Abhyuday

 

Swami Vivekananda said that education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man. As a nation is built with her people, the more educated they are, the more perfect the nation. Conversely, lack of education is perhaps the starkest national imperfection.

According to data put out by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the national dropout rate at the primary level was 4.34 percent in 2014-15, and it was even higher at the secondary level, at 17.86 percent. As per a paper commissioned by UNESCO for the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report, the dropout at the secondary level could be a whopping 36 million, close to Canada’s population. More than half of those have actually dropped out because they had to start working and earn a living. Child labour’s compulsion remains one of the main reasons for dropout when a child grows big enough for heavy work. 

The compulsion is perhaps more for the migrant labourers’ children. The indication comes from the UNESCO paper. The 2011 Census data points out that the proportion of dropout in urban boys aged between 15 and 19 years among construction workers – the majority of them are migrant labourers – is 16% more than the national average in the same age group. Age-specific Attendance Ratio (AAR) has been found to be lower in the outmigration prone districts as compared to others. That the AAR for rural boys in West Bengal and Orissa aged between 15 and 19 years is among the lowest in India is perhaps not surprising when it’s recalled that the rural population from both states comprise a good chunk of the migrant workforce across India.

Despite the well-intended initiatives like RTE, many non-working kids of the migrant workers cannot go to regular schools because they are always moving. Even the government schools are not flexible enough to accommodate them. And for the older kids, who more often than not land up being child labourers, regular day schools are out of the question. It’s quite evident that all enforcement against child labour hasn’t eradicated the problem. So, it’s better to accept the reality and work out something that could tackle the issue in a different way.

That’s where the concept of free and informal Evening Schools, or rather coaching centres, seems apt. A regular school needs to follow a particular curriculum and operate under certain norms, which might not suit migrant kids. Moreover, it will be out of reach to the child labourers, who spend the whole day working and running errands. Tailor-made evening classes would solve all the problems. The parents would be encouraged to send their kids to the evening classes as that would neither hamper their day-work if they are working nor require the ordeal of seeking admission in the local schools through RTE or otherwise.

Kalpataru has started the Abhyuday Evening Schools under its Sanjh Ki Kiran initiative precisely for this reason. The idea is to utilise the existing setup and resources as much as possible and fill in some gaps to create a self-sustaining system that is beneficial to the kids who need it the most. In many places, we seek permission from the concerned authorities to use the government primary schools for the evening classes. We employ local teachers, predominantly young women, often students themselves, studious and hardworking, for whom a steady monthly income would go a long way in making them self-reliant and confident. This is directly linked to Kalpataru’s mission to work towards women’s wellness and empowerment.

The evening classes could evolve into many different things in the future. They could become places for vocational training for women, awareness camps, or simply women health centres.

Vivekananda interpreted abhyuday as uday, the awakening, of the abhi, the fearlessness. It symbolises the enkindling of the fire within, arousing the inner strength, and conquering the darkness of despair and hopelessness with the light of education.

Paraphrasing what Kofi Annan, a former Secretary-General of the United Nations, had once said, it could be asserted that education is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty and a building block of development. It is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity.

Abhyuday is a humble effort at empowering the challenged with the strength and ammunition of education.

Sanjh Ki Kiran

In Indian philosophy, Kalpataru is a Wishing Tree, a tree that can fulfil all our wishes. Kalpataru Trust is a not-for-profit organization working at the national level towards creating a greener world, where the women would have better health, the children better education and the people, affected by the sudden wrath of nature, some basic aids to survive the turmoil. The members of Kalpataru strive to fulfil some of the basic needs, if not all the wishes, of the people around us. Our means are limited, but our dreams are boundless. 

We strongly feel that if everyone were adequately educated, we would have a self-reliant and capable world, atma nirbhar and sakshama. With this resolve, Kalpatru launched an initiative, Sanjh Ki Kiran, across India. Under the aegis of this initiative, the first evening school, Abhyuday, was inaugurated at Suneheri village, Kurukshetra, Haryana, on 29 November 2020.

The Abhyuday evening schools across the country would be like Sanjh ki Kiran, which would keep the darkness of incompetence away, even after the sun has gone down. Swami Vivekananda would say that education is that which brings out the best within us. It’s like the nurturing that makes a tiny seedling grow into a big Ashwatha tree, even the mighty Kalptaru. Without the gardener’s nurturing, even a Kalpataru might not grow to its fullest potential – the wrath of nature could consume it. We want to create the gardens and the gardeners to help today’s kids blossom like an Ashwatha, like a Kalpataru of the future. 

To make India atma nirbhar and sakshama, every kid of today should have a proper education. The evening schools would cater to the children of the migrant labourers and others who are economically challenged and who cannot afford to send their kids to coaching classes or good schools. Thus, these kids are deprived of the essential ammunition to fight poverty in the long run and the keys to better lives. The evening schools are meant to fill in the gaps in the education for these kids, thus nurturing them to become atma nirbhar citizens of India. 

Kalpataru

 

In Indian philosophy, Kalpataru is a Wishing Tree, a bountiful source that can fulfil humanity’s wishes. At Kalpataru, we strive to meet some of the basic needs, if not all wishes, of people around us. Our means are limited. But our dreams are boundless. We have an undying conviction that if we all sacrificed a bit of our energy, resource and time, we would collectively amass enough to make some difference to society, spread some happiness, dispel some gloom. We envision a greener world, where the women would have better health, the children better education, and the people, affected by the sudden wrath of nature, some basic aids to survive the turmoil.

Our Vision: To create a self-sustaining greener world, where the women are empowered and children educated

Our Motto: तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा, We Rejoice with What Has Been Sacrificed