Make way for these little
MAKING A MARK School students are becoming more aware socially and joining various NGOS to help bring in change in the lives of the less privileged
NEW DELHI: For some it began with fun, while for others it was the intense drive to contribute to society. Thanks to the initiatives by several schools and parents, school students are becoming more socially aware and taking part in welfare activities.
Besides managing education, study projects and exam pressure, some school students go out of their way and organise a wide range of activities to bring smiles on the faces of the lesser privileged children. Along with their school coordinators or parents, they visit many not-forprofit centres and try to help the people there in their own little ways.
Kanak Aggarwal, Class 7 student at the Rukmini Devi Public School in Pitampura, is associated with Social Awareness Club and has worked for the disabled children. “When I was promoted to Class 6, our club head Ankita Diwan introduced me to this club. Initially, I had joined the club just for fun. My first visit to NGO Sparsh allowed me to have a look at their difficult lives. They were not weak, just needed our little attention to get recognised. They live happily despite such hardship in life. I also tried to convince others to help them. We went to different places like the Bharatiya Netraheen Kalyan Parishad, Goonj Organisation and Rajya Sainik Board with lots of donations and were happy to see smiles on the faces of the lesser privileged children,” says Kanak.
Kanak gives the credit for her inspiration in taking up such activities to her school principal Anjali Kotnala and club head Ankita Diwan.
Spandan Shah, Class 7 student of K R Mangalam World School, South City-i Gurugram, said he began accompanying his mother five years ago to her evening centre – Oorja — because he was afraid of staying at home alone. “Oorja helps the less privileged children in their education. One day, my mom asked me to check a student’s notebook. Since that day, I have been visiting the centre where I check notebooks of the children and gradually, we all became friends. Now, I share my concepts with them, especially maths. Recently, we even did some fractions together,” he says.
Apart from that, Spandan organises and plans games for the children at the centre. “It’s fun hearing their jokes, songs and watching them dance. I make sure that I am with them every Friday, as it’s the toy day at Oorja and we play with educational toys. I like to guide and help them. If I get more time in the future, I would love to teach them piano and computer,” he says.
He also shares the inspiration he got from a child at the centre and how it has inculcated in him an important realisation. “Last month, a boy of my age made a model on step farming. It was a big model with very minute details and I was amazed to see that. That somehow made me realise that he made this with minimum resources but with maximum creativity. So, it’s not that you have to have expensive stuff to create something; we must value and trust our imagination and creativity.”
Yash Khandelwal, from Class 12 at the Ramjas Day Boarding, Anand Parbat, is associated with NGO Raindrops Foundation and considers his parents to be his role models who have taught him to love and work selflessly. “I met the founders of Raindrops Foundation in a MUN. I like the agenda of the NGO to settle the underprivileged and downtrodden in the mainstream. I have been a part of their woollen and equipment donation drives for the disabled and Project Swabhiman (employing the poor in dignified jobs). In the future, I aspire to become a teacher and to help children develop a rational and sociological bent of mind, along with knowledge and understanding. I also aspire to provide education to those who can’t afford it.”
Khushi Aggarwal, Class 12, NK Bagrodia School, Dwarka, has participated in several such activities in her school and also received certificates from AOL and Livpure Foundation. She has also visited slums and special schools to create awareness. “I have been doing such activities for the six years. This January, I went to a refugee centre and organised a street competition, games for the inmates there and distributed prizes and donated food and clothes. I also visited Matiyala slum in Dwarka, where I informed the children there about hygiene, collected garbage, organized a drawing competition and taught them cooking without fire. I am mostly inspired by the living condition of the underprivileged children and want to motivate them to attend school. I also aim to continue such activities in the future along with my job,” she says.
In our country, where a large number of children are underprivileged and in dire need of attention, these little ones extending a hand towards the welfare of their peers from weaker socio-economic background is a much welcome change. Hope, these children together can eradicate the gap between the privileged and underprivileged in the future and make the country a just place.