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Slum kids attending a class
outside the yellow bus.
(Photo: IANS) |
New Delhi:
With a book in hand and an eye on the clock, Sumit, 13, knows he
isn't prepared for his test. But at exactly 3 p.m., he runs out to
the street along with other slum kids and waits for the yellow bus
-- his school for the next two hours.
Known as Chalta Phirta School, the yellow bus is a whole school
rolled into one bus.
There's a world map staring from the front window, bright alphabet
charts hanging around, an LCD screen fitted at the back, best
drawings stamped A+ blinking from under the billowing curtains,
chess and ludo sets preserved under the seats, water colours and
sketch pens kept in flower-printed bags, a patient teacher sitting
in front, and 40 students giggling to themselves.
A Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and NGO Butterflies initiative, Chalta
Phiirta School or mobile learning centre aims to persuade and
prepare slum kids in the capital to join formal schools.
"The idea is if children can't go to school, let the schools come
to them," Javed Nafis Rahman, project coordinator at Butterflies,
told IANS.
On a regular day, the yellow bus shows up at three colonies and
stays there for around two hours each. At each place, around 40
kids hop on to the bus and are taken to a nearby place where the
bus is allowed to park. On most days, kids sit on a mattress
spread outside the bus, but on particularly hot days, they prefer
the vivid confines of the vehicle.
For 1 hour 45 minutes, they study a particular subject -- English,
Hindi, maths, social science or science. The next 15 minutes are
dedicated to sports, health check-ups, art, depending on what day
it is. Fridays are divided into weekly revision tests and sports.
Saturdays and Sundays are off.
The kids, ranging from 6 to 14 years, are divided into different
levels depending on an assessment done on the first day.
"We first identify a slum area and carry out a survey as to how
many kids are not going to schools. Then we organise a meeting for
parents. For kids, we usually start by showing a documentary or
cartoon in our bus," says Mausmi Baruah, a teacher at Butterflies.
"Parents are initially very apprehensive. There are people who
spread rumours that we'll kidnap their kids or take them
somewhere... but slowly they understand," the 29-year-old says.
"There was a girl whose father forced her out of school in Class
2. We somehow persuaded him to send her to the bus. She was very
sincere and intelligent and got admission in Class 5 when she
joined a formal school."
Javed says ever since the bus' launch in 2008, they have
"mainstreamed 100-150 kids each year". "Some need six months, some
more than a year... But most of them end up in schools," he says.
Amit Sahi is one such kid. The 13-year-old son of a labourer
living near the Kalkaji temple in south Delhi had dropped out of
school in Class 3 due to negligence and ill-health. One year back,
he heard about the yellow bus from a friend and went along with
him to get a free ride. It took him 10 months to be ready for
school and today he's studying in Class 5 at a government school.
Ask him what he wants to become when he grows up and, without
flinching, he says "soldier". He loves skipping, badminton and
cricket, apart from reading English poems. His younger brother and
sister have also got admission to school.
"These kids were very focussed, a little naughty, but never missed
even a single class," Mausmi says, ruffling Amit's hair and in the
process spoiling his spikes.
Amit's father Ram Vishal Sahi feels proud but is not one of those
pushy parents who expect the world out of their children. "I never
tell them what to become in life. I just want them to study and
decide for themselves."
He also doesn't possess his neighbours' view that girls should be
kept at home. "In my opinion, girls, boys, everyone should study.
My daughter wants to be a doctor or a teacher," the 40-year-old
says.
(Mohita Nagpal
can be contacted at mohita.n@ians.in)
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