Barsha Mondol, (Kolkata)

Barsha Mondol is a 3 year old child staying in the Mundapara community of Kolkata with her parents and elder sister. Her father, Sri. Ashish Mondol is a van puller and has a monthly income of Rs.2000/- approximately. The child’s mother, Smt. Anima Mondol stays at home and takes care of the children. Barsha’s elder sister is studying in a formal school in Std. III. The family was initially staying in the Hossainpur community. They found a vacant place in Mundapara and decided of building a kutcha house of their own. So, they have been staying in Mundapara for past 10 years.

Barsha took birth in a government hospital and had normal developmental milestones. She had never complained of any major illness till date.

The child stayed just beside the caregiver’s house and from there, Barsha’s mother came to know about the objective of the ECD Programme. She insisted on enrolling her child and Barsha was enrolled in the Mundapara centre of Aurobindo Chaudhuri Memorial Great Indian Dream Foundation on 1st June’2011.

Barsha was a very regular child in the centre. Except for any major problem, she never remained absent for a longer duration. Because of her very young age, it was difficult to retain her in the centre for 3 hrs. She would come everyday with the caregiver and would stay back for an hour and leave after that. During the activities, whenever she was asked if she would be able to complete the craft, she would confidently say ‘Yes’, but would have to be helped by the educator in completing the craft properly. Gradually, her tenure of staying in the centre increased and she would try to follow the lessons. Because of her age, she was a dear child to everyone in the centre. The other children would also pamper her a lot. Sometimes, she would stay back in the centre beyond the centre timings and go back to her house only after the caregiver had finished her work.

Changes were gradually noticed in the centre in terms of language development, participation, timings, socialization and initiative. Her parents were also satisfied with her progress.

Though the child was not ready for mainstreaming because of her age, she was successfully enrolled in the Madurdaha Satyabritti Vidyalaya in Std. I. Her parents told us that since they have monetary problems and they are not sure whether they would be save the admission fee of the child in the next year, so they had stressed on her enrollment. During the admission interview, Barsha was very smart and showed few crafts to the teacher which she had learnt in the centre. Her parents were very happy to see this.

We wish her all the best for her future and hope to continue our support for the child.