Trend to teach slum kids on the rise

Neha Walia

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, July 23

Sharing their time and knowledge with less privileged, city-based youngsters volunteering to turn teachers in their spare time has been a trend on the rise. The idea is quite simple, to exchange the concepts of life skills and be a part of the change in lives of children from slum areas, who otherwise not have much access to alternative education.

One such young student-turned-teacher is Mankirat Singh, an MA psychology student of the GNDU. “I belong to Tarn Taran and shifted to Amritsar to pursue my higher education. A chance encounter with one of my friends housemaid’s child pushed me to volunteer to teach the needy kids. I used to take some classes twice or thrice a week earlier. Later, I asked my friends to join me during the summer breaks. We teach individual subjects in Punjabi and Hindi so that these kids understand better,” he said. Mankirat, though, not devoting to his volunteer work 24/7, says that distributing notebooks and study material encourages these children to study further.

Akriti Sharma, another Good Samaritan, has turned the backyard of her residence in Medical Avenue into a mini school. The fashion graduate teaches young girls from close by areas about sketches, fabrics, silhouettes and latest trends. “Most of these girls work as maids or domestic help and have never gone to school. But they enjoy learning about clothes, just like any other girl,” she says. Running her own design studio, Akriti’s first student was her housemaid’s daughter. “Now, I enjoy sharing what I know about fashion designing with them. Though, I do not have resources to help them start their own thing, but may be in future I might.” Till then, it’’s all about learning the art.

IVE Children, an NGO, engaged in providing free education to children from city slums, get its own students to teach the younger ones. The unique concept, where the students, who pass out matriculation and go out to further pursue studies, volunteer to teach younger students. “Since these senior kids know the in and out of the learning process here and the circumstances, the make for better teachers. Also, it’s a way to bond and connect for most the junior kids, breaking their inhibitions,” says Pearl, who runs the NGO.