primary teacher in english -- october 2009

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THE PRIMARY TEACHERVOLUME XXXIV NUMBER 4

OCTOBER 2009

CONTENTS

EDITORIAL 3

IMPRESSIONS

1. A DATE WITH RUSKIN BOND USHA DUTTA 5

2. BARKHAA - A SHOWER OF HAPPINESS IN A LATA PANDEY 8CHILD’S LIFE

EMINENT INDIAN EDUCATIONISTSTheir Life and Thoughts

3. GIJU BHAI BADHEKA: ON BEING A PRIMARY HARPREET JASS 12TEACHER

ARTICLES

4. MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND THE GOURI SRIVASTAVA 18REPUBLIC OF MALDIVES

5. EDUCATION OF THE GIRL CHILD AJIT SINGH 27Present Status and Steps for Promotion

6. ‘HISTORICAL DEFEAT OF THE FEMALE SEX’ ASTHA KANT 34

7. CHILDHOOD DISTURBANCES ANJUM AHMED 37

BOOK REVIEW

8. A TEACHER’S COMPANION KIRTI KAPUR 46

EENET Asia Newsletter

9. INCLUSION OF THE CHILD FRIENDLY SCHOOL RINCHEN DORJI 49CONCEPT INTO FORMAL TEACHER EDCUATION INBHUTAN

DID YOU KNOW

10. THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) 54ACT, 1986 AND RULES (ACT NO. 61 OF 1986)

EDITORIAL

The October issue focuses on one of the major challenges facing our countrythat of providing quality education to the girl child in general and vulnerablegroups in particular. Other articles highlight the importance of readingstory books as a means of not only improving language but enjoying theexperience itself.

The first section, Impressions, starts with ‘Date with Ruskin Bond,’ aniconic and respected Indian writer. This is an interesting interview in whichhe speaks about the kind of books young children must read and theimportant habit of cultivating reading at an early age. He has written manybooks for children as he feels that it is the best way to know about theirinterests and wants. Many of his books have been included in the schoolcurriculum as they impart strong messages without being moralistic.

‘Barkhaa – A Shower of Happiness in a Child’s Life’ further highlightson the importance of books and stories. The author discusses howBarkhaa— a graded reading series recently published by the NCERT createsa world of joy and wonder for the young child. It focuses on how the magicof stories based on children’s daily lives helps in inculcating the habit ofreading at an early age.

The recurrent column on Eminent Indian Educationists— Their Lifeand Thoughts presents a profile on Giju Bhai Badheka: On Being a PrimaryTeacher. The main message for primary teachers is that experimentation isthe key to change. Examining alternatives and options in all aspects ofteaching-learning is highlighted in the work of this great educationist. Thiscolumn has been coordinated by Dr Anupam Ahuja, Convenor of the Series.She may be contacted at the Department of Teacher Education andExtension, NCERT for more information.

This is followed by the Article section comprising five articles out ofwhich the first three focuses on gender inequality in the Maldives and India.The first article examines the concern against the Millennium DevelopmentGoals in the island nation of the Maldives. It reveals the present status andensuing challenges for achieving the elusive goal of quality education.

The Indian scenario of girls’ education and ideas for promoting genderequality is the focus of the next article. One of the key issues namely, lowparticipation and factors contributing to this phenomenon are discussedin detail. Suggestions for improving the status of the girl child throughmajor schemes and programmes are also elucidated.

The third article explores how gender inequality poses a serious barrierto access a healthy life, within a Marxist perspective.

Whether a boy or girl, problematic behaviour is exhibited by mostchildren at some time or the other. This is a serious issue that all of usconfront and which calls for timely help. The fourth article elaborates uponthe causes and kinds of childhood disturbances along with remedialmeasures, for corrective action.

The final article is a Book Review on the English Language Teacher’sHandbook: How to Teach Large Classes with Few Resources. The revieweraptly calls it A Teacher’s Companion and recommends it as must read forall teachers of English as it focuses on a number of ideas for overcoming thechallenges of a large ELT class with few resources. She also highlights thatthis book emphasises how teaching of English can be made more effectiveand joyful.

In the next column EENET Asia Newsletter, the author details out howthe child friendly school concept can be inculcated into teacher training.We hope you will enjoy this as it is refers to the work going on in the Kingdomof Bhutan, a small country in the Himalayas.

Finally, in the recurrent column Did You Know, the Child Labour Act1986 is presented. This it was felt would provide the necessary informationabout this important Act in view of the recent Act on Child’s Right toFree and Compulsory Education 2009 which was published in the July2009 issue.

The efforts of Kanwaljeet Kaur, DTP Operator and Shashi Devi, ProofReader are acknowledged.

Editorial Group (Academic)

11111A Date with Ruskin BondA Date with Ruskin BondA Date with Ruskin BondA Date with Ruskin BondA Date with Ruskin BondUsha Dutta*Usha Dutta*Usha Dutta*Usha Dutta*Usha Dutta*

* Professor, Department of Languages, NCERT, New Delhi - 1100016

Abstract

Ruskin Bond born in 1934 is an icon among Indian writers. He received theSahitya Akademi Award in 1992. He was awarded the Padmashri in 1999 forcontributions to children’s literature.

Most of his writings show a strong influence from the social life in the hillstations at the foothills of the Himalayas, where he spent his childhood. Hisfirst novel was “The Room on the Roof”, written when he was 17. He is theauthor of over 300 short stories and more than 30 books for children. This articlepresents excerpts from a visit of the Children’s Literature team to Ivy Cottage,that has been Bond’s home since 1964.

The Ivy Cottage at Landour is a stiffclimb from the Seven Sister’s Bazaar inMussorie. Set on top of a hill side, it

gives the writer a bird’s eye view of themaddening crowd below. The tinycottage stacked with books coupledwith the beautiful view inspires RuskinBond to write of the Himalayan Ranges.

Ruskin Bond, a simple man withchild like innocence that was reflectedin his large eyes, welcomed the teamwith warmth. His chubby cheeks,ruddy complexion, complete with ovalshaped glasses made him seem like oneof the genial characters straight out ofhis books. Eager to talk to this prolificwriter we began at once.

IMPRESSIONS

6 The Primary Teacher: October 2009

On being questioned about how hewrote his stories. He joked, “I write withmy hands.” He added, “I gave a famouspublishing house something forpublishing three years back, but it stillhas to be published”.

On a more serious note he addedthat writing for children was the best wayto know about the children’s interest. Alittle girl once told Mr. Bond, “I like yourghost stories, but can’t you make themmore scary” Humour is a good themehe thought for children's literature,Children like funny stories. Sport isanother theme which many children hefeels enjoy. He felt children like games,hence stories involving a game like‘Treasure Hunt’ or ‘Helping someone indistress’ are more popular with them.

Question: Which are the books youthink children and authors shouldread?

Answer: R.L. Stevenson, JohnBuchanan, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde,though it is a bit scary, Alice inWonderland and a simplified version ofDickens he felt made for good reading.However, he said, “I’m not too sure thatwe should grade fiction as suitable forspecific age groups.”

Mr. Bond travelled down memorylane. His nostalgia was evident as hetalked of his granny who livedin Ranchi. He also recalled that hismother studied in the famous OakGrove School.

He mentioned that a python wasthe most fascinating pet that he everhad. It did not give him any trouble,because it swallowed cats and dogs and

did not need a lot of feeding. So it wasvery economical.

He also talked of his kindergartendays in Hampton Court, polating outthat the nuns were very strict in thosedays. He said, once a friend who was ateacher in Hampton Court asked MrBond to take his class as he was goingsomewhere. Mr Bond happilyacquiesced till he underwent theharrowing experience of darts flying allover the room. Very soon a riot prevailedin the class and the principal came inand said, “Mr. Bond, you may go now.”

He regretted the fact that readinghas always been a minority pastime.Recollecting his own school days, hesaid that even then, in a class of 30-45children, there were only 2-3 who werereally fond of reading in the true sense.

Some years back, he visitedHampton Court where the MotherSuperior showed him around thebeautiful new library. When he askedher whether children had access to it,the Mother replied, “We don’t allow thechildren. They will ruin the books.” Heregretted that many schools discouragechildren from reading books as they aremore result oriented. He was concernedthat in smaller towns and places, evenif a child is interested in reading, thereare not enough books. There is apaucity of literature. The schoolenvironment counts a lot in developingthe habit of reading.

Talking of Mussoorie, he said, it is aplace of high and low distances,Landour, where he lives is 7000 feetabove sea level. When he first came to

A Date with Ruskin Bond 7

Mussoorie, there were only 2-3 cars.Ponies and rickshaws were the onlymodes of conveyance then. Being a veryquiet place, it was a heaven for this writer.

Many of Ruskin Bond’s writingsfeature in the school textbooks,because they have a strong message forthe children without being didactic. Inthe English textbook of NCERT,Marigold Book IV, Bond’s poem ‘Don’tbe afraid’ dispels fear of night anddarkness around children. He writes,

“Be friends with the Night, there isnothing to fear,

Just let your thoughts travel toyour friend far and near.”

Bond is of the view that most of hiswritings are for general reading. He says“I write mostly for pleasure and thereading should ideally be for pleasuretoo. I do feel bad sometimes thatchildren have to write questions andanswers based on my stories.”

Mr Bond was very cooperative andcharming. He readily accepted to writea few stories for us. Though hesaid that he had never written forchildren of Classes I and II, it wouldbe exciting to give it a try. He alsoaccepted that it was most difficult toteach Classes I and II and write storiesfor them.

22222BarkhaaBarkhaaBarkhaaBarkhaaBarkhaa - A Shower of Happiness in a Child's Life - A Shower of Happiness in a Child's Life - A Shower of Happiness in a Child's Life - A Shower of Happiness in a Child's Life - A Shower of Happiness in a Child's LifeLata Pandey*Lata Pandey*Lata Pandey*Lata Pandey*Lata Pandey*

* Reader, Department of Elementary Education, NCERT, New Delhi-110016**Barkhaa - Graded Reading Series for children of Classes I and II has been published by NCERT, New Delhi. The cost of Barkhaa series set is Rs 400.00

The most wonderful and fascinatingexperiences of childhood are listeningto stories and later on reading stories.Stories if used as a meaningful resourceof learning can motivate children tolearning to read. The stories not onlyprovide enjoyment to the children, butalso teach them many other things.Stories can also help in developingreading skills among children.

Guessing something plays a veryprominent role in the process ofreading. Beginning from the first dayof school, children must get ampleopportunities to predict the text, whenthey learn to read. But in reality it doesnot happen frequently. In the initialclasses at the primary level children areonly taught to match letters withsounds. It is assumed that the childrenwill gradually learn to read byestablishing a link between letters andsounds. Even if children manage to

pick up reading by joining letters, theystill do not become successful readers.One reason for this failure is that wenever pay sufficient attention to trainchildren in the skill of prediction. If achild tries to read using her/his innatecapacity to predict, she/he isdiscouraged. In this context an efforthas been made in Barkhaa**– GradedReading Series for children of Classes Iand II to get plentiful opportunities ofprediction while reading the stories.Barkhaa is a pedagogical tool whichwill help the children of Classes I and IIin learning reading and to arouse inthem the urge to read more and more.

Stories of Barkhaa Recreate aChild’s Own World

The day-to-day incidents in life appearsas good as stories to the children.Therefore, the stories of Barkhaa arebased on the daily life experiences of

Barkhaa—A Shower of Happiness in a Child's Life 9

children. These stories have been knitaround children’s contexts and theireveryday experiences.

Barkhaa is a collection of fortystories graded into four levels andwoven around five themes — (i)Relationships, (ii) Birds, Animals, (iii)Musical Instruments, Games and Toys,(iv) Around us, and (v) Food. It is thisway that the story structure has beenbuilt around child’s environment andher/his daily life experiences. By seeingtheir own experiences contained instories children will learn reading byguessing. Their likes and dislikes havebeen taken into consideration whiledeveloping stories. In the BarkhaaSeries the characters are potrayed asdoing things that children do in theirday-to-day lives. The stories relate to

the life of children, sometimes it makesthem laugh and sometimes developsensitivity towards different things.

Special Features of BarkhaaSeries

The number of sentences and thecomplexity of plots at each levelincreases as one moves upwards. Thisgradation across levels has beenachieved by variation in syntax,number of words and number, andcomplexity of sub-plots.

The Characters of Barkhaastories

Barkhaa has forty stories that cover fivethemes. Each theme has two centralcharacters and the stories have beenpresented from their perspective. All the

Stories of Graded Reading Series — Barkhaa

Theme Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Characters

Relationships Ranee Bhee Oon Ka Gola Mausee ke Moje Peelu ke Gulli Rama andMunmum aur Hich Hich Mere Jaisee Nani ka Rani

Munnu Hichki Chashma

Birds and Tota Moni Koodtee Chunni aur Munni Kajal andAnimals Mithae titli Zuraabein Mimi ke Liye Madhav

Talab ke Maze Kya Loon?

Musical Gilli - Danda Jeet Ki Babli ka Baja Chalo Peepnee Jeet andInstruments, Chhupan- Peepnee Jhoola Banayen Babli

Games and Toys Chhupaee Out Tabla

Around Mazaa aa Gaya Hamaree Mili ke Baal Mili ki Cycle Tosia andUs Patang Milli

Mili ka Gubbara Sarbat Tosia ka Sapna Pakaa Aam

Food Meethe Meethe Pattal Chai Geboon Jamaal andGulgule Madan

Phoolee Roti Chaawal Golgappe Bhutta


characters of Barkhaa are smallchildren, as is the age range of our littlereaders. The aspect that received a lotof attention and consideration, whiledeveloping the stories is that every storyrevolves around a small event or anincident which the children of this agegroup find interesting and exciting.

Simplicity of Language

The language used in Barkha is thatused by the children. Easy and shortsentences in the stories express thechildren’s feelings in a simple manner.Written in such a way as children speakto one another in real life. This willenable children to establish a linkbetween spoken and written language.The words and phrases are repeated inthe stories so that children mayunderstand and get familiar with themeasily and may also guess the futurecourse of events. The illustrations in thestories help children presume aboutwhat is written beneath. Making suchhunches and presumptions helpchildren make sense of the writtenlanguage and thus help them read.An example of a first level story Mithaiis given below—

One day a donkey wanted to eatsome sweets. He demanded somesweets from friends. The Bear said,‘Take honey.’ The donkey refused.Rabbit said, ‘Eat a carrot.’ The donkeyrefused. The Ant told, ‘Eat jaggery.’The donkey refused. Elephant told,‘Eat sugarcane.’ The donkey refused.Squirrel said, ‘Eat mango.’ The donkeyrefused. Cat said, ‘Let’s go to sweets

shop.’ The donkey agreed. All of themwent to eat sweets.

Another story of first level Mithe-Mithe Gulgule—

One day Jamal’s mother waskneading the wheat flour into dough.Jamal was sitting near her. Madan, aneighbour came to ask for help withhis homework. While mother tried toexplain the answer, Jamal startedkneading the flour. The flour got stuckto his hands. Jamal added somewater. The flour got stickier. Jamaladded some more water in the wheatflour. The dough became very loose.When mother saw it, she becameangry, then she mixed jaggery andaniseed in the dough. She made sweetgulgulas. Jamal and Madan ate manygulgulas.

The stories of Barkhaa arecontextual to the environment familiarto children so that they may enjoy theglimpses of their own world in thestories. Thus the simplicity andinnocence of a child’s world are shapedinto these stories.

Values in the stories ofBarkhaa

Values have also been woven in subtlyso as to sensitise children to the basichuman behaviour while they read. Inthe story, Nani ka Chashma, Ramasearches for her grandmother’s pair ofreading glasses with so much concernand anxiety, conveying the sensitivityof a small child towards an old person.It is hoped that by reading these storieschildren will become more sensitive

Barkhaa—A Shower of Happiness in a Child's Life 11

towards the needs of the elderly andalso learn to respect them.

The Illustrations in Barkhaa

The illustrations given in the stories ofBarkhaa not only attract them but alsohelp them to understand the text. In theinitial phase of schooling when childrencannot read the written text theyunderstand stories with the help ofillustrations. It is with this expectationthat a special effort has been made indeveloping these colourful and detailedillustrations. They have not been limitedto the events of the stories but havebeen made more lively and close toreality. This will help children in derivingjoy and understanding of the events intheir daily life.

The best way of learning how toread is that children should readwhatever is meaningful for them. Ifchildren initially start reading withunderstanding and enjoyment, thenthey will pick up the habit of readingmuch faster.

