Mothers, most of whom are school dropouts, are being counselled to send their children to school.
The schools have remained closed for almost two years because of the pandemic.
An NGO that has been working in a neighbourhood on the city’s outskirts since April have been meeting the mothers every month to convince them about the need to send their children to school regularly and to their centre after school hours.
The idea is to help the children stay in a safe space even after school hours and bridge the learning gap that has been created by the pandemic.
The educational centre at Kamarhati, in the northern suburbs, where the children in the age group of six to 14 years go for academic support, has seen a growth in the number of children from 180 to 300 in the past seven months.
“We counsel mothers every month on the need to send their children to school. It would make a big difference if mothers make an effort to send their children to school,” said Swati Chakraborty, assistant director, Child in Need Institute, Kolkata (Cini). Cini runs the centre in Kamarhati.
The project, funded by CESC with Cini as the implementing partner, was started primarily to get school dropouts back to school and to address the learning gaps.
The habit of going to school got lost among many children both in rural and urban areas because of the pandemic.
“We tell the mothers that they should not get their children married or send them to work. Rather, after school they should come to the centre that would give them a safe space to grow,” said Chakraborty.
Often poverty forces parents to send their children off to work.
Noor Jahan who could study till Class X sends her nine-year-old to the centre and admits that the thought of sending her son to work does cross her mind.
“When money is less at home I feel like sending him off to do some work. But then I remember what the teachers had told me and I stop myself,” said the mother, who works as a domestic help.
The focus is to not just get the children to school but subsequently to provide them with academic support to be at par with the class they are studying in.
“Initially mothers thought that the educational centre would help the kids finish the homework that is assigned to them in school. But we have been able to explain to them that it is a competency-based learning centre and the focus is to have grade-appropriate competency,” said Neepa Saha Sharmaa of CESC.