Students of ‘scrap-funded’ academy shine

Archit Watts

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Tribune News Service

Muktsar, April 25

Students of ‘Raddi to Education’, a free academy run by some local youths for needy people, have excelled in their PSEB Class XII examination, results of which were declared on Monday.

This group of youths goes door to door to collect scrap like old newspapers, which they sell to meet the expenses of the academy.

The academy that started by three youngsters last year now has a team of 15 persons running it. At present, the academy is being run from a single-room shop at Kirat Nagar here.

Khushdeep Arora, a teacher at the academy, said, “During the last academic session, we had 120 students from classes VI to BA. They all belonged to poor families. We provided them education free of cost. Some of them resided in shanties and had never gone to school. We helped them in getting their Aadhaar cards made and motivated them to take admission in school.”

“Some of our students scored above 70 per cent in the PSEB Class XII results. Mohammad Javed got 80 per cent marks, Himanshu 70 per cent, Prem Kumar 77 per cent and Jaspreet Singh 75 per cent.”

Sarbjit Singh, a founder member of the academy, said, “When we started this academy, we were totally dependent on scrap. But now, some people are donating books to the academy. We have opened a library as well for needy students.”

“We believe that if one helps somebody with money, it will last for a limited period, but education will remain with the educated forever, transform their as well as their progeny’s lives,” he said.