#GivingTuesday – Relentless Efforts Helped Shravan Pursue His Higher Education

Rescuing from the potential harm at the Railway Station

In the month of May 2019, one of our outreach workers spotted Shravan along with his friends at Salem junction. They looked like they had lost their way; hence, we probed further and found that the group was out looking to buy a mobile phone, but their parents were unaware about their whereabouts. Our team immediately contacted Shravan’s parents and informed them that their son was rescued by our team and was safe. On the same day, following counselling by one of our social workers, Shravan was reunited with his parents.

Timely counselling for Shravan

During the counselling session, further details about his family background were revealed to us. Selvam and Allirani, Shravan’s parents, were daily wage labourers. He had an elder sister, who was married, and a younger sister who was a student. Shravan had taken his 10^th grade exam and was awaiting his results. He was planning to get a diploma in Electrical & Mechanics. After knowing his background, our team at the Child Help Desk counselled him, explained to him the dangers of child trafficking and child labour, and motivated him to study with complete dedication for a fulfilling future.

Extensive follow-up results in Shravan securing admission in his desire course

During our first follow-up immediately after restoration, we found that Shravan, having failed in 4 subjects, had not cleared his exams. He was planning to
re-write his exams in October 2019; however, during our repeated follow-ups we saw that Shravan wasn’t committed to his studies. He would idle away his time at home.

With the onset of the pandemic, we at Railway Children India (RCI) intensified our follow-ups in order to help children and their families. During one such follow-up at Shravan’s home, we found that his family’s economic condition was deteriorating. His parents were finding it difficult to make ends meet like several other labourers. To add to their woes, his family did not have Ration cards or Aadhar cards, making it difficult for them to avail any government aid.
Our team extended support to the family, over the span of the lockdown, by providing dry groceries to their family with the support of local donors. Additionally, we helped the family in applying for their Ration cards and
Aadhar cards.

We soon moved our focus on Shravan. He shared that he was interested getting vocational training; hence, we motivated and supported him in applying for a diploma course in a government-run Industrial Training Institute (ITI) at Salem. RCI’s team guided him throughout the process of his admissions. From helping him secure his 8^th grade mark sheet from his school, counselling, online certificate verification, to finally securing an admission in the ITI for a Diploma in Steel & Metals on 30^th September 2020.