Take us back to school: Traumatised children Violence at homes with no means of livelihood makes kids approach teachers

Jhinuk Mazumdar , TT,  19.05.20, Calcutta  : Children from underprivileged families have been pleading with teachers to resume school and give them respite from the mental, and at times physical, trauma that many of them face at home.

Most of these children live in a single room with five or more family members.

The fathers of most of these children are daily wage earners, porters, van rickshaw pullers, hawkers or drivers and mothers work as domestic help.

With the parents out of work and no source of income, domestic violence has been on the rise. The children are either witness to the violence or victims themselves.

The women of the house are often beaten up by their husbands and at times they vent their frustration on the children. Verbal abuse is common, too.

Some of the students have told their teachers that the pandemic is a lesser concern for them than having to stay at home. Teachers are trying to explain to them that being at home is important for their own safety.

A 16-year-old shared with her teacher how her father beats up her mother because he does not have money to buy alcohol.

Calcutta Rescue, an NGO that has two educational centres in the city, has been receiving requests from many girls and boys to reopen the school.

“The children want to go to school because it will take them out of the closed environment and into a more safe and happy space. Often, when they come to the centre, the children are able to talk about their anxieties with the teachers,” said Ananya Chatterjee, school administrator at Calcutta Rescue.

Even when the children start going to formal schools, they come back to Calcutta Rescue to spend time with the teachers.

Chatterjee said the teachers and counsellors have been reaching out to the children during the lockdown.

“The urgency to return to school comes from living in an unhealthy space. Most of them witness or experience violence at home. The hours that they spend out of home is an escape from that violence and ambience,” said Manjusmita Bagchi, associate director, Ek Tara, a trust that works with women and children from marginalised communities.

Teachers at Ek Tara have received similar requests from mothers, who want a safer space for their girls.

“The pressure also builds on the mothers,” said Bagchi.

The children at Samaritan Help Mission have also complained of feeling “suffocated at home”.

“We have three schools and many of the children have been crying because they have to bear the brunt of their jobless parents’ frustration. They live in 8ft-wide  rooms and food is prepared under the bed. They have to live in such homes 24x7 with no outlet,” said Mamoon Akhtar, the founder of Samaritan Help Mission.