World Student Community for Sustainable Development

by Dhammika Bokolamulla

Chalmers Students for Sustainability CSS wrote a paper about the education of Street Children in Bangladesh that will be presented at the Copernicus Conference that is held this summer in Pécs, Hungary. The hope is to implement this project with the help of Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).

A street child is any child who works and/or lives on the street. Often highly mobile, street children can alternate between living on the streets and living with their families. Children who work on the street may become involved in scavenging, begging, hawking, prostitution or theft to aid their basic survival. Some may only work on the streets during particular periods of the year, and attend school at other times. This makes it extremely difficult to estimate the total number of street children. There are, however, relatively fewer children who actually live on the street compared with those who use it as a means to earn a living. Popular images of street children portray them as vulnerable to abuse, at risk of poor health, exploited by older children or adults, and in some cases, at risk from vigilantes.

Additionally, there is a tendency to view street children as criminals, victims, or as free spirits. Whatever the reality, when working to improve the lives of street children, it is essential to work together with them to understand the reasons why they are on the streets or why they are at risk of finding themselves there. Every child has a right to grow up in a nurturing environment where they can realize their full potential.

The street, with the risks it poses, is not such an environment. The mission of CSS international project group is to give people in the developing countries, specially the street children the basic tools they need to work their way out of poverty. Providing the basic educational tools for poor people is only the first step in the social program lending them to work their own way up the economic ladder, with dignity and pride. With education, people can grow their own activities and start a new life.

In a world where three billion people live on less than $2 a day, it is import, in our point of view, to help and assist the most needed and vulnerable group of society in developing countries such as in Bangladesh.

There are more than 3 million street children in Bangladesh. Most of them are living in a very hard condition in big cities, such as Dhaka, in order to earn some money to survive, facing daily all kind of dangers. Fortunately there are some charity organizations in the country helping these children in different ways. Our goals with this project are:

- To establish a social contact with children through the charity organizations
- To Exchange experiences, information and knowledge with the people working with the charity organizations related to street children
- understand their situation, needs and create a mutual trust with them and their families.
- To provide the basic educational tools in cooperation with the charity organizations.

We students at Chalmers Students for Sustainability SCC want to create a sustainable global interaction with people far or close to our society. We know that there will never be enough resources in terms of donations or human resources to do this. That’s why CSS wants to create an anti-poverty strategy that is permanent and self-sustaining.