DEV NARAYAN SAH
SIRAHA, Feb 24 - Eight-year-old Mithilesh Kumar Mukhiya of
Hanumannagar VDC-9, Siraha, is leaving for Rajasthan, India, on Friday
to work in a hotel to support his family of six.
Sikandar, his father says he wanted to send his children to school but
life never pans out as planned.
"My earnings alone cannot support my family of six. I had no option
but to send Mithilesh to India where he could earn some money," he
lamented.
Not only Mithilesh, nine others -- of whom five are between ages
eight to 12 -- are also accompanying him. Suresh Mukhiya, also from
the same village, is taking them to Rajasthan for work. According to
Suresh, all the children will be employed in hotels to do the dishes
and mop floors.
"They will be paid monthly IRs. 1,200 to IRs.1,500 according to age,"
he said.
He also revealed that he has employed more than 60 children of his
village in various hotels and houses in Rajasthan so far.
Mithilesh, a third grader at local Narahiya Sundarpur Primary School,
dreamt of becoming an educated and successful man, but he had to let
go off his dream as his father told him he was unable to pay for
schooling any more.
"I want to study but my father says he cannot afford my education," he
said as tears rolled down his cheeks. He does not know of the
suffering that awaits him in a foreign land full of strangers.
Mohammad Manif Rain, principal of Narahiya Sundarpur Primary School,
says many children in the village, especially from the impoverished
Dalit community, leave their studies and go to India to earn money.
Many children from Hanumannagar VDC have gone to places like Punjab,
Haryana and New Delhi of India for employment. Besides Hanumannagar,
children from neighbouring Krishnapur, Aurahi, Bhagwanpur and
Nawarajpur VDCs have also been going to India to work in hotels and
factories.
Ganga Prasad Sah, a local says, "The whole trend of children going to
India for work is due to poverty. Unless there is effective poverty
alleviation programme, the government will fail to achieve the goal of
its recent policy of educating everyone within two years."
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