Mahesh along with his parents, was a resident of the construction site in the Warje Malawade area. When the Door Step School started operating on the site in the year 2006, Mahesh had dropped out of school after finishing his second standard due to migration. His parents were interested in continuing his education, but did not have his means or the resources to figure out what was needed and which school to enroll him in. the Door Step School took up this responsibility and based on Mahesh’s age and ability, enrolled him in standard four. Despite all the odds, he continued his education and is currently enrolled in the eighth standard. Mahesh’s parents are very proud of his achievements and are ready to do whatever it takes for Mahesh to complete his education. The simple word ‘Education’ has changed the lives of many and will continue to do so. The change it brings is positive and always for the betterment of the recipient and those who surround him. The recompense of education is known to all and hence, Pune, popularly known as the ‘Oxford of the east’ is home to some of the biggest educational institutions in this city! The municipal schools are a swifts and widespread counter to the issue. Well, easier said than done! Only if we look around do we see that there are many who fail to even enter such schools. Reasons could be many or sometimes none. But the fact remains there are several children who are far away from the world and the word called education.
“All children deserve education. An alarming number of India’s urban poor still remain without an opportunity to receive formal education. Our mission at the Door Step School is to bridge this divide using innovative programmes that will educate these children and help them make the transition to literacy and a brighter future,” explains Rajani Parajpe, founder-President of the Door Step School.
Established in Mumbai in 1988 responding to a massive need for literacy in the slums, the Door Step School builds its program to address three major needs: school enrolment, education for those not in school and retention to help those in school thrive and stay in school. Expanding to Pune in 1993, the Door Step School has impacted over 50,000 children.
The Door Step School is truly a school at one’s doorstep. The organization sets up a classroom in a particular area and gathers children there for learning. The team goes there every day and conducts regular classes. This particularly helps those who can’t send their children to school due to distance and time issues. The programmes are tailor made for the groups that they serve. In Pune, the language of instruction is Marathi. When asked why English was not introduced to the children, Rajani replies thoughtfully, “We are not against any language. Our experience tells us that a child can pick up his mother tongue or the regional language quickly. One must understand that these are students with no educational background. They are what we can call first generation learners. Most of the municipal schools in the city are Marathi medium. So while enrolling them in the mainstream school, it’s essential that they know good Marathi. Also, when they come to us, they can hardly read and write in the language that they speak and hear, learning a foreign language is far more difficult. The other factor is the dropout rate. Keeping all this in mind, we think that children must read and write in their own language till the time they are with us.”
In Pune, the main focus of the Door Step School is educating on construction sites. “We conducted a survey and found that lots of young children move into the city with or without their families to work on construction sites. Earning the daily bread is a challenge and education thus remains a distant dream. We try and reach out to such children and as a result, today, we are operating on over distant dream. We try and reach out to such children and as a result, today, we are operating on over 100 construction sites in the city. However, there are several challenges. The opening as well as the closure of the sites is not in our hands. When the site is completed, the labour moves out and so does the child. This results in a high dropout rate. Over the year, we have put in several measures to track the children moving due to residence change. One of the ways is by training children to call us from the new location and give us that address. We have received quite a few calls and this is very encouraging”, smiles Rajani.
The Door Step School also provides facility for transport. Making provisions for school transport for children is an essential service, particularly in Pune which is known for its heavy and undisciplined traffic. Transport also becomes a necessity when number of children at a particular location is rather small and one can save resources by transporting them to a class running nearby.
The bus used for transport transforms into a classroom once it has dropped children to their respective schools. The bus becomes school-on-wheels. It is a bus that is furnished and equipped to be used as a classroom. It can accommodate around 25 students at a time. The School-On-Wheels project is the flagship of Door Step’s attempts to take education to tout of school children who dwell on the very fringes of society. “School-On-Wheels is a means to impart basic literacy skills to the less settled groups of children, viz. those who live on pavements, station platforms or street comers and are often seen bagging. These groups are very mobile and usually there is no facility to run classes in the areas where they dwell. A bus provides the most suitable alternative for such a classroom.”
The Door Step School considers education as a solution to many social problems. “Education always opens doors for a brighter future. People who are even a bit literate have better opportunities in life. If one person is educated, he inspires several around him. According to me, illiteracy is non-recurring. Also, problems like population, poverty, crime can be considerably solved with education. Furthermost, if we educate our children, adult illiteracy will no longer exist,” beams Rajani.
CITADEL Team
No comments:
Post a Comment