When was the last time you took a postcard seriously?

While deciding for a campaign, always be flexible as it might be that you would have to change your approach.Example : Dwarka postcard campaign. Initially it was decided that we would go for RTE campaign and target 25% reservation for EWSchildren in private schools. But after initial surveys we realised that first the government schools need to be disciplined.More than 50 households were surveyed in the Bharat vihar colony, Dwarka. Since there were Nagar Nigam and Rajkiya Sarvodaya school in the nearby area, so the survey had questions concerning government schools in the area as well. While going through the surveys it became apparent that locals were more interested in issues concerning government schools.What also compelled us to shift our focus was the apprehension that locals had for private schools.Since the RTE was implemented this year only and it was not binding on private schools to accomodate all the provisions in the Bill,we decided to shift our focus from private to governement schools. Once clear in our approach ,the volunteers started visiting Nagar nigam schools in the area.Soon we realised that we were right in shifting the focus as issues ranging from makeshifttent classrooms to corporal punishment to unhygenic washrooms,came forth.
Leading upto the campaign was an extensive awarness campaign and eventually we ended up with 70 odd postcards from children.With help from jurist Ashok aggarwal, we took the issue to the Delhi government through the postcard campaign. A bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan (Delhi High court) converted the postcards sent by these students into a public interest litigation (PIL) saying "it is a serious matter'' since it highlighted the shortcomings in implementation of the recently enacted Right to Education Act and sought a reply from the MCD and Delhi government by August 18.
A final word of advice: Do not worry about the legal hurdles that might come up once the issues (Child Rights) are raised.Since its easier to tackle government bodies than it seems. RTI (though we didnt use it), local activists and little persuasion are all thats required.
(This article is by Dhruv Anand, one of the lead volunteers of Adhikaar - a CRY Dwarka group. The postcard campaign was highly successful. And that is an understatement.)