Lighting the lamp of knowledge for slum children
Aradhika Sekhon

IT was the Punjab Governor, Lt-Gen J.F.R. Jacob, who had told Mr V.K. Mehan, Chairman, Sri Aurobindo School of Integral Education, that he admired the systems of learning that the school incorporated, but had also asked him what the management was doing for the less privileged children? He had then gone on to suggest that the school should take on the project of running a night school in one of the outer colonies of the city.

Aurobindo school is running a night school for slum children

"I was reluctant at first because being a comparatively new school, I didn’t think we could handle it. Sri Aurobindo’s integral education aims at the physical, cognitive, creative and spiritual growth of a child. But originally, our growth plans didn’t really incorporate social service on this scale. However, when we considered the logistics of the project, especially the support we would get from the UT Administration, the Governor’s suggestion began to seem feasible and we decided to support any night school that the DPI, Schools, would earmark for us," says Mr Mehan.

In June, 2001, Sri Aurobindo School of Integral Education took up the project of night school education in Government Middle School, Colony No 4, located in Industrial Area, Phase 1. Although this is the 11th night school operating in the city, it is probably the only one that is being supported by a school. Vaoius NGOs and other institutions run the other schools. The night school runs from 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm.

In fact, on visiting the night school on September 21, 2001, the Governor was full of praise for the endeavour.

Says Mrs Amrita Vatsyayan, Vice-Principal of the school, " Government Middle School runs two regular school shifts, the morning shift, up to 2 pm and the evening shift, up to 5 pm. The children we are focusing on are those who cannot, for some reason or the other, attend either of these shifts. Mainly the reasons are that they’re kept busy through the day by their parents or are earning money, working somewhere. In fact, these are the children one comes across at places like the intersection of roads, toting a Shani Devta to solicit money or even begging at market places."

The night school, which began a couple of months ago, with just 20 children, now has a strength of 55. Says Anuradha, a teacher at the night school, "Actually, the numbers keep fluctuating, sometimes increasing to 68 and sometimes dropping even to 52-55. The main reason for the changing numbers is that these children belong to the migrant population. When the parents feel that they’ve earned enough to keep body and soul together for a few months, they simply pack up and leave for the village. They could return after a few weeks or a few months, or not at all."

The project did face problems at the time of its launch, the main one being the resistance that the parents of these children had to their ‘wasting’ time at school, when they could be doing chores or earning money. The children themselves were reluctant to succumb to the tedium of the school routine, used to, as they were, of roaming freely about the streets. Says Mrs Vatsyayan, "Initially, the teachers of our regular school, as also the teachers employed by the night school project, had to do the rounds of the colony. They went from door to door, convincing parents to let their children come to school. We started classes with 20 children but within a very short time, the number has risen to more than double". Apart from verbal convincing, some material incentives were also used to lure the reluctant students to school.

The slum children are keen learners

Smiles Mrs Vatsyayan, "At first, whenever we’d visit the school, we’d carry some sweets or clothes or sports goods to attract the children and keep them coming. But now that the children are settling in, we give sweets only at festival time".

The Aurobindo School management asked its own students to contribute their outgrown uniforms for the colony school children. Today, almost all night schoolchildren come to school in uniform. "The first lesson given was in hygiene. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that the children take pride in keeping their uniforms spotlessly clean", says the Vice-Principal. Books are lent from the school library to supplement those recommended by the DPI. "The kids are taught Hindi, maths and English…they’re most interested in learning English actually," says Anuradha. Since the children are at various stages of learning, they’ve been divided into groups, on the basis of their levels of learning, somewhat like the free-progress system followed by the Aurobindo School at Pondicherry.

Surprisingly, in spite of their difficult circumstances, the children are still ready, indeed, eager to go to school. Sahil, whose father is a bricklayer, had to drop out of regular school because of the lack of funds. Twelve-year-old Ram Suresh dropped out after Class III because he felt too ashamed to go back after having failed. Thirteen-year-old Rehana and the two other Muslim girls, do attend a madarsa for religious instruction but haven’t been to a formal school because they have to sweep and cook while their parents go out to work. Rehana’s father works as a fruit- seller. Motherless Arjun’s name was struck off the rolls of a regular school when his father took him back to the village.

On his return, he just hung about the colony, not doing anything much.

"These children are familiar with deprivation, alcoholism, violence and even crime. To motivate them to come to school is a challenging job indeed. Still, it’s rather early and we’re going to give it all we’ve got", says Mr Mehan.