Pankaj Kumar: Showing Light of Education to the Migrant Children in Himachal Pradesh

When we talk about the importance of providing education to migrant children, we either pretend to care or just scoff at it. On the other hand, Pankaj Kumar of I Light Global wants to change their perspective. A resident from Himachal Pradesh, Pankaj is trying to improve the lives of many migrant children in his home state.

He works as the Project Management Analyst at Dell and is one of the key members of I Light Global. His family relative Pritish also works as a volunteer of the said organization.

The seminar has widened the horizon of everyone including the upper echelons of the organization and the children. The said seminar makes them want to help the migrant children.

In his Sunday Speaker Series, he presented the importance of providing education to children. He first described migrant children. He described them as the children who either travel domestically or internationally. India has had an abundance of migrant children for over 3 decades. Out of every five internal migrants in the country, one is a migrant child. It is not for good reasons. Thousands of children don’t have the access to go to education.

Pankaj mentioned the reasons for the rising migrants:

1. The rising poverty.

2. Better health, educational facilities, and other means of wellbeing.

3. Environmental calamities like floods, cyclones, droughts, etc.

4. The polarizing geopolitical conflicts like Politics and War.

5. Separation from families while migrating and they are vulnerable without any adult supervision.

6. Many children fled their homes due to parental neglect, and a toxic environment at home and school.

The said reasons forced the children to leave their homes despite not being emotionally supportive of this move. Pankaj then mentioned the rising difference in culture and linguistics. The difficulties in the fields of intelligence and psychology make it harder for children. The rising costs of living and education institutions, as well as the residential displacement, serve as the abhorrent barriers between children and education.

The barriers often create a negative impact not only on the children but also on the country. It could affect health and character development in the long term. Without intellectualism and personality, they would be stuck in the vicious, never-ending cycle of poverty. The children would also face adjustment issues without any adequate social and emotional skills.

Pankaj then explained the rights of migrant children which are mentioned in the Right to Education Act, 2009. The Act states that children under the age group of 6–14 years must have free and compulsory education. The Act is under the umbrella of the Fundamental Rights (Article 21A of the Indian Constitution) and must be followed by the government.

The government has initiated several programs to provide education to migrant children with the likes:

1. Migrant Education Program: The priority objective of this program is to find the location of the migrant children and their families all over the country. The program also aims to provide supplemental educational services to increase academic proficiencies and higher education.

2. Samagra Siksha: This program is mostly preferred in the issues of seasonal migrants. State governments must use certain strategies which receive the blessings of the Indian Government under this program.

3. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).

Pankaj then suggested how people can provide help:

1. Voluntary participation in NGOs, non-profits, and social movements that aim to help provide education to migrant children.

2. Mapping of the educational institutions like government schools and social education groups.

3. To tackle hunger, connection to the families is a number one objection. That way people can provide necessary items like the ration cards to the families of the migrant children. Ration cards with minimum free or minimum possible cost can make a lot of difference in the lives of children and their families.

Lastly, Pankaj then explained helping children psychologically by providing them with positive social surroundings could raise the morale of the children and their mental health would be in a better shape so that they could perform better in society.

Pankaj concluded the seminar with a quote:

“A nation is built on children. They are the future”.

The audience loved the seminar made by Pankaj. Some of the members who teach migrant children were impressed by its effort of Pankaj. They praised his commitment to helping the children.

As for the children, one of Pankaj’s family members, Pritish’s morale has increased because of the seminar. He added that thanks to Pankaj, his interest in studies has increased as well as his motivation to teach the children. Another child by the name of Kartik was also impressed with the presentation.

In a country like India, the people need to use every resource at hand to provide education to children who cannot afford the basics of education. That way the literacy rate of India would increase and priortizing quality education could improve the lives of children better.