“Good morning sir...”, “namaskara sir...” we could hear the cheerful greetings of the children even as we entered the road in Basavanagar which leads to Brindavan tent school. For a moment we were taken back in time, few months back, and the tremendous improvement that these kids have made in their soft skills struck us with full force; a moment of immense pride for us. We got out of the car and were received by Mr. Kantaraju, the education co-ordinator who happens to be one of the key architects of today’s event.
As we entered the school compound we could see a larger turnout of kids than usual. There was a reason behind this. It was the uniform distribution event and kids from other two schools from Adarsha vista had also joined the students of Brindavan tent school. Ignoring the cold in the foggy morning the children were anxiously waiting for the Officials, the Read India Foundation (RIF) team, and their parents. The agenda for the day was neatly put up on the School board in Kannada and read as...
BRINDAVAN TENT SCHOOL
Uniform and stationery distribution event for children
Date: 02-08-2008
Chief Guest: Sri KP Hanumantarayappa, Joint Director
Presiding: Smt. Nagaratnamma, kshetra shikshanadihikarigalu
Guests: Smt. TK Yashodamma, CAEO
Sri. NC Satish, BRC
The school was tightly packed with the kids from all the 3 tent schools. We could see some parents (these were people who were Below Poverty Line (BPL) and worked as masons for their daily wages) sitting on one side. The teachers were inspiring the kids to sing songs to bring some orderliness to the otherwise quiet-difficult-to-control kids. Teachers from all the 3 schools welcomed us with smiling faces.
By this time all the volunteers of RIF had reached the venue. Few volunteers were busy packing the gifts for kids and teachers. Everyone was waiting for the chief guest to arrive. In the mean time the teachers’ attempt to keep the children under control was continuing. In an effort to keep the kids distracted and silent the teachers could be heard saying “Hands up, Hands down”. The children were asked to recite multiplication table of 5 in tune with the famous Kannada Song, ‘Challidaru Malligeya’. Some students were assigned the task of saying a prayer; to which they did full justice by reciting it without an iota of error. Few volunteers brought huge bags containing the stationery articles and kept them beside the book racks.
Then the chief guest of the day, Hanumantarayappa and the president for the day’s event, Smt Nagaratnamma arrived and they were accompanied by TK Yashodamma and NC Satish. Viju from RIF and Kantaraju received them. Viju gave a brief overview about the RIF and its activities held in tent schools. After this short meeting the guests came inside the school building and took their seats on the dais.
Kantharaju, elaborated the cause, issues, and other concerns that have posed as hurdles for the tent schools. He also mentioned the work being carried out by the Read India Foundation team and requested for their continuous commitment and dedication.
The day’s programme flow was briefed by Renuka teacher. It was followed by a prayer by a group of kids. The kids sang “Vakratunda Mahakaya...” and “Gurubramha GuruVishnu Gurudevo Maheshwaraha...” meaning Guru (Teacher) is the supreme spirit My salutations to this great Guru.
Kantaraj gave a small introduction to the important event of the day, i.e. Uniform distribution and stationary distribution.
Mr. KP Hanumantarayappa was offered Bouquet and pamphlets of RIF by Mr. Narayan murthy and was formally welcomed and introduced to the audience. It was followed by the welcoming of Smt Nagaratnamma, Vijayendra and Guru of RIF, Yashodamma and NC Satish. Mr.
Narayanamurthy received the welcome on behalf of Bhaskar. Bhaskar is the landlord who has given his land for the setting up of Brindavan tent school. Later RIF’s members, Volunteers and tent school teachers were formally welcomed to the function by Mr. Kantaraj.
The cultural events which ensued included
· Dance performance by Marlingamma and group for the song “Ghallu gallenuta gejje ghallu gallenuta”. The performance had a young boy, surrounded by girls, enacting as Lord Krishna. The song was sung by the dancers themselves with their melodious and soothing voice.
· Opinion by Devaraj, who said that he was scared to attend the tent schools initially, but now he is all motivated to come to school because he gets lot of facilities here. He also mentioned how the weekend activities undertaken by RIF have made his school life much happier.
· Opinion by Ratnamma, who read out her opinion fluently from a piece of paper.
