Riot-hit Gujarat children face uncertain future in Hyderabad

Riot-hit Gujarat children face uncertain future in Hyderabad



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By Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad, June 30 : An uncertain future looms ahead for a group of Gujarat children who were brought here after the 2002 sectarian riots in that state with a promise of free education. The NGO that brought them here has suddenly shut down the residential school where they study, and they have nowhere to go.
The children, who were promised free education till Class 12, were shocked to see their school and hostel in the Tolichowki neighbourhood locked upon their return from Gujarat after a two-month vacation.
With nowhere to go, a group of around 45 children were forced to stay on the footpath for around two weeks. About 20 of them, including six who fell ill, returned to their home state while the others have decided to stay back here in the hope that the NGO - Muslim Educational, Social and Cultural Organisation (MESCO) - would admit them in other schools run by it.
The children who had to return to Gujarat include Nazim, whose tailor father was shot dead by the police during the riots. Nazim, who had passed Class 9, had come with his mother. He and the other children who returned were allegedly not given a certificate of their marks or a transfer certificate to enable them to continue their education in Gujarat.
Of the children who decided to remain, 16 were staying in Mehdipatnam in a small two-room house provided by a kind-hearted man. The children, aged between seven and 16, are feeling dejected seeing other children go to their schools, which re-opened early this month for the new academic year.
Another group of nine children is staying at another house. They have almost run out of the little money they had brought along. They told this IANS correspondent that they just don't know what to do now.
Taj Mohammed, the father of Class 9 student Irfan Siddiqui, has come from Ahmedabad to drop his son. He feels totally shattered. "The children were brought with high promises to fulfil their dreams of becoming doctors and engineers. In one stroke their dreams have been shattered," he said.
Giving reasons for the school's closure, MESCO secretary Fakhruddin Mohammed said that the lease for the school and hostel building had run out. The NGO offered to accommodate the children in another school, Al-Salaama, but said the children and their parents are not willing.
"The quality of education at Al-Salaama is very poor and the hostel there is already overcrowded," said Taj Mohammed.
"Our children have been studying in MESCO for five years. They want to continue their education. Why can't MESCO admit the children in other schools and hostels run by it," asked Ayesha Banu, mother of Class 8 student Mohammed Arif.
The parents alleged that though their children were brought with a promise of free education till Class 12, they were paying Rs.15,000 to Rs.18,000 annually for each child. "A few students were paying Rs.20,000 to Rs.25,000," said Nazeer Khan, father of another child.
"When they are not imparting free education to the children why should they refuse to admit the students in other schools run by them?" he asked.
One of the parents alleged that the NGO was running the school till the donations from various charitable organisations from India and abroad kept pouring in after the riots.
"They were running the school only to get the funds, and when the funds stopped coming from abroad they shut down the school," one of them said.
Nazeer Khan alleged that the NGO had sent back several children as their parents could not afford the hefty fees. One of them was Faisal, whose father was killed in police firing during the riots. The boy had to drop out of Class 4 two years ago as his mother could not pay the fees.
According to some parents, the school had closed due to an internal fight in MESCO.
"Director of MESCO Mohammed Azam and his son-in-law Fakhruddin Ahmed received huge funds in the name of these children. The funds were siphoned off," claimed a man who had played a key role in bringing the children to Hyderabad.
"The children who were studying with Gujarati as their medium of instruction had to struggle to switch over to English when they came here. Now if they are to return to Gujarat they will have to again switch over to Gujarati-medium schools," he said.
"After studying here for five years our children have attained non-local status in Gujarat. If they return it will also have a psychological impact on them," said Hafiz Suleman, who is from Gujarat's Mehsana district. (IANS)