Children lodged in jail willhave access to proper education by next year

Updated on: Friday, October 26, 2012

Children lodged in state jails along with their mothers will have access to proper education by next year. Gujarat jail authority have not only made arrangements for classrooms at various prisons in the state but have also written a letter to the state education department to cover 43 children under the Right to Education (RTE).

If these children are covered under RTE, they would be able to attend 'normal' schools with other children; it will develop their mental faculties and will also provide them with books, stationery and mid-day meals, a major boost for them to continue education. As per the prison rules, the children up to age of eight years can live with their mothers. After that, they are either handed over to the woman's relatives or sent to observation home.

PC Thakur, additional director general of police (prisons), said that they have written to the state education department about the children being provided facilities under RTE. "At the moment, Yogkshem Manav Gaurav Sansthan runs kindergarten and primary classes for the children at Ahmedabad and Vadodara prisons. We are very proud of the students as they have managed to score high marks in the examination conducted by external observers," he said.

Vadodara prison, having the highest number of women prisoners in the state, will soon get a special women's prison where there will be special areas for kids and classrooms.

Rajendra Shukla of Yogkshem Sansthan, told TOI that the organization has educated more than 100 children in the past three years. "They live in a totally different world. We had taken a group for picnic last year when a six-year old girl started stuffing the ice cream cone in her skirt. When the volunteers asked what she was doing, she innocently replied that she wanted to take it to jail for her mother. She had never seen an ice cream and was unaware that it could melt. Thus, the challenge for us is to normalize them with regular exposure to the outside world," he said.

Who are these children? Prison officials say women accused of murder, attempt to murder, dowry deaths, bootlegging, drug peddling and other crimes come to jail. While sometimes, the delivery itself takes place during the jail term, sometimes the children are too small and need comfort of a mother. At such times, they stay inside the prison till they attain the age of eight years. To keep them engaged, the NGOs donate toys and books and also invite magicians, storytellers and educationists at regular intervals.

Children lodged in jail willhave access to proper education by next year

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