Moving forward: Gypsy community finds a reason to lay down roots

CSDO convinces dozens of families to begin sending children to school.

SIALKOT:

Local nomad families in the district have begun sending their children to school after being convinced by several NGOs operating in the area.

According to Child and Social Development Organisation (CSDO) officials working in Sialkot, several Talimul Amal educational centres are currently operating in the district.

“We have been working for months to convince gypsy villagers to send their children to school and we have finally begun to see some results,” said CSDO worker Ejaz Ahmed.

“It has taken a lot of effort to convince them about the benefits of schooling and slowly some children have been admitted to the Talimul Amal centres here and we are seeing a dramatic improvement,” he said.

The Sialkot CSDO is working in collaboration with UNICEF.  CSDO officials Ejaz Ahmed and Ammara Naseer told reporters that nomad families in and around the Sialkot city have their own customs, traditions and lifestyle. “They constantly move from one place to another and kept telling us that putting their kids in school would be a waste of time because they would move again.

Then we told them about how public schools were taking in children for free and they could always ensure that their children continued with their education no matter where they were,” Ammara said.

“For us it is like a miracle because they seemed so intractable. They told us that educating girls was against their culture and most of the students who have been admitted so far are boys but we are working to convince them to send girls,” she said.  “Many of the families have also given up collecting trash as this was usually done by the children. Now that the kids are in school we are hoping they will be motivated to change their lives,” she added.

The CSDO team said that they were also motivating families to also undergo vocational training but this was proving to be harder.

“We had to bring several families to the school and show them what their children would be learning. Then we told them that they might get jobs someday but it still took a lot of coaxing,” Ahmed said.

CSDO officials said that the centre was providing children with uniforms, textbooks and stationary.

“We want them to feel involved and a part of this new system. Many of the children stay in their uniforms all day because they have no other clothes,” he said.

“The children are highly motivated and doing exceedingly well in school. Teachers have told us that it might only take a year to have them catch up so they can join grades that are age appropriate,” he said. “The centres are meant to help these children catch up with enough basic skills so they can be admitted to public schools,” he added.

“Having these children helps on several other fronts. By all counts they would be begging, litter picking or stealing if they weren’t in school and now they have a new chance for a new life,” he added. CSDO workers have said that they are trying to implement the same project in other districts to help gypsy communities rise out of poverty.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2011.