Education certainly determines the quality of an individual’s life. It improves one’s knowledge, skills and develops the personality and attitude. Proper education is vital for all of us. But, unfortunately, a lot of kids don’t get the basic education because of many reasons such as financial constraints, family problems or even worse, unawareness of parents.
At times like these, there are people who are willing to help such kids out and educate them without asking anything in return. One of such amazing human beings is Arati Behera, a resident of Bhadrak district.
32-year-old Arati is a teacher at a private school. In the weekends, she is mostly found at her balcony, teaching alphabets, numbers, words, communication, art and craft to more than 15 children, liberated from cost! These children are mostly either homeless or house assists who live in the nearby slum.
Since October 2019, she has been determined to furnish them with the important aptitudes that will empower her to get them admitted to an ordinary school under the Right to Education Act. “One day my home assistance Kamala was sick so she sent her little girl Neena to help me out. Neena is just 9 and is a sweet girl. I remember I asked her about her day at school, to which she replied she doesn’t go to school. That day I couldn’t stop thinking about the troublesome condition she and kids like her live in.” said Arati.
The following day she talked to her house help about the condition of the kids. “My husband isn’t with me any longer. I am the only earning member of my family of 5 people. My other children are too young to even consider doing house chores, so my girl helps me with that while I am away. We can’t afford to send her to school, our main concern is to survive didi.”
After hearing this, there was no way Arati would surrender. She contacted a person whom she knew works in an NGO to get a small group of kids like Neena admitted into a zonal school there, but there were difficulties here too.
They said, “We can concede them, however, they lack basic skills to get admitted, some of these kids don’t even know alphabets. Besides, neither these kids nor their folks are serious about school. It is hard to keep them since they stay missing for extensive stretches. If you can ensure that they will remain in school, at that point we’ll support you.”
Arati’s goals were courageous, but could she guarantee that these children would stay in school?
No! But that doesn’t mean she will stop trying.
So she thought of another plan. She volunteered to prepare these children for the rigours of school. From October 2019, she started teaching them on alternate days and from November onwards she has been teaching them for an hour consistently.
“My husband sometimes teaches them Mathematics and my mother-in-law teaches them basic Odia such as alphabets and numbers. I know this may not be much but I am doing everything in my power to help them out. I have talked to some of the officials to help these children and I have been assured that they will take some actions,” said Arati.
A lot has changed since these kids have started to come to Arati’s house. “I can see a huge change in my kids now. They seem more interested in every activity and makes effort to clean themselves and look presentable. They now understand their responsibility better and try to help me out as well,” said Kamala, Arati’s house help.
Education is a ray of light in dark hours. It certainly is a hope for a good life, a basic right of every Human on this Planet. To deny this right is evil. Uneducated youth is the worst thing for Humanity, every country must ensure to educate its people.