"I had no idea that I would become a teacher", Sajida repeated almost like a refrain, over the course of our conversation. Her first brush with teaching occurred when a girl living next door failed in one of her grades in school. Sajida wanted to help the girl and began to coach her for subsequent exams. Much to everyone's surprise, the same girl topped her class the next year! This gave Sajida immense confidence in her own abilities as a teacher and she began to teach Urdu and Arabic to more children in the neighbourhood.
Sajida, originally from Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh, came to Mumbai in 1989. She lived in Sion till 1995, after which she shifted to Mankhurd where she began her journey with Pratham, a relationship that has endured the years and continues to thrive even today. Sajida traces it all back to a Pratham-led survey in her area, when a Pratham instructor named Rekha asked her to join the organisation and set up a Balwadi. The task laid before her was not easy, but that did not deter Sajida. She lived in the Western end of Mankhurd, whereas the local school was on the Eastern end. As the railway track divided these two ends, children had to cross it to reach school every day. Naturally, this was worrisome for the parents who preferred to not send their children to school at all. This caused an overall decline in the enrollment numbers in the area. The challenge for Sajida was to ensure that all children were enrolled in school and also create a foundation for a large number of preschool children through her Balwadi.
Her first achievement was creating the awareness and understanding among people that education for all children was essential for progress. Her efforts soon bore fruit as some women from within the community came forward, offering to start their own Balwadis like Sajida's. In a matter of months, the area had a total of seven Pratham Balwadis! Sajida then took up the responsibility of enrolling the children in these Balwadis to primary school. Her continual efforts paid off in more ways than one and Sajida had also earned the respect and trust of the 'Aagarwadi School' on the Eastern end of Mankhurd, where she successfully enrolled 25 to 30 children annually. Soon people sought her help for enrolling their children in school, and this number increased to almost 100 children in a year!
The second milestone in her journey was to start a 'bridge class' for children who were out of school, with the aim of bringing them back to the schooling system.
Looking back, Sajida confidently says that children who were a part of the Pratham Balwadi could quickly adapt to what was taught in their later years of schooling whether at the primary or higher level of schooling. Some of Sajida’s students graduated with good scores. Some of them even work with Pratham as teachers, thus sustaining the work that Sajida herself began over twenty years ago.
"Pratham gave me the opportunity to become a teacher", she says. "I have an identity. I am glad that children have progressed with my support. They acknowledge my contribution and often come to touch my feet as a gesture of respect and gratitude", she adds further.
A few years ago, Sajida took a break from teaching, owing to her age and growing responsibilities at home. However, she realised that while school had become a part of everyone's life in Mankhurd, there was a need to address the poor learning levels of children. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Sajida returned to Pratham to take on this challenge head-on and is now a key part of the Pratham Library Program in her area.
No comments:
Post a Comment