AAWC has been functioning out of the school since 1998 and specialises in helping children in the red light area through school and college so that they are not pressed into prostitution
Tremendous risk that beneficiaries may be lost to prostitution, says institution.
A non-profit organisation that educates commercial sex workers and their children is now the latest social institution to get a notice from the BMC to vacate its civic school premises. Apne Aap Women's Collective (AAWC), which operates out of three classrooms in a municipal school in Kamathipura, has been asked to move out by February 28.
AAWC has been functioning out of the school since 1998 and specialises in helping children in the red light area through school and college so that they are not pressed into prostitution from the pressure of their circumstances.
Its latest beneficiary is Shweta Katti, an 18-year-old who is currently pursuing a course in psychology at Bard University in New York on a scholarship. It was AAWC's hand-holding that helped her make the journey from Kamathipura to where she is now.
After Shweta completed high school, AAWC, which had been helping her since she was in class four, took her to 'Kranti', an NGO which educates and empowers trafficked girls to help them pursue further education.
AAWC has now requested for more time at its premises. "We were served notices last year. Now we have been told to move out by the month end. If we are forced to discontinue services at this centre, we face the tremendous risk of losing our current beneficiaries to a lifetime in prostitution. We should at least be given time till the academic year ends so that the kids don't suffer," said Girish Dand, Office Bearer at AAWC.
AAWC has provided educational and health services to more than 2,500 women and children, mostly victims of human trafficking. "We are proud say that many of our women have exited prostitution and found employment in professions like social work, tailoring, and agriculture. Among the graduates of our girls' programme, 100% have escaped prostitution by getting their Bachelor's or Master's degrees and by entering respected professions like accounting, hotel management, luxury cuisine, nursing, photography, retail, social work, and teaching," he added. The NGO now plans to write a fresh letter to the BMC.
In October Mirror had reported that more than 100 organisations engaged in diverse social-work realms - from empowering the disabled to providing free medical care - and running their centres in municipal schools across Mumbai, had been issued eviction orders by the BMC.
This move is threatening to derail the city's voluntary social service network.
Those issued notices eviction included some of the country's best known organisations such as the Helen Keller Institute for Deaf and Deafblind, Cancer Aid and Research Foundation and Alcoholics Anonymous. However, following the news reports, BMC stayed their immediate eviction and gave the institutions extra time.
Civic officials said that only NGOs and charitable organisations carrying out "educational activities" would be allowed to use municipal classrooms at a nominal rent. "They have been asked to move out as per procedure. We sent them notices and after considering their representation, an order was passed," said a senior civic official.
BJP corporator Manoj Kotak, Chairman of the BMC's Education Committee, said he would give AAWC another hearing. "We will give them another hearing. If the NGO is doing genuine work and imparting education or similar, allied activity, then it should be given some extension," Kotak said.
A non-profit organisation that educates commercial sex workers and their children is now the latest social institution to get a notice from the BMC to vacate its civic school premises. Apne Aap Women's Collective (AAWC), which operates out of three classrooms in a municipal school in Kamathipura, has been asked to move out by February 28.
AAWC has been functioning out of the school since 1998 and specialises in helping children in the red light area through school and college so that they are not pressed into prostitution from the pressure of their circumstances.
Its latest beneficiary is Shweta Katti, an 18-year-old who is currently pursuing a course in psychology at Bard University in New York on a scholarship. It was AAWC's hand-holding that helped her make the journey from Kamathipura to where she is now.
After Shweta completed high school, AAWC, which had been helping her since she was in class four, took her to 'Kranti', an NGO which educates and empowers trafficked girls to help them pursue further education.
AAWC has now requested for more time at its premises. "We were served notices last year. Now we have been told to move out by the month end. If we are forced to discontinue services at this centre, we face the tremendous risk of losing our current beneficiaries to a lifetime in prostitution. We should at least be given time till the academic year ends so that the kids don't suffer," said Girish Dand, Office Bearer at AAWC.
AAWC has provided educational and health services to more than 2,500 women and children, mostly victims of human trafficking. "We are proud say that many of our women have exited prostitution and found employment in professions like social work, tailoring, and agriculture. Among the graduates of our girls' programme, 100% have escaped prostitution by getting their Bachelor's or Master's degrees and by entering respected professions like accounting, hotel management, luxury cuisine, nursing, photography, retail, social work, and teaching," he added. The NGO now plans to write a fresh letter to the BMC.
In October Mirror had reported that more than 100 organisations engaged in diverse social-work realms - from empowering the disabled to providing free medical care - and running their centres in municipal schools across Mumbai, had been issued eviction orders by the BMC.
This move is threatening to derail the city's voluntary social service network.
Those issued notices eviction included some of the country's best known organisations such as the Helen Keller Institute for Deaf and Deafblind, Cancer Aid and Research Foundation and Alcoholics Anonymous. However, following the news reports, BMC stayed their immediate eviction and gave the institutions extra time.
Civic officials said that only NGOs and charitable organisations carrying out "educational activities" would be allowed to use municipal classrooms at a nominal rent. "They have been asked to move out as per procedure. We sent them notices and after considering their representation, an order was passed," said a senior civic official.
BJP corporator Manoj Kotak, Chairman of the BMC's Education Committee, said he would give AAWC another hearing. "We will give them another hearing. If the NGO is doing genuine work and imparting education or similar, allied activity, then it should be given some extension," Kotak said.
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