When streetkids live their dream

She spent her early childhood begging and rag-picking. Now Nagarani who lives in a basti in Meerut, neither begs nor picks rags. The 12-year...

She spent her early childhood begging and rag-picking. Now Nagarani who lives in a basti in Meerut, neither begs nor picks rags. The 12-year-old is studying to become a doctor.

Many children like her who live in slums are now busy re-writing their destiny. With help from Gyanodaya Vatika, a philanthropic project for slum kids run by a prominent public school, Blossoms, these children are picking up the threads of their broken lives by enrolling in informal street-schools in various parts of the city.

The first Gyanodaya Vatika, which means garden of knowledge, was set up three years ago. Today the movement has grown to accommodate five such schools.

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Himself a Doon school alumnus, Avinash Singh Alagh (38), the man behind the movement, studied in Dehra Dun and Delhi and did a stint as a counsellor at the New Hampshire University, USA.

He returned to India and set up Blossoms School. It was then that he realised that there were underprivileged children who could not go to school for various reasons. Avinash decided that the school could reach out to them and help them join the mainstream .

An old man, Baba Dev Bharti, living in the slum in Jawahar Nagar offered a rundown hut to set up the first school. Thus, the Madrasi basti Gyanodaya Vatika was born in October 2001.

‘‘What you need most is determination to initiate a movement whatever small funds and means you have at your disposal,’’ says Avinash.

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‘‘These underprivileged children are first given elementary education. Later they are given advanced elementary education. Thereafter, efforts are made to help promising kids continue higher studies in formal schools, says Praveen Sharma, a teacher associated with the movement.

The teachers are from the same locality and are paid an honorarium. The schools run for two hours, six days a week. The teachers’ responsibilities include shepherding the kids to school till the time they come of their own volition, says Avinash.

Students are given basic vocational training in stitching and embroidery. They are also taught singing and dancing. The movement is spurring others to pitch in. Noted classical singer, Malini Awasthi has offered to teach them music. Her husband Awanish Awasthi, MD, Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd, had inaugurated the first Vatika three years ago. He has offered to gift schoolbooks from his savings along with any other assistance required.