Child panchayats spur village leaders to improve services
Knowing their rights to life and social protection, school students in child panchayats have compelled rural administrators to provide basic amenities necessary for the development of their villages
“Earlier, we would
not talk to kids of the Mahar caste, as we were told that they were from a lower
caste and dirty,” said Nandini Biradar, a class VI student and a member of balsnehi
gram panchayat, which can be translated as a child-friendly panchayat (CFP).
The Mahars belong to the Scheduled Caste category and are often considered
untouchables. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, father of the Indian Constitution, was a
Mahar.
“At balsnehi gram panchayat,
we were taught that all kids from different castes, gender and religion are
equal,” Biradar of Daithana village in Shirur Anantpal block of Latur district
in Maharashtra told VillageSquare.in.
“Since then, all of us, including Mahar children, play and eat together.”
While walking on the recently
laid road to the village gram panchayat from her school, the only one in her
village, Biradar said that the road had been constructed after CFP raised the
issue at the main gram panchayat in charge of village administration.
After becoming aware
of their rights, school students in villages of Latur district, brought
together in child-friendly panchayats, convinced parents and gram panchayat
members to provide amenities such as drinking water and proper roads for their
villages.
Child-friendly
panchayat
United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Department of Rural Development of Maharashtra
implemented CFP in nine villages in three districts on a pilot basis from 2014
to 2017, to make the village administrative bodies understand the issues that
children faced.
The aim was to bring
all the stakeholders, namely, the administrative heads, parents and villagers, together
so as to address the issues pertaining to children. CFP created awareness among
kids about their rights of life protection, social protection, development and
empowerment.
Three of Biradar’s
classmates showed her name written on a wall in the village panchayat office,
along with that of other committee members of CFP. Shrikant Patil, the chief of
CFP, showed the saplings, recently planted by them.
Convincing
parents
Yashoda Kadam, local
coordinator of the project, selected Shrikant Patil, a class VII student, a bright
orator, and a popular boy, whom all the children fondly called as dada
(elder brother), as the sarpanch or chief of CFP. She said that it was
difficult to convince parents to send their children to attend the panchayat sessions.
“Caste animosity is
bitter here. At least 10 girls had left the village, with boys from either
higher or lower castes, to get married. In each case, the parents harassed the husbands
of their daughters,” Kadam told VillageSquare.in.
“Understandably, parents were wary of sending their girls to CFP.”
Kadam and Patil could
manage to get only five kids to attend first CFP meeting held at the gram
panchayat office back in 2014. “We held a rally and organized cultural programs
asking kids to present their artwork. The trick worked and over 30 kids started
to attend CFP meetings,” said Patil.
Villagers’
cooperation
“Kids at Anandwadi
village in the same taluk had comparatively easier journey due to the gram
panchayat’s cooperation,” Jagdevi Sugave, coordinator of the project for Latur
District, told VillageSquare.in.
Most of the children
admit that they had a tough time making their parents understand the importance
of attending CFP meetings regularly. “My mother said I could study or help her
with the household chores instead of playing with boys, referring to the CFP
meetings,” said Renuka Shirure.
Srishti, one of the
CFP members, said that some parents like hers were supportive from the day they
started their work. “The other parents and villagers got convinced after seeing
our work,” she told VillageSquare.in.
Proactive
children
Young kids, four to
eight years of age, attend meetings and programs to play and also assist the elders
by doing small miscellaneous tasks. Adarsh Patil, member of CFP, said that they
wrote and performed plays on superstition, ill effects of child marriages and
the like.
Anandwadi CFP has a body
of seven members including the sarpanch and deputy sarpanch. A board in one of
the rooms of the gram panchayat has all their names, including those of the committees
for food, health, education and sanitation.
Whenever the CFP
members want to meet, they are given access to the gram panchayat office. Prachi
Bhusagare said that they regularly visit the children’s daycare center to see
whether the children were being given nutritious food. Around the village, each
wall is embellished with vivid paintings or messages on health, nutritious food
and government schemes.
CFP’s
successes
Sushant Vyanjase, sarpanch
of Anandwadi CFP and a class VII student, showed the water purifier kept in a
locked room near the gram panchayat office. The purifier supplies water to all the
villagers.
“It has been our
major success to convince the gram panchayat about the necessity of giving all
the villagers access to pure water,” Vyanjase told VillageSquare.in.
“Now all the residents can avail of 20 liters of purified water for Rs 5.”
Prachi Bhusagare’s mother
had opposed a lot before sending her for CFP meetings. Now as the head of Food
Committee, Bhusagare pointed at the closed drains and said that CFP had been
responsible for getting the open drains covered.
“Almost all the drains
are covered now,” Bhusagare told VillageSquare.in.
“With our school principal’s permission and support, we have planted over 30
saplings around the school. Principal also supported our work by providing fences
around the saplings.”
Srushti Divekar, a
class IX student, said that they arranged for free auto ride for girls to go to
school, since their village has classes only up to fourth standard and they
have to go to other villages for higher classes.
Setting
an example
Bhagvat Vange, deputy
sarpanch of Anandwadi, is proud that the children of his village have become
alert citizens. “They are aware of everything and report to us matters such as water
leaking from taps or tanks and dirty toilets,” he said.
“The project has been
successful, and hence, we are expanding it to 119 gram panchayats, 42 of them
in Chandrapur and 77 in Nandurbar,” Omprakash Yadav, deputy CEO of Chandrapur zila
parishad told VillageSquare.in.
“Though villages in Latur have been promising, we have to concentrate on the
most backward districts.”
Varsha Torgalkar is a Pune-based
journalist. Views are personal.