Yay! The bell finally rang. But, I stand in an empty room. Where is the meal?

“The food yesterday was so bad,” a girl whispers behind me.
“Let it at least come,” the boy next to her replies.
“I will take some home.” another girl mumbles.
“Only if it is fit to be eaten, you silly Geeta!”

My heart starts to sink.

Excitement bubbles up within me as I see the food arrive.

But eww, what food is this?

“I can’t take this home!” quietly exclaims Geeta. The other children too hold their plates, some staring, some scoffing at the worm infested food.

Geeta throws the food away, while the person next to her picks out the insects and eats. I even see some pack food for their family in torn polythene bags.

The Midday Meal Scheme aims to serve free lunches to 1.12 million government schools. Over 118 million children depend on the midday meal for their daily sustenance. Yet there are instances when the food does not reach the schools or is unfit for consumption, eroding the policy's credibility. [Source]

Ugh, where is everyone going? School is not over yet.

“Arrey! The school is practically over only, Didi. You also go home,” a boy sitting next to me replies.

Wa…wait…what? Why? Where is ma’am? Is she not coming to teach?

“Oh, teachers don’t teach after the midday meal.
They have to clean up all the mess that is created before they return to class.
And that will take all afternoon.”

Tears roll down my eyes.

The midday meal scheme, launched to foster education is paradoxically hindering the very learning it intended to support. The absence of resources and personnel to facilitate this nation-wide initiative just further adds burden on the role of a teacher, taking away from what they are actually supposed to do - teach.

I knocked on the windows of fancy cars that were lined up at the traffic signal.
Many shoo-ed me away. Only a few rolled down their windows.

I managed to sell some balloons, and started counting the money in my palms.

“15, 20, 25... what comes after twenty-five?” God only knows.

What I know is that twenty-five means father will be satisfied and my brothers will eat.
That is all I care about.

As per the Census of India 2011,
10.1 million children (5-14 yrs) are victims to child labour. [Source]

80% of these are currently out of school. [Source]

NGOs estimate the actual numbers to be close to 60 million. [Source]

Although the government provides free education to the underprivileged,
families lose wages when children stop working in order to attend school.
This further exacerbates the issue of low enrolment rates in schools.

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, only bans children under 14 years from working in hazardous occupations. This law is unable to prevent the ‘hidden child labour’ disguised as helping family members for additional income. This limitation leads to undue exploitation of children for circumstances beyond their control. [Source]

I am Surya. I am known to have a quick temper, much like my father. I like to hang out with my rowdy gang of friends. Earning a quick buck in street gambling thrills me. I know I am clever and street-smart. Mishra Sir, my teacher, even says that I should learn and use my brains elsewhere, but why would I want to sit inside those boring school walls and waste my life?

But I also sometimes dream of sitting inside the government officer Babu’s office all day and ordering people around. What power that is. But for that, I will have to go to school.

What should I do?

I stared at the high ceiling. It's been an hour. The teacher is still not teaching.
My classmates are running around, laughing, playing, fighting, making so much noise.

What should I do?

Hesitantly, “Ma’am, we won't study today?”

“How can I teach in such chaos?” Mrs. Sharma screeched at me.
Learning requires discipline and I cannot enforce it here.
“Just yesterday Mishra Sir was stabbed by a boy in class 11. He asked for the boy’s homework. The boy had not done it and felt ashamed. So…

He’s still in the hospital.”

NEWS CHECK

“Aug 14, 2023, Mumbai:” A 17-year-old student in Mumbai STABBED his teacher during an argument over his studies. [Source]

“Jan 20, 2023, Delhi:” Upon being reprimanded by their physical education teacher for not wearing the correct uniform, 3 students STAB their teacher in a government school in Delhi. [Source]

“Sep 18, 2019, Mumbai:” A 13-yr old boy stabs school teacher to DEATH in Mumbai based on varying reasons, still unclear. [Source]

As I was walking home after school, Ajit mocked me “You want to be Babu?” shoving me aside. I too pushed back and a fistfight started.

Today is the 11th day when I am in bed with bruises from the blows he gave me that day for ditching him to go to school.

