TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

PAGE NO.

INTRODUCTION

01-05

Review of Literature
The life stages of Adolescence
Scope of the Study
Objectives of the study
II

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

06-09

Sample method and Sample Size

Methods of Data collection
III

DATA ANALYSIS &INTERPRETATION

10-35

IV MAJOR FINDINGS, OBSERVATIONS , SUGGESTIONS &

CONCLUSION

35-40

REFERENCES..

41-42

ANNEXURE..

43-45

INTRODUCTION
The main aim of the study is to determine the demographic features and
occupational status of slum children. To understand what they hope for their future.
What are the problems and difficulties they face in their lives? Most of them are not able
to afford money for their education. Their occupation is of low quality. These slum
children wander for the work in the streets of the city. Most of the children are at the age
of 5-8. They have got tremendous talents and abilities but due to the lack of financial
provision they are unable to get good education, and lack to education their occupational
status is not good. Children are the center of love and affection. The child development
is important for the society. It is important for the child himself in the sense that he will
be able to perform his duties well. When he has a good health, a good mind and a good
personality, his development is good for the family as he forms a part of the family being
its members. His betterment is also the betterment of the society as he is the future leader
of the society. In this sense child is the most important element of society, so social
development of a child is also very important.
Review of Literature
Adolescents are often one of the most neglected and voiceless groups within our
society. They are either treated like children or nudged prematurely into adult roles.
Their desires and hopes for the future are now emerging form a status of childish dreams
and being subjected to the often harsh scrutiny of reality.
According to the United Nations, India is home nearly one third of the worlds
poor. India has to run to stay in place of poverty because there is so much to be done.
These adolescents have been so mistreated that in their eyes we discern, not the natural
innocence of childhood, but the fear and the deep, eternal mistrust of those forced to
spend their earliest years without parents, family members and loved ones, causing them
to be disadvantaged.

The horrors of their early years scar them for life.

These

adolescents, irrespective of gender, know nothing of the magnificent felling that is

experienced by those of us able to contemplate a future filled with possibilities (Personal
Communication, Dr. N. Ravichandran, and 12th March, 2002).

(Parakonath, 2000)
children.

children are more susceptible to exploitation than are slum

Trust in another is a quality the street children rarely exhibit, whereas slum

children show quite a good level of group cohesiveness.

The occupational status of the children is like tailoring, domestic work, wadi work,
selling goods, rag picking and many more.

Many adolescents are involved in

occupations that are daily wages.

According to Aptekar (2000) girls begin street life much later than boys, usually
often the age of ten years. Boys are expected to contribute to the household income and
thus many go to the streets to do so.
The appalling neglect to which adolescents are exposed is a tragic reality that
pervades our society. We see them rummaging in garbage for a scrap of food or groping
in the darkness for a place to sleep. Some of these children / adolescents, irrespective of
sex, are forced into addiction, prostitution, etc. Others, many of them young as five or
six, are forced to spend long, exhausting days laboring in filthy workshops as rag pickers,
scrap collectors, hotel workers, etc. many others work under conditions of slavery or
semi- slavery, with no legal or medical protection. Panicker, 1993.
The Life Stage of Adolescence
Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood, and life as an adult- it
comprises the teenage years. Biologically, it is characterized by the onset of puberty.
After puberty, a person is sexually mature and could potentially parent child. Socially,
adolescence is heralded by an increasing independence from parents as the young person
prepares to complete his/her education, to form sexual partnerships, and to seek some
vocation or employment. From a cultural point of view, the age set by a given society for
the rites of transition to adulthood could be perceived as marking the end of adolescence.
In general the ages between eleven and eighteen may be regarded as the adolescent
period (Hurlock, 1978).
The stresses and strains of adolescence have become particularly acute in modern
urban society. Adolescents show a vast potential uncertainty and ambivalence towards
the adult world. This ambivalence is manifested; on the one hand, it appears in certain
dispositions to accentuate differences between them and adults, and to oppose various

roles allocated to them by adults. It is therefore necessary to provide a context within

which adolescents can develop confidence, curiosity, self- control and capacities to
communicate and relate to others in their own special, distinct way (Hurlock, 1978:
Wolman,1998)
Scope of the Study
The researcher has selected this topic to find out the educational and occupational
status of street and slum children. What are the problems and difficulties they face while
getting the formal education and if they are unable to get education, what are the jobs
they undertake. It will help the researcher to know and understand the impact of not
getting proper education. There are few children who do get education but not higher
education what are their occupation.

The researcher also will help the street and slum

children to explore the future educational and occupational plans. Children are the future
of the society. Future reflects in children. The better the situation of children, the better
the future of nation or society will be. Therefore we need to pay enough attention for the
better study of education of the future. It is only by education we can build our future.
We need to take some effective steps to brighten the future of children and thus brighten
the future of the society and nation as well. The people who dwell in slum are migrants
from rural areas in the search of employments. There life is full of struggle uneducated
and poverty.
Objectives of the Study
To conduct socio - economy survey of slum children with reference to demograhic
features and occupational structure.

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