundamental Rights and Duties of our Constitution in mind, it may not be incorrect to allege that our government had been and is still providing the least amount of care and provision to the deprived populace of the country, thereby flouting the very essence of the Fundamental Rights and Duties mentioned above.
These street children need as much love, protection and care as any one of us. The most common approach used by the government is the correctional method through orphanages, juvenile homes or correctional institutions. This is an attempt to keep the children away from living a life of crime. Along with these we also have the church and NGOs that work towards rehabilitation of the children so that they can lead a healthy life like the rest of the citizens. There are several Outreach approach supported by teachers, church and NGOs that work towards strengthening and empowering the street children by providing education and training to support these children.
The question is, ‘Are these enough?’ Perhaps not! The truth is it requires a collective effort of each and every citizen of the country to realise that these children are one of us. Until and unless we are ready to embrace them as our own, street children will continue to thrive on our streets. Sadly, many of us find street children as a nuisance. We tend to create an immediate barrier the moment we come face to face with these less privileged children. We have an aversion to them and sneer at them as we find them dirty, filthy and dishonest. If a child beggar comes close to us extending his/her little hand to beg we often drive them off and walk as fast as we can lest they lay their hands on our belongings and clothing. How many of us allow our thoughts to cross over and peep into their lives? We live in the same world and breathe the same air yet we need to ask ourselves why these children are different from us fortunate ones? Why we as individuals and a society cannot do our bit is a million dollar question?