Sponsoring bright minds for brighter future

Few days ago, a boy accompanied by his mother and former school teacher had come to my office to get an endorsement for an early issue of a passport, as the boy had to travel to France for a student exchange programme.

The boy was enrolled with a municipal school after which he was transferred to Mahatma Gandhi International School (MGIS) as part of an MoU between the schools. Every year since 1999, three out 18 students admitted to Std I are nominated by the school board. They study without paying any fees.

This boy lived in a slum with his mother – the sole breadwinner worked in others houses to support the family as her husband had abandoned them. A bright boy, he was selected by the school board to migrate to MGIS and was doing quite well there. His mother asked him to converse with me in English and the boy did so with fluency as she watched in great pride.

I asked the boy about his career ambitions. He wants to be an IT and telecom engineer. The determination and conviction he showed and the confidence with which he spoke made me very happy.

Suddenly, an alternate approach opened before me – something like the Super-30 adopted in Bihar to train students of the poorer strata to compete for the IITs.

Had it not been for this migration to MGIS, this boy though bright couldn’t have blossomed so well in the municipal school. I believe that more than physical infrastructure in schools, the quality of education they impart depends on the peer group and quality of teaching.

Living in slums with all signs of poverty, misery and squalor that such life represents, this boy underwent a transformation with change of school. He is never going look back in his life and will do well professionally.

Can corporates attempt something familiar? A big corporate house can sponsor a few bright students from municipal schools to some of the quality schools of the city. This talent hunt will ensure that the brightest minds living in slums or slum-like environment are not prevented from realising their potential just because they couldn’t afford fees in top schools.

This will also act as motivation to others to study well so that they qualify for such a migration.Companies are expected to undertake periodically certain welfare activities as part of their corporate social responsibility. If Top-100 corporate taxpayers of the city decide to nominate just 100 such children from the slums, then imagine the positive benefits that would spin off from this.

Even top schools of the city can go for sponsoring the bright from the slums to ensure that poverty doesn’t deprive a bright child from realising his potential. 

The author is the municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad and can be reached at gpmohapatra@hotmail.com.