Class apart!

If you are an early riser at Carter Road, you have two options for a natural alarm you could choose to wake up at 6 o’clock when sparrows and birds chirp away to work, or you can wake up an hour later at 7 o’clock with the lively chatter of children assembling at the open air study centre at the promenade.

Special education
For early morning walkers and joggers at Carter Road this is a familiar sight. This unofficial study centre, under the bright blue sky, welcomes children, for a few hours, after their morning school to assist them in different subjects, including Mathematics, Science, English and Geography.

The Navjot Foundation, which is behind this initiative, was founded by retired army officer, G L Singh, back in the late 1990s.

Now that he is in his 90s and not well enough to continue, the trustees Gurmeet Singh, Jyoti Kale and Mira Mamnani contribute to it. Over the years though, Mamnani has become the face of the initiative.

 “I see to it that all the children coming here, go to school regularly.

Last year alone, I managed to secure admission for 15 children,” says Mamnani. When it started off, there were barely five to six of them, but now, on an average, there are 45 to 50 children on a weekday morning and evening. The number goes upwards in hundreds during weekends and special holidays.

Spreading smiles
In groups of threes and fours, children of construction workers, gardeners, and maids come to the centre. Volunteers, including college students, retired professionals, expats, and well-meaning citizens of the locality, contribute by giving their time to the children or providing basic stationery, books, or food.

“The idea is to give them that little boost to help them strive for a better way of living,” says one of the trustees. Over the past three years, they have also started distributing food on a regular basis, as Mamnani feels that the  children do not get the right amount of nourishment at home.

So, at the end of a session, the children are given their snack along with a little initiative to come prepared for the next day. “The child who memorises the 19 times multiplication table wins this colouring book,” she entices them before sending them off.     

Mamnani says, “Since I became a part of this work, I am immersed in it throughout the day. From preparing the milk for the children in the morning and driving down all the essentials in my car, to maintaining discipline while the sessions are on.

We follow the same practice in the evening as well. When someone wants to donate, I tell them to give in kind and I try to equally distribute it then and there to the children.”

Benefactors come to the study centre in various forms, for various reasons. As I chat with the children, a gentleman, approaching Mamnani, says, “Here is the set of pens you needed, what should I bring tomorrow?” After a few minutes, another senior gentleman approaches with bags full of piping hot jalebis. “A special treat it will be today, as I want to celebrate my daughter’s engagement with the children!”

When asked how Mamnani plans to take it forward, she says, “This is God’s work, it will continue.” Whenever there is urgent need, however, local groups help sustain this study centre. Over the years, during monsoons, children had to sit under bus shelters or call it off due to heavy rains.

This year, activist Shyama Kulkarni, Younus Agadi, and the Laughter Club helped in securing BMC permissions to put up a thatched roof in the part of the promenade, where the children sit to study. The president of the club, B P Hirani says, “It is always a pleasure to help the children; we are glad to assist in any way we can.”

She now brings along a fully charged laptop for the younger kids to listen and learn their alphabet and numbers. As a student-volunteer assists the children, she explains the urgency of teaching them computers.

Ram, one of the boys, approaches her, saying, “Mira teacher, look at those boys, they are playing a game instead of studying.” She promptly switches her full attention towards them mischief-makers, doing what she does best.