School of change

Résumé détaillé

EVERY SUNDAY at 9 am, about 100 children gather under a large tree in Vivekananda Ward, a tribal settlement in Panagar town, Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh.

EVERY SUNDAY at 9 am, about 100 children gather under a large tree in Vivekananda Ward, a tribal settlement in Panagar town, Jabalpur district, Madhya Pradesh. These children come from Vivekanand Ward, as well as other tribal settlements like Jaiprakash Ward, Subhash Ward and Bisendi village, for three hours of lessons on Hindi, English, mathematics, science, social science and art. This open school, simply named Street School, is not like any other weekend tuition—it runs with the purpose of stopping children from succumbing to addiction to harmful narcotics.

“About 80 per cent of the children who come to Street School belong to the Kol tribal community, who mainly depend on fishing and daily wage labour. Most of the parents of these children are trapped in addiction,” says Anurag Mishra, who started Street School in 2020. “Moreover, in about 50 per cent of the households, men have died prematurely due to sub-stance abuse. In such families, children are considered a source of income. Through Street School, we only want children get some education and stay away from addictions,” he says.

Mishra, who lives in Panagar and works at a private financial services firm in Jabalpur, says he got the idea after meeting a five-year-old child working at a tea stall. The child, whom Mishra only knows as Daddoo, was smoking cannabis. Mishra learned that the child had lost his mother and was abandoned by his father, who struggled with drug addiction. It appeared that Daddoo had also picked up harmful habits.

Daddoo’s story spurred in Mishra an urge to save more children from falling into addiction, and he, along with a few friends, started teaching children by the roadside. “We went door-to-door to find children. It took some time to persuade their parents,” he says. Initially, many children who came to Street School consumed bidis, cannabis, cough syrup and alcohol, but with guidance, some shed the habit.

The volunteers also teach art and craft to channel the children's creativity…

As…

Début de l'article, extrait de Down To Earth. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.