Holding Their Hands - DNA - DNA west coast Stories - 26/12/2014

Holding their hands

A bunch of good Samaritans are giving a new direction to kids from slums at Juhu’s BMC school

Juhu Gandhigram Mumbai Public School is a small little world in itself with tiny toddlers and their fairy tale dreams. As you enter the school building at an early hour, you can see close to 100 pre-primary students (English medium) partaking in the school assembly. The ‘privilege’ of education What isn’t obviously apparent is that this is a BMC school and these lovely children belong to the slums from around Juhu. Anjali Bose, Trustee of Nagriksatta Ward 63 Association, who joined the school committee in 2007 along with a few others, explains, “A few of us came on board in 2007 and in one of the meetings it was announced that the school now had the permission to instruct in English medium along with the existing Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati medium.” The then corporator Adolf D’Souza entrusted the responsibility of the English medium (for pre-primary students) to the members of this association. There’s been no looking back ever since. Rolling up their sleeves, teachers and volunteers then got on to the work of teaching. More than just a school Since the last four years, the volunteers have completely adopted the pre-primary school, which now has around 192 kids. With the support of Headmaster Sandipan Ghule, the English medium children are now blessed with an enriched experience. The children feel loved and cared for as their parents continue working odd days. Bose chuckles, “They love it here so much that they come to school even if they are burning with fever. This is also because we have thematic extra-curricular activities, which help the children tap into their talent reservoir.” The ISKCON temple located right opposite the school sends khichdi to the school, which is happily devoured by the children. Vaishali Kotwal, a teacher with the school, shares, “Kids from lesser privileged backgrounds don’t get any kind of learning exposure at home. So, when they are given a chance to learn at a school, they show adeptness at it. But the only thing these students lack in is confidence, as they are quite shy.” Retaining the kids The biggest hurdle in the teaching process has been that of retaining these children in the school. As long as the slums are in place, the children come to school, the only hitch being periodic anti-encroachment drives conducted by the BMC. Bose adds, “When the civic body demolishes the slums, these people have nowhere to go. So, the kids are pulled out of the school for a long time.”           If these young minds are educated and trained well, it will open their world to great possibilities. And maybe, someday they won’t need to live in the slums, for education has the power to light up even the darkest of corners. pooja.patel@dnaindia.net Courtesy: DNA - http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=74303&boxid=37683&ed_date=2014-12-26&ed_code=820028&ed_page=6