A school for children of a lesser God

A school for children of a lesser God

MUNISH DHIMAN  25th Oct 2014

Students at Jeet Convent School At 12, Aarti became the breadwinner of her family. With 13 siblings and minimal income sources she had no option but to eke out a living on her own at this tender age. 10-year-old Hema has 10 siblings and is similarly trapped. A major chunk of Indian population living below the poverty line undergoes the same ordeal. Children in these households are born only to shoulder responsibilities that they inherit from generation to generation. The sole purpose of their lives is to rustle up two square meals a day. The majority of them are not lucky enough to see a rosy future for themselves. But Aarti, Hema and many others were lucky enough to have bagged admission in Jeet Convent School in Ludhiana, where they spotted a glimmer of hope. It is here where these children are encouraged to dream big. Being run under the aegis of Jeet Foundation, a self-help society engaged in improving the lot of the under-privileged, it is managed on the premises of Gurudwara Shaheed Baba Jiwan Singh. The school was founded last year by Sukhwinder Kaur, who is currently the president of the Foundation and is armed with a missionary zeal to educate children engaged in odd jobs like rag-picking, balloon-selling, shoe-shining and so on. To see themselves in a school and learning under the protective stewardship of a caring staff is a dream-come-true for them. Being run under the aegis of Jeet Foundation, a self-help society engaged in improving the lot of the under-privileged, it is managed on the premises of Gurudwara Shaheed Baba Jiwan Singh.  In an interview with Guardian20, Sukhwinder said, "I was working in a managerial capacity when an innovative idea struck me. I took up the challenge of changing lives of these children, who were forced into doing menial jobs to keep the kitchen fire burning .This was also aimed at bringing a change in this section of society so as to enable the parents to encourage their wards to study. I feel happy when I see a change in their sensibilities. This has helped increase their strength from 10 to 70 in a span of one year. It is poised to increase by the day." Children studying here are aged between 4-14 years and no fee is charged from them. The school management bears the expenses of uniforms, books, salaries of the teachers and helpers, bags and other stationary items, medical check-up, refreshment and so on. A major chunk of the funds comes from G.P. Singh, an exporter who helps this foundation as a part of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Harjinder Kaur Bajaj, secretary of the Jeet Foundation, said: "Besides these funds, expenses on other sundry requirements keep increasing consistently as the strength of students is gradually increasing. In fact, more children are being motivated to join the school. We also motivate the parents to send their children to school rather than forcing them to earn a livelihood." Jaswinder Kaur, another member, added: "When we started the school we had to go to places to motivate parents to send their wards to us. But that proved a futile exercise. Today the scenario has changed a lot. Now these children come with an urge to study and we don't have to insist them to step out of their homes." Kaur concluded, "We recently introduced uniforms in the school so that these kids can learn to maintain decorum and get used to good conduct." http://www.sunday-guardian.com/young-restless/a-school-for-children-of-a-lesser-god