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Success Stories

INNOVATIVE EFFORTS
Innovative Education for Stone Quarry Children in the State of Maharashtra

Nearly 1 million children are working in the stone quarry sector in Maharashtra, living in subhuman conditions with practically no educational avenues to alleviate their misery. Children of the migrant quarry workers shove aside education, as they have neither the security of a stable home nor the resources to reach the mainstream schools.
Santulan has been trying to meet the needs of the migrant children, deprived of education for generations, and get the government to recognize the unique module of education it has evolved for their benefit. Santulan had to go through many democratic modes of struggles, protests and fasts to get the government to recognize the Pashan Shala module. As a result, in the year 2000 the State Education department imposed one of its Alternative Educational programs named Mahatma Phule Education Guarantee Scheme (MPEGS) to Pashan Shala Children.
Finally, the Government of India approved the ‘Pashan Shala’ as an Alternative Innovative Educational (AIE) programme for the “Hard to Reach” category children of migrant stone quarry/crushing workers on 30 April 2007. It is a milestone in the history of the stone quarry workers struggle towards their rights and entitlements and a welcome step towards achieving universalisation of education and freedom from child labor.