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Mecca - Not just the land of prayers..

Lakhs of pious Muslims from all over the world go to Saudi Arabia during the 'Haj' season. But far away, in the distant village of Bengal, the "business" is booming and the means of profit acquisition are of the ugliest kind - it involves child-trafficking to the Saudi region; thanks to a nexus between Arab agents and touts in India.

The victims are children, with and without disabilities, who come from poor families from remote villages in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Most of the Indian children sent to Saudi Arabia come from districts like Murshidabad, Malda and Bitbhum, in Bengal, which have sizable Muslim populations.

Girls are sent as sex workers and boys who are skilled pickpockets are in demand. Crowded Saudi Arabia cities become a pickpocket's paradise, though their agents pocket most of their killings. A large number of handicapped children are sent to beg. Most of these children go on fake passports, accompanied by adults who pose as their parents.

Each of these groups posing as families has a women escort who herself is often a victim of trafficking. In most cases, the woman comes from a poor background and is unwanted by her family. In Saudi Arabia she will cook for the children by day and be a sex worker by night.

Although the trafficking takes place during the Haj season, "business" preparations are under way throughout the year. Each trafficking operation calls for meticulous planning. The child-trafficking racket, which has been flourishing for more than two decades, first came to light in 1997.

Muslim children, whether born handicapped or maimed by accident, are in demand by gangs of traffickers. For years unscrupulous people have made disabled children beg for money. Using such children to exploit religious sentiments of pilgrims is a huge money spinning operation and is inspired by religious fervour because devout Muslims donate generously to beggars.

The first step in the operation is the identification of such deformed and disabled children. Often a family might have more than one handicapped child, which could happen because of consanguineous marriages.

For such families, who live below the poverty line, handicapped children are a heavy liability and the proposition of their earning money abroad is more than welcome. The parents are lured with promises of large sums of money and a small amount is paid in advance before their children's departure, with the assurance that the rest would be paid when the child returns.

The agents for these gangs establish close personal ties with targeted families and often gain their trust by a display of affection and gifts for family members, especially the disabled children. Most often, such children who go to Saudi Arabia do not return.

Each child earns an average of Rs 5 lakh during the three months of the 'Haj' season. After the season is over, they carry on begging throughout the year. The agents grab the money they earn and often the children's families receive little or nothing at all.

Swapan Mukherjee of the 'Free the Children Movement' of Centre for Communication & Development (CCD), who has worked for the release of such children, said that a large number of children were kept confined in a small space. They literally become unpaid slaves.

They are forced to beg for long hours under any circumstances, else they are beaten up. They are beaten even if they collect less money than they are expected to. Mukherjee says that even if the parents report to the police, the cases are filed as a "general missing person".

Sagira Khatun, daughter of Amir Hussain and Bulkas Bibi, left for Saudi Arabia in 1997. She has not yet returned. Sagira, who was born handicapped, was eight years old when she left. Her parents' eyes swell up with tears when they talk about her.

Amir explained that he was in a hospital for a tumor operation and their financial condition was bad. A man called Murad Hazi had arranged to send their disabled daughter to Arabia to beg. Bulkas Bibi was promised Rs 8,000 and 30 gm of gold jewellery and paid an advance of Rs 2,000.

Bulkas said that he promised that to bring her back after three months but he returned without her. They lodged a complaint with the village panchayat, which made Murad sign a bond that until their girl returned he would pay them Rs 8,000 a year.

But Murad's father-in-law was an influential man and paid the police a lot of money. Sagira's parents have received no money so far and they lodged an FIR but the tout managed to secure anticipatory bail. He then said that she died of small pox.

Marina, when still a toddler, accidentally fell into a boiling cauldron of jaggery. She had severe burn injuries and her face was badly scarred. Her hands got twisted and fused with her breast. Naturally, the touts saw immense potential in her as a beggar.

About 10 years ago, in 1995, when she was just five, she made her first visit to Saudi Arabia. But she returned and thereafter, went there thrice. But recently, owing to the efforts of Free the Children India movement and assistance by an American schoolgirl, she underwent plastic surgery, freeing part of her hands from their mangled state.

Although naturally handicapped children are most sought after for begging sometimes a child might be deliberately maimed for the purpose. Little Bilkis was shoved before a speeding car and then sent to beg. Asmatara was doused with kerosene and set afire to disfigure her.

On the other hand, many children are tempted by the thought of earning big bucks abroad and are willing to go to any length to get there - or rather get out of the poverty they live in. Mukherjee also told about a boy who chopped off one of his hands to become more "desirable" by the agents.

Gullible parents are not only lured by false promises of fabulous sums of money but often, they are misled with promises that their children's disability can be cured by the holy waters of Mecca and Medina. Minor girls are trafficked for prostitution.

Two girls having the same, name, Mehr Unnissa, had been victims of the racket. The first Mehr Unnissa worked as a maid in the house of a tout, Samir Sheikh. His daughter, Lutfar, ran a prostitution racket in Saudi Arabia.

