Will this mobile school become functional again?

CHENNAI: In 2003, in an inspiring tale of transforming lives, more than 100 youngsters who were forced to work on the Marina as plate-washers, sundal-sellers and as vendors, were given a new lease of life. While it did not require them to immediately give up their source of income, a new project gave them the opportunity of studying at a time and place that suited them - along the beach in a bus transformed into a classroom. More than 45 of those 100-plus students, who studied in these makeshift classes every evening under the Nadamaadum Pallikoodam project, successfully completed school.Today, even though education has been recognised as a fundamental right, there is no dearth of young workers and thereby cheap, obedient labour in common public places. The bus, which took the avatar of a makeshift classroom with a blackboard, is, however, stationed on the premises of the Corporation of Chennai. Will history repeat itself and transform these lives waiting to be changed? This is the question plaguing those who have seen the success of the abandoned project.Implemented under the Arivoli Iyakkam of the Chennai Corporation between 2003 and 2006, the project identified 106 children who worked as child labourers, selling sundal or washing plates, along the beach. Efforts were taken to make them attend classes, conducted every evening in the makeshift classrooms, in such a way that they underwent special training based on their age and were then enrolled into mainstream schools. “The children would work in the morning, and attend classes in the evening. This way, they could supplement their family income even as parents took time to stabilise financially and then send their children to school. The bus's outer side was designed to attract kids, while inside, the seats were removed and blackboard installed to facilitate students to sit and learn,” recalled D Revathi, the field officer of the project. When it was not used for classes, the bus would double-up as a vehicle to rescue child labourers, or organise study tours or picnics for the children studying in it, she added.The bus has had its share of success stories. A sundal seller R Manickavaasagan, who was picked up by the project when he was 13 years old, is today a second-year BBA student in Madurai Kamarajar University. He had originally been sold for `5,000 from Paramakudi and was brought to Chennai to work in the beach. At least 160 students are said to have benefited from this project. Among them,  45 went on to complete schooling. Today, the bus (TN04-F-7926) has been repainted to look like any other city corporation bus, has seats on it, though a logo calling it the Nadamaadum Pallikoodam (Mobile School) remains. It has been stationed in the premises of  Ripon Building. An official involved in the project said that the project could not be extended after the change of regime in October 2006. With the change in state government again, in 2011, can this project not be revived and the bus put to good use? Revathi asks.