Stories of Barkhaa create a worldthat motivate the children to read notmechanically but with comprehension.

Each one of them contains a bit of achild’s world since they are based onthe day-to-day course of events andactivities of a child’s life. This methodof reading not only helps children toread and understand but also helpsthem to enjoy with comprehensionwhich leads to the development ofreading skill.

Giju Bhai Badheka: On Being a PrimarGiju Bhai Badheka: On Being a PrimarGiju Bhai Badheka: On Being a PrimarGiju Bhai Badheka: On Being a PrimarGiju Bhai Badheka: On Being a Primary Ty Ty Ty Ty TeachereachereachereachereacherHarpreet Jass*Harpreet Jass*Harpreet Jass*Harpreet Jass*Harpreet Jass*

* Lecturer, Department of Educational Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

Abstract

Experiments of great thinkers and educationists canact as beacon light to guide our thoughts. One suchthinker, teacher and educationist we had in India isGiju Bhai Badheka. He lived and worked in Gujarat.The purpose of this article is to look into his thoughtsand ideas as an answer to present challenges ofprimary education in India. The strength of his thoughtslies in his simple description of situation or the problemshe faces and then with equal honesty he tries to findthe answer to it. He uses common sense to see whatworks with children to teach them concepts. He alsotries to understand the underlying concept of the topic

to be taught. His fight is against the system and those notions of learning thatfail children or do not allow children to become good learners. Teaching is verychallenging and a serious job according to him and requires sincerity on part ofthe teacher to see what works out the best.

INTRODUCTION

Among many thinkers and theorists,one comes across in the field ofeducation, a very simple yet convincing,and impressive contribution is ofGiju Bhai Badheka. He pens his

educational ideas and thoughts againstthe backdrop of colonised India and anequally ‘colonised’ system of education.A system which is highly bureaucraticwhere for every little detail the handsare bound by rules and teachers find

33333EMINENT INDIAN EDUCATIONISTSTheir Life and Thoughts

Giju Bhai Badheka: On Being a Primary Teacher 13

no system to try out new ideas or bringchange to make children learn in anefficient manner. The problems heraised are unfortunately still theproblems that most of the primaryteachers are facing in India or could be,in many other parts of the world.Especially, those parts of the worldwhere education is imparted tolearners, majority of whom belong todifferent social and economicbackgrounds than that of theirteachers. This difference in thebackgrounds of learner and teacher islikely one factor among several othersthat are held responsible for poor levelof teaching and learning by teachers.Or if we word it differently where theworld of school is very different from theeveryday life of learners and hence thedivide between educated and non-educated is too overt and implyconnotations to the status of both.Giju Bhai's arguments and experiencetry to answer such deep questions.However, his trysts and struggles whichare beautiful, simple and honest haveequally plausible answers foreducationists and teachers to look at.Hence, an immense scope to benefitfrom his practical accounts and otherthoughtful ideas.

Against the above backdrop, thisarticle is an effort to explorecontributions of Giju Bhai withrelevance to present state of educationin India, highlighting what is reallearning or good education. Theconviction is that even in present timeshow meaningful his works and writings

are. The article also discussesunderpinning of his educationalthoughts and ‘experimentation’ as keyto achieve the change of real learningin the system.

Birth and Life

Giju Bhai’s own life has been anexemplary to try out ‘new’ and bringchange. He was born on 15 November1885. He was a high court lawyer byprofession. Birth of his son made himwonder about the education of childand his developmental needs. He foundhis answers in the works of MariaMontessori, another notededucationist, teacher and thinker fromItaly. He became a primary teacher andcofounded his experimentation andtrysts with the system to bring aboutreal learning for the children. In 1920,he founded the first pre-primaryschool— Balmandir – under the aegisof Shri Dakshinamurti VidyarthiBhavan. Henceforth, his ideas not onlyon education of children in school, butalso about parenting and childdevelopment started ossifying.

In the words of Pandya (2008) whohas been translating works of Giju Bhaifrom Gujarati, the language he pennedhis ideas in—

‘In the 19 years, till his untimelydeath in 1939, Gijubhai workedincessantly, contributing a lifetime ofwork in the area of children’sliterature and education. He leftbehind a legacy of prolific writing(nearly 200 publications for children,youth, parents and educators). His


best known work is Divaswapna(meaning day dreams). First publishedin 1939 in Gujarati it is an originalcontribution to ideas on pedagogy.’

Now many of his works aretranslated into English, Hindi and alsoin Punjabi. With the translation of hisideas in many languages the hope ofdisseminating his ideas and hencemaking change possible could berealised in near future.

Uncomplicated Eloquence

The power of his thoughts lies in thesimple description of the situation andthe action he takes to address theproblem faced in that situation. Hestands as an example of a reflectiveteacher with a very spontaneouscommon sense to react and act in thesituations of primary classes in theIndian context. His style of writing is asif he is talking to someone and one feelsthat as these are their own words andthoughts only that someone has daredto put in the correct form and bring inthe solution too. Many of us would havedone the same or would love to do whatGiju Bhai found as solution to theproblem. His simplicity is in theconviction with which he writes and alsopracticability of what he is doing.

Another very important point thatone finds is that the jargon of theoreticaland philosophical standpoints or termshas been missing in his reflective andanalytical accounts of his works,making him easy to relate to everydaychallenges of a primary teacher. Mostof us as teachers find it relatively

difficult to remember any theory andalmost impossible to find itsimplication. Works like that of his arecomplete practical accounts and readyreckoner to try out in classroom.

But the weaving of all theimplications of theory and philosophyis also there. His thoughts have genesisin a ‘child centred’ education and hecites several examples of the same inhis classroom experience with children.

Real Education

His works Divaswapna, Mata-Pita se,and others solidify his thoughts oneducation. His works remind us of notonly goodness of the child, nature ofreal learning, but also critical role andresponsibility of adults as parents andteachers to educate the child. Hisexperiment of teaching children inmeaningful manner begins with theconflict between theory and practice. Hewishes to have the ‘first handexperience’ of the classroom.

The real purpose of education thatteacher should understand is thatchildren should love their school andteachers. If the children are treated withrespect and find enough meaningfullearning opportunities, he feels, nochild would avoid coming to the school.Giju Bhai cites several of useful learningactivities like story telling, drama,games and paper folding that couldserve many objectives of teaching-learning at the primary level and makeit relevant for children. However,teacher’s intuition to link all thesemethods to curriculum is the real


challenge. Real learning is also a formof learning where children learn bydoing and hence are independent. Theydo not depend merely on textbooks orteachers as a source of informationalone. Giju Bhai explains—“Games are real education. Greatpowers are born on the playground.Games means character building.”

Divasvapna, p.20

His ideas on imparting value educationto children as against religiousindoctrination could be observed—“...we should try to live religion.Parents must try and teachers musttry. We could tell children stories fromthe Puranas, and the Upanishadas,whenever there is a reference to thesein their textbooks. Let us tell themstories of saints just as we tell themstories of historical personages. ...letus not make our children memoriseand recite holy verses! Let us not teachreligious dogmas and scriptures andthe like in the name of moralinstruction.” Divasvapna, p.44

This way he tries to argue formeaningful education for childrenin different areas — History, Languageor preparing for exams or schoolfunction. He argues that underlyingassumptions of methods we follow haveflaws hence a need to relook. This willmake alternative methods or use of thesame method in more effective andcorrect manner. He believes that for anylearning topic, the teacher should figureout the underlying concept and thenhelp children identify that throughinteresting activities.

Experimentation—Key to Change

He put a firm faith in alternatives hewishes to try with children and makechange possible. We as teachers havestopped to argue for changes andalternatives on arguments saying theseare not possible or too idealistic or onseveral other similar arguments. GijuBhai makes it possible by saying that‘experimentation’ is the key to bring thechange. A teacher with an untiringspirit to learn, to question the existingsystem, methods and even failure ofindividual teacher or student, can tryseveral things that will make ‘reallearning’ take place and which is notonly for exams and some outwardreward alone. However, outwardrewards of praise, applause and goodmarks are also dealt by him in hisexperiment of education.

It is an honest experiment since histrysts are met with failures, doubts andalso criticism of fellow teachers,complaints of their responsibilities offamily, securing job and oppression ofbureaucracy. All this is the reality of acommon human as well. The systemseems reluctant to change and ourindividual needs. Also all of us find itchallenging to meet the demands of thesystem, job and our own personalneeds. But Giju Bhai answered this bysaying the key lies within. Once we startquestioning the system and recognisethat it is even our personal need to doour job of teaching in an efficientmanner. Good teaching is the realsatisfaction and key of change.


The first step of experimentation is‘failure’ and that is what Giju Bhai’stryst or experiment begins with. His firstday of teaching made him realise thathis plans may not work the way hethought, as he describes in the firstchapter of Divasvapna. Students in hisclass did not respond to his plans ofsilence, concentration and discussionas he had planned. Our experimentsnot working, is something that all theprimary teachers will agree to. But he,with his experimentation could figureout methods of stories and games tomake students interested in realconcepts and not mere rotememorisation. One can say that hecould figure out at least so muchsuccess rate of his new experimentsthat he kept on going while most of usare likely to be discouraged by failures.He could also not bring many changesdue to social or bureaucratic demands,but yet many of the changes he citesare positive signs. Say, children mightneed to prepare for exams, but let themcontinue to read and play and not onlyfocus on paper-pencil tasks alone.

His writing of Divasvapna isespecially the weaving of such newideas, failures, disgrace and solutions.It makes the reader feel very normaland humane, that job of primaryteachers might be all this, but a bit ofreal success is also possible.

A very novel experiment by him wasto divide the day into activities, games,

and stories and not go by strict authorityof the pre-set time table. He happens touse his own instinct to organise his dayswith the children. Several other featuresof good and useful teaching practicesone can find in his works.

CONCLUSION

Reading Giju Bhai is opening up aworld of possibilities to make primaryeducation beneficial for students andteachers. The purpose of this article isto motivate a reader, anyone who loveschildren to look further into the worksand words of Giju Bhai, and look outfor the answers and problems ofeducation he has articulated for us.One may not find Giju Bhai strugglingwith his filial responsibilities, but heargues in his works addressing parentsthat we even need to question what isgood for our children and not onlythose whom we teach in schools. Thisis where his ideas draw the tangent oflooking at life and our own existence inan alternative manner. Hence once wetry to make our life meaningful, schoolwill also become meanigful. All of us asprimary teachers may feel the need tolook at life in an alternative manner, realmeaning and purpose of it, whichmeans not only to fulfil demands as putforth by the society or system on us butgo beyond it. The idea is to live a realand meaningful life and also make itthe same through the educationalexperience for children.


REFERENCES

BADHEKA, GIJU BHAI. 1990. Divasvapna An Educator’s Reverie translated by ChittaranjanPathak. NBT, New Delhi.

learningnet-india.orgPANDYA, MAMTA. 2008. Giju Bhai on Education.

This column has been coordinated by Dr AnupamAhuja, Convenor of the Series. She may be contactedat the Department of Teacher Education andExtension, NCERT for more information.

44444Millennium Development Goals and theMillennium Development Goals and theMillennium Development Goals and theMillennium Development Goals and theMillennium Development Goals and theRepublic of MaldivesRepublic of MaldivesRepublic of MaldivesRepublic of MaldivesRepublic of MaldivesGouri Srivastava*Gouri Srivastava*Gouri Srivastava*Gouri Srivastava*Gouri Srivastava*

* Professor and Head, Department of Women's Studies, NCERT.

INTRODUCTION

The new millennium has witnessed amajor declaration signed by 147countries of the world popularlyknown as the ‘Millennium DevelopmentGoals’ (MDG). Some of the parametersof the goals are – eradication of extremepoverty and hunger, achievement ofuniversal primary education,promotion of equality andempowerment of women, reduction of

Abstract

The present millennium is marked by several countries world over includingMaldives, drawing road map to achieve the Millennium Development Goals(MDG). In the realm of education, primary and secondary data portray that theRepublic is close to achieving the MDG. Educational indicators such as highliteracy rate and enrolment of all children in schools at the primary level areindicative of this. However, in-depth field works undertaken in different schoolsin Male and few islands in 2007, reveal that in terms of quality in education theRepublic faces certain challenges that need to be addressed for achieving qualityeducation. A detailed account of issues concerning quality education in theRepublic is highlighted in the present paper.

child mortality, improvement ofmaternal health, combating HIV/AIDs,malaria and other diseases, ensuringenvironmental sustainability anddeveloping global partnership fordevelopment. These goals have beengiven top priority by all membercountries to ensure a human face ofdevelopment.

World over, member countries haveadopted a variety of strategies for

ARTICLES

Millennium Development Goals and the Republic of Maldives 19

achieving these goals by 2015. TheRepublic of Maldives, a small islandnation consisting of 1192 coral islands,is also on the move like many othernations of the world. It hasmeticulously designed strategies tomeet the set targets in the stipulatedtime span. This paper presents a studyconducted in the Maldives in 2007.

The Study

The study was undertaken with thefollowing objectives to—• assess whether two of the MDG goals

namely achievement of UniversalPrimary Education (UPE) andpromotion of Gender Equality (GE)can be met by 2015;

• identify the major challenges facingthe Republic in attaining the twoMDG goals vis-à-vis qualityeducation.

Design of Study

The study uses both primary andsecondary sources of data. Primarydata has largely been collected fromintensive field work that was carried outin all government, ward and one privateschool in Male and in seven islandschools, in four Atolls namely Noonu,Baa, Lhaviyani and Gaafu Alifu.

A total number of 24 schoolsformed the sample for the study. Theseschools were visited, in which 87classes were observed, in the teachingof History, Geography, Social Studies,English and Environmental Studies. Aquestionnaire was also administered to96 randomly selected teachers from the24 schools. It was canvassed to fourteachers per school. In all there were41 male and 55 female respondents.Group discussions were held with sixto eight teachers and the same numberof boys and girls studying in each ofthe schools that were visited.

Major Findings

Based on secondary sources of data, theeducational scenario in terms ofquantitative indicators seem to befavourable. In 2000, the literacy rate for15–24 year age group was 99% forboth sexes. In 2005, the net enrolmentratio for the first seven years of basiceducation was 100%. These indicatorsare supported by positive social and

Millennium Development Goals

• Eradicate extreme poverty andhunger

• Achieve universal primaryeducation

• Promote gender equality andempower women

• Reduce child mortality• Improve maternal health• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and

other diseases• Ensure environment

sustainability• Develop a global partnership for

developmentSource: Seventh National Development Plan2006-2010, Maldives – Leaping Ahead, Vol1, Policies and Strategies, Government ofMaldives, Ministry of Planning and NationalDevelopment.


cultural milieu that encourageseducation of children of both sexes.Besides this, the Maldives hassucceeded in forming a unified nationalsystem of education with a commoncurriculum. Textbooks prepared by theEducational Development Centre (EDC)are uniformly used in all schools in theRepublic.

While it is very heartening to see thatall children go to school in the Republic,a major area of concern during fieldvisits was related to the quality ofeducation being imparted in schools.

The findings of the study reveal thatthe Maldives face certain challenges inthe realm of quality education whichhighlights the paradoxical situation inthe Republic. This phenomenon relatesto access and quality relatedparameters such as children’s retentionand their achievement. Given below arethe five major challenges that emergedduring the fieldwork in 2007.

The challenges that are discussedin the next section clearly show thesystemic crisis that the Republic iscurrently engaged in. Even though road

maps have been drawn for addressingthese hurdles a more focused andconcerted effort is needed for achievingthe MDG goals by 2015.

ChallengesI. Teacher Availability and

Capacity BuildingIn the Republic of Maldives theeducational sector has madeconsiderable progress. As mentionedearlier, this is visible in terms ofquantitative expansion of schools andprovision of required infrastructuralfacilities available in governmentschools. This is also perceptible inconnection with availability of teachersin different disciplines such as Science,Social Science, Maths, English, Dhivehi,and Physical Education at theElementary stage. The existingscenario of students and teachers inEducational Institutions by Locality in2005 is highlighted in Table – 1.

The table reveals that the totalnumber of trained teachers in Male andAtoll are more than the untrainedteachers. The visits revealed that in

Table – 1

Students and Teachers in Educational Institutions by Locality, 2005

Locality No. of Students Teachers Students/

Schools Enrolment teachers/Trained Untrained Total Parents

Male 22 30,036 1,015 286 1,301 29.59

Atoll 312 72,037 2,317 1,998 4,315 31.09

Republic 334 102,073 3,332 2,284 5,616 30.63


most of the cases local teacherspossessed, G.C.E O’ Level and, A’ Levelcertification with few teachers havingprimary, middle and secondarycertification in teaching.

