Mumbai: Byculla jail makes space for babies

An Anganwadi teacher teaches students alphabets at the newly launched crèche facility by Byculla District Jail in the presence of prison superintendent Pallavi Kadam. Pics/Sameer Markande

It is around noon when we enter the newly inaugurated creche Nanhe Kadam Balwadi in Byculla District Jail. Juxtaposed against grim looking grey and off-white walls of the jail, it is a colourful room, reflecting hues of pink, yellow and green.

On the ground are seven students sitting on a mat, busy studying alphabets using a board game. An enthusiastic five-year-old Kavita Aggarwal is lifting the cutout of the letter D and placing it in its place on the board. She does well till letter O, completing the process of identification, picking and placing within a few seconds but needs some prompting by her teacher Jayshree Mhadik afterwards. "I remember only half of it," Aggarwal tells us later, adding "but I know all the numbers till 10." After her, it is the turn of four-year-old Hussain Sheikh who struggles after letter D and then it is the turn of Kavita's brother three-year-old Vishal Aggarwal, who has just begun to learn.

"The Anganwadi centre has been running here since 2013 barring a two-year break during the pandemic. It resumed operations in March 2022," says Mhadik, an Anganwadi worker since 2003, who looks after the students from 10.30 am to 1 pm, teaching them alphabets, numbers, poems, prayers and exercises and offering them a dry meal usually comprising puff ladoos. The space, she says, was revamped earlier this month to accommodate a creche. "Among the new facilities is a dedicated washroom for the children," she shares.

All the students barring two are dressed in yellow shirts, paired with blue tunic by girls and blue shorts by boys. The two students dressed in casuals are children of staff members, we learn, and soon there will be more of them as the newly introduced creche is dedicated to the children up to the age of six of prisoners as well as staff, making Byculla District Jail the first in Maharashtra to do so.

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The creche facility, inaugurated on January 13, is the brainchild of Special Inspector General of Police Yogesh Desai, shares Byculla prison superintendent Pallavi Kadam, adding that when it was proposed, a lot of staff members breathed a sigh of relief. "Some of them shared how they were coming to work leaving their children by themselves in a locked house or at a private creche. At least 10 of them have said that they would be bringing their children here," says Kadam, adding that it will be a voluntary decision of the prisoners if they want their children to spend time at creche or not. The day care centre, running from 8 am to 7 pm every day, will have two staff members for now, a caretaker and a primary teacher.

Back in the classroom, the children are a mix-bag. While a young child, who is the son of a constable, spent most part of the class crying and was sent here by the parents so that he gets "used to coming to a classroom, away from home and mother", students like Kavita and Sheikh can't wait to learn more. Seeing this writer taking notes, they asked if they could also use the pen and write in her notebook.

After writing their name in capital letters, Kavita was quick to notice cursive writing on the rest of the page and expressed her desire to write like that. Perhaps once the creche starts, students like Kavita would have a teacher to themselves for the entire day, helping them learn more and quicker.