So, I went to school for power,
but how powerful am I now?
I liked Mrs. Sharma.
But what did that get me?

Numerous underprivileged children in India are at risk of straying down a troubling path due to lack of guidance from teachers and parents. Paradoxically, school, designed to instill discipline, sometimes fails to do so, disrupting their education and exposing them to detrimental influences, eventually leading to their departure from school.

My friends and I steal some money out of Timaar chacha’s cash box. He sees us and comes running out of the warehouse. “You have taken away my monthly earnings, you rascals! Give it back.”

I giggled running, “No Timaar chacha, 20 customers daily into 300 rupees per person... your monthly earning is close to 1,80,000. We only took 80,000 today. We’ll come back for more.”

“You think you are so smart? Why don’t you go to school to learn then?” he shouted back.

But as I was running away the village police officer grabbed me. In terror, I used my knife to slice his hand. But he was too quick. He twisted my arm.

I now see the inside of a closed dark cell.
Maybe I could have used my brains somewhere else.

Lack of proper guidance from parents and teachers amidst poverty has led innocent children like Surya to resort to a life of crime. Control over their life is a powerful incentive that lures these young lives into a sordid world from which there is no return.

I remember sitting beside my grandfather on the fields listening to his farming stories. Oh, what fun it was! But he is sick now and it is the harvest season. I want to help him. Good yield means happy Daadu. But he also says that school will teach me the future of farming. I want to become a big farmer one day.

What should I do?

Oh no, why is there no teacher here?

I look around me. The classroom isn’t in order. Many students are out playing in the ground, some are idly waiting, some are studying.

Just as I opened my book to study, Jeetu Bhaiya barged in panting. “You know the student Kora? His father…” Jeetu leaned closer, “...committed suicide. He couldn't pay off his loan.”

Farmer suicide is a national crisis in India. [Source]

One agricultural labourer DIED by suicide every two hours in 2021
due to their inability to repay loans. [Source]

In addition to the constant financial pressure, children of farming families are adversely impacted psychologically. The mental and emotional stress make it more difficult to focus in class.

Oh no, my Daadu is also a farmer. Does he also have loans?

His image flashed before my eyes.

What should I do?

“Is the teacher not coming again?” I ask Jeetu.

“Oh, she had to go for election duty. She will come after a few weeks.”

“What? They are on leave again? They just went for some other duty a month back!”
I was disheartened.

Government school teachers are also government employees. As a result, they have to undertake additional responsibilities including election duty, census collection, various administrative tasks and trainings. This leads to their absenteeism from school for 2 - 2.5 months, hampering their ability to teach, eventually causing student dropouts.

“Will she bring storybooks?”

Jeetu shrugged. “Most days, she just sits and does admin work. She doesn't teach much… You can read that book there on the shelf.”

“Ah, that has pages missing.”
“At least we have that much.”

I opened a book and started studying.

“This is not making any sense to me, Jeetu. Can you explain?”
“Oh this, we learnt it last year. How do you not know?”
“They never taught us.”
“How did you pass your exam then? This was a major chunk on it.”
“What do you mean? They never fail us. Even if we write nothing on the exam…
I don’t need to learn to pass.”

There are very few resources directed towards education in India, whether in terms of materials such as books, classrooms, infrastructure, facilities, opportunities, or the time provided by teachers to teach. Until there is a change in the allocation of resources and efforts towards education, students will continue to suffer in their pursuit of learning.

I ran towards the field. “Let me help you, Daadu,” panting.
I plucked, rolled, cut, and gathered till dusk.

“Will we get enough money now?”
He did not respond, but his eyes betrayed him - maybe not enough.

I committed to helping him every day for the next month without fail.

“Whatever is needed for a good harvest Daadu, you got it!”

40.1% of children work as agricultural laborers. [Source]

31.5% are involved in cultivation. [Source]

Only 0.4% of farmer children reach graduation level. [Source]

Agriculture is a very labour intensive task. It often requires full family involvement. When parents fall ill, the absence of provisions like sick leave or paid accommodations found in regular jobs compels their children to step in. This disrupts their education causing long gaps in learning, eventually leading to high dropout rates.