I was standing in front of the Delhi Metro Station and asking myself –
Why I agreed to visit a school in Delhi’s scorching heat instead of enjoying the cool gentle air of an AC?
The story doesn’t begin with this question, but it starts at yesterday’s night when one of my friend, Amit Gupta asked me to visit his school.
Why school?
Because he is a fellow for Teach For India initiative, a project of Teach To Lead, is a nationwide movement of outstanding college graduates and young professionals who will commit two-years to teach full-time in under resourced schools and who will become lifelong leaders working from within various sectors towards the pursuit of equity in education. For more details visit – http://www.teachforindia.org )
In a spur of the moment, I said ‘yes’ and next day found myself near Janta Colony, Delhi’s slum area.
As I walked through those extremely narrow roads that had mounds of garbage everywhere, stinky smell of feces and overflowing drains. Old buildings and shops which could collapse any minute. Children running around in torn and old clothes.
In short, imagine a scene from ‘slum dog millionaire’.
After a short walk, we reached school that was in a very shabby state. It had smaller classrooms with dirt piling over furniture, windows with no glass and continuous traffic noise.
And the worst part – only 1 slow moving fan (Imagine Delhi’s fuming weather)
We settled in a classroom where he introduced me to other fellow. Soon we started making half yearly exam papers while they were narrating stories or facts of the school which I still couldn’t digest.
Below are the facts–
1. In the school, a new teacher gets Rs 800 per month and a 5 years experienced teacher gets paid Rs 1400 per month. How can anyone survive in such amount? My maid earns more amount than the teacher.
2. One student has 14 siblings and average sibling ratio in the school is more than 5.
3. Due to low wage & inadequate knowledge, teaching quality is extremely poor and lots of books had incorrect information.
4. Parents are reluctant to sent girls to school.
5. Every child suffers from typhoid at least twice a year due to contaminated water.
And the list goes on and on.
At a point, I felt dejected and let down by our education system.
It wasn’t first time that we heard about these stories, we read about them or watch movies on them, but it was the first time, I heard them from a firsthand experiences.
Just few metro stations away lays gigantic malls where people splurge money while on the other end, we have school which is completely screwed up.
Life’s biggest irony.
As our conversation heated up, I realized it’s very difficult step to work in an NGO where every day is a struggle. For instance, convincing orthodox parents to send their daughters to school, teaching without the fan in Delhi’s harsh climate and leaving behind a settled career path for an uncertain future.
Few hours later, again I was standing in front of the Delhi Metro Station and asking myself-
Why I agreed to visit a school in Delhi’s scorching heat instead of enjoying the cool gentle air of an AC?
Finally, I found my answer
Sometimes in life we get too comfortable in beautiful surroundings that we are unable to break the invisible threshold of comfort level.
Being comfortable in uncomfortable situation requires courage.
I really appreciated their courage to make a difference to the society rather than blaming the system for its shortcomings.
Keep up the good work fellows.
prAts!
P.S – “People who cannot put strings of sentences together in good order cannot think. An educational system that does not teach the technology of writing is preventing thought.” Richard Mitchell
One should have a lot of courage to take this decision esp who got adjusted to comfortable life. Really appreciate your decision and hope many blogs will come up from your experiences.
‘Being comfortable in uncomfortable situation requires courage.’ Well said Prateek! I appreciate the efforts of the volunteers who work in such difficult circumstances. Together, we can make this world a better place.
ohhh….
tat ws really hard hitting reality ….
bt u made an effort through your blogs by creating awareness in people like me …
thank you for this blg
one of ur good works !!!
Thanks apu! I am creating awareness about it through my blog, you create awareness by telling few more people about teach for india.. People should know about the good things happening in our country.