School dropout turns rag picker

Visakhapatnam: Fifteen-year-old Jyothi has to wake up early in the morning and jump into the city dirtiest drain so that the early birds do not take away rag that would fetch her good money for the day. For a reason, she arrives late, most of the valuables would be e picked up boys and girls as misfortune as she is

Highlights:

• Her father becomes a chronic alcoholic and stopped working, while mother is mentally sick
• ‘’I have to compete with men and women and often abused for picking up some valuable scrap that would fetch some money,’’ Jyothi says
• There might be many girls like Jyothi slogging for supporting their families under harsh conditions in the absence of support from the elders or government agencies

Jyothi dropped out of government school at Gnanapuram near railway station before appearing for her IX class examination last year. The reason, her father became chronic alcoholic and stopped working and mother became mentally sick. She took up to rag picking after her eldest sister got married to her friend and left the city. Now she is helping her elder sister in collecting rag that would help them buying groceries for the day.

``I have to compete with men and women and often abused for picking up some valuable scrap that would fetch some money,’’ Jyothi told this correspondent.Talking on this to correspondent, Jyothi said she initially worked as a domestic help, but later started rag picking on the advice of her elder sister. Facing all the pollution on earth, she works throughout day under scorching sun to help the family.

“Had I continued my studies, I would have appeared for SSC examination and waited for results. I would have continued to study and become a lawyer had my father stopped quit drinking,’’ she said tears rolling down her cheeks.
There might be hundreds or thousands of girls like Jyothi slogging for supporting their families under harsh conditions in the absence of support from the elders or government agencies.

``There is no official record of school dropouts in the district. There could be scores since half of the population live in slums and some of them keep migrating to other cities in search of living,’’ said general secretary of Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation Venkatapathi Raju.

By Phani Saini