Mehr Unnissa was kept in a tiny room there and had to take between 14 and 16 clients everyday. She fled and surrendered to the Saudi Arabian police who sent her to India. She said that she got nothing for her work. Tout, Samir Sheikh was arrested but later released on bail.

Mehr Unnissa is still fighting the case though almost every day she receives threats to withdraw. The other Mehr-Unnissa was 13 when she went to Saudi Arabia. She said that she worked there as a maid. She was then sold to a Bangladeshi tout.

She was promised money and gold but ended up with nothing. After 14 months of slavery she fled and handed herself over to the Saudi Arabian police, who sent her to Mumbai, from where she was transported to a juvenile home in Murshidabad.

She said that after her return the culprit was arrested after a bitter legal battle. The CID took up the matter and a complaint was lodged with the governor. She said that in that year, 75 girls who previously used to beg and work as prostitutes had returned to India. She got married later and her husband abandoned her.

Now she stays with her daughter in Mumbai where she works as a maid. As non-government organizations (NGOs) spread awareness about this racket, the agents have begun to take more care - they operate clandestinely and each gang targets only one child in a locality.

Often they get minor girls married to their sons. These short-term marriages are briskly organized so that no suspicion is aroused while they are transported to Saudi Arabia.

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Inclusive Education: Request to deliberate on the needs of the profoundly disabled

This request, appeal, plea would like to focus the attention of the readers on some of the challenges and dilemmas faced by students with profound disabilities.

These students are marginalized within the disability sector as well, as they most often, cannot access the rights given to them under the People with Disabilities Act or the Education Policy stemming from the conferences which proclaimed 'Education for all' and the 93rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution.

Firstly, we need to look at what actually is meant by 'severe' and 'profound' disability. No clear-cut definitions or classifications exist. In India, every disabled person must have a disability certificate, certifying a 'percentage of disability', by a doctor.

Disability Certificate

Anyone who has more than 'one disability' (most people with neurological impairments do) actually cannot be classified. Classifications exist for people with disabilities in the areas of:
  • Locomotor
  • Vision
  • Hearing
  • Intellectual Functioning

Therefore, a person with cerebral palsy, with motor dysfunction (locomotor) and perhaps some associated sensory impairment (low vision, hearing) or a communication or intellectual special need falls under two disability categories.

There is a lot of confusion as to what the percentage of disability should be. For example, a person who is a quadriplegic (all four limbs involved) will have 80-90% disability. Then, if there is an added low vision problem the disability may be 60%. Such a person will actually have more than 100% disability and will of course, be termed profoundly disabled.

Actually, with motor dysfunction alone, the former label will apply. This person could be cognitively high functioning but that will not matter!

Neurological Impairments with Multiple Disabilities

There is a huge problem of students with for e.g., classic cerebral palsy - 'an intelligent mind trapped in a disobedient body' getting left out of the entire 'Education for All' campaign.

This is specially true at present under the SSA inclusive Education Module, where severely disabled children are being kept out and being sent to special schools in the district headquarters presumably to live in a residential place. And where are these special schools?

Twenty years ago we began our campaign against residential homes and for more community based initiatives. Are we going in circles? And are we once again going to start addressing the problems that came about because disabled children were kept in these homes, isolated most passively and as beings of charity?

The entire construct of inclusive education is based on not learning from experience. The experts say that instead 'home based work' will be done. Home-based work with disabled children is meant to enable and empower the family and the neighborhood. It is not an alternative to schooling and peer interactions.

Does it not become a human rights violation? In our work, we have included many students with cerebral palsy in mainstream schools. They have done extremely well, and have only needed a few adaptations of furniture, writing aids or mobility.

Actually, these children have fewer needs than students with many other disabilities. Two case studies to enumerate this:

  1. Rajeev, a wheelchair user, has athetoid cerebral palsy, speech impairment and poor hand function. His percentage of disability is stated at 90%. He would normally have not got admission in a school, college or a job. (The special employment exchanges are also very doubtful of any jobs for the severely disabled). He managed well in a mainstream school because of a sensitive Principal who was willing to hear us out. He had a special chair and table and a volunteer scribe. He did well in school and college, and is a graduate and heads the Advocacy Unit in our center. Many of our students who have been to mainstream schools, have now got together and formed a Forum for people with Cerebral Palsy, to create awareness about their needs and abilities. Many students who have special transport needs are getting left out of the education system because they have been labeled severely disabled.

  2. Murugan, a 12 year-old with muscular dystropy, spends his day sitting outside his hut in Pudukottai district in Tamil Nadu. He lives alone with his mother, who is an agriculture labourer. He tells me he wants to go to school, in fact dreams about it. His mother shows me, his wheelchair - a large steel monstrosity, the treasure given to her by the District Rehabilitation Officer. They have requested for a concrete house nearby which has a verandah to keep the wheelchair and protect it from rain. She says that though she has the wheelchair she does not have the time to push him to school, six kilometers away. If she does not work, they would not have anything to eat. She cannot find anyone in the village, who will push him to school, through the 'kutcha' bumpy lanes. Murugan's basic human right of schooling is not possible in this DPEP block in Pudukottai district, despite the two government schemes, of wheelchair provision and inclusion of children with special needs.

