New Delhi: Hoping to change the lives of the capital’s have-nots, a shopkeeper in Delhi has been running a makeshift school for more than 300 underprivileged children beneath a metro bridge in the Yamuna Bank area for the last over eight years without any assistance neither from the government nor any NGOs.
‘The Free School Under The Bridge’, where hundreds of children living in shacks and hutments close to the Yamuna Bank metro station get education, is run by its founder Rajesh Kumar Sharma.
The sole breadwinner of his family of five who live in Laxmi Nagar, Sharma belongs to Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district and runs a small grocery shop in the same locality to support his family.
The 49-year-old’s journey of teaching more than 300 children of slum dwellers, ragpickers, rickshaw-pullers and beggars began with two children in 2006 when the idea came to his mind while wandering around the empty fields close to the Yamuna river. Today, he runs two shifts with the help of seven teachers who live in nearby areas and in their free time, volunteer to teach the students – aged between 4 and 14.
The open house school, whose roof is a Delhi metro bridge, has five blackboards painted on the wall of the metro complex and some stationary such as chalks and dusters, pens and pencils.
The children, who sit on the ground covered with carpets, bring their own note books and study in groups. Although he started the movement of educating the poor children on his own, Sharma is now assisted by teachers Laxmi Chandra, Shyam Mahto, Rekha, Sunita, Manisha, Chetan Sharma and Sarvesh who take classes on their free will and none of them get paid for the deed.
Sharma says that he has never been approached by any government representative for any kind of assistance although he has seen many regime changes ever since he started his journey 13 years ago.
Sharma said he only receives genuine contribution from individuals that too not in the monetary form. “Some people visit the school occasionally and distribute biscuit packets, fruits, water bottles and packaged food. Some youngsters celebrate their birthdays with the children, cut cakes here and have food together by sitting beneath the bridge. “Such occasions make them feel that they are also the part of the society no matter where they live or what background they belong to,” he said.
Sharma not only conducts regular classes for the students, but also gets them enrolled into the nearby government schools and ensures that they devote sufficient time to their education. He maintains a record of the students and conducts their attendance. If a student is absent beyond a reasonable period, he contacts their family and tries to know the reason for the absence.
Sharma said he also teaches his children the value of cleanliness and has separate toilets for boys and girls near the school. Some shopkeepers donate drinking water which is a big help specially in the summer.
Laxmi Chandra, 57, a tuition teacher from Bihar’s Nalanda, has been teaching here since 2011. She said the students are very dedicated and intelligent and need a direction. Poverty has never come in their way of learning and their enthusiasm for education is commendable despite all the hardships they face in their life. (PTI)
