From Child Labour to College: Support Her Future

When Komal, 15, smiles today, it's hard to imagine the hardship behind it. Born in a village in Solapur district, she was just three when her family moved to Pune in search of a better life. Instead, things grew harder still: her father passed away due to alcohol addiction, leaving her mother to raise three children alone, working long hours as a domestic worker to keep them fed and in school.

Despite the strain, Komal's mother held firmly to the belief that education mattered. She saw her elder daughter through to the end of Class 12 and kept her son in school too. Komal, meanwhile, was a bright student in her own right, studying in Class 9 — though beneath the surface, she was quietly struggling.

It was during a routine school visit that the Nirman team discovered Komal had been absent for nearly four months. What they found was difficult to hear: Komal had been carrying real emotional stress, compounded by discrimination at school, where teachers overlooked her and left her feeling invisible. Her confidence gave way, and she began to believe she simply didn't belong. Watching her daughter suffer, and overwhelmed by her own worry, Komal's mother made the painful decision to advise her to leave school and start earning instead.

At just 15, Komal entered child labour, working long hours in a small catering unit supplying food for local events — with no way of knowing how easily that path could have closed off every other option for her future.

That's where things began to turn around. The Nirman team visited Komal and her mother at home, sat with them, and listened patiently to their fears. They talked through why education mattered so much, particularly for a girl being raised by a single mother, and how it could shape not just Komal's future but her whole family's. After several conversations, her mother agreed to give school another chance.

Nirman then worked directly with the school to address the discrimination Komal had faced, securing teachers' commitment to building a genuinely supportive environment. Her classmates welcomed her back warmly too. Slowly, her confidence returned. She went back to school, worked hard, and passed her Class 9 exams with 55%.

Today, Komal attends school regularly, surrounded by encouragement rather than judgement, while Nirman continues to visit her family to make sure her progress holds steady.

Komal's story is a reminder of what timely support, awareness and compassion can do — turning a child labourer back into a student, free to dream about a better tomorrow.

Thank you for helping make journeys like Komal's possible.