My first community
visit to a low income community (Yerawada area) in Pune was on Saturday. I was
excited to visit a low income locality and see closely, what could be the mind
set and hardships faced by them.
We were a group of 106
people, and I along with one of my friends (who was also an intern like me in
the NGO) went about to understand and connect with the children’s of that
locality. We walked a bit far into the locality and took a small detour from
the main road and entered a narrow lane, where we saw a number of children in
the age group of 5-6 years.
My friend then started
to talk with 2 children, and I went a little more inside the lane to survey the
children who were sitting as a group outside a house. The houses were all
single room; the women were washing the utensils and clothes outside their
houses; and some houses had TV’s.
The first thing I did
was to roll down my sleeves to hide my watch which seemed the most useless but
the most expensive thing out there. I went near the group and asked what are
they doing? Two ran to their houses seeing a stranger (that could be the
reason) but three remained seated there. As we were instructed to ask in
English, I asked to the eldest child there, “What is your name?” Shahdad was
the reply. “Which school?” XXX English School. Next was which class? He replied
class 6th.
Then I asked the other
child but he did not know English, as he went to a Marathi school. Next, I
asked the most silent kid (her name was Sana), who after much coaxing spoke she
was in class 2. I asked her to write from 1 to 10. She was silent. I promised
her, I will give my pen if she even tells me from 1 to 10. She somehow managed
from 1 to 8. I gave her the pen and asked her to draw 5 circles on an A4 size paper
I was having. I was shocked to see that the kid struggled to even catch the pen
properly. She tried hard and managed to draw 5 shapes resembling circles all
very widely in size.
One interesting thing I
noticed was, throughout the time their mothers stood there and after this the
girl’s mother came to me and said she can sing a poem. She sang 2 English poems
one was “Johnny Johnny Yes Papa”. The parents also enquired what were we doing;
a survey or something else. They never complained about the schools where their
children went, but definitely I have seen my cousin in class 2 who is solving
computer programs. Is this education inequality found everywhere, was the
question I asked myself?
Next I met a class 8th
boy who was observing me from the last 1 hour. I had a chat with him. Getting
to know he was in class 8th, I asked him what subjects he was studying.
He said nothing. I told English, Marathi, Hindi, Science, on hearing science he
gave a puzzled look. I then asked Chemistry, Physics, but still he was
confused. I sensed his uncomfortable look and diverted him from that topic and
asked him what game he plays. I expected Cricket but, when he said Football I
was really happy and asked him what he wants to become in future. He said he
wanted to be an engineer. The innocent but determined look in his eyes made me
feel sad because in schools you need to teach science which can help a child to
pursue his engineering dreams.
Then I met a 9th
standard boy whose dream was to become an army person. I asked him why not air
force, when you are in Pune. “Have any of your relatives ever been in Army?” He
said no. “Then why kid”. He told,” Bhaiya, I want to serve the nation”. I also
came to know, he runs every day, plays football, hockey and cricket for
increasing his physical endurance. I told him never to lose confidence and was
about to leave when he asked,” Bhaiya, do we need science for getting into army.”
I didn’t expect this from a 9th grade student. I told him,” As you
know Mathematics; you just need to know the basics of Physics and Chemistry for
the written exam.” He looked a bit relaxed after my answer in which I
intentionally reduced the importance of science in written exams.
Just think about the metropolitan
kids who start their IIT preparation by class 8th. These low income
society’s children neither get good education, resources, reading materials but
still their goals seem clear than the overqualified people. Presently the Government’s
duty is to ensure every child attends school, which is quite achievable because
parents are motivated and want their children to get education (The mother of a
4 year old girl told me, she will send her child to school so that she can
stand on her feet). But which Government can ensure that all these children
will pass school. Even after 10th class, without a pass certificate from
college, very few people can earn money (commonly stated example Bill Gates).
And these children can’t even pass 10th class, leave alone college.
Solutions can be many,
but this truth of education inequality should be dealt fast because children go
to school and also work hard but they don’t get to know that slowly and with
years they are getting eliminated out of the competition.
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