Everyone
is entitled to education. It is the most powerful weapon that can change the
world. But sadly, many people are deprived of this basic right. We have many
NGOs and private organizations working to make this a reality.
And then there is Dr. Venkatesh Murthy, a faculty of Indian
Institute of Management, Rohtak, who is fighting very hard to let the
marginalized sections of the society get access to education.
Venkatesh
Murthy from Karnataka is a regular faculty member teaching Business Environment
at the Indian Institute of Management Rohtak.
Apart from
teaching at IIM, Rohtak,on a daily basis he devotes two hours to impart lessons
to the lesser privileged too. These are the children of of rag pickers in
Rohtak, who are otherwise deprived of formal education.
Mr.
Murthy shares his own experience that moved him and consequently pushed
him to work towards their better future. “One night while riding a bicycle, I came across a
ragpicker. We had a conversation and he told me that their children do not go
to school. Next day, I visited the place and made enquiries. The plight of
ragpickers residing in this locality moved me and I decided to teach their
children,” he explains.
Even though currently there are sixty students attending
the classes every day, Murthy says it was never easy in the beginning. When he
began the classes from a makeshift tent in a slum, Murthy had to face many
hardships including convincing the parents understand that it is for their own
children’s good was an uphill task. Gradually, his vision saw the light of
the day when more students turned up in his evening school. Currently, he has
60 students enrolled in the program.
But it’s not just
the numbers which do the talking. More than that, what inspires him is the
enthusiastic kids that wait for the classes to commence. “Children now eagerly wait for the evening to reach the
classroom. It’s these moments of joy on the faces of poor children that I had
been waiting to see,” he says.
Finally,
11 children of rag-pickers, as well as three other children from the local
community, have got admitted to Government Primary School in Sector 5 here. As
the parents of most of the children had gone to pick rags, Dr Murthy signed
their admission forms as their guardian.
“Seeing the excitement on the
faces of the children is quite satisfying, but a sense of responsibility is
also there. I wish the children continue their studies and would never like any
of them to get pulled from the school and put back into ragpicking,” Dr Murthy
said. School headmistress Anitasaid though the parents of these children did
not have residence proofs, they have been admitted as per the provisions of the
Right to Education Act.
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