A small group of children in frayed navy blue shorts and sky blue shirts - their school uniform- sat huddled amid slogan-shouting adults at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday. From Maharashtra's Nandurbar district, these children were in the national capital with their guardians who were here to protest the "forcible" acquisition of their land.

While the children, mostly tribals from villages affected by the Narmada Dam project, did not quite get the nuances of land acquisition, they launched a parallel and equally important protest -- to save their right to education.

Allegedly, on the grounds of not being regularised, the government has ordered the shutting down of their schools. These schools have come up through the initiative of tribals with no support from the administration.

Yogini, a young activist who was leading the group of 50-odd first graders to fourth graders, pointed towards the government apathy in not letting them continue “the good work which the tribals have been managing entirely on their own since 1991.” “The poor villagers run 13 schools spread across villages in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Of these, nine schools which are in Maharashtra have been asked to shut for not being officially registered or regularised,” she complained.

Vijay Valvi, another activist accompanying the children to Jantar Mantar made an even more striking allegation. He said the government schools in the area do not run properly in the want of teachers and infrastructure. “Now that we have been running the schools for several years, the government is reminding us the rules. Why don’t they ensure that government schools function well?” he asked.

Ten year olds Vinesh and Jeyna, studying in class four knew only their native language and could not express much except for the innocent and worried look on their faces.