About 950 children of commercial sex workers (CSW), who stay and study at a night school in Kamathipura, might soon be without a shelter.
About 950 children of commercial sex workers (CSW), who stay and study at a night school in Kamathipura, might soon be without a shelter.
The school, which has been functioning for the past 19 years, faces threat of closure.
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the area alleged that the members of the youth Congress are lobbying against the school to shut it down.
Hoardings were put up and posters were pasted on the school walls denouncing the role of the NGOs in the area.
“The leaders have put up the posters, demanding that the school should be shut down. They want to put the school building to commercial use,” said Praveen Patkar from NGO Prerana, which runs the night school.
Around 150 minors sleep in the school, as they cannot stay with their mothers at the brothel. Besides, over 800 children of the CSW are also educated here.
“Closing down the school will expose these children to various abuses. Do the political parties want these young children to linger at the brothels?” Patkar said.
A sex worker said: “The only way to keep our children away from the grim business was to leave them at the night school. But now we would be left in the lurch.”
Before this night school started, the sex workers were forced to feed their kids with opium to put them to sleep. This made the children unconscious when the mothers dealt with their clients.
Amin Patel, the member of legislative assembly from the area, said the school was facing some problem after a portion of the structure came down in September.
“The school is shut due to its dilapidated structure. But I have asked the municipal commissioner to allot an alternative location for the night school,” Amin Patel stated.
He also said he would check if any such hoarding and poster has been put up in the area.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}