Kartik's Story

 

“My parents are not making me study,” Kartik says. “They send me to work. At work, whatever my employer orders me to do, I’m supposed to do, otherwise I’m scolded. But if I study, I’m thinking, I would like to be a teacher when I grow up.”

 

Kartik’s parents are daily wage earners whose monthly income is about $44. They say, “Whatever we get on daily basis is not sufficient even for a single day’s meal. We don’t even know when we’ll get our next meal as that depends on whether we get work. We wish that our children could get educated, but we don’t get paid on time, so we are forced to send our children to work. The condition of our family is not good. We don’t even have food to eat, so how can we send our children to study. That’s why we are putting our children to work—so that we can get a little money. Even if we want, we are unable to provide our children with books. If you have anything to give us, please do. Then we will be able to send our children to school.”

 

Kartik’s employer explains, “The parents of these children borrow money from us. When they are unable to pay us back, they put their children to work with us. At le