Every year, thousands of families in Bihar move from one place to another in search of employment. A significant number of these families work at brick kilns. For them, migration is not simply about changing locations. It means changing homes and workplaces. In the process, children’s education often takes a back seat.
When a family leaves its village for a few months to work at a brick kiln, its children usually move with it. Schools may be located far away, and a lack of essential documents can make it difficult to access government services. Limited awareness of welfare schemes adds to the challenges. The impact is felt not only in children’s education but also in the entire family’s access to social security.
Anshu Kumar Jaiswal from Bihar had not encountered this challenge for the first time through a report or a set of statistics. He had witnessed it on the ground.
Between 2019 and 2021, while working with the Piramal Foundation as a Gandhi Fellow, he arrived in Sheikhpura. It was here that he came face to face with the lives of families living and working at brick kilns.
This experience changed the direction of his work. He eventually went on to establish the Neev Ki Eent Foundation (NKEF). Today, the NGO works to improve access to education for children of brick kiln workers, help families obtain essential documents, connect them with government welfare schemes, and strengthen local leadership.
A change that began in Sheikhpura
Anshu’s early education and career gradually led him towards development and public institutions. He studied mass communication and later earned a master’s degree in social work, specialising in youth and community development.
He also had opportunities to represent India at international youth programmes. These included the ASEAN-India Youth Summit and a youth exchange programme in China under the Government of India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
His subsequent work brought him into contact with various government and development institutions. He worked with the Aspirational Districts Programme, Parliament, the Ministry of Labour and Employment, and the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
These experiences helped him understand how government schemes are designed and how they are implemented on the ground. However, his experience in Sheikhpura was different.
Here, he had the opportunity to understand policies and ground-level needs more closely. While working among families employed at brick kilns, he identified several opportunities to improve children’s education and help them connect with schools. He realised that if education could be made more accessible to these families and adapted to their circumstances, children would have a better chance of continuing their studies.
Speaking to YourStory, Anshu Kumar Jaiswal explains, “After meeting families working at brick kilns, I realised that children’s education is not just a school-related issue. Wherever a family works, the child often stays there too. If the family keeps moving from one place to another, the child’s education is likely to suffer. Therefore, simply trying to send a child to school is not enough. Family documents, access to government schemes, and community participation are equally important.”
This realisation motivated him to work towards educating the children of brick kiln workers.
The initiative is being implemented under Project Swabhimaan, led by Sheikhpura Collector and District Magistrate Shekhar Anand, an IAS officer from the 2018 batch. Launched in February 2026, the initiative has been implemented across the district.
While working under this project, Anshu observed that many families lacked essential documents such as birth certificates, Aadhaar cards, ration cards, and bank accounts. The consequences of missing documents extended beyond administrative procedures. They directly affected access to education, ration supplies, healthcare, and social security services.
Another question also emerged: if a child must stay with their family at a brick kiln for a certain period, why should education not be made accessible there?
Taking Education Where the Children Are
After 2022, Anshu began spending time with migrant workers and families employed at brick kilns. Gradually, his focus shifted towards developing a model that could address educational needs alongside other challenges faced by these families.
In 2023, he established the Neev Ki Eent Foundation. The NGO works to reduce the social and economic challenges faced by migrant workers and families employed at brick kilns.
Its primary programme is Project Swabhimaan. The initiative focuses on education, documentation, access to government schemes, community mobilisation, and preparing young people to take on leadership roles.
An important component of this initiative is the Akshar Learning Centre. Through these centres, the organisation attempts to bring education closer to children at the locations where their families work. Children receive foundational instruction in reading, writing, and mathematics. They are also prepared to transition into the formal education system.
The distinctive feature of this model is that it takes children’s actual circumstances into account. When families move elsewhere for work, efforts are made to ensure that education remains accessible to their children.
Anshu says, “For us, education does not simply mean that a child’s name is entered into a school register. The real question is whether the child continues to learn. The biggest challenge for children of migrant workers is that their lives keep changing. Therefore, we need a system that understands their circumstances and keeps them connected to education. Our effort is to create that continuity.”
Under Project Swabhimaan, the foundation also works with children’s families. The NGO assists them in obtaining essential documents, including birth certificates, Aadhaar cards, caste certificates, ration cards, bank accounts, and Ayushman cards.
This work goes beyond helping families obtain paperwork. Essential identity documents enable families to establish their presence within the government system. They also open up opportunities to access public services and welfare schemes.
That is why the Neev Ki Eent Foundation’s model does not treat education and civic identity as separate issues.
Bridging the Gap Between Communities and the Administration
One of the challenges faced by grassroots organisations is that their impact can remain limited to a small geographical area. From the beginning, Anshu emphasised working alongside government institutions.
Sheikhpura is an example of this approach. The district where he first encountered brick kiln communities as a Gandhi Fellow has now become a place where the Neev Ki Eent Foundation is working with the district administration on a larger scale.
