NGO CACR

Citizens Association for Child Rights-CACR , is a network of like minded citizens concerned about ensuring child rights with specific focus on ensuring good quality of education and health for all children.

We at CACR believe that regular interaction and discussions with the hierarchy of the Education Department and sharing of observations and suggestions with them periodically will ensure improved accountability and proper distribution of facilities and amenities for children enrolled in these schools.

Citizens Association for Child Rights very strongly believes in supplementing the system and does not believe in creating parallel systems. We believe that the urban privileged public has immense power to influence and impact the lives of affected children for the better through government interface and participation.

In each ward we are a group of like-minded people who volunteer for this issue.

The network is being formed in Mumbai in the following Municipal Wards:-

H {west }ward of Mumbai covering Bandra (w), Khar (w) and Santacruz (w)
M {west} ward covering Chembur, Ghatkopar and Mankurd
H { east} ward comprising of Bandra (e), Khar (e) and Santacruz (e) east including Kalina and Vakola
K {east} ward covering Andheri (e), Vile Parle (e), and Jogeshwari (e)
K {west} ward covering Andheri (w) and Vile Parle west including Juhu.
The effort is to build a locality based effort to address the issues affecting children and underprivileged communities.

Short Term Goals
Enrol children in BMC schools
Ensure student retention in schools
Extend civil rights (ration cards, housing etc.) to deprived communities
Activate systems under the Right to Health
Demand proper rehabilitation for child labour and implementation of the Child Labour Act
Long Term Goals
Build a voice for affected children and community rights
Build a network of urban citizens to be able to take on the role of demanding accountability and advocacy better
Early Steps
We started this work in July 2007 in the H West Ward of Mumbai, with a community of pavement-dwelling families in Khar. The children of the community were at that time working or begging to add to the meagre earnings for the families’ day-to-day survival. As we struggled with the harsh realities that faced pavement dwellers – constant harassment by the Police and local builders, for one, our belief that these denizens of India’s commercial capital were being denied their rights as equal citizens, grew. We started by convincing the parents to send their children to the nearby BMC school.

From this grew the conviction that if a child is being deprived, we as citizens of Mumbai must create awareness and demand accountability from the local governance. After all, a child does not exist in isolation and thus to make a difference to children’s lives, we have to work on the larger human rights issues holistically.

PHILOSOPHY & RATIONALE

Education is a fundamental right in India and only the government has the resources and reach to take education to all children. Besides education rendered by the State is to be secular and a means of integrating society by working to bring children of all castes, classes, gender and religions together. Schooling provided by the State has a vision of creating a just society. Can you afford to undo this in today’s time?

Agree that the government schooling system is crumbling. But there is hope if we take action and participate in the efficient running of schools from infrastructure to learning. At least we can try and start from our neighbourhood municipal school. If we succeed, we would have strengthened the system and made it possible for many more children to experience formal education. If we fail, we know we at least tried to exercise our democratic right.