Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 13: To ensure continuity in children’s education and their safe return to schools once they re-open, Magic Bus organized three workshops with 45 children of school and community of Jammu.
At each of these meetings, children discussed and outlined the safety measures and practices that would encourage them to go back to school. They discussed the importance of reopening of schools and adopting COVID-19 safety measures in schools and their communities, in the new normal situation.
In line with the organization’s larger goal of ensuring every child completes their secondary education, Magic Bus is hosting a series of presentations across the country, to capture the demands and inhibitions of children as they prepare to rejoin schools, once the respective State Governments reach a decision.
It will focus on how to make coming to school safe for children once schools reopen in the near future. Children put together a charter of pledges – a list of resolutions to ensure every child keeps learning, even at their homes.
In the next two years, Magic Bus will work on a COVID-19 Crisis Recovery programme which will focus on rehabilitating the incomes of 200,000 families, by linking them to livelihood options, so that 300,000 children, who are in danger of dropping out of school and getting pulled into child labour, early marriage or trafficking, can continue with their education instead.
Lakhwinder Singh, Cluster Manager – Jammu, Magic Bus, said, “Children from marginalised communities have been impacted the most by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has further worsened the learning gaps they are facing. These types of workshops will help us understand the expectations children have, with the reopening of schools. This is a step towards ensuring learning continues, children feel safe in their school environment and that they do not drop out of the school system.”
Magic Bus was founded in 1999 by Matthew Spacie. It is one of the largest poverty alleviation programmes in India, impacting 3,15,000 children and young people in 22 states and 81 districts.
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