Operating in five slums, spread around Calcutta, the emphasis of thiseducational programme is learning through games. ``Sports is being used likea fishing net to attract the children to school. It also helps in instillingdiscipline in them, wean them away for wasting time on the streets and givethem a zest for life,'' says Shubhra Chatterji, director of VikaramshilaEducation Resource Society, which is executing the education project for theCalcutta Police.

The concept for the sports-in-education has come from the German government,with its technical advisory wing, GTZ, giving these inputs to theorganisation. Sports here does not mean learning a particular racquet orball but it is based more on learning coordination skills and motordevelopment before they are actually trained in any sport. ``Small games areplayed using balls, cycle tyres, and other inexpensive equipment thatintroduce the children to sports. This programme starts for children fromthe age of three and goes up to the age of 11 before formal training in aparticular game begins,'' says Chatterji. The games too have to be carefullydevised considering the space constraints and operational milieu of theslums. ``These cannot be elaborate games, and have to be simple and yetimpart skills to the children,'' says Chatterji. For example, children aretaught different ways of bouncing a ball, and using the cycle tyres they aretaught some basic gymnastics and different ways of jumping.

In fact, the results are already beginning to show. In St Xavier's School,where slum children are taught in the school's social development wing,Titili, a couple of these children have proved to be good athletes. Says ABruylants, school headmaster: ``During the annual sports meet of our school,I found some of these children to be very good athletes. And we are going topick them up for more training.'' One of the children, Mohammed Sahib, whoused to be a vagabond until he joined the Calcutta Police's educationproject at the Narkeldanga police station, says: ``Though I continue workingin a chappal factory after school, I have learnt many things here.''

Admittedly, sports have been a big drawing factor for these children, butthe project heads are aware that just sports is not enough. ``We see sportsas a critical and enticing incentive to wean children away from the streetsand work but at the same time sports alone cannot guarantee that they willcontinue to study,'' says Chatter. The combination of sports, education andskills training would be the `golden triangle' of incentives for thesechildren, she adds. Informal vocational training centers are slowly beingintroduced. The training is not hi-tech but instead the concentration is ontraining them in simpler fields like plumbing, carpentry, electrical workand masonry, for the boys. The girls, however, are trained in home skills,preservation of food products, radio assembly and other similar areas, whichare more acceptable to the community.

A small change in the education strategy with the introduction of sports isbeing seen as an important achievement with little financial input but withmuch more commitment from the children.