This Unique Initiative Is Providing Education To Underprivileged Children In Allahabad

Kanad Kumar Amar always noticed the children working at cycle repair shops, at the sabzi mandi, and for other errands while returning from school. Most of us are familiar with this sight in our country.

Kanad was determined to do something about this problem and he got a chance to work on this right after he joined Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT), Allahabad.

Along with his few friends from the university, he began teaching the children of Naya Gaon as a community service. They named their organization 'Anokhi Pehel'. Initially, five of his batchmates joined.

They approached the parents of these kids and somehow persuaded them to send their kids to school for one hour each evening.

After attending college lectures, Kanad went to the place where they had arranged a classroom for teaching the kids.

After this was carried on for two weeks, but it became hectic for some of them to teach along with their college lectures.

For managing the shortage of teachers, he decided to recruit more volunteers from his college.

By doing so, some of them volunteered on certain days of the week and others joined when they got time.

Kanad feels that instead of feeling pity for the situation of marginalised children, one must act and take some steps in that direction. He also says that just blaming the system will not help to ameliorate their condition.

He admits that his internal motivation keeps him going even with the lack of any support for his initiative.

In a year, Kanad along with his batchmates and other volunteers taught over fifteen kids on a regular basis.

After these fifteen kids continued to come daily, more children came and joined their classes.

However, he was still not satisfied and wanted to reach out to more children.

He approached the director of his university, Dr Rajeev Tripathi, about taking this initiative to the next level.

Impressed with the dedication shown by the volunteers, students in teaching the kids, he asked them to conduct their evening classes in the university itself.

He was surprised to see the support that he received from the university. After his director's approval, the classrooms where they studied were now used by the kids in the evening.

The approval from the university made the entire teaching process easier. Those few hours spent teaching was the best part of Kanad's routine and has been a good learning experience for him.

Today, it caters to more than fifty students between 5th-8th standard and close to 80 students from 9th-12th standard. Most of the enrolled students have performed well in their board exams.

Even after the pandemic, Anokhi Pehel has been conducting online classes for its students. The organization has now formally become a part of MNNIT and so there are four faculty members from the university that are engaged in the activities of the organization. There are around more than fifty volunteers involved in this organization and all of them have played a crucial role in the success of Anokhi Pehel

Now, he is planning to take Anokhi Pehel to all other parts of Uttar Pradesh as well as to the rest of India.

This story has been received from Giving Circle. It is a platform that connects social change makers, donors, and volunteers. They are working to scale up these initiatives.

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