On the outskirts of Kolkata lie vast brickfields that have become home to many migrant communities. Families live surrounded by heat, dust and smoke, in makeshift homes built from tin, wood and broken bricks. The air is heavy with sediment from the kilns.
Each year, families travel here in search of work. Poverty leaves them with little choice but to continue this cycle of labour, generation after generation.
For many, work begins in childhood. From as young as five, children spend their days carrying and turning bricks in the sun, their small hands fitting easily between the rows as each brick dries.
For generations, children in the brickfields have gone without consistent access to education.
For most of her childhood, Ananya’s life followed this same pattern. Each year, her family travelled to the brickfields for work, and each year her schooling was interrupted.
Like many children here, she faced the real possibility of leaving school altogether.
That changed when Ananya found the Brickfield Schools Program.
In an open-air classroom beside the kilns, she had, for the first time, a place to learn consistently. Quiet and observant, she quickly showed an ability to understand and retain what she was taught.
Her teachers recognised this early. With their support, Ananya was able to transition into mainstream government schooling — a significant step after years of disruption.
Ananya will soon sit for her final year examination, an achievement carrying enormous significance. She will become the first in her family to complete a full school education.
Ananya’s journey shows the difference education can make. With determination and support, she is breaking the cycle of seasonal migration and building a future her family once thought impossible.
Your support today can give children in the brickfields the chance to learn, grow, and step into a future beyond seasonal migration and hardship.
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