Anuradha’s
day starts at 6 in the morning. She first gets ready in the makeshift
bathroom on the terrace. She knows it’s a tough day ahead.
Anuradha
starts with sweeping the staircase and the verandah,
when the potted plants smell of early morning freshness. The dew drops get
coated by the dust from the broom, but Anuradha doesn’t care. She then waters
the plants, and hurries to the kitchen at the strike of 8. Her work has just
started. She prepares breakfast for the entire family. Before she resumes her
daily work routine, Anuradha gets a few minutes to have her breakfast, two slices of bread and a cup of tea. Cooking, washing the vessels and clothes
are a part of her everyday schedule. Well, Anuradha might seem like a middle-aged
housewife to many. But, she’s a 14-year-old girl who works a domestic help in a
4-storeyed house in a posh locality in Delhi's National Capital Region.
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| Picture for representational purpose only. Source: Google Images |
She lost
her father in a freak accident at a construction site when she was 4. Her
mother works as an agricultural labourer in their village in Bihar. Anuradha is
the youngest of three sisters. The eldest works as a construction labourer in
Greater Noida, while the second sister works as a domestic help nearby. None of
them get to meet each other throughout the year, except for Diwali. Anuradha
has never been to school, but knows alphabets and numbers. Her
employer’s daughter, Priti, taught her for a while.
In India, 68% of illiterate adults are women. Earlier governments have
introduced schemes to provide primary education to girls. There’s been an
impact in terms of numbers and statistics, but considering the vast number of
girls still left to enter a school gate, the outcome is negligible. And even after the ‘beneficiaries’ complete their primary education, they lack skill training.
Skill development is one of the basic assets of the education system in any country.
If ignored, it could lead to a major chunk of the population to be unskilled
labour. Anuradha’s elder sister completed her education till 10th standard,
but couldn’t find a proper job. As we debate over skill development in India, primary education is still lagging in a country of 400 million-strong workforce. The latest example is Prime
Minister’s pet
project Skill India Campaign, Only 7% of this were
employed in the formal sector, while over 94 percent of India's working
population is part of the unorganised sector.
Priti says, "Anuradha is a bright young girl. When I taught her, she grasped things quickly. She should've been to a formal school." Many young girls like her need to go to
school. But, the future voters of our electorate are instead being forced to take up menial jobs and join the swelling band of child labourers. And girls like Anuradha’s elder sister,
despite being literate, cannot find a ‘dignified’ job as they’re unskilled. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government seems to do something. But, most of its
policies are overshadowed by its actions, like the one against Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) or in Rohit
Vemula’s case. The government cannot expect to revamp the education system in
India (primary education, skill development, employment opportunities), if it
keeps dabbling in petty politics. Prime Minister Modi has taken a few
measures to overhaul the workforce in India. But it can be called a
photo-op as alleged by many, or can be applauded for, only when we evaluate his
performance during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Considering the volatile
environment we live in, especially, the so-called debate on nationalism aimed
at anyone who questions the government, I’d better stop here.
And as I return
to my TV screen which shows Arnab Goswami shouting at the top of his voice, little Anuradha is busy washing
the vessels, least bothered about the controversies around.
Names have been changed to protect identities
***
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