As the tiny hands wrote and raised the slogans, the elders joined in to add force to their demands for their right to education. Children of the Rishi, Saday and Manjhi communities (Mahadalit) in six panchayats in Rohtas district convened an awareness rally, supported by the Buxar Diocesan Social Service Society, on February 25-27, 2019, Bihar. As these young advocates marched past the villages and schools they called on the attention of school and local administration towards their plight and dreams to educate themselves. The gaps in securing the entitlements provisioned by the Right to Education (RTE) Act and systemic barriers that impede children’s education were voiced. These voices were supported by public school teachers, members of the Mothers’ Collectives and community at large. The children handed over their demand to the Mukhiya (Panchayat president) for a community hall, and space to run complementary education centres that aim at helping children with their syllabus, under the ROSHNI programme of Caritas India. Concerns over feeble School Management Committees and School Development Plans were shared with the school headmasters by the mothers of the children, supported by Roshni animators.

Addressing the gathering of young and old, the school headmaster of village Capaciya reaffirmed the role of a teacher and school administration in ensuring no child is left uneducated. “Roshni pariyojna hi inn dalit baccho ke Jeevan ko andhakkar se prakash ke or le aaya hai” (ROSHNI has directed the lives of Dalit children from darkness to light), he said. The rally covered six panchayats and culminated with commitments from tola sewaks and school teachers to conduct their responsibilities diligently. It was also decided that a delegation of children would meet Block Education Officer of Kochas Block in days to come and escalate their demands and concerns to the official. Such efforts in the recent past have resulted in sanctioning of mini-anganwadis and ICDS centres under Roshni.

The awareness rally received greater public attention and commitment from the duty bearers and the community itself for children’s education and protection, considering the persisting practice of child marriage in the community. Roshni has been able to procrastinate child marriages in areas of its operation, though it continues to fight the evil owing to several social, cultural and economic factors that overwhelm the efforts. 

Roshni, meaning light, is an educational and nutritional empowerment programme for children of Rishi, Saday and Manjhi communities that are officially recognised as Mahadalit communities, figuring poorly on various human development indices. The programme’s thrust areas include strengthened implementation of the Right to Education Act, and other health and nutrition development programmes of the Government for early childhood care and education; rights awareness, and overall empowerment of the community to support families in ensuring child protection and development. The programme is implemented in Purnea, Rohtas, Munger, and Madhubani districts of Bihar