There are many Murugans in our villages. Perhaps, they need more innovative methods to get their rights. The Act has provision for transportation for children to go to school. Neurological Impairments with Multiple Disabilities and Mental Retardation Once again, for the disability certificates, there is a major question of IQ scores.

Government doctors insist on it, though all over the world they are no longer valid, since they do not adequately show a person's cognitive abilities. This is specially true for cerebral palsy where many students have visuo-motor damage and the test is mostly visuo-motor.

Therefore it does not give the correct picture. These students are most certainly regarded as severe or profoundly disabled and cannot be part of the inclusive Education programme. We have had many children come to us with extremely low scores, but have done well in learning.

In fact we have one child Priya who was labeled Mentally Retarded (MR) but is now in college. Our experience also shows that students who are in resource rooms were following extremely unchallenging curricula because of the label of IQ scores.

When placed in a classroom, they start learning concepts and facts; we think they are not capable of. The argument that is often respected is that, "We don't want to dump our children in a classroom, where they will not benefit" and "How will the teacher manage?"

These are the two questions that we need to address to ourselves, if we believe in equity and inclusion, and in child rights. Lets take the first argument of 'dumping children'. Research shows that children learn best from peer interactions. Why deprive the profoundly disabled of peers?

There is a fear, that they will be teased and bullied. Of course, they will be as long as they are kept apart and isolated, kept as students who are different and not capable of being part of the community. If we are committed to creating awareness and sensitivity to differences, then that is only possible when all children live, learn and play together and understand sharing and collaboration.

When adequately sensitized, children without disabilities can be extremely caring. In one school where we have included our students, when the lift was not working and the wheelchair users could not access the library on the third floor, the whole class decided to stay downstairs and work instead.

'Dumping' or 'inclusion' will depend on the schools vision of education. Do they want to create a Darwinian Model where only the fittest survive? Where anybody who is different is isolated and there is a worship of uniformity?

Or do they want a school, where diversity is welcomed and each person regarded a valuable member. But, more importantly, to address the real big question… How will the teacher manage? My appeal to all comrades and colleagues is to reflect, because I think time is ripe for all of us in the field of education to take a long hard look at the system and advocate the much needed changes.

All of us are aware that research in education show that generally 18% of students in any classroom are not able to cope with the curriculum. It is ironic that when we meet many government school teachers we find that they have much training behind them. They know strategies of joyful learning and child centered pedagogy.

They are, however 'prisoners' of the system and bound by curriculum and examination schedules. Whatever the system, let us attempt to define what the ultimate goal of ten years of schooling should be:

  • When children leave school, they should be excited about the world around them, and have a sense of curiosity
  • They should know where to access information from for whatever they want to pursue.
  • They should imbibe values like honesty, caring and sharing , being proactive and developing skill to work together in a team and thereby help in the building of a community, a nation , a world
  • Have high self-esteem.

If these be some of our goals, then a rat race to top an exam, jealousy among peers and obsession with cramming many facts for short term memory, do not really meet the needs.

Inclusive Education is not a medical prescription of injecting some disabled children into mainstream schools, but about WHOLE SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT and perhaps whole education system development - where each one can enrich the other.

The profoundly disabled student can participate in a classroom which has a flexible curriculum and examination system (which the law already provides) and child centered strategies for learning, based on understanding like peer tutoring and participatory and experiential learning.

There may not be many cases to site just yet, since the will has been lacking. Inclusion of all children into the education system is a human right. Profoundly disabled children must not so easily be marginalized in government meetings, intellectual forums and in the inclusive education programmes.

It is the right of all children including the severely and profoundly disabled, to be part of the mainstream education system. In the Indian context, I would like to quote a lawyer friend, whose work I respect very much: 'Human rights are not on the agenda of the Indian social and culture consciousness, except for a few people who have been lucky to escape the traditional conditioning'.

I think, I agree with him. In India the focus is on the social space one occupies, which may be by birth or by having worked into the establishment. To restore humanity to ourselves, we must be willing to ask ourselves questions, which are hard and difficult.

We must be willing to create a space for children, who are labeled severe and profoundly disabled. I would like to end by a poem by Stephen Evin Tyrwhitt, who is a disabled person. We use this as a mantra in our work.

- Poonam Natrajan

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MY RIGHTS

I have the right to FREEDOM and freedom's song is laughter.

I have the right to GROW and become myself through changing.

I have the right to LEARN and find the paths to understanding.

I have the right to SPEAK and make and share my meaning.

I have the right to SILENCE and in quiet still to listen.

I have the right to LOVE and the warmth of giving and receiving

I have the right to WORK and through creation state my purpose

I have the right to SPACE and to breathe, move and make my way.

I have the right to RESPECT and so in others find my equal.

I have the right to CHOOSE and so act out my independence.

I have the right to HARMONY and thus peace with nature and mankind.

I have the right to BE ALONE and also and equally to be together.

I have the right to LIFE and dear friend, so do you.

By Stephen Evin Tyrwhitt,
28 May 1987

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