Empowering with education

It was an accidental meeting between K C Johrey,a retired IAS officer,and Lt Gen (Dr) M R Kochhar,a retired Army officer,which led to the founding of Shiksha Bharati in 2009,a school for the underprivileged at Palam Vihar.

It was an accidental meeting between K C Johrey,a retired IAS officer,and Lt Gen (Dr) M R Kochhar,a retired Army officer,which led to the founding of Shiksha Bharati in 2009,a school for the underprivileged at Palam Vihar. Gen Kochhar offered me a lift home and I asked him what he does for a living. He told me he is a pensioner and I said same here. Lets talk business then. This is how we started talking, Johrey chuckles.

We both started talking about the education sector and since that was the time when the Right to Education Act had been passed,we came up with the idea of starting a school that gives access to education to the marginalised sections of our society. Since we both are residents of Palam Vihar,we thought why not open up a school here, says 85-year-old Johrey who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Eco Development Foundation,a decade-old NGO which works on community development through education. We try to align ourselves with other NGOs,and set up schools for underprivileged children. For example,we have a school like this,The Bharatiya Academy,in Haridwar. The main beneficiaries are the victims of war and other underprivileged children, he says.

For Shiksha Bharati,we found a primary school building in the C block of Palam Vihar,which was constructed by the government but wasnt being used. We first took all the necessary permissions to run the school there. In the beginning,for almost 15 days,we didnt even get a single student. And then one day my domestic help enquired about it. She then informed a few of her relatives and that is how we got our first few students. After that,there was no looking back. In six months,the response we got was overwhelming, says 72-year-old Gen Kochhar who also heads an organisation,Aniket Ashray Society,which provides affordable health care to the needy. After the RTE Act came into effect,he diversified into education with Shiksha Bharati.

The school has about seven classrooms and has students in the age group of 4 to 9,from KG to class V. They are all children of domestic help and migrant labourers. The school teaches children as per the curriculum of the state board. Every child gets clothes,books and food. While 142 students have been enrolled,about 150 are on the waiting list. The approximate cost of educating a child at the school is about Rs 6,500 a year.

The funds we get are the pension money provided by my father and Gen Kochhar,and other donations that come our way from the neighbourhood. Every little bit helps. We have hired five teachers to assist us but we only pay them Rs 3,000 a month. They teach more out of a sense of purpose, says Geeta,Johreys daughter,a volunteer in this effort. The meal is provided by ISKCON but earlier Mrs Kochhar and I used to buy ration ourselves and cook for the children, says Sudha Johrey,77,who is a teacher. It is a pleasure teaching these children. They are so enthusiastic to learn and grasp things quickly, she says.

We want to build five to six additional classrooms so that the children on the waiting list can be accommodated but we dont have the necessary funds, says Gen Kochhar. We have tried in the past to approach corporates to provide us some help in this initiative but we were disappointed, says Geeta.

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Palam Vihar