The Deepalaya Vocational Training Centre at Gusbethi

With stepparents living up to their image of wickedness, 11-year-old Ankit of Meerut, saw running away from home as the only option before him. "I took the first train I saw moving out of the railway station and reached Delhi, only to be at the mercy of the established bullies at the station. Molested and discouraged, I was learning about the world the tough way when a child helpline discovered me and I found my way to. My life changed forever. It’s all I could have asked for," he says.

Twelve-year-old Vikas from Bihar says Deepalaya gave meaning and purpose to his otherwise empty life. "I picked up a fight in my village and, in stead of resolving the matter, my father disowned me. I took the train to Delhi to make my life and landed at the Gram. I am interested in studies and aim to be a doctor. Once this is achieved, I want to return to my village. When my father’s chest swells with pride, I want to cut him to size by disowning him in front of everybody," he asserts.

For most of the 31 inmates at the Gram, the Deepalaya experience has transformed them from delinquents to disciplined human beings, making them realise the quality of virtue and grace of humility, as is true for Ajit. An inspiration for the inmates of the transit home and the pride of the Gram, Ajit, a rag-picker, came from West Bengal, following a tiff with his parents. He completed education till Class V at Deepalaya School, then graduated to Delhi Public School in the nearby Tauru. He is at present studying in Class VII.

Interestingly, not only the children but the village, too, has benefited ever since the Gram was established almost four years ago. Amidst the barrenness of this Mewat village, today, the Gram stands out as an island of greenery, its three buildings surrounded with vegetable beds and fruit trees, planted for use at the transit home and for sale in the market.

Also teaching the children to strive for happiness and sail against the wind to attain it, the team at the Gram, comprising teachers and a warden, is involved in imparting technical training to students and rural women who want to be self-reliant. Courses are offered in computers, electric repairs and tailoring.

With funding partners spread out all over the world, Deepalaya has managed to run the show with their help. While 39 per cent of the funds come from donations in India, the rest are contributed by agencies abroad. In addition to Deepalaya’s 31 Indian and foreign agencies it can fall back upon, it has a "Friends of Deepalaya" group, which includes celebrities like Raghu Rai, Nafisa Ali, Sharon Lowen and Shovana Narayan, who help in fund-raising.

"We are like a glasshouse. Transparency, accountability and credibility are our watchwords. We account for every single penny we receive and it is for all to see. Result-oriented, we show our sponsors where their funds go. These qualities set us apart and have helped us grow since we started 25 years ago," says Deepalaya’s Secretary and Chief Executive T.K. Mathew.

It was on July 16, 1979, that a group of seven Christians belonging to the same church in Delhi, asked themselves whether they were true Christians. "We asked ourselves how we were contributing to our nation and if we were practising our faith. If we were really the light on the mount and the salt of the earth, what were we doing to live up to that image and how were we adding flavour to the lives of those around us. All these questions troubled us. Our education, too, was a gift from somebody and we wanted to pass on that gift rather than monopolise it," recalls Mathew.

Thus, Deepalaya, the house of light, was born the same year and P Thomas became its first President and Y Chackochan the Treasurer. Starting with a mere Rs 17,500 — with each of the seven members contributing Rs 2500 towards the kitty — and with five children attending school in a drawing room in South Delhi, the organisation grew from strength to strength. It has educated over 35,000 children in the Delhi slums and Mewat villages of Haryana. Now, Deepalaya has spread out to 76 slums of Delhi, 84 villages and most commercial areas besides the New Delhi and Nizamuddin railway stations.

This rise to the top, however, wasn’t a cakewalk. To begin with, the programme of education received a lukewarm response from slum-dwellers unwilling to send their children to school. Repeated visits to the slums, interactions with parents of slum children, finally, bore fruit though dragging the children out of their houses proved an arduous task for this force of social reformers, secular in nature.

"Then, around 1984-85, with 133 children in our school, we felt we couldn’t expand any further through personal contribution. We needed to take outside help or stagnate. Fortunately for us, a few funding agencies and individual donations from like-minded people came to the rescue of the children, and we were back on the rails of progress, embracing all who came our way," recalls Mathew. The organisation also instituted an annual award of Rs 21000 and a citation for journalists writing on child rights and children’s issues in 1999.

Running seven formal schools, the biggest at Kalkaji Extension, New Delhi, with 700 students, Deepalaya has benefited thousands of children in the form of pre-school, non-formal and remedial education as well as vocational training. Despite having made an indelible impression in the field of education for the deprived, the one obstacle to be surmounted is to gain recognition for the schools.

While the institutions fulfil all other requirements laid down for the purpose of acquiring recognition from the Delhi government, the organisation fails to deliver on the front of payment of prescribed salaries to the staff though not without reason.

"Ours is essentially a charitable organisation and we can’t afford to give more than what we are already paying. More pay would mean depriving at least a handful of children the benefit of education. However, we are not disheartened. Instead, we have found a way out. We prepare students for the examinations at our schools while they appear for various examinations through the National Open School," explains Mathew.

Another founder member of the organisation, TM Abraham, informs that while the education programme continued to blossom in the early years, the core group found that whatever they achieved with the child at school was undone at home. "Five years into the programme, we realised that the child didn’t exist in a vacuum and if we don’t touch the family, and, through the family, reach out to the community, we can do very little. It was then that we branched out to the "Integrated child development" projects, a long-term strategy to better the entire community," he adds.

While education continues to be Deepalaya’s thrust area, health has also emerged as another important programme with its objective being the promotion of good practices in healthcare, prevention of illness and diseases, improving child health and establishing linkages with medical professionals and institutes. With the child as its subject and education its weapon, Deepalaya is committed to changing lives and breaking the bonds of poverty and ignorance. And, it is making a difference.

This feature was published on November 22, 2003