Social Contexts of Learners' Identities/backgrounds

1. Khushboo: Khushboo is studying in Class III in Experimental Basic School, C.I.E. In Class I and II she was performing well. But now her performance has gone down. Her brother, Deepak, has special needs. Both of them used to study in the same Class. Deepak by the end of Class I could not perform simpler tasks. Khushbo being in the same class could not divert her attention from her sibling. Her entire focus was on Deepak. Analysing the problem of the child the teacher (i.e. Deepti, also a part of this project) after discussing with the head mistress and other teachers suggested the parents to consult a counselor. It took a lot of time in convincing the parents and making them understand the problem of the child. The counselor recommended them to admit Deepak in some special school. The parents had to shift their house to a locality nearby the special school. They also took Khushboo with them to get her admitted in some nearby school there. But she was unable to adjust there. Then, they readmitted her to Basic School. This resulted in a gap of around 2 months, which affected her studies. But now again she was absent from the school. The reason being that Deepak was hospitalized due to the same problem. His condition got critical and his one side is paralyzed. Khushboo is very much attached to her brother. She is emotionally, psychologically disturbed due to his brother’s critical condition. Deepak is stable now but due to this Khushboo was absent from school for one month. Through this study we want to study how this has affected Khushboo academically and emotionally.

2. Ram Dev (10-11 year old child, working at a tea stall in the University near correspondence building). He came from his village, to Delhi, with his father to earn for the family. His mother and four sisters are in the village. His father is a ‘mazdoor’. He used to study in the village but now he doesn’t. He has a very smiling face. But sometimes his face looks pale because of being scolded by the tea stall owner. His job is to serve tea to the school, institutes nearby. That’s why he is a regular visitor to Basic school. He has minimal clothes. He does not have any warm clothes for the winter. One of our school teacher provided him with sweater. What is the life of this child? What is his future? Where are his dreams gone? What about his childhood?

On the one hand if there are children who are well protected by their parents, whose each and every single wish is fulfilled by their parents, who are untouched by the harsh realities of the life and on the other hand we have children like Khushboo, Deepak and Ram Dev who are struggling to live. These are the children who are truly marginalized. We would like to dwell deeper into their lives.

This paper is open for your suggestions. Please give your invaluable insights on this piece so that we can incorporate them to make it more meaningful.

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