Fifteen-year-old Kayshala wears a ceremonial headdress of flowers before speaking to a crowd of children in India about the importance of education. (Photo credit: Robin Romano)

A teenaged girl, wearing a wreath of orange and yellow flowers, speaks to a group of adults and children gathered in a small village in India.

"Rich children are going to big schools," says 15-year-old Kayshala to the crowd. "Poor children aren't going to school. I want equality in education."

Robbed of an education at the age of 7 when she was forced to begin working as a maid, Kayshala is one of dozens of former child laborers who marched in "Shiksha Yatra," or India Marches for Education.

During the 9,300-mile journey, marchers traveled through all 20 major Indian states, greeting more than 1.5 million people along the way. Their message? The Indian government must make education a fundamental right of all Indian children and spend more money on schooling. Marchers included children, social workers, volunteer organizations, and human-rights activists.

"Free, compulsory, quality education is one of the most effective solutions against child labor," says Kailash Satyarthi, chairperson of the South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude, which organized the march.

The march, which began in southern India in late January, ended last month with a rally attended by an estimated 50,000 people in India's capital of New Delhi. Traveling by foot and caravan, former child laborers like Mohammed Salim visited hundreds of villages and towns, chanting slogans, singing songs, performing street plays, and telling their life stories.

	Mohammed Salim, 11, worked in a tea stall in New Delhi, India. Now he speaks out against child labor and fights for education for all children. (Photo credit: Robin Romano)

"I started working at the age of 8 in a tea stall in Delhi," says 11-year-old Mohammed. "I worked from 5 a.m. until 9:30 at night. My boss beat me and burned me with matchsticks. I used to see kids going to school. It was my dream, for just one day, to go to school."

Now, Mohammed and Kayshala hope to turn that dream into reality for the tens of millions of Indian children under the age of 14 who work instead of attending school. They may get their wish. Since the march ended, dozens of parliament members have pledged to pass a bill that would make education a fundamental right for all Indian children. And officials in several states have promised to increase education budgets and open new schools, including special schools in child labor areas.