A Study on Perception of Community Towards Street Children in Pokhara City

Abstract

A street child is a term used to refer to children who live on the streets of a city. Usually street children come from economically weak families. Street children grow and develop with the background of street life. The objective of this research is to find out the perception of community toward the street children. Mainly descriptive research design has been used for this study.100 respondents were taken from eight different major streets (Mahendrapool, ChiplayDhunga, Prithivichok, Srijanachok, Shivalayachok, Ratnachok, Hallanchok, Lakeside) of Pokhara for the data collection. Shopkeepers, hotel owners, kabadi collectors, taxi drivers, NGO/INGO workers and local people were the respondents for this study. Semi structured interview schedule have been used to collect the data. A conceptual framework was developed and applied to guide the study.

People have mixed perception toward street children. But most of them have positive attitude towards street children. Most of the respondents (60%) think that street children are deprived. Highly significant respondents (74%) have love and sympathy for street children. They think we should behave them with love and sympathy; they should not be taken as a burden in society. Remarkable respondents (47%) take family to make children on the street. Glue sniffing, smoking, drinking alcohol, stealing things, raging the people using bad words are the habits of street children, which most of the respondents do not like. They blame bad companion for it. They think street children's bad behaviour can be changed by giving moral education. Significant respondents (58%) think that people have negative perception toward street children.

The study shows that communities/people are negatively affected by the activities of the street children. People from Hallanchowk (83.3) and Shivalayachok(66.7) are having more problem than the people from other locations. They steal their things, affect their children’s behavior and also do other notorious activities. Remarkable respondents saw street children sniffing glue. They think it is affecting the society. Many respondents (81 %) did not give punishment to street children. There are people who tried to correct street children and feel their responsibilities toward them. But most of the people are indifferent to them.

People have mixed opinions about the organizations working for the street children in that some had positive and others had negative attitude toward these organisations. Among 100 respondents, only 69 know that there are some organizations working on the sector of street children. Among 69 respondents 30.43 percent think organizations are just spending the budget but 48 percent think organizations are trying to make good relations between community people and street children. Most of the respondents think organizations can educate street children by making school for street children only. They think quality education, poverty alleviation, employment and awareness programs can make the street children less street.