Meet the ‘Book Man of Chandigarh’

Kumar was 25 when he was first assigned to take classes during his training period in Dadam village in Haryana. “We are older and can grab knowledge in our minds, but kids are like a blank board where they have to write everything down every day,” said Kumar.

“I observed the lack of basic educational resources such as pens, paper, and books for students in government primary schools, irrespective of government aid, and this laid the bedrock of the Open Eye Foundation,” an initiative of Kumar’s to provide quality education with adequate accessories for students.

The Beginning

“Taking the first step is always difficult, but once you get into it, you go through it,” said Kumar. While sharing his journey, Kumar stated that when he first came across the problem of the non-availability of basic stationery in primary schools, he himself was not aware of any solution. “Due to a lack of financial help, I kept struggling for months, but I believed that all problems have their solutions built into them,” Kumar added. He stated that he first started to distribute his old books and used to bind spare pages from his old notebooks to make fresh ones for the needy students.

Kumar said that during his initial days, he used to collect books on foot and, later, when he started receiving calls from people far from his place, he had to buy a second-hand two-wheeler for the collection. “I still have that two-wheeler with me, although now we have one van and a modified library on wheels,” the Book Man of Chandigarh said. Kumar built this library during the pandemic and got specially mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in one of the ‘Mann ki Baat’ episodes. And after getting the special appreciation, Kumar got one tempo-traveller as a donation from the State Bank of India which will be converted into another library.

After coming to Chandigarh, Kumar realised that the situation of academics at the ground level was even worse in the city. “As the charm of city life also brings the task of managing an affordable home and education with it, the cost of living for a single family with one child is nothing less than Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 per month,” said Kumar, adding that “you have to take care of all of your education, ration, clothes, and medical needs, which is quite hard to balance.”

While emphasising the ground-level situation of education, Kumar particularly shed light on the small neighbouring colonies of Chandigarh such as Mullanpur, Shahpur colony, Ram Darbar, Mani Majra, and Bapu Dham colony, where the task of balancing quality education for children with congested rented rooms is still a tough job for the common man. “Chandigarh has two faces: one where people think that the city is well-educated, but the other picture cannot be seen by anyone,” said Kumar.

Working on the Foundation

The Open Eye Foundation was registered in 2017 and has distributed more than one lakh free books in the last seven years. Today, the foundation is working towards providing educational resources to orphans and single-parent students and the upliftment of women in society. Kumar does door-to-door campaigns and collects used books from colleges, universities, and schools. “We have one book bank at Khuda Jassu and have placed 20 book donation boxes in university departments, in schools, and at common places where people leave their books for needy children,” he said. Those who cannot find any book donation boxes near them can call the organisation directly, and have Kumar reach out to them at their whereabouts.

Kumar said that the collection of books is a heavy-duty task, as not everyone is comfortable carrying bundles of books from the third floor of the building to the ground floor. “We do have around 200 members working in our organisation, and we often get volunteers, but a comprehensive collection of books is still done by me,” he further said. At present, the foundation is working with 12 NGOs that have their presence in different slum areas, and once the collection of books is done, the team segregates the books according to the academic standards and provides them to the students as per the list given by NGOs.

Other Initiatives

Members of the foundation are working day and night to bring change in the education sector. Under the ‘Naya Savera’ program, education kits are provided to 90 orphan kids, and their entire education is financed by the organisation itself. “We have sole donors for each student, which means 90 families are directly contributing to the education of 90 students. It almost costs Rs 5,100 for one kid to get a full-year financial help in academics, and we have families who spend much more than this on the education of their own kids, so spending Rs 5,100 as a donation for one child annually does not burden them much,” said Kumar. Under the ‘Mission Literacy Program’, the organisation has been providing education kits to 500 single-parent students in collaboration with Bebo Technology Pvt Ltd for the past three years.

The organisation is also working on setting up the ‘Education Hut’ in slum areas where kids do not have enough resources or places to study. Recently, Kumar has built a hut-like structure in Mani Majra where different NGOs give tuition to the students in the evening. “We are getting in touch with other organisations that are contributing to education in slum areas, and we provide them with a shelter so that students can have a decent place to study,” said Kumar.

He further said, “There are many students who are willing to study but do not have a table, chair, stationery, or books to read, so our education hut comprises all these resources. To support women’s empowerment, the organisation is working on the ‘Rise Women and be Period Positive’ mission, under which the team covers 2,000 women from slum areas and educates them about hygiene and safety during menstruation with the help of comic books.”

Challenges

“When I started this journey, my parents were not very supportive,” he said, adding that “every parent wants their kids to do things for themselves. I even started a tiffin service in-between the book collections to support my family.” But seeing his constant efforts towards the education of underprivileged children, Kumar’s family appreciated his will for social upliftment.

Appeal for Government

While pointing out government policies for the education sector, Kumar said that there are many schemes that are being run by the government of India, such as the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’, under which students are provided free education up to Class VIII. “When we did research into this aspect, we found that the government is providing students with 250 to 1,200 rupees for their education, but is it really enough for them?” he said, adding that “making a policy and implementing that policy are two different things.”

“A normal book costs around Rs 300 in the market. There are many facilities and policies given to the students, but their implementation still lags behind. There are many young minds in our country, and even Panjab University is full of bright students. We need people who are on the ground and those who have regular interactions with individuals. The government can make a book bank in every school. By this method, students will get books on time, they will be embraced with good habits of taking care of used things, a lot of money will be saved, and it is environmentally friendly as well,” said Kumar.

Futuristic Approach

While talking about the future plans of the organisation, Kumar said: “We are expanding right now. At first, our focus was on Chandigarh and my village, but now we are going to expand our work to Panchkula and Mohali. We are also looking forward to setting up workstations in Haryana and Punjab in upcoming years.”