· Opinion by Bheema, who said he wanted to become a police officer, while his proud teacher Smt Sharada was smiling and watching him from behind.
· Opinions of Rachamma who mentioned about how RIF has made her school life better
· Opinions by beaming parents who were proudly saying that their kids can now write theirs as well as the other family members’ names.
Later Viju spoke about how a thought had come to his mind which later compelled him to start an organization for the cause of betterment of school education for poor; about how he had always dreamt of making some difference to the society, and how the venture has now got the name RIF. . When he was asked to say few words about his team and the school, he asked the children,’ Nimgella ishta na naavu ? Naav barod nim school ge ishTa aagattha?’ The children roared a loud ‘Yes’; with happiness beaming on their faces like never before. He requested the parents to send their children to the school regularly and keep an eye on their progress. He utilised the occasion and also tried to make them understand why ‘Education’ is of humongous importance in these days. He mentioned about his enthusiastic team and reaffirmed the fact that they all have one common vision, motto, and aim and that is to make this program a huge success across the city.
Mr.Kantharaju requested the chief guests to give few comments and their genuine feedback about the cause and how it can be further improved so that the children could be benefited more.
Mr. Hanumantharayappa mentioned about how he was moved by the dedication of the RIF members who have set aside their time and effort in helping the underprivileged when most of today’s youth settle down in foreign countries. He quoted Gandhiji’s and Vivekananda’s ideals about the street children education and gave RIF’s leader, Viju, a big round of applause. He cited Sir M.V and B.R Ambedkar as examples who made it big despite lack of facilities and urged the children to follow in their footsteps and remain determined and focused. Unable to control his emotions, Mr.Hanumantharayappa, broke down with elation and could not help but to take some time to address the children again. He also promised that this scheme by RIF would be highlighted at the board of directors meeting so that, more schools and more children would be benefited by this very promising NGO. He did not forget to mention about how Ratnamma and Bheema read their opinions fluently. These two students proved that, ‘Where there is a will, there is a way’ by reading Kannada hand outs given by their teachers. Mr. Hanumantharayappa had to agree they were better than any private Institutions’ children. The teachers of the school were heaped with praises for their hard work and were asked to be enthusiastic and keep the children motivated to learn.
Smt Yashodamma, without taking much time, addressed the children in a very humorous manner and encouraged them to study hard and make a difference to themselves and to their families. Yashodamma asked parents to send kids so that they don’t become daily wage masons like their parents. She appreciated RIFs members and called them role models to the young generation. She also gave a call to the youth to build a stronger nation together. She mentioned about the idea of setting up parents’ committee for tent schools like normal schools.
Nagarathnamma, who has the credit for having arranged the biggest dance program for the children from the tent schools, has numerous innovative plans and aims to materialize it with NGO’s like RIF. A very enthusiastic officer who plans to make a difference to these children’s lives, she promised them a trip to Mysore if they study well and show good progress. She also said that the government needs organizations like RIF’s to improve the literacy rate of tent school children so that Karnataka can be a role model to other states in India. She also urged to popularize the model that RIF is following. She thanked RIF and its members on behalf of Education Department and tent school kids. She asked RIF to expand it’s jurisdiction to other tent schools too.
Nagaratnamma adviced teachers not to limit their imagination power. She asked the teachers to tell kids stories about great engineers, great scientists about their works and how it helped the mankind to lead a better life, so that they get inspired by these stories. She asked parents to inspire kids to read and write and ask them about what happened in the school today.
The Uniforms sponsored by RIF was distributed by the chief Guests to the children. Some children identified as the top talents were also presented with prizes. All the children were given sweets, fruits by the guests and were blessed to be more successful by bravely overcoming the hurdles.
The valedictory event witnessed Monamma explaining to the gathering about how rainfall happens. Parents were not able to hide their surprise when they heard the way she explained the mechanism of water cycle which leads to rainfall.
The programme was concluded with Bheema’s song ”Enta bhakuti ninna manuja”...
Read India Foundation firmly believes that it now has the confidence to take forward the program on a larger scale and add more schools which only means more feathers to their already brimming cap of social humanity.
We believeOur school kids are no less than any Private school kids. Infact, they are much smarter than most of the kids at Private school.
