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Words that open worlds
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Ashwini Charitable Trust seeks to elevate entire families
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— Photo: Murali Kumar K.
Teaching is more than just attacking the syllabus.
AT FIRST, she is just a bright-eyed, uniform-clad schoolgirl, staring. Layers of talk later, a slum-dweller with a dripping roof and part of a seven-member family. Finally... oh, she does have a name. Divya. Yet, last year, Divya could have been a statistic, not much of a name. A school dropout. Until "those madams" came to her sodden hut. The `Ashwini madams'. The `Ashwini madams', as it turns out, are about eight to nine women who pay for her school fees, her uniforms and books. Teach her lessons. Take her for picnics. Get her a meal. Send her to computer classes. Help Divya to be herself. And Somiya and Praveena, and Guruprasad and Amuda and Ashwini and... 55 children.
Rapid growth
It was five years ago that Sujata Mukherjee, a homemaker, dipped into her savings to sponsor a child's education. Wending her way through the gulf that sunders her world from the government-aided National Children School's, she went to pick up one child, and found to her amazement it cost so little to fund one that she could select many more.
"Then I realised that they also need help with their lessons," she says. "So I started giving tuitions to nine." At first, they wouldn't come, so she had to stand at the gates, waiting to coax them to class.
In five years the number has swelled to 55 students and about seven teachers. "We decided that there is no point in just increasing intake, when we do not have the funds or volunteers to support the children," explains Radhika S. Arvindam, one of the members.
They have named their organisation after the first child they picked up, Ashwini Charitable Trust (ACT). The mission is to sponsor education, give tuitions, counsel and expose them to activities. The goal is not just to prevent dropouts, but work on personality development and help to elevate entire families. Which is why they always try to soak up siblings.
The parents are the silent housemaids, vendors, painters or tailors, who cannot support their studies and will, during a dip in fortune, pull the children out to save on fees. "That is why it is important for us to be with them till they are gainfully employed," says Radhika.
Not just syllabus
Teaching is more than just attacking the syllabus. "Being a Montessori teacher, it was tough teaching these kids," explains Radhika Sheshashayee. "I found that the basic concepts are just not there! I started with stories, but found that there is no relevance in their lives to any of our English books or rhymes. They do not understand the need for integers, rational numbers or even multiplication tables."
However, the effort has paid off, for most of the children have improved their scores as well as their confidence. Their first adoptee, Ashwini, the second daughter in a family of five girls, she totalled 71 per cent in SSLC, and is now studying commerce.
Shashikala, perhaps once a likely name in the dropout list, is now hoping to get employed by a bank. She confirms: "I've improved, my mother has promised that she will continue my schooling," a privilege previously unthinkable.
ACT also tries to contact resource persons, to offer exposure. For instance, it brought a woman police officer, and the assistant manager of a hotel, to help them identify goals. "The hotel management talk was really an eye-opener," says Bhavani Ramesh, a counsellor-member. "Usually we all think only of engineer/ doctor/ teacher/ bank officer, but here was someone who was cooking and keeping house and making a lot of money out of it. The aim, then, is to give the children achievable aims."
Open to therapy
Bhavani finds that the children are open to therapy and suggestion. "Some children with temper problems came to me," she says. "I told them it was OK to get angry, which was a relief to them. Then one of the mothers came to me, and said she has a problem too!"
Meera, mother of five girls, nods. "It's great to get all this information about parenting," she asserts. "Being a mother of five girls is difficult, I would often get angry, and take it out on the children. But now, I understand the importance of patience."
She also knows there are other benefits. "They took my daughter out for a picnic," she says. "The girls otherwise never stir out of home, except going to school."
Vidya, Suchita, Akshara, William, Shriram, Ritesh and Akshay from Frank Anthony Public School also drop in to take some classes. Akshay is bowled over by the fact that some of the children have got 10 out of 10 in Math! "I'm getting quite a complex," he grins.
The reaction of the adoptees? Submissive acceptance! "Their first lesson is obedience, and they're very good at it," sighs Anya, from Kennedy International. Smita from Mallya Aditi says that they do not really concentrate on school lessons, but on holistic teaching. So parents think they are useless. "They don't really understand quality, only the fee structure."
Funds needed
As ACT is often short of funds, it networks with other NGOs. For instance, Surabhi Charitable Trust offers computer training. Soroptimist's International has organised a free immunisation camp for the children and has helped to arrange a ear operation for a child.
What about tomorrow? ACT wants to identify more needs, not numbers. Apart from donations of Rs. 750 to Rs. 10,000, they are looking for voluntary medical help from doctors living in the area. They would like schools nearby to give them space to teach and are lobbying for municipal action to build a toilet in the MV Garden slum. Finally, they want help with issues such as repairing the roof of Divya's house.
Would you like to be part of their small revolution? If you can contribute money, time or service, contact Sujatha Mukherjee at 25354718 (R) / 9845721841 or e-mail info@ashwini-trust.org. Website: www.ashwini-trust.org
REVATHI SIVAKUMAR
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