In the next few years, you will see a young journalist on television. Watch out for ‘Sakshi Patel’, whose factual reporting style on issues faced by remote Indian villages will amaze you. There will be no shortage of words when it comes to finding solutions to the daily battles children in these rural areas fight, especially when it comes to access to education. Sakshi demands an answer.
His stories will be filled with personal experiences. After all, she is speaking about a subject close to her heart. Sakshi Patel will one day – be a name to reckon with.
But now she is just a girl with big dreams of becoming a journalist, as she told me. Jansa village in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, where she lives, is home to many children like her; Children whose parents are engaged in odd jobs like well boring, house building and stone cutting, cleaning lakes and selling flowers. the ghats (The area leading to the banks of the holy river Ganga).
Witness is a firm believer that just dreaming is not enough; They have to work to make those dreams come true.
A nine-year-old girl is enrolled in Jansa Primary School, which witnesses the attendance of most of the children in the village. However, for the past three years, Sakshi has been studying in an extra class at a center in her village, where her beloved Shyam yes uncle (Uncle) spends time brushing up on her concepts, expanding her vocabulary, and playing with her.
“I like coming here (I love coming here),” she says before running off to join her friends who have started playing games.
When Shyam Srivastava (65) started this center in Jansa village, he never expected to gather so much love. It was just an attempt to give back to society, he says, referring to surviving a 2018 diagnosis of bone marrow cancer, which had reached stage four.
Doctors at Delhi’s Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Center called it ‘a point of no return’. So, two years later, Shyam can imagine their disbelief G Showed excellent signs of recovery.
The center he established in Jansa village is one of the three – the other in Rajatalab village and the third at Ravidas Ghat. While each center serves about 200 children at any given time, it is the Jansa center that needs your attention.
A collapsed roof is killing many dreams
In 2023, the NGO First Foundation published the Annual Status of Education (ASER) report which highlighted the existing gaps in education in rural areas. After surveying 28 districts in 26 states, the report suggests that 42 percent of children in the age group of 14 to 18 years in rural India cannot read simple sentences in English.
Why did this happen even though children were enrolled in schools where English was taught?
Shyam interacting with children in Jansa village G Find out the reasons. “Most of these children are enrolled in school but do not go to school. Their parents are busy with odd jobs and don’t have time to check on them. Many of them do not have food to eat and their health is not good, so, education takes a back seat,” he shares.
In an effort to ensure that these children do not waste their lives, Shyam G In 2019, he started his first center in Jansa village where he belongs. The idea was simple – teach a handful of workers’ children Neem the tree But this model was not favorable for more than one reason; It spoils the children’s posture while rain and cold heat often spoil the play.
Shyam G He asked around the village for help and used the donations he received – to the tune of Rs 6 lakh – to build a temporary hall. However, he concentrated on the walls and foundation, so when they came to the roof, there was no amount left.
Two tin sheets were installed on the top of the shelter to protect it from dust, rain and stones. But as in Shyam – the contraption is of no use during a heat wave G It was recently discovered earlier this month when the temperature reached 45 degrees Celsius in Varanasi. As the villagers prayed to the rain god for some relief, Shyam G The worst was feared. “If it rains too much, the tin sheets will become useless. The rain will enter the shelter and soak the students, their bags and books. Seeing their plight makes me very sad,’ he sighs.
In such cases the only option is to cancel the classes for the day. This upsets Sakshi, who is looking forward to meeting her friends and studying English, but it affects her friend Sonakshi Patel more. They live 8 km away and walk for the last half hour to reach school. So imagine his dismay when he realizes that walking is pointless.
“I know it’s not fair,” blushed G reasons. “But what other choice do I have?”
“Build a new roof, maybe?” I suggest.
“Where does the funding come from?”
And this is where you can help.
A story of resilience
while Shyam G Having gone on to launch the Rajtalab Center in 2020 and the Ravidas Ghat Center in 2021, the Jansa Village Center continues to be his prized project, as it sees the highest number of visitors. The walls echo the rhythm of perseverance and determination.
“These kids have big dreams,” says Shyam G says “Helping them is my way of living my ‘new life’ in a productive way.” Shyam G Mentioned his survival through bone marrow cancer. After his bone marrow transplant in 2019, his doctors told him he didn’t have much time left.
“When the diagnosis shocked me for a week, I decided to face it head on. I decided to double my will to live and that is my best medicine,” he commented. Ask him how he feels about recovery, and he says “in a day.” “Recovery is not the right word. My injections and medication are still ongoing. And so, I keep telling myself that whatever time I have, I want to do well.
The idea of reaching out to children struck Shyam G During that time he spent in the cancer ward. As he contemplated his fate, he watched a few months old children admitted for cancer treatment. “It was very sad to see these things,” he says, adding that these observations set the precedent for the way he wanted to live his life.
But he soon realized that it was counterproductive to encourage children who did not have access to food and basic sanitation to study. “Children need a good environment to learn,” he reiterates. And, Shyam GCenters are centers where children are cared for, sometimes fed, helped with studies, played with, and given everything they need to dream big.
One wonders why these children, who are already enrolled in government schools in Varanasi, are enthusiastic about coming to Shyam? Gcenters of.
The answer lies in the incentives they receive here – educational kits with books, pencils and bags, food on weekends, chocolates and sweets when the donor obliges, and the attention of the youth sent here by the Asha Kalyan Trust. A platform started by Divyanshu Upadhyay to help minority communities across Uttar Pradesh.
Children reach the center from Dindaspur, Rameshwar and Jansa villages. “They are of all ages,” says Shyam G; The youngest age group is eight years old, while the oldest is 15 years old. Children are taught Hindi, English, Social Studies, Physical Education and Mathematics at the centre. There are games to play and interactions with their friends.
“We should study too, right?” Sakshi argues. She has a point and would make a great journalist, I think. In the next few years when you see a witness on TV, he will not be highlighting the problems, but instead the solutions. And, in us Uttam India Excited to see his launch.
Now, a collapsed roof is stopping her dreams. Your donation to build the roof of the center has the power to set Sakshi on the path to becoming one of the best journalists the country has ever seen.
Edited by Pranita Bhat