Symbiosis Law school students get a reality check at Hyderabad city slums

Around 20 students from Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad and an Odisha-based institution underwent a one-month internship programme from November 11 with a city-based NGO, Centre for Action Research and People's Development (CARPED). The future practitioners of law presented their observations on the subject 'Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Concerns in Hyderabad' in a wrap-up meeting held at Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) campus on Wednesday. It also underlined the fact that despite pursuing a course in law, it was imperative on their part to get sensitised about the people they would have to serve and be aware about in their professional years ahead.

'We have been interested in interacting and building an interface with various stakeholders on varying issues like education and health over the past 15 years. In this context, we have had batches of students from Narsee Monjee, NALSAR and recently OP Jindal Global University visiting us and helping us understand the systems, policies and background of these domains. The empirical data collected we feel would be useful for policy makers' said M Bharath Bhushan of CARPED in his inaugural address. Adding that this was not in any way a mandated or an aided project, he informed that students have become part of ongoing campaigns even after completing their internship periods.

Apart from short films shot during their field visits which were graphic and explanatory, the students came up with short feedback on their repeated visits to select urban slums, present all over the city. Comprising seven boys and twelve girls, drawn from various backgrounds and regions, the batch had conducted water quality checks and also detailed discussions to collate different insights about their problems and pressures.

The short comments made by them ranged from the expected 'it is my first time in a slum' to a more philosophical 'learning to value the little good things in life'. While one of them fell ill after his first day to the site, making him drop his subsequent trips by a few days, the girls came to terms with their 'sheltered existence and how they grew as persons' after the repeated visits to slums.

Other interesting observations were how the students overcame their initial nervousness and the perceived hostility of the slumdwellers to bond with them better in the end. A few of them were frank in admitting that they got to know their city better and how their parents were excited to let them go and explore the world which they were not aware of.

A few of the boys surmised that 'each slum has a story' which motivated one of them to begin writing a novel and how it pushed them hard to see what can be done to rebuild them for enhancing the living standards of its residents. The adventurous among the group taught dance moves to government school students as part of the WASH campaign, asserting that it was hard work but it turned out to be a whole lot of fun at the end.