The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Lessons on a tarpaulin, foldable desks: Giving wings to dreams of underprivileged children
A PINK tarpaulin and a heartwarming scene unfold each day of the week, except tues days, on a pavement in a bustling slum near the Public Works Department’s (Pwd) office ind haul a ku an, new Delhi. As soon as the makeshift classroom or a ‘Bal Sanskar Kendra’ is up and about from 4 pm to 6 pm, out come the foldable desks, notebooks with curled edges, some stationery and a whiteboard.
The 13 students settle into the “class” as their teacher Gaurav, 20 — his ID badge, issued by NGO Pu narja gran sa mi ti, secured to his belt — looks on. What sets these children apart from their thirst for knowledge is their shared struggle against a stark reality — the lack of access to formal education because their parents are migrant labourers or slum dwellers.
Seven years ago, Gaurav himself was sitting in front of a white board on a tarpaulin on a foot path in a makeshift classroom run by the Punarjagran Sam it iinRK Puram. The NGO was founded by Banda resident Babu Lal, 42, after hewitnessedfirst-handthestruggles of the underprivileged.
Lal, who arrived in Delhi in 2004 to prepare for competitive exams after getting his bachelor’s degree from Allahabad
University, was waiting for a bus at Shivaji Stadium near Connaught Place when he saw something that changed the trajectory of his life.
“An elderly person was eating from a garbage bin. That sight prompted me to teach a child who lived on a street. Since the experience felt good, I decided to teach more children. Around that time, someone suggested that I establish an NGO to make a bigger difference. Instead of preparing for competitive exams, I decided to teach underprivileged children.”
Today, his NGO runs multiple classrooms, including mobile schools. There are 30 kendras in Delhi, 11 in Haryana, six in Uttar Pradesh, two in Bihar, and one each in Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. These “classrooms” are located under trees, near flyovers or even in temples, slums, homeless shelters and children’s houses.
“Only 50% of our students remain in one place. The rest move around constantly due to their parents’ seasonal jobs. In fact, many were enrolled in their village school before migrating. Due to constant movement, these children end up losing out on formal education. These centres give them the opportunity to continue their basic education and allow them toenrol in schools once they go back to their villages,” says Lal, adding that most of the NGO’S teachers today are former students.
Speaking to the indian express, while his students write in their notebooks, Gaurav, a resident of R K Puram, says, “I have three siblings and we all got educated because of the NGO. My mother is a domestic worker and father a sweep er. we moved to delhi from Bulandshahr in 2008. While my elder sister learnt stitching at the N go’ s si lay ike nd ra( stitching centre ), the other two are enrolled at government school in Classes 9 and 12. They are also learning English at the NGO’S English speaking centres.”
On why he took up this job, he says, “Unlike many of my colleagues, I actually understand the issues faced by these children, who turn up here day after day. That’s why I took up this job.”
Gaurav, who has been teaching these children for a year, says none of them go to school. “I am working on making their basics strong,” he says, adding that students are provided guidance depending on their learning levels.
As his students huddle together, many dreams take flight on the footpath. Practising his multiplication tables, so nu ,13, declares ,“Pad hayik ar ni haikyun ki bade hoke fauji banna chahta hoon (I want to study so I can join the Army).”
“I want to become a doctor,” says Rinki, also 13, even as she struggles to spell words like ‘orange’ and ‘mango’ in her notebook.
“I want to teach when I grow up,” adds 3-year-old Hina.
According to Lal, the centres are established close to areas where parents of these children work and live “to offer stability in education despite their frequent relocations”.
Bhavana’s son Ayush, 13, is a student at the Dhaula Kuan centre. A migrant labourer from Jhansi, Bhavana, who does not know her age, says, “My son studied at the government school in our village before we shifted to Delhi six months ago. he has been studying at the shiksha kendra so he can go back to school once we return to our village.”
A 2020 report titled “Access to Education by Children of Migrant Workers,” released by the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation, has highlighted the harsh realities faced by millions of children across india whose parents are engaged in seasonal labour migration .“Even though children are enrolled in the schools back in their villages, prolonged absence from the schools gross ly hampers their study. This poses a serious challenge to the education entitlement of these children under the RTE (Right to Education) Act,” the report states.
Near th es afd ar jung hospital’ s dh ar am sh ala lies another shik sh a kendra branch. At this branch, 12 children are seated on a tarpaulin. Their teacher Dharmendra Singh says besides children of migrant labourers, they also have children whose families came to the national capital seeking medical help.
Among these students is fouryear-old Malti from Shikarpur in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr. Enrolled in a government school back home, malt i’ s education was interrupted unexpectedly when her family decided to shift to new Delhi for her mother’s treatment for a broken leg.
“We moved to Delhi two months ago for my mother’which will require us to stay in Delhi for a while. I have been coming to these shiksha kendra so th a ti don’ t fall behind in school when I go back,” she said.
Five-year-old amit from nepal is both a student and a patient. “I have been in Delhi for my treatment since the last 2-3 months because my body has stopped producing blood (he suffers from leukaemia). We have been staying at the dharamshala here,” he said, tracing numbers in his notebook.
In spite of the challenges, teacher Dharmendra says he ensures that learning never takes a backseat.
“We try to keep the timings flexible, as per the students’ needs and commitments. We start teaching here from 2 pm onwards because some students and their parents have doctor appointments in the morning,” he said.