
This session introduces the learners to the upcoming 5 sessions that have in-depth information about the situation of street children. The session also introduces briefly the previous online course on “child rights” which forms the base for the current course. This may motivate new learners to take up the previous course to get an in-depth understanding of the universal child rights concept and the reality of disadvantaged children vis a vis these rights.
What will students be able to do at the end of this section?
1. Understand the difference between disadvantaged children and vulnerable children.
2. Understand how to use 14 indicators and sub-indicators of each one of these indicators to map the vulnerability of children.
What will students be able to do at the end of this section?
1. Will learn how the prevalence of street children in any city/ country is estimated.
2. Will understand the flaws and hurdles faced during enumeration of street children
3. Students will be able to understand why these children remain invisible to policymakers when they are so obviously present in large numbers.
4. Get a glimpse of the figures of street children through surveys done by leading NGOs in some major cities in India.
What will students be able to do at the end of this section?
1. Learn the definition of street children as defined by UNICEF and understand the 2 categories of street children based on their connection with their families.
2. Understand various reasons that forces families to migrate to cities.
3. Learn the various reasons such as abandonment, missing, trafficking due to which children get separated from their families and then continue to live by themselves on the streets.
4. Understand the severe abuse and neglect some children face in their own families that motivates them to run away to never return to their families and make a life for themselves by living alone on the streets.
5. Become aware of the fact of how the recent pandemic and the lockdown has impacted the lives of millions of people making them more vulnerable and forcing them to the streets.
What will students be able to do at the end of this section?
1. Understand in-depth the multiple disadvantages street children suffer in terms of food, water, shelter, sanitation, safety and protection, abuse and neglect, health and education.
2. Understand the reasons that force these children to work for their own or for their family’s survival
What will students be able to do at the end of this section?
1. Acquaint themselves with the different laws, schemes and policies that exist in India.
2. Understand why they are inadequate to address the issues of street children
3. Understand the inadequate care options for these children, and the inadequate numbers and quality of care in the country.
Learn the efforts made by the NGO sector to address this issue.
This short yet comprehensive course gives the learners a chance to peek into the lives of children living in street situations. It is spread over 5 sessions, each of an average of 15 to 18 minutes with the overall course time less than 100 minutes. Each session covers an important aspect of street life and what it means for children to be out there.
The first session tries to establish the concept of vulnerability in children, It demonstrates a live comparison of 6 children in different disadvantaged situation to arrive at the fact that street children are the most vulnerable among disadvantaged children as they are vulnerable in almost all aspects that are required for the overall development and well-being of a child.
The second session focuses on the prevalence of the phenomenon of street children and the hurdles in arriving at an exact count of these children in any city, place or country. The session also throws light on how a lack of knowledge leads to lack of effective policies and interventions for them.
The third session delineates the pull and push factors that bring children to the streets, whether they arrive there with their families, or are left there by their families or they themselves have abandoned their families to make a life of their own on the mean streets.
The fourth session details out the effects of street life on children in terms of food, nutrition, health and hygiene, water and sanitation, shelter, safety and security, abuse and neglect, substance abuse, education and the compulsion to work or beg for their survival.
The last session depicts the various laws, policies and schemes that exist in India for children to bring home the point that they are not sufficient to address the issues of children in street situation. The course also briefly talks about the effects of the recent pandemic that will predictably force more and more families to land on the streets and force many more children to get into the work force.
The course has some interesting statistics, real life stories and a lot of in-depth narration that comes from the organization's cumulative experience of several years of working on the ground with these children.
All participants who have successfully completed the course will receive a Certificate from the Rainbow Homes Program!