Right to education will rid South Mumbai of child beggars

In an ambitious project aimed at ensuring South Mumbai remains free of child beggars, the Mumbai Child Welfare Committee (CWC) plans to send all such kids to a residential school and provide them with their fundamental right to education. The CWC recently sent their project proposal to the Women and Child Women Development department.

The CWC has begun work on the project which will be implemented between Colaba and Dadar. “There are still children out on the streets begging when they should be attending school. We have rescued 30 children from the streets with the help of NGO Salam Balak. Once we get custody of the children, we have a rehabilitation plan for them. We will send them to a residential school,” CWC chairperson Dr Shaila Mhatre told DNA.

Realising the need for active citizen participation to make the project a success, they have invited people to help them identify such children.

She added: “Without public help, we cannot succeed in this project. People should not give alms to child beggars because that way they indirectly encourage parents to send the child to beg. If the child has parents, we counsel them. If the parents claim that their child goes to school, we check with the institute before returning the kid to the family.”