Lack of trained local teachersnecessitated the Republic to employ alarge number of expatriate teachers inthe lower secondary schools. In 2005,about 1% of the teachers employed inthe pre-primary, 16% of the teachersemployed in the primary, 72% of theteachers in the lower secondary and77% in the higher secondary wereexpatriates. The recruited teacherswere mainly from India, Sri Lanka,Pakistan and Bangladesh. Very fewwere from European countries. Duringdiscussions with teachers some of themreported that they had teachingexperience in their respective countries,but did not have a certification from ateacher training institute. This wasmainly true of teachers from Pakistanand Bangladesh.

During classroom observationsespecially in Environmental Studies,Social Science and English it was foundthat all the teachers had prepared

lesson plans. These plans weremeticulously carried by them toschools and were placed in theclassroom at a convenient place.

Teaching in Male and Island schoolswas teacher centred. Nearly ten minutesof classroom teaching was focused onlecture method followed by the adoptionof different participatory techniques.They were quiz, riddles and the adoptionof different types of innovative games.However, during participatory sessions,in all classroom observations, very fewchildren could communicate andexpress themselves. Some of thestudents who participated were not veryconfident in speaking English. In someschools such as Madhrasathul Aliya,Maafaannu Madharusa andMadhrasathul Ahmadhiya childrenwere very confident in expressingthemselves in their mother tongue i.e.,Dhivehi. In 50% cases the lessons thatwere taught were repeated. Before thebeginning of any lesson, it was observedthat the teachers would normally state“you should know this, it was explainedto you earlier, I have done it with youearlier, please try and recall.”

Table – 2Professional Status of Teachers in the Republic

Male Female

Trained Untrained Total Trained Untrained Total

Expatriate 17 11 28 20 13 33

Local 5 8 13 15 7 22

Total 22 18 41 35 20 55

Source: Information from questionnaire administered to teachers


This indicated that rotememorisation was encouraged byteachers.

Teaching-Learning Processes

Content delivery of the abovementioned subjects, it was observedthat even though the teacher ofexpatriate and local origins wereknowledgeable and were aware of thelatest development in their subjectareas the approach adopted in teachingand evaluation was traditional. In mostof the cases, it was textbook orientedand teacher centred. In a discussionheld with the teachers they stated thatthey were compelled to adopt thispedagogical technique as students werenot able to understand concepts relatedto the above mentioned subjects. Theyalso reported that schools in Male andin the Islands lacked crucial facilitiessuch as reference materials in SocialScience, Science, Maths, and English.This had an impact on the teaching andlearning processes and hindered themfrom adopting participatoryapproaches. It was strongly suggestedby them that the schools in theRepublic needed well equipped librarieswith textbooks published by differentpublishers, related to the disciplines ofSocial Studies, Sciences, Maths andEnglish language for betterunderstanding and conceptclarification. In this regard, thesuggestions given by teachers andprincipals were procurement of textualmaterials prepared by publishers fromIndia and other countries of the world.

Science teachers were of the view thatabsence of science labs in few Male andIsland schools affected the developmentof experimental methods in scienceteaching. Thus, application of textualknowledge in sciences andenvironmental studies to understandnatural phenomena could not bepractically carried out by teachers.

What emerged as the actual issuein connection with content updatingwas the lack of in-service training.Teachers reported that the training theyhad received was mainly provided bythe Educational Development Centre(EDC). However, the training given wasnot sufficient. There was a consensusamong teachers that in-service trainingshould be given more frequently (atleast 2 to 3 times a year) both beforethe beginning and at the end of theacademic session.

Issues and Problems Faced byTeachers

The expatriate teachers mentionedcertain common concerns that neededshort-term and long-term redressal.They relate to the following aspects—• Salaries of the teachers need to be

revised in accordance with the costof living index.

• Setting up of a committee to addressproblems of expatriate teachers.

• Ensuring safety and security ofexpatriate women teachers.

• Organisation of trainingprogrammes for expatriate teachersin Dhivehi language and Maldivianculture.


II. English as a Medium ofInstruction

The other factor impacting the qualityof education in the Republic relates tothe use of English as a medium ofeducation at all levels of education.During field work and classroomobservations, it was found that allsubjects in general and EnvironmentStudies, Social Studies, Sciences andMaths in particular, were taught in thismedium. English was taught as a coresubject at all levels. All prescribedtextual material were available tochildren in this medium. At the primarylevel, textual materials used werepublished by the EDC.

During classroom observations anddiscussions held with teachers in Maleand Island schools they mentioned thatchildren could not communicate in thismedium very easily, as they were notconfident in English. In primarygrades, girls were not communicatingin English. In lower secondary grades,40 per cent students were not veryfluent in English language. Very oftenlocal teachers and very few expatriateteachers used the Dhivehi language forclearing the concept of pupils.Translation of terms in Science and SocialScience were frequently done in Dhivehiby the teachers. In one of the Islandschools located at Noonu Atoll the SocialStudies teacher was teaching the subjectin Dhivehi. During the discussion withhim he stated that children understoodthe subject better in their mother tongue.In Male', the AlmadharasathulArabiyathul Islamiyya School taught

Social Studies, Environmental Studies tostudents in English, Dhivehi and in theArabic mediums. The principalmentioned that the performance ofchildren was good in all the threemediums. Further, he elaborated thatchildren were free to choose any of themediums of instruction.

In most of the activities outside theclassrooms, students spoke in Dhivehilanguage. This was especially witnessedduring games, physical education, andmusic and in dance classes.

In connection with difficultiesencountered with the English languagesome of the teachers were of the viewthat it related to the home environment.The skills of speaking, listening andcommunicating in English could not bepractised at home as parents and peershardly used this language in their dailylives. In fact, the use of Englishremained confined to the teaching-learning processes in the classrooms.

It is interesting to note that whilethe children found English difficult yetthey were keen to learn it. Some of thereasons that were cited by them arementioned below—• Knowing English language was the

need of the hour as it helped themunderstand concepts in Sciencesand Maths;

• It was a global language and wouldhelp them to connect with childrenfrom different countries. It wouldalso help them to have a betterunderstanding about places,cultures, traditions, lives andconditions of other people;


• The audio-video media generallyused this language, so they wouldbe able to understand this;

• It would help them pursue theirinterest in English music, serialsand cartoon shows;

• The language had immenseeconomic value as it would enablethem to get employment in touristresorts and other service sectors.For improving their skills in the

English language, students adoptedmultiple strategies. Few of them gottheir doubts cleared from their peersand teachers and some attended tuitionclasses. In discussions held withstudents some of them were of the viewthat schools should arrange extraclasses for all children in English. Twostudents in one of the Island schools—Kudafaree Madrasa were of the viewthat the holy Koran should betranslated into English.

III. Expansion of VocationalEducation

A crucial area of learning that emergedas a future need was that of introducingvocational education in the secondarylevels. The high cost of living, coupledwith poverty of households compelledparents to force their sons anddaughters to earn while they werestudying. This affected their academicperformance. In Maafannu Madharus,the principal and teachers mentionedthat children who were not performingwell in academics were those who wereinvolved in domestic work or otherincome generating activities.

Steps to address these issues havealready been taken by the government.There is a move to diversify secondaryeducation, by including vocationalsubjects. Training was gradually beingintroduced in the secondary schoolsand trained technical trainees werebeing provided. Further, the Ministryof Education had launched vocationalsubjects in Male, and then graduallyexpanded to selected secondary schoolsin the Atolls. The Government had alsoestablished Vocational EducationalCentres in three Focus Islands as partof the Tsunami recovery andreconstruction effort.

Despite these efforts, discussionswith teachers and students revealedthat the measures taken were notsubstantial as most of the studentswere not sure nor aware about thecourses they should opt for in thecontext of the professions they desiredto take up in future.

IV. Societal Problems ImpactingChildren’s Education

1. Child AbuseOne of the significant phenomena thatovertly and covertly impacts genderequality in a substantial manner is theexistence of child abuse. This socialmalaise also adversely affects qualityeducation. During fieldworkundertaken in Male schools and in theisland and discussions held with allstakeholders it was reported that childabuse was more Male centric than anisland issue. Among several reasonsthat were reported the most important


one was related to the growingurbanisation of Male. Compared toother inhabited Islands, Male offerseducational and employmentopportunity in a big way for its people.Many government offices, businessestablishments are located in Male.Thus, greater job opportunities areavailable which leads to migration ofpeople from Islands to this capital city.Migration to Male has also increasedmany folds after Tsunami.Continuation of migration of people hasled to over-crowding of living spaces inMale. Most of the houses (mainly flats)have two to three families residingtogether. Large families living in limitedspaces have thrown up major socialissues such as child abuse. Parentsreported that very often the perpetratorof this crime was a close familymember. Teachers and the Principalwere of the opinion that most of theconflicting situations and tensions inthe schools were due to children whowere victims of this ghastly practice. Avictimised child often becomesproblematic case because ofbehavioural problems and use ofabusive language which often affectshealthy peer group interactions.Mechanism for tackling children withbehavioural problems has been verymeticulously devised by the school aswell as the Gender Ministry. However,this problem continues to plague theRepublic.2. Increasing DivorcesA major social problem confronting theMaldives is related to the increasing

rate of divorces. It is interesting to notethat Maldives has the highest rate ofdivorce in the world. The extent ofdivorces according to different agegroups is given in Table 3.

Age Group Married Divorced

15-19 7.4 1.820-24 40.7 18.725-29 27.2 24.830.34 11.3 20.435-39 6.0 13.440-44 3.4 8.045-49 1.8 6.150 & Over 6.1 6.7

Table 3Number of Persons Married and

Divorced in Male by Age Group ofBride and Groom-2005 (in %)

Source: Statistical Yearbook of Maldives,2006, p. 50

From the above table, it appearsthat the maximum number ofmarriages take place in the age groupof 20-24 and a large number ofdivorces are reported in the age groupof 25-29. Further, in the age group of25-29, the percentage of personsmarrying and divorcing is nearly equal.

Even though divorce is notconsidered a stigma for woman, itsexistence affects the childrenemotionally. During discussions withchildren in some of the schools in Male,they mentioned poignantly that theywere either living with their step fatheror mother. Few mentioned that theystayed with their grandparents while


the children were not very vocal abouthow the separation of their parentsaffected them but the manner in whichthey reported about the family, showedthe pathos and emotional trauma thatthey were undergoing. When askedabout their educational andoccupational aspirations theyappeared not to be interested norenthusiastic.3. Drug AbuseDrug abuse was another socialproblem affecting the Republic.Children prone to taking drugsadversely affected the atmosphere of thefamily and school. All the stakeholdersreported that children prone to drugsindulged in criminal activities. Eventhough steps for addressing drugtrafficking and usage were taken by thegovernment, schools and few NGOs.This problem continues to exist andhas recently emerged as a major societalconcern.

Conclusion

The study clearly highlights that thequantitative indicators seem to be very

favourable and indicate that theRepublic is poised for achieving theMDG. What will however require theurgent attention of policy makers andpractitioners is the realisation ofquality in education which is anagenda that has yet to be fulfilled.Some of the issues that have to beaddressed on a priority basis relateto capacity building of teachers interms of their training, contentupdating and exposure to differentchild centred, need basedpedagogical approaches. In addition,there is a need for improving thechildren’s skills in reading, writingand speaking in English. Linked tothese quality dimensions are thesocial issues that are emerging as amajor challenge impacting educationand the society in a big way. They arethe existing phenomenon of child anddrug abuse and divorces. As statedearlier, even though conscious effortsare being made, a more focused andconcerted effort is needed to bridgethe gap between quantity and qualityissues in education in the Maldives.

REFERENCES

CAMBRIDGE EDUCATION. 2005. Strengthening the Framework of Education towardsVision, 2020. Draft Final Report. p.133.

MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 2006. Statistical Yearbook of Maldives.Male. p 190.

MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. 2005. Seventh National DevelopmentPlan, 2006-2010. Maldives– Leaping Ahead. Volume– Policies and Strategies.

SRIVASTAVA, GOURI. 2008. Gender and Peace: Education Policy, Curriculum English,Environment Studies and Social studies Textbooks of the Republic ofMaldives. Project submitted to ASF. (Unpublished).

55555Education of the Girl ChildEducation of the Girl ChildEducation of the Girl ChildEducation of the Girl ChildEducation of the Girl ChildPresent Status and Steps for PromotionPresent Status and Steps for PromotionPresent Status and Steps for PromotionPresent Status and Steps for PromotionPresent Status and Steps for PromotionAjit Singh*Ajit Singh*Ajit Singh*Ajit Singh*Ajit Singh*

* Director, Professional Development Programme (PDP), All India Primary Teachers' Federation, 41, Institutional Area, D-Block, Janakpuri, New Delhi-110058.

Education is a basic human right. It isessential for developing humanresources. It is a means of fightingpoverty at all stages and in differentcontexts. Professor Amartya Sen, theNobel laureate says "the economies thathave been most successful in the recentdevelopment of world trade, namelyJapan, Taiwan, Singapore and nowChina, have all been very orientedtowards basic education. Unfortunatelyin India, education is still a neglectedand underappreciated value."Therefore, at all the levels of education,primary education or basic educationis a must. This is because it developsamong individuals necessaryknowledge and skills to earn theirlivelihood and meet their basic needs.It is an indispensable passport to life.Since independence in 1947, India hasbeen making incessant efforts toachieve Education For All (EFA).Endeavours to attain EFA gained

impetus after the internationalcommunity gathered for first time inJomtein in 1990 and adopted aresolution to achieve Education For Allby 2000. The World Education Forum,Dakar Senegal which met in April 2000committed that the internationalcommunity must ensure universalaccess to quality basic education. It isto be achieved and sustained by 2015.India is a party to the DakarConvention. India has launchedprogrammes such as District PrimaryEducation Project (DPEP) and SarvaShiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to achieve thegoal. Enormous human and materialresources are being invested to achieveeducation for all. All these endeavourshave not taken us to achieve our EFAgoal. Table 1 manifests the netenrolment ratio at the primary level.

Table 1 reveals that net enrolmentratio has increased from 84.53 per centin 2005-2006 to 95.92 per cent in


Table 2Percentage of Girls' Enrolment atPrimary and Upper Primary level

2007-2008. This is an appreciableimprovement over the years. But it stillreflects that about 4 per cent childrenat the age of +6 are not able to enrolthemselves in Class1. They aretherefore, out of school. To achieveuniversal primary education by 2015,all children at the age +6 should beenrolled in school by 2009.

In the light of the present scenario,it is being realised that the country maynot achieve Education For All (EFA) by2015. There are many roadblocks onthe way to achieve EFA. One of these iseducation of the girl child which islagging behind and impedesendeavours to achieve EFA.

Participation of Girls(a) Girls' Enrolment

Table 2 presents data regardingparticipation of girls in school bothat the primary and upper primarylevel of education from 2003-2004 to2006-2007.

Table 2 reveals that girls' share inenrolment has improved over the yearsboth at the primary and upper primarylevel. At the primary level, it hasimproved from 47.47 per cent in 2003-2004 to 48.09 per cent in 2006-2007.

Sl. No. Year Net EnrolmentRatio

1. 2005-2006 84.53

2. 2006-2007 92.75

3. 2007-2008 95.92

Table 1Net Enrolment Ratio at

Primary Level

Similarly at the upper primary level, ithas improved from 45.02 per cent to46.51 per cent during the same period.The table further reveals that girls' sharein enrolment is lower than boys both atprimary and upper primary level.

"It is further observed that exceptin Bihar, Chandigarh and Punjab, inall other states the share of girls'enrolment at the primary level hasbeen above 46 per cent. In Bihar, it is45.89 per cent, Chandigarh 44.58 percent and Punjab 45.94 per cent. Thehighest level of girls' enrolment atprimary level is noticed in case ofMeghalaya (50.44 per cent) followed byManipur (49.84 per cent), Kerala(49.46 per cent) and West Bengal (49.3per cent). A few other states alsoreported above 49 per cent girls'enrolment in primary classes (Mehta2008). Table 2 portrays the picturethat without bringing all the girlsunder the education system, the goalof UPE cannot be achieved.

(b) Gender Parity Index (GPI)

Gender parity index (GPI) also reflectsgirls' participation Table 3 presents GPIat primary and upper primary level.

