THE plight of destitute children was brought home to pupils as their studies exposed them to life outside of the region.
Pupils from West Park Academy, Darlington, welcomed special guests to their classroom as part of their research into India.
Officials from global service company Sodexo, who work at Catterick Garrison Medical Centre, told Year 5 children about life in Mumbai and the struggle children face just to survive.
Kim Wakeham and Gary Broom travel regularly to the continent taking clothing, toys and toiletries for children who literally have nothing.
Kim said: “The street children cannot even imagine living in a house. You can’t even give them money because the adults would take it from them.
“They go down to the beach when it is cooler and play cricket with sticks and stones. Most of them are dirty and covered in lice with no chance of getting any treatment. Their clothes are rags yet they have lovely teeth because all they eat is rice and they never get sweets or sugary drinks.
“Where in this country children think about their next computer game, they are desperate to go to school to gain an education to give themselves a chance of bettering their lives.”
Mr Broom’s wife is a teaching assistant at West Park Academy and helped arrange the visit.
Year 5 teacher Sarah Savage said: “We started this project by looking at The Cloud Tea Monkeys, which is set in India. The book tells the story of a plantation girl and we have examined the contrasts with their lives, linking in with British values in school and mutual respect for other people in the world. “We also linked it in with science by soaking tea in water and reversing the process but the talk really brought home the realities children their age face in other parts of the world.
“Listening to the quality of pupils’ questions showed that they have really taken in and thought about what they have learned.”
