Civic schools to provide shelter to street children

PUNE: In a bid to bring street children into the mainstream, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will soon provide them shelter and education at 10 of its schools.
The PMC general body on Wednesday approved the project and allotted Rs 10 crore for its implementation. The project is for children of single parents and sex workers, orphans and runaways aged between 6 and 18.

Under the project, about 200 unused classrooms in 10 civic schools will be converted into dormitories for the children where they will live and also be taught.

The 10 schools are located across the city in places such as Aundh, Ghole Road, Bhavani Peth and Vishrambaug. “Education and living space will be available on the same premises for boys and girls living on the streets. The civic administration will approach the state government for funds to run the project,” Sanjay Ranjane, head of the PMC’s urban community development department, said.

Civic officials said the PMC has joined hands with a non-governmental organisation and also with a corporate firm to launch the project. “The funds to run the project will be provided by the PMC as well through the CSR initiatives,” they said.

The proposal has been drafted on the basis of a survey conducted by the PMC in 2016, which had highlighted various issues pertaining to street children. The survey had covered 10,000 street children, half of whom were aged between 6 and 16, while 21% were aged between 3 and 5.

A majority of the children living or working on the streets are from the drought-affected areas of Maharashtra.