Year Classes ClassesI to V VI to VIII

2003-2004 47.47 45.02

2004-2005 47.52 45.32

2005-2006 47.79 45.80

2006-2007 48.09 46.51

Education of the Girl Child – Present Status and Steps for Promotion 29

Table 3 reveals that there isconsistent improvement in GPI both atthe primary and upper primary level.At the primary level, it improved from

UPE in these states is not likely to berealised unless all remaining girls arebrought under the educationsystem." (Mehta, 2008)

In India gender disparities aredeclining over the years. But theyremain to be pervasive. This is not onlyin India, but it is in other countries too.'Worldwide only 118 (63 per cent)countries out of 188 had achievedgender parity at the primary level by2005.' (UNESCO 2007)

Apparent Survival Rate

Apparent survival rate reflects theefficiency of the education system. Itprovides useful information aboutretaining capacity of the system. Table4 manifests survival rate at the All Indialevel.

Table 4 reveals that apparentsurvival rate has improved over theyears. It is true both for boys and girls.At the All India level, it has improvedfrom 63 per cent in 2003-2004 to 73per cent in 2006-2007. During thesame period, it has improved from 65per cent to 73 per cent in respect of boysand from 62 per cent to 72 per cent inrespect of girls.

“States in the Southern region suchas Andhra Pradesh and Karnatakahave a high apparent survival rate. InKarnataka it is 96 per cent comparedto only 54 per cent in Madhya Pradeshand Bihar, 36 per cent in ArunachalPradesh and 38 per cent in Jharkhand.Unless, all the states attain a highsurvival rate, the goal of UPE cannotbe achieved”. (Mehta, 2008).

Table 3

Gender Parity Index (GPI) atPrimary and Upper Primary Level

Year Classes ClassesI to V VI to VIII

2003-2004 0.90 0.82

2004-2005 0.91 0.83

2005-2006 0.92 0.84

2006-2007 0.93 0.87

0.90 in 2003-2004 to 0.93 in 2006-2007. At the upper primary level, itimproved from 0.82 in 2003-2004 to0.87 in 2006-2007. This reflects thatthe GPI is higher at the primary levelthan at the upper primary level. Thecomprehensive survey conducted bySocial Research Institute of IndianMarket Research Bureau in 2009reveals that transition rate fromprimary to upper primary is 81.1 percent. This situation has seriousimplication for attaining UniversalElementary Education (UEE).

"Further the analysis of statespecific GPI in primary enrolmentindicates that the index remainedabove 0.95 in 14 states. Meghalayahas the highest GPI of above 1. In restof the states, GPI is low. For instance,it is 0.85 in Bihar, 0.80 inChandigrah, 0.85 in Punjab, 0.88 inGujarat, 0.86 in Jammu and Kashmirand 0.88 in Rajasthan. The goal of


Year Grade-I Grade-II Grade-III Grade-IV Grade-V TotalBoys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls

2003-04 100 100 84 84 76 76 69 75 65 62 63

2004-05 100 100 83 84 80 81 73 80 68 66 67

2005-06 100 100 84 84 79 79 74 81 71 68 70

2006-07 100 100 86 87 81 81 76 81 73 72 73

Factors Contributing to Low GirlsParticipation at Primary and UpperPrimary Level of EducationMentioned below are a few main factorswhich contribute to low girls’participation in schools.• Gender disparities in primary

education stem first and foremostfrom disparities in enrolment in thefirst grade.

• Under-nutrition and malnutritionaffect one in four children indeveloping countries includingIndia. This situation has a directimpact on education, makingchildren vulnerable to illness, lesslikely to enrol in school and morelikely to dropout. Girls are moresufferers than boys in his regard.

• There are about 8 lakh primaryschools in the country. Of these, 4.5lakh schools are without commontoilets {Mukul, 2009}. Inadequatesanitation in schoolsdisproportionately affects girls.Young girls particularly afterpuberty are less likely to attendclasses, if the school lacks suitablehygienic facilities. One study revealsthat half of the girls in sub-Saharan

Africa drop out of primary schooldue to poor water and sanitationfacilities.

• Early Childhood Care andEducation (ECCE) programmesimprove children’s health, nutrition,well being and cognitivedevelopment. Cognitiveneuroscience shows that earlychildhood is a critical period for theacquisition of cognitive skills. ECCEprogrammes offset disadvantageand inequality and lead to betterachievement in primary school.Facilities for pre-primary educationare very limited in India. In certainareas, they are even non-existent.Educational expansion does notmean reduced inequality. Childrenparticularly girls from ethnic andreligious minorities are typically thelast to benefit from school creationand expansion.

• Inadequate facilities in schools suchas rooms for instruction, drinkingwater, etc. are responsible for lowenrollment and high dropout rate.There are about 1.5 lakh schoolswithout building and 1.6 lakhwithout facilities of drinking water.

Table 4Apparent Survival Rate


Schools without building haveinsecure environment for studentsparticularly girls. Inadequatefacilities referred to above deterparents particularly of girls to enroltheir wards into schools.

• There are about 1.1 lakh singleteacher schools. Paucity of teachersdeter parents to enrol their wards inschools. This is because they believethat learning hardly takes place ina school where there is only oneteacher against five classes. If thisteacher happens to be male teacher,this further deters parents of girls toenroll them in that schools.

• “So far as primary schools areconcerned, more than one out ofthree teachers is a female {40.89 percent}. However, in the states ofArunachal Pradesh {34.72 per cent},Bihar {28.41 per cent}, Chhattisgarh{29.72 per cent}, Jharkhand {26.80per cent}, Madhya Pradesh {30.00per cent}, Rajasthan {28.93 percent}, Uttar Pradesh {38.80 percent}, and West Bengal {27.87 percent}, female teachers are inminority. On the other hand, instates like Kerala, {75.98 per cent},and Tamil Nadu {76.72 per cent},majority of primary school teachersare female. Despite significantimprovement in the availability offemale teachers in schools over theyears that impart elementaryeducation, still 28.26 per centschools that impart elemenataryeducation did not have any femaleteachers in 2006-2007" (Mehta,

2008). This affects adversely girls'enrolment and retention in schools.

• Many poor and illiterate parents donot have positive attitude towardsthe education of their daughters. Assuch, they do not enrol them inschools.

• Poverty propels many parents tosend their children including girlsfor child labour to supplement theincome of their family.

Promotion of Girls' Participation

The following are a few suggestions topromote gender equality in educationparticularly at the primary and upperprimary level.1. Need for Safe and Supportive

School Environment for GirlsOver the years, physical andpsychological violence by teachers inschools has declined substantially.However, there may be some schoolswhere children both boys and girls arestill exposed to physical andpsychological violence, and sexualviolence and harassment. Corporalpunishment is used to disciplinestudents and to penalise them forunsatisfactory performance. Boys oftenexperience physical violence, girls aremore subjected to sexual violence andsexual harassment particularly at theupper primary stage;

Violence in schools seriously affectspupils' physical and mental health andthe development of social and cognitiveskills often resulting in poor academicachievement. Sexual harassment ofgirls often results in their low self-


esteem, poor levels of participation inlearning activities and dropout.Therefore, teachers need to create safeand gender supportive environment intheir schools/classrooms. They shouldnot say anything to girls which maydamage their self-esteem.

The physical environment ofschools is as important as school safetyfor girls' participation especially afterthe onset of puberty. The lack ofsanitation facilities adversely affectsstudents' attendance in schools and itmay even lead to their drop out fromschool. Improving the schoolenvironment by specifically addressinggirls' needs helps to increase thedemand for education among girls.2. Need for Higher Percentage of

Female Teachers and theirUnbiased Teacher-PupilDynamics

Countries with higher percentage offemale teachers have higher genderparity level in primary schoolparticipation. The availability of femaleteachers plays a significant role inensuring that all girls have an accessto and participate in school as well asin achieving gender parity in primaryeducation. So there is a need to havehigher percentage of female teachers inprimary education;

Teacher attitudes and perceptionsreveal harmful biases. Many teachersclaim that they treat boys and girlsequally, but in pratice their behaviourin the classroom reflects subtle biases.Boys generally have more challenginginteractions with teachers, dominate

classroom activities and receive moreattention than girls. However, in someclasses, teachers may favour girls;

Teacher expectations are differentfrom boys and girls. Some teachersparticularly in the rural areas have lowexpectations from female students andoften give more attention to boys evenignoring girls in the classroom. The lowfrequency and quality of teacherinteractions with girls affects quality ofopportunity, which is likely to diminisha girl's sense of self-esteem and self-reliance; and

Teachers need to be providedexperiences and training to avoidgender biased discrimination in theirinteraction with students and theirexpectation from students. Suchtraining is relatively rare.3. Need for Learning Content that

Promote Real Gender EqualityContent analysis of textbooks points togender bias against girls and womenregardless of the level of education,subject matter, country or region. Girlsand women are systematically under-represented in textbooks and stillshown in highly stereotyped roles. Thisis even in those countries which haveachieved gender parity in primaryeducation. For instance, Social Studiestextbooks in China portray 100 percent scientists as male and 100 per centteachers as female. Further 75 per centservice personnel are female. In India,more than half the illustrations in theaverage primary school English, Hindi,Mathematics, Science and SocialStudies textbooks depict only males,


and only 6% show just females (F.B.Ahmed, 2006). Most textbooks largelyor wholly ignore the changes inwomen's position in society in recentdecades (Blumberg, 2007). There is aneed to depict in textbooks women inroles they have taken over the years.These women would serve as rolemodels for girls. This would check dropout rate among them.• The state governments should

launch specific schemes like ‘LadliScheme’ launched by the DelhiGovernment. Under this scheme,girls who complete senior secondaryeducation are given a sum of Rupeesone lakh by Delhi Government.

• More Kasturba Gandhi BalikaVidyalayas need to be opened. Thisis because they are contributingimmensely to the education of girlchild;

• The number of out of schoolchildren (00S) in the age group 6-

11 has come down dramaticallyfrom 1.34 crore in 2005 to 80.4lakhs in 2009 as a result ofendeavours being made underSSA. Many of these out of schoolchildren including girls are childlabourers. Flexible schooling,non-formal equivalency coursesand transition and bridge coursesneed to be launched to meet thelearning needs of 00S childrenparticularly girls;

• Pre-service and in-service teachersneed to be provided intensivetraining to render classroom climatean enjoyable learning experience.This would improve pupils' learningoutcomes and reduce their drop outrate; and

• Mass media need to be used tosensitise parents/guardians andcommunity members about thesignificance of education of thegirl child.

REFERENCES

AHMED, F.B. 2006. ‘Male Bias in School Texts’. The Tribune One line Edition No. 26February

BLUMBERG, R.L. 2007. Gender Bias in Textbooks – A Hidden Obstacle on the Road toEquality in Education. Background Paper for EFA Global Monitoring Report,2008

MEHTA, ARUN C. 2008. Elementary Education in India–Progress Towards UEE AnalyticalReport-2006-2007. National University of Educational Planning andAdministration and Department of School Education and Literacy, MHRD,New Delhi

MUKUL, AKSHAYA. 2009. ‘Sharp Decline in Out of School Kids’, Times of India– 13thSeptember

UNESCO. 2007. EFA Global Monitoring Report. Paris


'Historical Defeat of the F'Historical Defeat of the F'Historical Defeat of the F'Historical Defeat of the F'Historical Defeat of the Female Sex'emale Sex'emale Sex'emale Sex'emale Sex'Astha Kant*Astha Kant*Astha Kant*Astha Kant*Astha Kant*

* Ph.D. Scholar, Social Sciences, Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Abstract

Gender inequality poses a serious barrier to access a healthy life. This inequalitystems out of patriarchy. Patriarchy not only defines the socially constructedroles of men and women in a society but also internalises them in its members.These internalised norms and roles have a huge bearing on the health of bothmen and women. It has been realised that it is women who are subjected to bevictimised of the inequality while men are entitled to be superior.

This article taking Marx’s perspective, explores the status of most of the marriedwomen in a patriarchal society, how she is perceived as an instrument ofreproduction which makes her alienated from the ‘product as well as the processof reproduction’. The paper further questions the taken for granted socialphenomenon of superiority of men, which is ‘bracketed’ in a society which hindersgood reproductive health to women.

In a society like ours, it is essential fora woman to prove her fertility in orderto get accepted in the conjugal family;which would further integrate thefamily into the larger society. Societalpressure as well as stigma related toinfertility makes the condition for awoman beyond her control. Herwillingness and want to reproduce arenot taken into account and areovershadowed by societal and familial

pressure to reproduce. Her role in thefamily is taken as that of ‘labour’ whichonly reproduces heirs of the patriarchalhousehold. Thus, she gets transformedinto a ‘reproduction machine’. Thistransformation leads to herobjectification wherein she loses heridentity and her body becomesmechanical, which has to satisfy thesocietal needs. Throughout, she is notconscious of the fact that she is being

66666

'Historical Defeat of the Female Sex' 35

alienated from the process of‘reproduction’ as society supersedesthe individual. This is also understoodfrom the practice of sex determinationtests, when a girl fetus is killed at thetime of detection or with the practice offemale infanticide by either drowningher in milk or abandoning her.Throughout the process, the motherhas no say; she has absolutely nocontrol over her baby, which is herproduct. Thus, in the domain ofreproductive health, reproductionbecomes means to its end than end initself. This process of reproductioncauses no internal satisfaction to thewoman and she reproduces by givinginto the ‘social construction of fertility’.

This activity of self estrangementcan be overcome with the involvementof men in the reproductive health ofwomen. This is an issue which has beendiscussed since 1994, InternationalConference on PopulationDevelopment, Cairo. It has beenrealised that women’s reproductivehealth can only improve if men—husbands, fathers and partners areinvolved. Men are seen as the soledecision makers of the household andhence it is imperative to involve themin order to bring any changes withinthe four walls. Focusing only on womenalone will not solve the issue, as theyare governed by the head of thehousehold, men. She is herself notconfident to take a step without hisconsent.

Engels in his writing, The Origin ofthe Family, Private Property and the

State, raises the issue of malesuperiority and subordination ofwomen by uncovering its materialcauses. For him, position of a womanis a result of a complex process whichis defined in the social significance ofreproductive potential and economicrole. He traces it back to the primitivesociety where the division of labour was‘natural’— men going out for huntingand gathering while women stayingwithin the four walls and taking care ofthe household chores like rearingchildren and cooking. This was the typeof society where social organisationswere based on the principle of ‘motherright’. Men changed this principle bybringing in the concept of patriarchythrough domestication of animalswhich became his private property.This private property was henceforthtransmitted to his children, as opposedto his sister’s children. Engels calledthis the ‘historical defeat of the femalesex.’ This led to man taking commandwithin the boundaries of home as well.Thus, the status of women declined tomere ‘reproducers’.

Abide by what Engels has to offerregarding the origin of subjugation andestablishment of the supremacy of menover women and locating this argumentin the field of reproductive health, itcould be seen that through maleparticipation, men are ‘interfering’ thedomain of reproductive health which is‘controlled’ by women. This could alsobe seen through the perspective ofintrusion in the space of women as thedomain of reproductive health is


synonymous to women. But ironically,it is also seen that women have no‘control’ in the field of reproductivehealth as the decision making power aswell as the authority lies in the handsof men while women only abide by thedecisions taken. There is a need toinclude men, as decision makersin order to improve the overallreproductive health.

Hence, it is important tounderstand the patriarchal nature ofour society in order to address the issueof poor reproductive health of women.Thus, there is a need to involve men,since they are the decision makerswhich would help in enhancingwomen’s status in the household whichwould help her take decisions for herselfby herself and thereby overcome the

alienated state of being. It is also of asignificant importance to understandthat in order to bring about change inthe society, it is important to change themindset, attitude and behaviour of notonly men but also women who arerooted in patriarchal values. This wouldhelp women to be more conscious of herwants and desires by relating to theproduct, the process, ‘man’ and speciesbeing (society). This change canimprove the situation of poorreproductive health which is acomponent of Life Expectancy Index,which constitutes one of the threedimensions of Human DevelopmentIndex. Hence, it is important tounalienate women in the reproductivehealth arena in order to improve thestanding at Human Development.

REFERENCESCAIRO PROGRAMME OF ACTION. 1994. International Conference on Population and

Development. Cairo, EgyptENGELS, FREDERICK. 1948. The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.

Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow

Abstract

Most children exhibit behaviour that may be seen as problematic at sometimeor the other. This does not mean that they all have psychological problems andwould always need serious professional help. It is necessary for us tounderstand as to when the problem can be handled by oneself or decide thatthe child is mentally or emotionally disturbed and requires help. In addition,one also needs to know what are the causes of these problems and the way inwhich a parent, a teacher or a doctor can help. The article, first elaborates thecauses and kinds of childhood disturbances briefly describing its types withspecial consideration to psychological disturbances. Lastly, it highlights theremedial measure that can be taken to reduce, minimise or to eliminate to alarge extent these disturbances.

77777Childhood DisturbancesChildhood DisturbancesChildhood DisturbancesChildhood DisturbancesChildhood DisturbancesAnjum Ahmed*Anjum Ahmed*Anjum Ahmed*Anjum Ahmed*Anjum Ahmed*

* Research Scholar, UGC-NET, Department of Education, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.

INTRODUCTION

Most children exhibit behaviour seenas problametic at sometime or theother. It is necessary for us tounderstand as to when one decides thatthe child is mentally or emotionallydisturbed and requires help. Inaddition one also needs to know whatare the causes of these problems andthe way in which one can help.

The symptoms are manifested indifferent ways by different children.Some children faced with stress becomeanxious, withdrawn, fearful, cry easilyand develop physical problems likestomachache and headache. When theymanifest such problems and internalisethe symptoms, these are known asEmotional Disorders. The childrenmay act out their problems by being


aggressive, fighting, stealing and tellinglies. These are known as ConductDisorders. The core of all problems,whether it is conduct problems,physical constraints or emotionaldisturbances, lies in the fact that thechild is disturbed and cannot cope withthe problems that bother him or her.

CAUSES OF CHILDHOOD DISTURBANCES

Socio-cultural Factors

(a) Encouragement of DependencyThe tendency of parents to beoverprotective, imposing authoritycurbs the independent nature and thetendency to explore the environment.This makes the children dependent andthey fail to take responsibility, whenthey are old enough for it. Prolongedstudy or monotonous indoor play failto gratify the growing need of the childfor vigorous physical activity andinteraction with the physical world.

(b) Parents as ModelsIdentification is a process in which achild feels one with another person andinternalises the thoughts, beliefs andactions of the other person. Ifidentification is with a parent, who isan inappropriate model, the child maydevelop undesirable behaviour. Forexample, if a boy identifies with anabusive father, his behaviour wouldhave undesirable elements.

(c) Integrity in AdultsChildren are sensitive to the thoughtsand actions of others. If they comeacross a discrepancy in what adults athome and school do and what they

preach, children become confused. Theuncertainties that then arise may leadto different kinds of behaviourproblems.

(d) Communication of Adult'sAnxieties

When parents, teachers and othersignificant adult experience tensions atvarious levels, they communicate theseto children in different forms as inwords and actions. Change of school orteachers and other unexpected lifeevents are likely to affect mental healthof children.

(e) Social Class

The social class structure of the societyalso influences children’s behaviour.Normally, teachers are from middleclass and their expectations of childbehaviour are more appropriate tochildren from the middle class. Evenbeing regular or neatly dressed may notbe in the child’s hands. Children fromlow income families are at adisadvantage and many of theirproblems are of deprivation.

Behavioural problems are commonduring childhood. Most of the childrenshow difficulties in coping with theirproblems at some stage of developmentor the other. Some of these difficultiesdisappear naturally as children growolder. They learn to adapt to thesituation and get over the hurdle in duecourse. Children with emotionaldifficulty go back to earlier mode ofreaction. They may sulk, express angeror show defiance.

Childhood Disturbances 39

Some children with physicalhandicaps such as blindness, deafnessor deformed limbs due to polio or suchdisabilities may be very sensitive andashamed of their physical handicaps.Epilepsy is a mental illness caused byabnormal electrical activities of thebrain. Each time the child gets fits, thebrain gets affected in its ability to learnand memorise. Such children are highlyprone to behavioural problems andemotional problems.

The different kinds of childhooddisturbances observed are–

(1) A Quiet and Withdrawn ChildThe child is very quiet and withdrawnin the class. Does not answer questionsor play with other children. The childshows reluctancy in interaction withchildren.

(2) School RefusalSome children who are emotionallydependent on their mothers often havedifficulty in adjusting to the school setup. They are fearful, anxious and theycry a lot in the first few days in school.

(3) Conversion SyndromesAt times when children are extremelyfrightened of something in the schoolor of the teacher or about a threat ofany kind, they may develop severesymptoms such as fits or paralysis oflimbs out of fear.

(4) Bed Wetting or Wetting duringthe Days

Most children stop wetting at night atthe age 3-4 years, some continue muchlonger than this. If the child has pain

when he/she empties the bladder ordribbles urine between properemptying, he/she has a physicalproblem. In such case the child shouldbe referred to a doctor. If there is nophysical cause, the child has to betrained bladder control. Wetting inschool can be due to poor bladdercontrol, nervousness, scared to takepermission from teachers, etc.

(5) DepressionSometimes a child can become verydepressed. He/She may cry a lot, easilyat the smallest pretext or not talk toanyone, not take interest in usualactivities or many times appear to beday dreaming.

(6) Neglected and Abused ChildChildren who are neglected and abusedmay not have learnt how to form atrusting relationship with other people.This will also affect how they interactwith other children. They may find itdifficult to learn. They will probably notbe able to attend school regularly.

(7) Nail BitingThis is fairly common in youngchildren. But these do not indicateserious disturbances. Children whosuck thumb or bite nails often do itwhen they are bored and have nothingto do or when they are slightly anxious.

(8) MasturbationYoung children sometimes play withtheir genitals innocently. This couldhappen, if the child has an infection orthe child’s genital organs have not beencleaned properly.


(9) RestlessnessMany children often are physically moreactive and restless than others. They doa lot of running and show interest inall new things.

(10) Anxiety and FearPerception of specific danger arousesfear. This produces withdrawal or flightreactions. The danger perceived and thedegree of fear elicited would vary fromindividual to individual in differentenvironmental context. Anxiety is anormal accompaniment of growth, ofchange, of experiencing sometimes newand untried, of finding one’s ownidentities and meaning in life. Anxietyis closely related to fear. Stresssituations often give rise to both fearand anxiety. This is usuallyexperienced by the child duringexaminations, before any competition,when the teacher is too strict, overloadof homework, etc.

(11) PhobiasThe individual realises that his/herfears are irrational and unrealistic butare unable to dispel it. He/She takeselaborate steps to avoid the situationthat arouses fear in him/her. A phobicreaction is a persistent fear of someobject or situation which presents noactual dangers to the child. Somecommon types of phobias are:Acrophobia – fear of height,Agrophobia – fear of open places,Claustrophobia – fear of closed places,Zoophobia – fear of animals,Pyrophobia – fear of fire,Schoolphobia – fear of school.

Phobias are extremely disabling. Theymanifest physiological reactions likeexcessive perspiration, rapid breathing,tremor, diarrhoea, vomiting, dizzyspells, etc.

(12) AggressionAggression is considered as a typicaladjustment mechanism used as anattempt to hurt or destroy the sourceof frustration. Children exhibitaggression by beating, bullying others,hitting, kicking, screaming andthrowing things or being verballyaggressive through shooting, or yellingor ridiculing.

(13) AssertionAssertive behaviour is a positiveadaptive effort on the part of the childto achieve the goals. It is aimed atachieving desired outcomes which arenot socially unacceptable.

(14) DefianceDefiance is another form of aggression.Children may exhibit this behaviourthrough their overt gesture and actions.It is normally shown verbally orotherwise disobeying elders, doing theopposite of what has been asked andanswering back. They become verballyrather than physically aggressive.

(15) TruancyTruancy is another adjustmentproblem observed among some of theschool going children. It meansrunning away. Truant children exhibitsuch behaviour as not attendingschool, instead they spend their timeroaming around or sometimes


indulging in socially undesirableactivities such as stealing, lying. Thereason of the truant behaviour lies withhome, school and peer group.

(16) Speech Disturbances

Due to change in environment oraccident, trauma, emotionaldisturbance, etc. a child may developspeech and language disturbances inthe form of mutism, stammering,stuttering, aphasia, etc.

Other types of disturbancesobserved during childhood areinsufficient appetite, food finickness,lying, over sensitiveness, physicaltimidity, somberness, temper tantrumsirritability, jealousy, excessive emotionaldependence, excessive demanding ofattention, destructiveness, etc.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTURBANCE

Various other patterns of specificproblems or disorders emerge duringchildhood. The primary behaviourdisorder includes neurotic traits, habitsdisturbance and conduct disturbance.Psychotic reactions, the second majorcategory to be used, are generallyconceived to be of a more severe andinclusive nature than the primarybehaviour disorders.

(1) Habit Disturbances

Habit disturbances are behaviourproblems in which there has been adisturbance in the performance of majorbiological functions. Somemanifestations of habit disturbancesare already familiar from earlierconsideration of disorders of infancy.

Thus, infantile disturbance of feeding,elimination and sleep have beenconsidered. In growing into childhoodeither there is a continuousprolongation of infantile pleasurehabits (fixation) or a reactivation(regression) of these habits after aperiod in which they are not practised.

(2) Conduct Disturbances

This term commonly means mildaggressive, destructive and delinquentbehaviour. Developmentally conductdisturbances become manifest at a laterage than habit disturbances. Incommon with habit disturbances theconduct disturbances indicate that thechild is experiencing a conflict with theenvironment both within the home andoutside of it.

(3) Neurotic Traits

In contrast to habit and conductdisturbance, with their focus on conflictof the child with his environment,neurotic traits are at least partiallyinternalised and show a conflict withthe self. Jealousy, inhibition ofaggression and phobia are the threecharacteristics of neurotic traits.Jealousy of sibling is especiallyprominent. Inhibition of aggressionmakes the child appear self-effacingand timid not ready to stand up for hisrights. Phobia takes manifold forms:fear of animal, of the dark, of strangersor certain places, etc.

Psychosomatic Disturbances

Kubie uses the word ‘somatisation’, i.e.“for any process by which tensions are


generated at the level of psychologicalexperiences and are given some formbodily representation and a partingdischarge through anatomical andphysiological disturbance.” Risingpsychological tensions overflow intoanatomical and physiological channels.Thus, is a psychosomatic disordershowing both anatomical,physiological and psychologicalcomponents. A variety ofpsychosomatic reactions appear inchildhood. For example, gastrointestinal pain, headache, allergiccondition, ulcerative clotis areprominent childhood psychosomaticdisorders. Maternal rejection appearsto be a prominent causative factor inallergic children with emotional traumabeing a precipitating factor.

PSYCHOSES

The psychoses may or may not occurin children, but at least psychotic likereactions do occur. A typicaldevelopment and disturbances in theearliest and most basic interpersonalrelationships are present in thechildren. Psychosis is a more severedisturbance. The personalitydisorganisation is extensive. Thecharacteristic of psychoses was whenthe development during infancy was atypical and disturbance in the earliestand most basic interpersonalrelationship was present.

SchizophreniaSchizophrenia is the major psychosisof childhood. Whooping cough,encephalitis or any acute infectious

disease may in some instances leave inits wake a behavioural disturbance ofpsychosomatic nature.

PHYSICAL HANDICAP

Reactions to physical handicap arefound to bring forth a variety ofpsychological reactions. Hostility andguilt appear prominently in physicallyhandicapped children. The attitudes ofthe parents towards the child’shandicap are important in deciding thechild’s reaction to her/his handicap.

REMEDIAL MEASURES

When a child with disturbances is tobe treated, it is most vital to ensure thatthe child and the family are taken intocomplete confidence before the therapybegins. The child must not be made tofeel like a patient or as someone who isguilty of having an unusual condition.

The different remedial measures areelaborated as follows:

(1) Behavioural therapy/modification(2) Counselling(3) Play therapy(4) Environmental manipulation(5) Dealing with aggressive and

truant child(6) Music and dance therapy(7) Art therapy(8) Role play(9) Dealing with psychologically

disturbed childBehavioural Therapy andModification

Relaxation Procedure

These procedures are adopted toreduce tension and stress from the body


and mind. Play method is often usedfor relaxation with children. Childrenare made to run, dance, act incaricature and joke. For older childrenyoga can be used as a relaxationprocedure.

Desensitisation Procedure

Some children are sensitive to place,person, object or situation and showanxiety tension and fear. A child isgradually exposed to anxiety reducingsituation in this manner. Thistechnique will prove beneficial fordealing with children having problemof jealousy, irritability, anxiety and fear.

Modelling

The adult demonstrates byencountering the objects or situationsto the child that the fear is baseless.Modelling is a best remedial for thechild with phobia, for example, phobiaof darkness. The adult plays the role ofa model by demonstrating howdarkness is harmless when he walksinto a dark room and comes out andtells the child that nothing hashappened to him.

Counselling

Unknowingly parents and others maybe contributing to the fear andanxieties of the child. In counselling, theparents are made aware of howindirectly they have been contributingto the development of fear or anxietiesin the child. And the child is also givena chance to speak on his/her fears andconcrete suggestions are given toovercome them.

Play Therapy

A therapeutic intervention which is acombination of bio-psycho-socialfactors, is taken into consideration bytherapists. All plays serve a therapeuticfunction in a general sense. However,when it is employed as a tool fortherapy, therapist gives it a structureand a direction, depending on thenature of the child’s age and problem.As young children find it difficult toexpress their needs and problemsverbally, through their play pattern'sconversation, the therapists can assessthe cause and nature of problems.Materials like toys, dolls, paints andclay are provided while the therapistmakes minimum suggestions to thechild, so that the child leads the play.At appropriate moments, the therapistasks questions without interruptingthe child’s involvement in the activity.

Doll play allows the child to givevent to his/her inner emotions andexpression. Situations like anxiety,rivalry between siblings, interpersonalstress, punishment, rejectionexperience at home and school andamong peer group that lead toaggression in the child’s life can findan outlet in such play activities. Playcan be used for treatment of quiet,withdrawal child, day dreaming, lyingand loss of appetite.

Environmental Manipulation

Due to some factors in the environmentanxiety and fear might continue in thechild. Hence the place, people and ongoing activities in an environment


should be examined and modified, sothat the anxiety triggering factors areminimised. This can be done in theclassroom in other situations.

Dealing with Aggressive and TruantChildNever provide a model of aggressivebehaviour to the child. If the child is oldenough, talk to the child and explainwhy this behaviour is not acceptable.Reason out with them that everydemand of their’s cannot be fulfilled.Learn to ignore them when they are atthe height of their temper. Introspectionby parents and other adults would helpidentify the need for modifying adultbehaviour. There is a need to developan insight into children’s needs,feelings and of thinking. As parents, weshould become conscious of our ownbehaviour towards children, ourcomments to them. Diversion ofaggression by engaging the child insome other activity is used to reduceaggression in the child or help it to bechannelised.

Similarly teachers also play animportant role in influencing children’sbehaviour. Sometimes comparisonbetween two children in the classroomcauses hostility between them. Teacherand parents should emphasise on all-round development of the child and notstress on only cognitive development.

Music and Dance TherapyMusic and dance are particularlyappealing to children. These mediahave been used widely to help thedisturbed children. Music can calm or

disturb people. Musical resonanceevokes pleasures. Rhythmic soundsprovoke motor activities. Shrill soundscreate tension. Music can arouse anumber of emotional feelings such ashappiness, excitement and sadness.Music has been employed to promoteself confidence, cultivates socialisationand even assists in speech impairment.By dance we mean not only the classicaldance, but also unstructuredmovement. Like music, dance also canbe used to release emotions, tension,attitudes, conflicts, etc. Dance helps inexternalising the feelings and promotessocialisation, when it is used as a groupactivity.

Music and dance have helped thehandicapped children to ease theirstress, not be conscious of theirincompetencies. It has been seen thatgroup interaction also helped the otherchildren not to be critical of his/herhandicap.

Art TherapyArt is a symbolic communication likeplay therapy; art therapy provideschildren a medium that is attractiveand fun. It can serve as a vehicle forrevealing inner problems, wishes andfear. Dreams, fantasies and childhoodmemories can be expressed throughart. It is an effective technique to helpaggressive inhibited and withdrawnchildren.

