Vimala Ramachandran (ed) Getting children back to school,Case studies
in primary education, Sage publications 2003

This is a set of 10 case studies, which are:

Vimala Ramachandran, The concerned for working children: Education, work and rights
Kameshwari Jandhyala, Baljyothi, Bringing child labour into schools
Sapna Agarwal, CINI ASHA: Building bridges for urban children
Aparna Sahay, CREDA: Mobilising child labour for primary education
Sharda Jain & Sanju Sharma, Pratham: Redefining a societal mission
Vimala Ramachandran, Nali Kali: Revitalising primary education through pedagogic renewal
Sharda Jain, et al, Digantar, Concepts in practice
Vimala Ramachandran & Sapna Agarwal, Agragramee:Real life education for tribal children
Sharda Jain, et al, Muktangan:Breaking fresh ground
Deepa Das, The model cluster approach, DPEP, Uttar Pradesh
The book explores alternative strategies / approaches to retaining children in school and reaching out to out of school children with the objective of enabling them to get back to school. The book is firmly rooted in the belief that every child has a right to basic education and that given the opportunity every parent wants his/her child to be educated.

It is widely acknowledged that a significant proportion of children (especially children from underprivileged backgrounds and girls) either drop out before they reach Class V or, even if they continue to attend school, learn very little. This phenomenon is far more pronounced among children from the most disadvantaged sections of our society, most of whom rely on the government primary school system. It is common knowledge that there is a wide gap in learning achievements between government schools (rural and urban) and private/ aided schools. The experiences of NGO projects, government programmes and other collaborative ventures reveal that good quality bridge or condensed courses have been effective in encouraging children to re-enter the formal stream. Similarly, remedial courses and special learning camps/programmes have made a tremendous difference not just in preventing dropouts but also in improving the learning achievements of children in school. Discussions with policy-makers, administrators and education workers revealed that universalisation of elementary education (UEE) would not be possible unless we address three important areas, namely: pre-school education, remedial education and bridge programmes for children who drop out or are unable to cope, and post-primary education. While the importance of early childhood care and education (known in India as ECCE) has been established beyond doubt, the same cannot be said for the other two areas. It is in this context that education workers across the country are talking about backward and forward linkages that strengthen primary education.

The active participation of children in primary education hinges on a plethora of factors. Physical access is just one dimension. Children do not attend school regularly, and even if they do, they do not learn very much because of a range of supply and demand issues. Let us begin with the systemic issues of access, dysfunctional schools, motivation and commitment of teachers and quality of schools. Once children reach school, a variety of factors determine whether they will continue or drop out, whether and how much they will learn and whether they will acquire the interest and the skills to pursue formal education. If and when children do drop out due to poverty/migration, rigid gender roles or other economic factors, the presence or absence of programmes that enable them to get back into the formal system determines whether or not they can get back to school. All these factors are mediated in the larger context of social and gender relations in the community, the employment situation in the area and the prevalence of child labour.

The primary objective of this set of case studies is to document and make available to a wide audience educational programmes that directly or indirectly influence / support / strengthen basic education. While our representation is admittedly not exhaustive, the endeavour has been to cover the following types of educational programmes:

• Pre-school education;

• School preparedness camps and bridge courses;

• Meaningful access (not just physical access) – including relevance and the quality of education;

• Self-esteem and self-confidence building programmes for children and youth from disadvantaged communities/areas;

• Making school a joyful experience and infusing meaning into educational processes; in-school remedial courses that enhance learning and reduce dropout rates.

• Social mobilisation specifically targeted towards child workers;

• Accelerated educational programmes for out-of-school children and youth that give older children an opportunity to complete primary education and, where possible, enable them to either get back into the formal system or help them acquire knowledge/ skills; livelihood skills (skills for development), life skills and holistic educational programmes.

Almost all the programmes and projects covered here focus on girls, children from disadvantaged communities (mostly Scheduled Caste) in urban and rural areas and children in difficult circumstances, viz., urban street children and the children of sex workers who constitute particularly vulnerable groups. All the case studies included here have tried to probe the how of it
elements that can be replicated -- and problem areas. We hope this compilation will generate greater societal interest in the backward and forward linkages necessary in basic education and in positive initiatives with children and young people. Acknowledging that children and young people are the real wealth of any society is a first step in our effort to generate greater interest in their education among the people in general and among business and corporate bodies, voluntary organisations and, of course, the government in particular.

The main features of the book:

• It is a collection of cases studies – that are descriptive and capture the excitement and the value of innovations.

• It also argues that not all out of school children are child workers and that many children who go to school also work before and after school. Therefore the world of the child cannot be divided into neat categories of in-school and out-of-school / working and not working.

• It argues that there is no one approach to complex issues like child labour and depending on the context different approaches and strategies have to be adopted.

• The book forcefully argues that the government alone cannot change the educational scenario and that civil society organisation and corporate bodies have to jointly work with the government to realise the goal of universal elementary education.

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