Parents of the supporting cast of 20 kids say their children were thrown out of school for non-attendance while they were away shooting
Parents of the supporting cast of 20 kids say their children were thrown out of school for non-attendance while they were away shooting
A group of Bandra east residents met MP Priya Dutt yesterday. They claimed to be parents of 20-odd slum kids who'd acted in Slumdog Millionaire along with Rubina and Azhar. They said their kids had been expelled from school because they were away for the film's shooting. And they also complained that their kids had not been invited to share the spotlight along with the other two
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The slum children pose for the camera as their parents can be seen arguing in the background at Garib Nagar, Beharampada |
The students range from third to fifth standards and their parents do not have paperwork from the school telling them of their children's fate. But they have approached Minister of Parliament Priya Dutt to intervene nevertheless.
"When I took my 10-year-old son Arbaaz to school earlier last month, the school teacher did not allow him to enter class. The same thing was repeated on three other occasions," alleges an aggrieved parent, Vilkir Khan.
She further complains that her son's idleness for over a month has had a negative impact on his younger sibling Afreen, 8, who refuses to go to the school.
Sayeeda Sheikh, mother of 12-year-old Sharukh, who hopes to appear for his fourth standard exams provided he is allowed to sit for them, stated that the children doing smaller roles in the movie worked for over eight hours a day and were paid a measly sum of Rs 50 as daily wages.
"The money was insufficient, and my son is not even studying today, so what kind of future are we looking at?" she complains.
Confirming the news, Priya Dutt stated that she had personally met a delegation of aggrieved parents and their children yesterday. "I will be talking to the school authorities to convince them to allow the children to attend classes and appear for their final exams, which are scheduled sometime next month."
Dutt adds that children were advised to come out of their Slumdog spell and concentrate on their studies.
"There can be no shortcuts just because a kid has acted in an award winning movie."
Airunisa Sheikh, a senior teacher from one of the Bandra schools stresses that under no circumstances should the children be barred from sitting for their exams. "As an exceptional case, the teachers can always spend extra time with the children who missed classes, so that they can catch up."
"School authorities should reconsider before taking drastic steps against bunking students, especially when they come from a lower strata of society, which has a significant drop-out rate," says Airunisa.
Sameerullah Khan, trustee of Maulana Azad Primary School, Dharavi, argues that a gap of over two months was not easy for the children to prepare for their exams and had nothing personal against children who act in movies, provided that it does not compromise their studies.
"It is vital to understand that the kids had gone virtually missing for over two months, without intimating the school or taking their prior permission. Agencies who run our kind of schools, which run or private or government funding are also answerable to the higher authorities and bound by a set of rules and regulations," he adds.
Similar sentiments are expressed by Prachi Redis and Lata Sirsat, two social workers attached to Community Outreach Programme, an NGO working for the welfare of slum kids in the adjacent Dharavi slums. "There is a fine line between kids working in films and exploitation of child labour, which is a sensitive issue and could be dealt with family counseling. Often parents of such kids can get greedy and once the euphoria ends, it is the child who suffers," says Sirsat.
Bhanuprasad Tiwari, who also runs a day care and child welfare center in Dharavi, voices his concern about the impact that acting in films can have on children as it tends to confuse their minds and divert it away from academics.
Ground zero
Within 10 minutes of this reporter walking in to the slum, a free-for-all erupted between several groups of parents accusing each other of gaining extra footage in the press.
Hasina Quraishi, grandmother of one of the child artistes who lead the brigade with a volley of abuses, claimed that a segment of the star cast was purposely shielded from press exposure by neighbours with vested interests.
"Paper mein sab bacche ka naam aur photo aana chahiye," she said, yelling.
A bystander calmly requested this reporter to return later as the commotion would carry well in to the evening:
"Jab se picture release hui hai, aise jhagde roz hote hain," he claimed.
In the commotion, it was Rubina, the young Latika, who stole the show with her attitude, as she continued to play with her new mobile, which she was clutching along with a wad of five hundred rupee notes.
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