Role Play

Like play, music, dance and art, roleplay is also used as a medium of selfexpression. Through role play a teacher


REFERENCES

http://special-needs.families.com/blog/emotionaldisturbanceinchildrenJORDAN, D. 1991. A guide book for Parents of Children with Emotional or Behavioural

Disorders. Minneapolis. MN: PACER CenterKUBIE, L.S. 1944. The Basic of a Classification of Disorders from the Psychosomatic

Standpoint. Med. 20, 46-65, Bull N.Y. Academic PressLONG, N. LONG, N.J. HOGHUGHI, M. Handbook of Parenting. Google book search. Sage

PublishersSCHAEFER, C.E, O’CONNOR, K. Handbook of Play Therapy. Published by John Wiley

and Sons. Google Book Search

can make children verbalise and act outthoughts, feelings, stable patterns ofbehaviour, styles of interactiveinhibitions and impulsive outbursts.Role play could be used to teach bettercoping methods to handle anger andother negative emotions, to teach socialskills, to promote socialisation and alsoas a medium for ventilation.

Dealing with PsychologicalDisturbed Child

Psychotherapy is the direct method oftreatment for the child. Inpsychotherapy, there is one to oneinterpersonal relationship betweenspecific child and specific therapist. Thetherapist uses play technique as amedium of psychotherapy. Indirecttreatment is in the form ofenvironmental manipulation (totalremoval of the child from the presentsituation) and environmentalmodification (change of some aspectsof the present environment). Parental

counselling is necessary as it is foundthat there is a great parentalresponsibility for the appearance ofpsychological disturbances inchildhood.

CONCLUSION

Children who have problems at homeor school require help. The first task ofthe teacher is to understand why thechild has problems. The teacher has tolook for causes at school, home orwithin the child. To understand thechild, the teacher needs to be friendlywith the child, so that he can talk freelyabout his problems. The teacher needsto talk to the family too, in order togather clues for solving thesedisturbances. If these methods do notwork, the child can be referred to aplace where a child is provided withmental health services. It is challengingyet possible for the teacher to convincethe parents to take up medical andprofessional help.

88888A TA TA TA TA Teacher's Companioneacher's Companioneacher's Companioneacher's Companioneacher's CompanionKirKirKirKirKir t i Kapur*ti Kapur*ti Kapur*ti Kapur*ti Kapur*

* Senior Lecturer, Department of Languages, NCERT, New Delhi - 1100016

The English Language Teacher’sHandbook: How to Teach LargeClasses with Few Resources,Continuum

AUTHORS: Baker Joanna and WestrupHeather, London, 2008.

Pages 170

classroom management and use ofresources. The first three chapters of thebook give a brief overview of the variousapproaches to language teachingbecause there is no ‘single’ way to learnEnglish. Some students get to listen toand speak in English in theirenvironments, so they understand andbegin to use English easily, however,there are many students who comeacross English only in books at school;they do not get exposed to an Englishlanguage environment at home or evenin the school. As a result, it is moredifficult for them to learn English.Therefore, the effectiveness of anyteaching method depends on the needsof the learners. Using eclecticapproaches, activities and materialsmake learning meaningful and joyful,thus giving all the students an equalopportunity to make progress.

Chapters four and five focus onorganising lessons and activities todevelop language skills among thelearners. The authors talk about the

BOOK REVIEW

The English Language Teacher’sHandbook is based on the authors’projects and experience of teachingEnglish in Asia, Africa and EasternEurope. This book offers a practicalguide to teachers of English who teachlarge classes and have limitedresources. There are a plenty ofactivities along with examples and ideasin the book which can be practised inclassroom processes, in order toaddress this issue.

The book has twenty chapterswhich can be broadly classified intofour heads – Overview of ELTapproaches; Techniques to improvenew language skills; Detailed languageactivities and ideas; and Large

A Teacher's Companion 47

PPP framework wherein a lesson isdivided into three phases: Presentation,Practice and Production. In thepresentation phase, the teacherpresents a language item bydemonstrating it to the students.Language is modelled by givingexamples in context. Thereafter,students can be given a lot of practiceto use the language item themselves,through contextual examples. By theend of the lesson, during productionphase, the new language becomes partof the students’ own language becausethey construct it on their own. Thisapplies to all the language skills –listening, speaking, reading andwriting.

Chapters 6 to 15 of the book containactivities and ideas to develop activity-modules as per the needs of thelearners for teaching English to them.They cover all aspects of languageteaching such as vocabulary, grammar;listening, speaking, reading and writingskills; ideas about projects andpresentations; and testing. For examplein the chapter Ideas for ImprovingReading, before reading, while readingand post reading activities have beendealt with in detail. For improvingwriting, the ‘process of writing’approach has been discussed. This isan important section, because we mustremember that the students’ firstattempt is not the final product, but abeginning and recognition thereof ismost important.

The authors also recommend thatassessment needs to be built into the

processes of teaching and learning.They emphasise that “continuousassessment is a way of monitoring theprogress of students during the year.It helps teachers and students toidentify their strengths and weaknessesas they learn to improve those areasbefore the end of term test or exam”.This is accompanied by differenttechniques of assessment like close test,open ended questions, true and false,dictation, etc.

Joanna and Heather have alsogiven examples of teaching variousskills. According to them, pair workand group work are an integral partof learner centred teaching. Theyrecommend that students should usetheir first language instead of Englishduring pair or group work especiallywhen they are deciding who will dowhat or are discussing an idea.However, the production phase mustbe in English only. Further, theteacher should monitor the groupactivities when they are ongoing andmust also give feedback in a generalmanner rather than picking onindividuals.

The book also focuses on thechallenges of teaching English to largeclasses, which is a common scenario inour country. The authors recommenda variety of activities and teachingapproaches that can give a chance toall the students to participate and learnEnglish better. And once students aremotivated, they learn better. The last fewchapters of the book are on classmanagement and planning activities


according to the needs, interests andcognitive level of the learners. In thesechapters there are many creative andpractical techniques and advice on howto make students participate in largeclasses with minimal resources andmaterials. Using blackboards forthemselves as well as allowing studentsto use it to complete the activitystarted by the teacher is one such wayof involving students constructively inthe teaching learning process despitea resource crunch. Other resourcescan be drawn from the learners’environment such as the objects thatlearners carry, ‘sharing books’,reusing resources that are availableand finally creating an input richcommunicational environment in theclass.

The book is also reader friendly andits layout makes it a handy resourcefor teachers. Each chapter containsobjectives, steps and clearly spelt outactivities. There are blurbsrecapitulating the key points andillustrations accompany activities. Thebook also has Classroom Action Taskswhich encourage teachers to think andprepare activities most suited to theirlearner profile. The authors distinctlyavoid jargon and have also provided alist for further reading in the end.

This book is a must read for all theteachers of English as it gives manyideas for overcoming the challenges ofa large ELT class with few resources. Itsuggests different ways of teachingEnglish which make learning moreeffective and joyful.

99999Inclusion of the Child FInclusion of the Child FInclusion of the Child FInclusion of the Child FInclusion of the Child Friendly School Concept intoriendly School Concept intoriendly School Concept intoriendly School Concept intoriendly School Concept intoFFFFFororororormal Tmal Tmal Tmal Tmal Teacher Education in Bhutaneacher Education in Bhutaneacher Education in Bhutaneacher Education in Bhutaneacher Education in BhutanRinchen Dorji*Rinchen Dorji*Rinchen Dorji*Rinchen Dorji*Rinchen Dorji*

*Lecturer, National Institute of Education (NIE), Paro, Bhutan.

EENET ASIA NEWSLETTER ISSUE 2, April 2006

Perched in the heart of the Himalayas,the Kingdom of Bhutan has a uniquehistory of development of a formaleducation system. In the early 1960s,Bhutan opened its doors to the rest ofthe world and the forces of change andmodernisation. Since the start of theFirst Five Year Plan in 1961 remarkableprogress has been made in the field ofeducation. Access to basic educationis now the right of all Bhutanese and itis the key to most of the nation’sdevelopment objectives.

The government aspires to developan education system which providesaccess to a free (at least at the primarylevel) and a wholesome education forall children. Formal education inBhutan consists of six years of primaryeducation (including one year pre-primary), two years of lower secondaryand two years of middle secondaryeducation, two years of highersecondary and three years of collegeeducation. The official age for childrento attend formal schooling (pre-primary) is 6 years. However, educationeven at the primary level is not yetcompletely free, neither is itcompulsory.

The concept of Child FriendlySchool with the five dimensions basedon the Convention on the Rights ofChildren (CRC) has been ratified byBhutan as one of the first nations in theworld. This has created newenthusiasm for improving theeducation system. Bhutan has known

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and worked with ideas such as caringschools, holistic education, wholesomeeducation, which all include aspects ofthe Child Friendly School (CFS) concept.

Including the Child FriendlySchool (CFS) Concept into TeacherEducation

Instead of introducing CFS as a new ideathe concept is being integrated into theexisting pre-service teacher educationcurriculum in the two National Institutesof Education. The UNESCO toolkit onInclusive Learning Friendly Environment(ILFE) is being used in teacher trainingas well as for the development of in-service teacher education workshops anda module on inclusive education/childfriendly schools for distance in-serviceeducation.

The existing pre-service teachereducation curriculum is currently beingreviewed and revised. It is understood byall involved that including the CFSconcept and ILFE into the teachertraining curriculum will help create abetter balance between theory andpractice in the different modules.Integrating the CFS concept into theteacher education curriculum will notjust only make future teachers consciousabout this concept, but will also supportthe nation’s developmental philosophy ofGross National Happiness.

How to Integrate the CFS Conceptinto the Existing TeacherEducation Curriculum?

The five dimensions of CFS are beinginfused into the following existingmodules:

(i) Child Development – Althoughstudent teachers are exposed todifferent aspects of child growthand development, the Conventionon the Rights of the Child (CRC) hasnot been discussed in the past. TheCRC will now be one of theintroductory topics under thisparticular module. Thus, the aim ofestablishing right based childfriendly schools will be addressedthrough this course in the future.The concept of pro-actively seekingout all children irrespective of status,background and ability (FirstDimension of CFS) will help studentteachers and practising teachers torealise that all children have equalrights to quality education. Theissue of gender sensitivity (fourthdimension of CFS) will also becovered in this course underIndividual Differences, which is atopic that is discussed at lengthwithin this module.

(ii) Learning Process – In thismodule the potential role thatfamily and community play inchildren’s overall learning will beemphasised more (Fifth dimensionof CFS). This will help studentteachers to bridge school learningwith other forms of learning takingplace in family and in thecommunity. It will also encourageteachers to invite communityparticipation in school activities,which will make children’seducation more contextual andrelevant (Second Dimension of

Inclusion of the Child Friendly School Concept into Formal... 51

CFS). The importance of providinga healthy and a protective learningenvironment in school (ThirdDimension of CFS) is also coveredin this module. This particularmodule will also table such criticalissues as how to make children’slearning more participatory andempowering.

(iii) Education for Development andBhutanese Education System –This course includes discussionabout the general background ofschool organisation. Involvingparents, families, and community(Fifth Dimension of CFS) ineducation is also covered underthis module. In general, parent-teacher conferences are poorlyattended either because they arebusy or because parents often feelintimidated by the school

authorities’ indifference orteachers’ unfriendly andunwelcoming attitude. Building aschool-community partnership,where parents feel accepted andinvolved as a part of the schoolcommunity – Schools couldexplore possibilities of tappingcommunity resources not just interms of cash or kind, but evenmore in using the availablecommunity knowledge and skillsin contributing to children’sclassroom learning.

(iv) Teaching Skills I and II andTeaching Strategies – These twomodules provide student-teacherswith the knowledge and skills oflesson planning. Gender sensitivity(Fourth Dimension) and qualityteaching and effectiveness (SecondDimension) will be better


integrated into these modules. Theschool being healthy andprotective (Third Dimension) isalso indirectly touched in thesemodules as part of effectiveclassroom management skills andquestioning skills, in whichteachers are expected to askquestions in a non-threateningway to make students feel at ease.

(v) Introduction to SchoolGuidance and Counselling –There are two introductory moduleson youth guidance and schoolcounselling, which comprises basiccounselling processes and skillsand some major theories ofcounselling. Creating a school thatis healthy and protective (ThirdDimension) and gender anddiversity responsive (First andFourth Dimension) is alreadyintegrated into this module, but canbe improved.

Practising What We Preach

The teacher training institutes inBhutan plays a crucial role inpromoting and strengthening theconcept of CFS based on theConvention on the Rights of the Child(CRC). The two teacher traininginstitutes in the country could reflecton its existing practices in the light ofthe following areas to see, if theinstitutes are trainee friendly.

How do trainees participate in thedevelopment of teacher educationcurriculum, e.g. in the present processof reviewing and restructuring thecurriculum?

How do the institutes involvetrainees in taking decisions that wouldaffect their life in the institute?

How healthy and protective is theenvironment at the institutes fortrainees? Are there written policies andregulations that support and protecttrainees’ rights, needs and welfare?

Do trainees have access to safedrinking water and adequate watersupply to maintain a healthy andhygienic lifestyle?

How healthy and hygienic are thetoilet facilities at the institutes?

How effective and relevant are theteacher education modules offered inthe different phases of the trainingprogramme? How do the institutesmaintain a good balance betweentheory and practice– both at institutelevel and related to school realities?

Are there gender issues at theinstitutes? How do the institutesaddress such problems and issues, ifany? How are gender related rightsprotected? What is the gender balanceamong trainees? Is this different forB.Ed., primary and secondaryeducation, and if so, why? Are supportservices (guidance and counselling)available at the institutes for trainees,and if so, how effective are these?

How do the institutes contribute tothe development of the community? Isthere any mutually supportivepartnership between the institutes andthe community?

Addressing these and other issuesat institute level and further improvingand strengthening existing practices

Inclusion of the Child Friendly School Concept into Formal... 53

would ultimately contribute to betterteacher education institutes for teachertrainees, which can pose as a model forChild Friendly School development.

Student teachers who have beentrained and groomed in a Trainee/Student Friendly Institute willprobably internalise the concept ofChild Friendly Schools more easily andimplement such an approach in theschools they are posted in aftergraduation throughout Bhutan.

ConclusionThe strategy adopted by the RoyalGovernment of Bhutan and the Ministryof Education to include the ChildFriendly School and ILFE concept intopre-service and in-service teachertraining has been very positive.

Further capacity building on CFSdevelopment has been officially takenon as part of the regular in-serviceteacher training, while the pre-servicecurriculum is being reviewed andimproved towards a more child friendlyschool development approach.

With the support from the RoyalGovernment of Bhutan with a vision ofmaking education more wholesomeand holistic, and transforming ourschools into places where children feelaccepted and trusted, irrespective oftheir socio-economic background,abilities, language, ethnicity, or otherdifferences and finally, a place wherechildren can find the opportunities todevelop to their fullest extent possibleis not far away.


1.The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)

Act, 1986 and RulesAct, 1986 and RulesAct, 1986 and RulesAct, 1986 and RulesAct, 1986 and Rules(Act No. 61 of 1986)

Be it enacted by Parliament in the Thirty-seventh Year of the Republic ofIndia as follows:

Comments

Social and beneficial legislation – Social legislation is designed to protect theinterest of a class of society who, because of their economic conditions, deservessuch protection. With a view to pass the test of reasonable classification there mustexist intelligible differentia between persons or thing grouped together from thosewho have been left out and there must be a reasonable nexus with the object to beachieved by the legislation.

The Court must strive to so interpret the statute as to protect and advance theobject and purpose of enactment. Any narrow or technical interpretation of theprovisions would defeat the legislative policy. The Court must, therefore, keep thelegislative policy in mind in applying the provisions of the Act to the facts of the case.

PART I

Preliminary

1. Short title, extent and commencement – (1) This Act may be called the ChildLabour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986.

(2) It extends to the whole of India.

(3) The provisions of this Act, other then Part III, shall come into force at once,and Part III shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, bynotification in the official Gazette, appoint, and different dates may be appointed fordifferent States and for different classes of establishments.

Comment

May and shall – Where the Legislature uses two words “may” and “shall” in twodifferent parts of the same provision, prima facie it would appear that the Legislaturemanifested its intension to make one part directory and another mandatory. But

Source: MHRD website: http://education.nic.in/Elementary/elementary.asp

[23rd December, 1986]

DID YOU KNOW

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 and Rules 55

that by itself is not decisive. The power of the Court still to ascertain the real intensionof the Legislature by carefully examining the scope of statute to find out whether theprovision is directory or mandatory remains unimpaired even where both the wordsare used in the same provision.

