New Delhi: To convey education to the deprived, students of Jamia Millia Islamia University, in a thoughtful effort decided to come together to teach kids between the age group of 8 to 12 in the nearby slum locality.
19-year-old Monazza Ashraff, a member of the community of students “Aaghaz-e-Taleem” says “They (kids) started jumping, and joyously saying, ‘Hi! Ma’am!’ Their energy was contagious to the extent that my friend, who was accompanying me just to see, decided to join us.”
Before planning the project that was started on February 1, the community raised money through crowdfunding to pay for their travel and other expenses for the good cause.
Gitesh Aggarwal, a final year mechanical engineering student and founder of the project says, young students from all over the world to get educated in the Varsity, but that does not benefit the society. “We initiated this under the NGO CRY (Child Rights and You) – where we selected 30 educators, 10 organising team members and 5 team managers from Jamia. Two educators are allotted one child, who is taught six subjects in 60 hours of study. Once the pre-designed curriculum is completed, we help the child get admission in a nearby government school. After that, we keep checking their progress in school once a week,” says Aggarwal.
Sadia Khanum, a 19-year-old teacher and team manager, says, “Every Saturday we conduct workshops such as on art and craft, planting, and even self-defence for the overall personality development of these children. The idea is to make them learn new things to make their base strong before they get admitted to the school.” She adds, “We help their parents who are often unaware of the procedure or don’t possess necessary documents such as Aadhaar cards, and thus don’t get their kids admitted to schools.”
The project will be completed on April 20 with a good response. “The success of the project made us turn this into a full-fledged movement. Earlier we thought we’ll just do it once. Today, we feel proud that we are able to send 15 kids to school.” says Aggarwal.
-Hindustan Times