These children are categorized by UNICEF as the “Children on the street” or the “Children of the street”. They are considered as the hidden children as they never feature on any national surveys. The Indian census nowhere mentions these children and the only count we have is an estimated one by UNICEF. They do not actually count as they are not yet precious enough for a vote; which is reason enough for them to bypass the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is Government of India's flagship programme for achieving the target of Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) in a time-bound manner. The intent of this programme is to make education free and compulsory for children in the age group of 6-14 years. Education is, after all, one of the Fundamental Rights.
Sounds nice! It would actually be very nice if this fundamental right of the future was framed such that it reaches out to all the children; the essence seems to be there indeed, but the action is still missing.
As far as these children are concerned, study does not go very well in an empty stomach. There! Don’t we have the Mid-Day Meal Scheme? Yes! Apparently, the Mid-Day Meal is the world’s largest school feeding programme reaching out to about 12 crore children in over 12.65 lakh schools/EGS centres across the country.
But then we do have the hidden children; all these beautiful schemes and campaigns just pass them by. Neither the government, nor families are there to bring these children back to school. (To be continued)
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