'No one offered to send me to school'

Afroz (name changed) wakes up every morning and chooses his dirtiest clothes for work. He then goes to 150 houses in his locality in the heart of south Delhi to collect garbage.

Afroz (name changed) wakes up every morning and chooses his dirtiest clothes for work. He then goes to 150 houses in his locality in the heart of south Delhi to collect garbage.

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The 13-year-old came to the city three years ago from his village in Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand district. He studied till class 2 but could not continue as his parents did not have money to support his education. He was finally sent to Delhi with a family friend to earn a living.

"I work around eight hours every day. I am able to send some money home every three months," he says. He earns Rs 1,000 per month and lives in a small garage with six other boys.

In the three years that he has been working as a garbage boy, he said not a single person in the colony has offered to send him to school. Afroz's employer, meanwhile, thinks he is doing him a favour. "We try to help these children by giving them employment. This way they are able to feed themselves," said Afroz's employer.