Currently, around 55 brick kilns in Sheikhpura have been brought within the initiative’s scope. Efforts are underway to reach thousands of migrant workers and children.
Alongside education, the programme focuses on documentation, access to government welfare schemes, community participation, and connecting children with formal schools and Anganwadi services.
According to Anshu, more than 15,000 documentation-related needs have been identified or addressed with assistance across different categories. These include birth certificates, Aadhaar cards, caste certificates, ration cards, Ayushman cards, and bank accounts.
Another aspect of this work is protection from extreme heat.
People working at brick kilns often have to work for long hours in intense heat. Children also live in the same environment. In response, the Neev Ki Eent Foundation has worked with public institutions towards developing heat-resilient spaces.
These spaces aim to bring together cooling facilities, children’s education, care, and community-related activities.
Anshu explains, “Our objective is not to create a parallel system separate from the government. Government institutions have both the resources and the responsibility. Our role is to reduce the distance between communities and the system. When a family’s needs reach the right department and a department’s scheme reaches the right person, its impact becomes visible. We believe that if communities, civil society organisations, and the administration work together, the model can be scaled up.”
This approach is also connected to Anshu’s earlier experience with public administration. He has seen first-hand that having a scheme on paper and ensuring that its benefits reach a family are two different things.
Empowering Young People to Lead Change
Anshu’s work is not limited to providing external assistance. He also wants to develop people within communities who understand local challenges and can play an active role in addressing them.
With this objective, the Swabhimaan Fellowship was launched. Through the fellowship, local young people are trained to support children’s education, inform families about government schemes, and work closely with their communities. The goal is to enable these young people to become voices for their communities and play an important role in bringing about change.
Trust plays a crucial role when working with brick kiln workers. Someone from outside the community may understand a family’s problems, but a young person from within the same community is more familiar with its language, relationships, and everyday difficulties.
Anshu believes that local leadership is essential to making social change sustainable over the long term.
He says, “If change within a community depends entirely on people coming from outside, it will have its limitations. We want young people from the community to step forward themselves. They can support children’s education, inform families about government services, and communicate with the administration when necessary. This ensures that the community is not merely receiving assistance but becomes an active participant in its own transformation.”
This is where the energy of Bihar’s youth can be connected to the need for social change.
From Sheikhpura to the Rest of Bihar
As its work in Sheikhpura expands, Anshu is also looking towards other brick kiln communities across Bihar. The Neev Ki Eent Foundation is working on a model that can be replicated in different parts of the state.
Seasonal migration is not new to Bihar. For decades, families have moved from one place to another in search of employment, making migration a longstanding feature of the rural economy. Therefore, the solution to this challenge cannot be limited to a single project or district.
For Anshu, the larger question is whether it is possible to create a system in which children can continue their education even when their families must migrate for work. Essential family documents should remain accessible, access to government schemes should continue, and workers should be recognised not merely as labourers but as citizens with rights.
Anshu says, “Our efforts are not limited to changing the situation at a single brick kiln. The bigger question is whether children can continue their education despite seasonal migration. Can families retain their identity documents and access to government services wherever they go? If we can find practical answers to these questions, the model could also be used for other migrant communities across Bihar.”
A New Approach, A New Bihar
The story of Anshu and the Neev Ki Eent Foundation did not begin in a large office or with a major project. It started with his work in Sheikhpura as a fellow.
There, he encountered families whose lives are often reduced to a number in government statistics. A few years later, he returned to the same place in a different role. This time, he had his own organisation, the experience he had gained over the years, and a model that brought communities, young people, and the administration together.
This shift represents an important aspect of Bihar’s evolving development story.
The state’s development is no longer defined solely by infrastructure, roads, or employment statistics. Access to education, digital and civic identity, government welfare schemes, local leadership, and community participation are also becoming increasingly important.
Young people like Anshu Kumar are playing a significant role in this transformation. They are not simply identifying problems but also exploring new ways for communities, public policies, and administrative institutions to work together.
The Neev Ki Eent Foundation’s work is ongoing, as are its efforts to expand beyond Sheikhpura into other parts of Bihar. However, the significance of this journey lies in more than its current reach.
It represents a larger possibility. When government policies and welfare schemes are combined with local knowledge and the participation of young people and grassroots organisations, social change can become more effective and sustainable.
Such efforts matter because development does not happen only from the top down. It becomes stronger when policies reach the ground and the voices of communities reach policymakers.
Anshu’s journey, which began among the brick kilns of Sheikhpura, is an example of this dialogue.
A young man witnessed a problem, understood its underlying causes, and began working towards a solution.
Today, Bihar increasingly needs young people, local organisations, and administrative initiatives that connect development with people’s everyday lives. When education, identity, social security, and employment are addressed collectively, the impact can extend beyond a single family.
Gradually, it can change the direction of an entire community.
Perhaps this is one of the most important aspects of Bihar’s changing development story: the foundation of progress is not built solely through large projects. It is also built through small but consistent efforts that give people access to opportunities, dignity, and a path towards a better future.
