STORIES OF CHANGE : THEMATIC VERTICAL OF EDUCATION

01. Story of Rajesh (Name changed to protect identity) 

I always dreamed of wearing a school uniform and going to a school, just like I see others going to school, but my parents were un-affordable to enroll me in a school that teaches English as my father is an alcoholic and a Rickshaw driver by profession who do not work regularly,  I have 4 siblings and we stay in a rented 1-room slum made of bricks, unlevelled floor and tin sheet roofs on a hill-rock, I’m 4 years old and I do all the household chores i.e fetching 10 liter water can from the community water tap to taking care of my siblings, my mother do not work and my father beats her up often, my elder siblings go to the local municipal school, I do not take any breakfast but wait till 12.00 Noon to access the free meal offered by the local municipal balwadi, I kept playing in the mud till I get tired and sleep on the floor of my room.

Thanks to John Sir who not only educated me in English from Nursery to Sr KG free of cost including provisions of all requisites of an English Preschool but also paying my annual fees at the formal English School, now I am in Class 3 and happily made many friends in uniform.

02. Story of Alifa and Alisha (Name changed to protect identities)

We are two sisters and were residing with my alcoholic and drug addict father and jobless mother in a dilapidated building in a township, we are 4 & 5 year old respectively and were studying in an English School but due to our family condition, we dropped off the school and did not attend for about six months until one of my mother’s friend searched the internet and contacted Helping Hand Foundation who promptly visited our house and paid  our annual fees to the school and we were happy to rejoin the school and network with our friends.