Maharashtra: Coronavirus robs parents of work, children of their schooling

PUNE: Shankar Patale, 9, and his sister Vedika, 8, children of landless workers from Mopked village in Nanded district of drought-prone Marathwada region, are happy living in Sinhagad Road area.
They have friends and they love the school run by Pune Zilla Parishad in Nanded village on Sinhagad Road. But the coronavirus may rob them of their small pleasures. They have to drop out of school as their parents get ready to return to their village.
“I like the school here.I want to study here. I do not want to go back to the village,” said Vedika. Her parents try pacifying her with the promise that they will enrol her in the village school. Neither Vedika nor Shankar are convinced.
“We need to move out at the earliest as my mother-in-law is ill and has nobody to attend to her,” their mother Shobha said.
Their father Balaji was not hopeful of coming back. “We have been working at construction sites here for five years. Each of us got Rs 800-900 per day. We could send some money and run our family smoothly. The biggest cost head was Rs 2,000 per month as room rent,” he added.
But construction work is at a standstill. “We have used up our savings. This city was kind to us for years, but life has become a living hell since March. We would be living in near poverty in our village but at least the risk of disease is not as grave there. We will be among our relatives and friends,” he said.
But Shobha breaks down just thinking about her children’s future. “ The situation is too adverse for us. The school is closed and we have not collected their leaving certificates. I hope God will be merciful, and we are able to start our life afresh,” she said.