Teaching the basics

By teaching alphabets and numbers to a group of 15 children from nearby slums, 22-year-old Haimanti Sen is looking at giving them a better way of living.

A study of foundation course and a happenstance encounter with slum kids on the Kandivali station skywalk paved the way for 22-year-old Haimanti Sen’s NGO Junoon. An epiphany to the final year Social Psychology student, the study of Right to Education during her course forced her to think about the future of the children loitering around the skywalk.

“It got me thinking that these children wouldn’t even know the fact that at their age, they are supposed to go to a school,” rues Sen who spoke to the parent of these children only to face disappointment. “All the kids were unkempt and the parents blatantly lied about sending them to school,” she adds. It was then that she decided to teach these children every day.

Started last year in May, Sen took baby steps towards 15 children — between the ages of five and 13 years — from the nearby slums.

Haimanti Sen with the children on the skywalk

“On the first day, when I asked them what they would like to study, they said English. They didn’t want to do Hindi because that is boring. This is where I could easily get their attention,” recalls Sen who eventually registered her NGO Junoon in November the same year.

Initially, teaching them for an hour on alternate days to now two hours every day except on Mondays, these children are a work in progress. They are taught basics like alphabets, words, numbers, phonetics, dance, art and craft. “It is a very slow process with these children as compared to the children of the first standard. So, that took a little while. After that, we moved to Hindi and Maths but not an in-depth study,” she lists.

As the word of her social cause spread, friends volunteered, taking the count of teachers to three who now come in every day. At first, Sen would provide notebooks but now they write on a slate first. Once they can form alphabets and words properly, they are given red and blue line notebooks in which they write neatly.

“I have instructed them to clean their hands, feet and face before they come for the class. Now they come clean and just want to show them to me. Now they understand the concept of walking in line, saying thank you, waiting patiently for their attendance. These little things show the kind of discipline they are building up for themselves,” she smiles.

The more time she spent with these children, the stronger became her resolve to give them a better life. Sen now plans to increase the teaching hours as she intends to send them to a proper school.

“Mine teaching them here for two hours isn't equal to them going to school for four hours. We are planning a curriculum that can cover many things and is apt for them till they are with us. Of the 15, I am confident that three will get through a school. But for that, we need to teach them how to read and that is my aim till June,” she asserts.

However, she thinks her job won't end by just sending them to school as there is the issue of regularity to be looked into with these slum kids. “Two or three kids of mine have already been to school once but left. If these kids face any difficulty in school or if they don’t do homework, who will see that? As part of NGO, I put them in a school but what if they stop going,” Sen points out.

While the children have started to love and obey their teachers, Sen informs that they are notorious as well. “I have come to hear that when we are not at the station, these kids imitate what we do. Also, they love taking pictures but the phone has to be in their hand. They are the ones supposed to be taking pictures,” she laughs.