In interpreting the provisions the exercise undertaken by the Court is to makeexplicit the intention of the Legislative which enacted the legislation. It is not for theCourt to reframe the legislation for the very good reason that the powers to “legislate”have not been conferred on the Court.

In order to sustain the presumption of constitutionality of a legislative measure,the Court can take into consideration matters of common knowledge, matters ofcommon report, the history of the times and also assume every state of facts whichcan be conceived existing at the time of the legislation.

2. Definitions – In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

(i) “appropriate Government” means, in relation to an establishment underthe control of the Central Government or a railway administration or amajor port or a mine or oilfield, the Central Government, and in all othercases, the State Government;

(ii) “child” means a person who has not completed his fourteenth year ofage;

(iii) “day” means a period of twenty-four hours beginning at midnight;

(iv) “establishment” includes a shop, commercial establishment, work-shop,farm, residential hotel, restaurant, eating-house, theatre or other placeof public amusement or entertainment;

(v) “family” in relation to an occupier, means the individual, the wife orhusband, as the case may be, of such individual, and their children,brother or sister of such individual;

(vi) “occupier”, in relation to an establishment or a workshop, means theperson who has the ultimate control over the affairs of the establishmentor workshop;

(vii) “port authority” means any authority administering a port;

(viii) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under Sec.18;

(ix) “week” means a period of seven days beginning at midnight on Saturdaynight or such other night as may be approved in writing for a particulararea by the Inspector;

(x) “workshop” means any premises (including the precincts thereof) whereinany industrial process in carried on, but does not include any premisesto which the provisions of Sec. 67 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948),for the time being, apply.


Comments

This section defines the various words and expressions occurring in the Act.

Interpretation of section – The Court can merely interpret the section; it cannotre-write, re-cast or re-design the section.

Ambiguous expression – Courts must find out the literal meaning of the expressionin the task of construction. In doing so if the expressions are ambiguous then theconstruction that fulfils the objects of the legislation must provide the key to themeaning. Courts must not make mockery of legislation and should take a constructiveapproach to fulfil the purpose and for that purpose, if necessary, iron out the creases.

PART II

Prohibition of Employment of Children in certain

Occupations and Processes

3. Prohibition of employment of children in certain occupations and processes– No child shall be employed or permitted to work in any of the occupations set forthin Part A of the Schedule or in any workshop wherein any of the processes set forthin Part B of the Schedule is carried on :

Provided that nothing in this section shall apply to any workshop wherein anyprocess is carried on by the occupier with the aid of his family or to any schoolestablished by or receiving assistance or recognition from, Government.

Comment

This section imposes prohibition on employment of children in the occupation andprocesses specified in the Schedule.

Proviso – A proviso is intended to limit the enacted provision so as to exceptsomething which would have otherwise been within it or in some measure to modifythe enacting clause. Sometimes proviso may be embedded in the main provisionand becomes an integral part of it so as to amount to a substantive provision itself.

4. Power to amend the Schedule – The Central Government, after giving bynotification in the official Gazette, not less than three months’ notice of its intentionso to do, may, by like notification, add any occupation or process to the Scheduleand thereupon the Schedule shall be deemed to have been amended accordingly.

Comment

This section empowers the Central Government to amend the Schedule so as toinclude therein any occupation or process considered necessary.

Construction of a section – it is en elementary rule that construction of a sectionis to be made of all parts together. It is not permissible to omit any part of it. For, theprinciple that the statute must be read as a whole is equally applicable to differentpart of the same section.


5. Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee – (1) The Central Governmentmay, by notification is in official Gazette, constitute an advisory committee to becalled the Child Labour Technical Advisory Committee (hereinafter in this sectionreferred to as the Committee) to advise the Central Government for the purpose ofaddition of occupations and processes to the Schedule.

(2) The Committee shall consist of a Chairman and such other members notexceeding ten, as may be appointed by the Central Government.

3) The Committee shall meet as often as it may consider necessary and shallhave power to regulate its own procedure.

(4) The Committee may, if it deems it necessary so to do, constitute one or moresub-committees and may appoint to any such sub-committee, whether generally orfor the consideration of any particular matter, any person who is not a member ofthe Committee.

(5) The term of office of, the manner of filling causal vacancies in the office of,and the allowances, if any, payable to, the Chairman and other members of theCommittee, and the conditions and restrictions subject to which the Committeemay appoint any person who is not a member of the Committee as a member of anyof its sub-committees shall be such as may be prescribed.

Comment

This section empowers the Central Government to constitute the Child LabourTechnical Advisory Committee for giving advice in the matter of inclusion of anyoccupation and process in the Schedule.

PART III

Regulation of Conditions of Work of Children

6. Application of Part – The provisions of this Part shall apply to an establishmentor a class of establishments in which none of the occupations or processes referredto in Sec. 3 is carried on.

Comment

This section lays down that provisions of this Part shall apply to an establishmentin which none of the prohibited occupations or processes is carried on.

7. Hours and period of work – (1) No child shall be required or permitted to work inany establishment in excess of such number of hours as may be prescribed for suchestablishment or class of establishments.

(2) The period of work on each day shall be so fixed that no period shall exceedthree hours and that no child shall work for more than three hours before he hashad an interval for rest for at least one hour.


(3) The period of work of a child shall be so arranged that inclusive of his intervalfor rest, under sub-section(2), it shall not be spread over more than six hours,including the time spent in waiting for work on any day.

(4) No child shall be permitted or required to work between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m.

(5) No child shall be permitted or required to work overtime.

(6) No child shall be permitted or required to work in any establishment on anyday on which he has already been working in another establishment.

Comment

This section prescribes working hours for a child labour.

Provision if mandatory or directory – The surest test for determination as towhether the provisions is mandatory or directory is to see as to whether the sanctionis provided therein.

8. Weekly holidays – Every child employed in an establishment shall be allowed ineach week, a holiday or one whole day, which day shall be specified by the occupierin a notice permanently exhibited in a conspicuous place in the establishment andthe day so specified shall not be altered by the occupier more than once in threemonths.

Comment

This section lays down that a weekly holiday should be allowed to every child labour.

9. Notice to Inspector – (1) Every occupier in relation to an establishment in whicha child was employed or permitted to work immediately before the date ofcommencement of this Act in relation to such establishment shall, within a periodof thirty days from such commencement, send to the Inspector within whose locallimits the establishment is situated, a written notice containing the followingparticulars, namely :

(a) the name and situation of the establishment;

(b) the name of the person in actual management of the establishment;

(c) the address to which communications relating to the establishmentshould be sent; and,

(d) the nature of the occupation or process carried on in the establishment.

(2) Every occupier, in relation to an establishment, who employs, or permitsto work, any child after the date of commencement of this Act in relation to suchestablishment, shall, within a period of thirty days from the date of such employment,send to the Inspector within whose local limits the establishment is situated, a writtennotice containing the following particulars as are mentioned in sub-section (1).

Explanation – For the purposes of sub-sections (1) and (2), “date of commencementof this Act, in relation to an establishment” means the date of brining into force ofthis Act in relation to such establishment.


(3) Nothing in Secs. 7,8and 9 shall apply to any establishment wherein anyprocess is carried on by the occupier with the aid of his family or to any schoolsestablished by, or receiving assistance or recognition from, Government.

Comment

This section makes provision for furnishing of information regarding employment ofa child labour to Inspector.

Explanation – It is now well settled that an explanation added to a statutory provisionis not a substantive provision in any sense of the term but as the plain meaning ofthe word itself shows it is merely meant to explain or clarify certain ambiguitieswhich may have crept in the statutory provision.

10. Disputes as to age – If any question arises between an Inspector and an occupieras to the age of any child who is employed or is permitted to work by him in anestablishment, the question shall, in the absence of a certificate as to the age ofsuch child granted by the prescribed authority, be referred by the Inspector fordecision to the prescribed medical authority.

Comment

This section makes provision for settlement of disputes as to age of any child labour.

11. Maintenance of register – There shall be maintained by every occupier inrespect of children employed or permitted to work in any establishment, a register tobe available for inspection by an Inspector at all times during working hours orwhen work is being carried on in any such establishment showing –

(a) the name and date of birth of every child so employed or permitted towork;

(b) hours and periods of work of any such child and the intervals of restto which he is entitled;

(c) the nature of work of any such child; and

(d) such other particulars as may be prescribed

Comment

This section makes provision for maintenance of register in respect of child labour.

12. Display of notice containing abstract of Secs. 3 and 14 – Every railwayadministration, every port authority and every occupier shall cause to be displayedin a conspicuous and accessible place at every station on its railway or within thelimits of a port or at the place of work, as the case may be, a notice in the locallanguage and in the English language containing an abstract of Secs. 3 and 14.

Comment

This section makes provision for display of notice in a conspicuous place at everyrailway station or port or place of work regarding prohibition of employment of childlabour, penalties, etc., in the local languages and in the English language.


13. Health and safety – (1) The appropriate Government may, by notification in theofficial Gazette, make rules for the health and safety of the children employed orpermitted to work in any establishment or class of establishments.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, the said rulesmay provide for all or any of the following matters, namely :

(a) cleanliness in the place of work and its freedom for nuisance;

(b) disposal of wastes and effluents;

(c) ventilation and temperature;

(d) dust and fume;

(e) artificial humidification;

(f) lighting;

(g) drinking water;

(h) latrine and urinals;

(i) spittoons;

(j) fencing of machinery;

(k) work at or near machinery in motion;

(l) employment of children on dangerous machines;

(m) instructions, training and supervision in relation to employment ofchildren on dangerous machines;

(n) device for cutting off power;

(o) self-acting machinery;

(p) easing of new machinery;

(q) floor, stairs and means of access;

(r) pits, sumps, openings in floors, etc.;

(s) excessive weight;

(t) protection of eyes;

(u) explosive or inflammable dust, gas, etc.;

(v) precautions in case of fire;

(w) maintenance of buildings; and

(x) safety of buildings and machinery.

Comments

This section lays down that the Government is required to make rules for the healthand safety of the child labour.


PART IV

Miscellaneous

14. Penalties – (1) Whoever employs any child or permits any child to work incontravention of the provisions of Sec. 3 shall be punishable with imprisonment fora term which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to one yearor with fine which shall not be less than ten thousand rupees but which may extendto twenty thousand rupees or with both.

(2) Whoever, having been convicted of an offence under Sec. 3, commits alike offence afterwards, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term whichshall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years.

(3) Whoever –

(a) fails to give notice as required by Sec. 9, or

(b) fails to maintain a register as required by Sec. 11 or makes anyfalse entry in any such register; or

(c) fails to display a notice containing an abstract of Sec. 3 and thissection as required by Sec. 12; or

(d) fails to comply with or contravenes any other provisions of this Actor the rules made thereunder;

shall be punishable with simple imprisonment which may extend to one month orwith fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or with both

Comments

This section makes provision for penalty for contravention of the provisions of theAct.

Penalty – Mens rea – Essential – Penalty proceedings are quasi criminal proceedings.Before penalty can be imposed it has to be ensured that means rea has beenestablished.

Penal provision – Object of – The law in its wisdom seeks to punish the guilty whocommits the sin, and not his son, who is innocent.

15. Modified application of certain laws in relation to penalties – (1) Where anyperson is found guilty and convicted of contravention of any of the provisionsmentioned in sub-section(2), he shall be liable to penalties as provided in sub-sections(1) and (2) of Sec. 14 of this Act and not under the Acts in which those provisions arecontained.

(2) The provisions referred to in sub-section (1) are the provisions mentionedbelow:

(a) Section 67 of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of 1948);


(b) Section 40 of the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952);

(c) Section 109 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 (44 of 1958); and

(d) Section 21 of the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 (27 of 1961).

Comment

This section makes provision of penalties under the Act even when any person isfound guilty and convicted of contravention of any of the provisions of Sec. 67 of theFactories Act, 1948, Sec. 40 of the Mines Act, 1952, Section 109 of the MerchantShipping Act, 1958 and Sec. 21 of the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961.

16. Procedure relating to offences – (1) Any person, police officer or Inspector mayfile a complaint of the commission of an offence under this Act in any Court ofcompetent jurisdiction.

(2) Every certificate as to the age of a child which has been granted by aprescribed medical authority shall, for the purposes of this Act, be conclusive evidenceas to the age of the child to whom it relates.

(3) No court inferior to that of a Metropolitan Magistrate or a Magistrate ofthe first class shall try any offence under this Act.

Comment

This section lays down that any person, police officer or Inspector can make acomplaint regarding commission of offences. It also lays down the procedure fordisposal of such a complaint.

Court Duty of – The Court should meticulously consider all facts and circumstancesof the case. The Court is not bound to grant specific performance merely because itis lawful to do so. The motive behind the litigation should also enter into the judicialverdict. The Court should take care to see that it is used as an instrument ofoppression to have an unfair advantage to plaintiff.

17. Appointment of Inspectors – The appropriate Government may appointinspectors for the purposes of securing compliance with the provisions of this Actand any inspector so appointed shall be deemed to be a public servant within themeaning of the Indian Penal Code (45 0f 1860).

Comment

This section empowers the appropriate Government to appoint inspectors for securingcompliance of the provisions of the Act. Such Inspector is deemed to be a publicservant with in the meaning f the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).

Public servant – Every public officer is a trustee and in respect of the office heholds and the salary and other benefits which he draws, he is obliged to renderappropriate service to the State. If an officer does not behave as required of himunder the law he is certainly liable to be punished in accordance with law.


18. Power to make rules – (1) The appropriate Government may, by notification inthe official Gazette and subject to the condition of previous publication, make rulesfor carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.

(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoingpower, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely :

(a) the term of the office of, the manner of filling casual vacancies of,and the allowances payable to, the Chairman and members of theChild Labour Technical Advisory Committee and the conditions andrestrictions subject to which a non-member may be appointed to asub-committee under sub-section (5) of Sec.5;

(b) number of hours for which a child may be required or permitted towork under sub-section (1) of Sec. 7;

(c) grant to certificates of age in respect of young persons in employmentor seeking employment, the medical authorities which may issue suchcertificate, the form of such certificate, the charges which may bemade thereunder and the manner in which such certificate may beissued;

Provided that no charge shall be made for the issue of any suchcertificate of the application is accompanied by evidence of age deemedsatisfactory by the authority concerned;

(d) the other particulars which a register maintained under Sec. 11should contain.

Comment

This section empowers the appropriate Government to make rule for carrying outthe provisions of the Act.

Rules for effectuating the purpose of the Act – The general power of farming rulesfor effectuating the purposes of the Act, would plainly authorize and sanctify theframing of such a rule.

19. Rules and notifications to be laid before Parliament or State legislature-

(1) Every rules made under this Act by the Central Government and everynotification issued under Sec. 4, shall be laid, as soon as may be after itis made or issued, before each House of Parliament, while it is in sessionfor a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session orin two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the sessionimmediately following the session or the successive session aforesaid,both Houses agree in making any modification in the rule or notificationor both Houses agree that the rule or notification should not be made or


issued, the rule or notification shall thereafter have effect only in suchmodified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that anysuch modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validityof anything previously done under that rule or notification.

(2) Every rule made by a State Government under this Act shall be laid assoon as may be after it is made, before the Legislature of that State.

Comment

Under this section the rules and notifications are to be laid before Parliament ofState Legislature for approval.

20. Certain other provisions of law not barred – Subject to the provisions containedin Sec. 15, the provisions of this Act and the rules made thereunder shall be inaddition to, and not in derogation of, the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948 (63 of1948), the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 (69 of 1951) and the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of1952).

Comment

This section lays down that the provision of this Act shall be in addition to and notin derogation of, the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948, the Plantations LabourAct, 1951 and the Mines Act, 1952.

21. Power to remove difficulties – (1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect of theprovisions of this Act, the Central Government may, by order published in the officialGazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act asappear to it to be necessary or expedient for removal of the difficulty :

Provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of a period of threeyears from the date on which this Act receives the assent of the President.

(2) Every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is made,before the Houses of Parliament.

Comment

Under the provisions of this section the Central Government is empowered to removedifficulties which arise in giving effect to the provisions of this Act.

22. Repeal and savings – (1) The Employment of Children Act, 1938 (26 of 1938) ishereby repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken orpurported to have been done or taken under the Act so repealed shall, in so far as itis not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be deemed to have been done ortaken under the corresponding provisions of this Act.


Comment

The Employment of Children Act, 1938 (26 of 1938) has been repealed by this section.

