Slumkid Reporters
Mary-Ann Ochota and Director Suzie Samant
meet Delhi's remarkable young reporters who run the only newspaper written for
and by street children in India.
The team meets Vijay Kumar, who is 18 and the Chief Reporter for Balaknama – or “Children’s voice”. He joined the paper after being encouraged to learn to read and write by his mum, and in the process has transformed himself from child delinquent to campaigning journalist. Vijay tells Ochota that he wants to give power to children whose stories don’t get told and who wouldn’t trust reporters from mainstream publications. “A child talks to us because we’ve also lived this life,” he says.
One of the articles Vijay wants to write is about why street kids don’t have the same opportunities as everyone else. An issue he’s keen to explore is the barriers faced by those children who don’t have official ID – such as being refused admission to schools which could provide an escape from a life on the streets. “In the eyes of the government they don’t exist,” he tells Ochota. “These children are like ghosts.”
The Unreported
World team attends Vijay’s editorial with his reporters - slum children
from across Delhi. The story ideas for the next edition come straight from their
personal experience, for example recent beatings by police or homes being
flooded.
On the other side of the city, in the Sunder
Nagari slum, the team meet Vijay’s closest colleague, Shanno, the Editor of
Children’s Voice. Shanno worked in a
garment factory from the age of 11 until she joined the newspaper and has worked
her way up to editing it.
Critics choice
- The Times, Independent, Telegraph, Daily Mail
If you are a broadcaster who would like to buy this programme please contact Passion Distribution for details: