Road Lessons

For the past seven years,Mira Mamnani,67,has been playing teacher,friend and guide to the 40-odd children who have been coming to her every morning.

For the past seven years,Mira Mamnani,67,has been playing teacher,friend and guide to the 40-odd children who have been coming to her every morning. Children from the streets and slums and wards of vegetable vendors form a major chunk of Miras students. Not caring much for a conventional school,Mira has managed to create her own classroom on the pavement of the Carter Road promenade. Everyday,from 7-9 am,Mira,along with a few volunteers,hold classes for these children. The basics of science,maths and English are taught and the excitement among the children is enough to stop the passing joggers in their tracks.

Many volunteers have come,taught for a while and left. But Mira has stayed on for something she strongly believes in. Miras personal value for education comes from her own childhood experience,which inspired her to educate these children. I was three when my family migrated to India from Pakistan. Though I was enrolled in a school, no classes were held. Teachers refused to teach and classrooms would be perpetually empty. My father,however,encouraged me to study from home. In my final year of school,I was the the only one among 40 students to have passed the exam, she says.

As a bank accountant for 42 years,Mira took her job seriously. Her sincerity and zest for life is something that she wishes to pass on to the children,a feat she has successfully managed. Madan,13,runs with excitement every time he sees Miras car approaching on the promenade. Madan is one of Miras many students who has never attended school but is eager to learn from Mira aunty.

These children are in the 5-15 age group. These are the formative years of ones lives. Just because these children dont have a family background or the money for a conventional education,it does not deny them their right to knowledge. If you ask these children,many of them want to become engineers or doctors or teachers. The yearning to learn is very much present, Mira said.

When early morning walkers saw Mira teach these children,many chipped in with books,stationery and mattresses for the children to sit on. Everything except for money was accepted.

Just money will not help. These children need attention. It is ironic that on one hand you have a class of people with material excess and on the other,these children are not getting basic education, Mira said.

Mira,however,has no plans of starting a school of her own. Neither does she plan to stop the work she has been pursuing so enthusiastically. I am what I am today because of my education. My dream for my country is to see every child educated.

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