Implied repeal – It is well settled that when a competent authority makes a new lawwhich is totally inconsistent with the earlier law and that the two cannot standtogether any longer it must be construed that the earlier law had been repealed bynecessary implication by the latter law.

23. Amendment of Act 11 of 1948 – In Sec. 2 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 –

(i) for Cl. (a), the following clauses shall be subsituated, namely :

“(a) `adolescent’ means a persons who has completed his fourteenthyear of age but has not completed his eighteenth year;

(aa) ‘adult’ means a person who has completed his eighteenth year ofage;”:

(ii) after Cl.(b), the following clause shall be inserted, namely :

“(bb) `child’ means a person who had not completed his fourteenth year of age;”.

Comment

Under this section Sec. 2 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 has been amended so asto define the terms “adolescent”, “adult” and “child”.

24. Amendment of Act 69 of 1951 – In the Plantations Labour Act, 1951 –

(a) in Sec.2 in Cls.(a) and (c), for the word “fifteenth”, the word “fourteenth”shall be substituted;

(b) Sec. 24 shall be omitted;

(c) in Sec. 26, in the opening portion, the words “who has completed histwelfth year” shall be omitted.

Comment

Under this section, sec. 2 of the Plantations Labour Act, 1951, has been amended sofar as it relates to the employment of child labour

25. Amendment of Act 44 of 1958 – In the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, in Sec.109, for the word “fifteen”, the word “fourteen” shall be substituted.

Comment

Under this section Sec. 109 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, has been amendedso far as it relates to the employment of child labour.

26. Amendment of Act 27 of 1961 – In the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961 inSec.2, in Cls.(a), and (c), for the word “fifteenth”, the word “fourteenth” shall besubstituted.


Comment

Under this section, Sec.2 of the Motor Transport Workers Act, 1961, has been amendedso far as it relates to the employment of child labour.

THE CHILD LABOUR (PROHIBITION AND REGULATION) RULES, 1988

G.S.R. 847(E), dated 10th August, 1988 – In exercise of the powers conferred bysub-section (1) of Sec. 18 of the said Act, the Central Government, hereby makes thefollowing rules, namely :

Comment

Rule-making power – The general power of framing rules for effectuating thepurposes of the Act, would plainly authorize and sanctify the framing of such a rule.

1. Short title and commencement – (1) These rules may be called the Child Labour(Prohibition and Regulation) Rules, 1988.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the officialGazette.

Comment

These rules have been farmed by the Central Government in the exercise of thepowers conferred by Sec. 18 (1) of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)Rules, 1986.

Rules – Whether validly farmed – The question whether rules are validly framed tocarry out the purposes of the Act can be determined on the analysis of the provisionsof the Act.

2. Definitions – In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires –

(a) “Act” means the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Rules,1986 (61 0f 1986);

(b) “Committee” means the Child Labour Technical Advisory Committeeconstituted under sub-section (1) of Sec. 5 of the Act;

(c) “Chairman” means the Chairman of the Committee appointed undersub-section (2) of Sec. 5 of the Act;

(d) “Form” means a Form appended to these ruels;

(e) “register” means the register required to be maintained under Sec.11 of the Act;

(f) “Schedule” means the schedule appended to the Act;

(g) “section” means a section of the Act.

Comments

This rule defines the various expressions occurring in the Rules.


Interpretation by a court – The Court can merely interpret the section; it cannotre-write, re-cast or re-design the section.

Otherwise – What amounts to – The words “otherwise” is not to be construed ejusdemgeneric with the word “circulars, advertisement”.

3. Term of office of the members of the Committee – (1) The term of office of themembers of the Committee shall be one year from the date on which theirappointment is notified in the official Gazette;

Provided that the Central Government may extend the term of office of the memberof the Committee for a maximum period of two years;

Provided further that the member shall, notwithstanding the expiration of his term,continue to hold office until his successor enters upon his office.

(2) The members appointed under sub-rule (1) shall be eligible for re-appointment.

Comment

“shall” cannot be interpreted as “may”

Proviso – In Abdul Jabar Butt v. State of Jammu and Kashmir, it was held that aproviso must be considered with relation to the principal matter to which it standsas a proviso.

4. Secretary to the Committee – The Central Government may appoint an officernot below the rank of an Under-Secretary to the Government of India as Secretary ofthe Committee.

Comment

This rule empowers the Central Government to appoint an officer not below therank of an Under-Secretary to the Government of India as the Secretary to the ChildLabour Technical Advisory Committee.

5. Allowances to non-official members – The non-official members and Chairmanof the Committee shall be paid such fees and allowances as may be admissible tothe officers of the Central Government drawing a pay of rupees four thousand andfive hundred or above.

6. Resignation – (1) A member may resign his office by writing under his handaddressed to the Chairman.

(2) The Chairman may resign his office by writing under his handaddressed to the Central Government.

(3) The resignation referred to in sub-rule (1) and sub-rule (2) shall takeeffect from the date of its acceptance or on the expiry of thirty days from the date ofreceipt of such resignation, whichever is earlier, by the Chairman or the CentralGovernment, as the case may be.


7. Removal of Chairman or member of the Committee – The Central Governmentmay remove the Chairman or any member of the Committee at any time before theexpiry of the term of office after giving him a reasonable opportunity of showingcause against the proposed removal.

Comment

This rule lays down procedure for removal of Chairman or member of the Committeeby the Central Government.

8. Cessation of membership – if a member –

(a) is absent without leave of the Chairman for three or more consecutivemeetings of the Committee; or

(b) is declared to be of unsound mind by a competent court; or

(c) is or has been convicted of any offence which, in the opinion of theCentral Government, involves moral turpitude; or

(d) is, or at any time, has been adjudicated insolvent or has suspendedhis debts or has compounded with his creditors, shall cease to be amember of the Committee.

Comment

This rule deals with the matter relating to cessation of membership.

9. Filling up of casual vacancies – in case a member resigns his office under rule6 or ceases to be a member under rule 8, the casual vacancy thus caused shall befilled up by the Central Government and the member so appointed shall hold officefor the unexpired portion of the term of his predecessor.

Comment

This rule empower the Central Government to fill up casual vacancies and it laysdown that the member so appointed shall hold office for the unexpired portion of theterm of his predecessor.

10. Time and place of meetings – The Committee shall meet at such times andplaces as the Chairman may fix in this behalf.

11. Notice of meetings – The Secretary to the Committee shall give at least sevendays notice to every member of the Committee of the time and place fixed for eachmeeting along with the list of business to be transacted at the said meeting.

12. Presiding at meetings – The Chairman shall preside at every meeting of theCommittee at which he is present; if, however, the Chairman is unable to attend ameeting, any member elected by the members present among themselves shallpreside at the meeting.


Comment

“Shall” – It is well-known principle that in the interpretation of statutes that wherethe situation and the context warrants it, the word “shall” used in a section or ruleof a statute has to be construed as “may”.

13. Quorum – No business shall be transacted at a meeting of the Committee unlessatleast three members of the Committee other than the Chairman and the Secretaryare present:

Provided that at any meeting in which less than three of the total membersare present, the Chairman may adjourn the meeting to a date as he deems fit andinform the members present and notify other members that the business of thescheduled meeting shall be disposed of at the adjourned meeting irrespective of thequorum and it shall be lawful to dispose of the business at such adjourned meetingirrespective of the member of members attending the meeting.

Comment

Scope of proviso – The scope of a proviso is well settled. In Ram Narain Sons Ltd. V.Asstt. Commissioner of Sales Tax, it was held :

“It is a cardinal rule of interpretation that a proviso to a particular provisionof statute only embraces the field which is covered by the main provision. It carvesout an exception to the main provision to which it has been enacted as a provisoand to no other.”

14. Decision by majority – All questions considered at a meeting of the Committeeshall be decided by a majority of votes of the members present and voting and in theevent of equality of votes, the Chairman, or in the absence of Chairman, the memberpresiding at the meeting, as the case may be, shall have a second or casting cote.

Comment

This rule lays down that the matters considered by the Committee in its meetingshould be decided by a majority votes of the members present. The rule further laysdown that the Chairman or in his absence the member presiding at the meetingshall have a casting vote.

15. Sub-Committees – The Committee may constitute one or more Sub-Committees,whether consisting only of members of the Committee or partly of members of theCommittee and partly of other persons as it thinks fit, for such purposes, as it maydecide and any Sub-Committee so constituted shall discharge such functions asmay be delegated to it by the Committee.

16. Register to be maintained under Sec. 11 of the Act. – (1) Every occupier of anestablishment shall maintain a register in respect of children employed or permittedto work, in Form A.


(2) The register shall be maintained on a yearly basis but shall be retainedby the employer for a period of three years after the date of the last entry madetherein.

Comment

Under this rule every occupier of an establishment is required to maintain an yearlyregister showing the children employed or permitted to work and to retain suchregisters for a period of three years.

17. Certificate of age. - (1) All young persons in employment in any of the occupationsset-forth in Part A of the Schedule or in any workshop wherein any of the processesset forth in Part B of the Schedule is carried on, shall produce a certificate of agefrom the appropriate medical authority, whenever required to do so by an Inspector.

(2) The certificate of age referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be issued inForm ‘B’.

(3) The charges payable to the medical authority for the issue of suchcertificate shall be the same as prescribed by the State Government or the CentralGovernment, as the case may be for their respective Medical Boards.

(4) The charges payable to the medical authority shall be borne by theemployer of the young person whose age is under question.

Explanation - For the purposes of sub-rule (1), the appropriate “Medical authority”shall be Government medical doctor not below the rank of an Assistant Surgeon of aDistrict or a regular doctor or equivalent rank employed in Employees’ State Insurancedispensaries of hospitals.

Comment

Explanation - It is not well settled that an explanation added to a statutory provisionis not a substantive provision in any sense of the term but as the plain meaning ofthe word itself shows it is merely meant to explain and clarify certain ambiguitieswhich may have crept in the statutory provision.


FORM A

[See Rule 16(1)]

Y ear………….

Name and Address of employer…...........................……………………...............……............................................................................. Place of work..............……………Nature of work being done by the establishment......................................................

Sl. Name of Father’s Date of Permanent Date of No. Child Name Birth Address joining the

establishment

1 2 3 4 5 6

Nature of Daily hours Intervals Wages Remarkswork on which of work of rest paid

employed

7 8 9 10 11

FORM B

(Certificate of Age)

[See Rule 17 (2)]

Certificate No…………..

I hereby certify that I have personally examined (name…………………………………

Son/daughter of …………………………………….. residing at………….....…………..

and that he/she has completed his/her fourteenth year and his/her age, asnearly as can be ascertained from my examination is……..................…………………………………….years (Completed).

His/Her descriptive marks are.................................................................................

Thumb-impression/signature of child………………………………………….............…

Place …………….. Medical Authority

Date………………. Designation


Supplement

The Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986

S.O. 333(E), dated 26th may, 1933 – in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section(3) of Sec.1 of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation)Act, 1986 (61 of1986), the Central Government hereby appoints the 26th day of May, 1993 as thedate of which the provisions of Part III of the said Act shall come into force in respectof all classes of establishments, throughout the territory of India, in which none ofthe occupations and processes referred to in Sec. 3 of the said Act is carried on.


THE SCHEDULE

(See Sec. 3)

PART A

Occupations

Any occupation concerned with: -

(1) Transport of passengers, goods or mails by railways;

(2) Cinder picking, clearing of an ash pit or building operation in the railwaypremises;

(3) Work in a catering establishment at a railway station, involving themovement of a vendor or any other employee of the establishment fromthe one platform to another or in to or out of a moving train;

(4) Work relating to the construction of a railway station or with any otherwork where such work is done in close proximity to or between the railwaylines;

(5) A port authority within the limits of any port;

* (6) Work relating to selling of crackers and fireworks in shops with temporary

licenses;

# (7) Abattoirs/Slaughter House;

$ (8) Automobile workshops and garages;

(9) Foundries;

(10) Handling of toxic or inflammable substances or explosives;

(11) Handloom and power loom industry;

(12) Mines (underground and under water) and collieries;

(13) Plastic units and fiberglass workshops;

PART B

Processes

(1) Beedi-making.

(2) Carpet-weaving.

(3) Cement manufacture, including bagging of cement.

(4) Cloth printing, dyeing and weaving.

(5) Manufacture of matches, explosives and fire-works.

(6) Mica-cutting and splitting.

(7) Shellac manufacture.

(8) Soap manufacture.


(9) Tanning.

(10) Wool-cleaning.

(11) Building and construction industry.

* (12) Manufacture of slate pencils (including packing).

* (13) Manufacture of products from agate.

* (14) Manufacturing processes using toxic metals and substances suchas lead, mercury, manganese, chromium, cadmium, benzene,pesticides and asbestos.

# (15) “Hazardous processes” as defined in Sec. 2 (cb) and ‘dangerousoperation’ as notice in rules made under section 87 of the FactoriesAct, 1948 (63 of 1948)

# (16) Printing as defined in Section 2(k) (iv) of the Factories Act, 1948 (63of 1948)

# (17) Cashew and cashewnut descaling and processing.

# (18) Soldering processes in electronic industries.

$ (19) ‘Aggarbatti’ manufacturing.

(20) Automobile repairs and maintenance including processes incidentalthereto namely, welding, lathe work, dent beating and painting.

(21) Brick kilns and Roof tiles units.

(22) Cotton ginning and processing and production of hosiery goods.

(23) Detergent manufacturing.

(24) Fabrication workshops (ferrous and non ferrous)

(25) Gem cutting and polishing.

(26) Handling of chromite and manganese ores.

(27) Jute textile manufacture and coir making.

(28) Lime Kilns and Manufacture of Lime.

(29) Lock Making.

(30) Manufacturing processes having exposure to lead such as primaryand secondary smelting, welding and cutting of lead-painted metalconstructions, welding of galvanized orzinc silicate, polyvinyl chloride,mixing (by hand) of crystal glass mass, sanding or scraping of leadpaint, burning of lead in enameling workshops, lead mining,plumbing, cable making, wiring patenting, lead casting, type foundingin printing shops. Store type setting, assembling of cars, shot makingand lead glass blowing.


(31) Manufacture of cement pipes, cement products and other relatedwork.

(32) Manufacture of glass, glass ware including bangles, florescent tubes,bulbs and other similar glass products.

(33) Manufacture of dyes and dye stuff.

(34) Manufacturing or handling of pesticides and insecticides.

(35) Manufacturing or processing and handling of corrosive and toxicsubstances, metal cleaning and photo engraving and solderingprocesses in electronic industry.

(36) Manufacturing of burning coal and coal briquettes.

(37) Manufacturing of sports goods involving exposure to syntheticmaterials, chemicals and leather.

(38) Moulding and processing of fiberglass and plastic.

(39) Oil expelling and refinery.

(40) Paper making.

(41) Potteries and ceramic industry.

(42) Polishing, moulding, cutting, welding and manufacturing of brassgoods in all forms.

(43) Processes in agriculture where tractors, threshing and harvestingmachines are used and chaff cutting.

(44) Saw mill – all processes.

(45) Sericulture processing.

(46) Skinning, dyeing and processes for manufacturing of leather andleather products.

(47) Stone breaking and stone crushing.

(48) Tobacco processing including manufacturing of tobacco, tobacco pasteand handling of tobacco in any form.

(49) Tyre making, repairing, re-treading and graphite benefication.

(50) Utensils making, polishing and metal buffing.

(51) ‘Zari’ making (all processes)’.

@ (52) Electroplating;

(53) Graphite powdering and incidental processing;

(54) Grinding or glazing of metals;

(55) Diamond cutting and polishing;

(56) Extraction of slate from mines;


(57) Rag picking and scavenging.

a. for item (2), the following item shall be substituted, namely:-

‘(2) carpet weaving including preparatory and incidental processthereof”;

b. for item(4), the following item shall be substituted, namely:-

“(4) cloth printing, dyeing and weaving including processespreparatory and incidental thereto:

c. for item (11) the following shall be substituted, namely:-

“(11) Building and Construction Industry including processingand polishing of granite stones”.

* Ins. by Notification No. S. O. 404(E) dated the 5th June1989 published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary.

# Ins. by Notification No. S. O. 263 (E) dated 29th March,1994 published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary.

$ Ins. Sr. No. 8-13 in Part A and Sr. No. 19-51 in Part Bby Notification No. S. O. 36 (E) dated 27th January 1999published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary.

@ Ins.Sr. No. 52 – 57 part B by Notification No. S.O.397 (E) dated the 10th May 2001 published in theGazette of India, Extraordinary.

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