In harvesting season, kids go on a different “abhiyan”
BAHRAICH : With bags in their hands, kids as young as 6-yearold leave their home early morning in Terai belt of Bahraich not for school but for a different mission altogether.
At a time when School Chalo Abhiyan has picked up pace across UP, kids here are compelled to go to fields during this season of wheat harvesting to help their parents rather than school. Small children, holding bags in their hands, picking grains from wheat fields is a common sight in villages these days. It may be noted that wheat crop is ready and harvesting process is on the peak. To minimize the harvesting process most farmers prefer machines. These machines shred the wheat plant and collects grain in a very short time. But in this process some portion of grains fall in the fields.
Children enter the fields and collect each grain. On being asked Mahnaz, 12, of Jhinjhwa village said she will go to school after collecting wheat grain.
Another kid, Suraj, 10, said scorching sun was not a problem and he feels very happy when his bag is full of grains.
A farmer Shambhu of Samsa village said “Harvesting season will end within a few days but food is a daily need. So we prefer fields nowadays. We will send the kids to school once the harvesting season is over.”
He said this is quite common in this part of the country during the season where parents and elders were busy in harvesting of crops and small kids come out in support of their families by collecting the grains which would otherwise go waste.
Headmaster at junior high school Gotutti Zafar said: “There has been a decline in attendance of children in schools, but we are doing our best to motivate students to come to school. We go to students’ homes and contact parents at regular intervals to send their wards to school.”