India aims for universal education

Raziya Khatoum is wading through a mountain of syringes, human waste, discarded paper and plastic bags. The eldest of six children, she has been earning a living for herself and her family, by working as a rag-picker in a garbage dump near her home. Although she is 12 years old, Raziya has never seen the inside of a classroom, but dreams that she could one day go to school like other children. "I'd like to study but since my family has no money, I can't afford to go to a school," she says. She has no choice; as a rag-picker, she can earn up to $0.25 cents for selling salvageable material from the waste dumps to wholesale dealers in one of Delhi's busy markets. Hundreds of children in Baleswa, a slum in north-east Delhi where Raziya lives, have to work to support their families. This is the reality for millions of street children in India.