Community school at Singhu a hit

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 24

Concerned about the sanitation at the Singhu border, an NGO started a community school there 10 days ago.

To date, 70 students have enrolled themselves, who attend the makeshift school regularly for three hours everyday.

‘Saanjhi Sath’ started the school to check the hygiene at the protest site. The NGO started distributing garbage bags, brooms and dustbins. “Soon, we noticed a large number of children participating in the struggle. We had some activists who were ready to volunteer as teachers. So, we thought of helping them with their studies,” said Dinesh Chadha, Ropar-based activist, one of the founders of the school.

“We got a better response from children of local migrant workers. Soon, the number of children swelled to 70,” he added.

The students attending classes study Hindi, Punjabi, English and mathamatics. The number of students as well as volunteer teachers has been growing every day.

Navjot Kaur, Kawaljit Kaur, Manpreet Singh and Sonu Chahal are some of the volunteers, who teach the students at the school.

Looking at the response, the NGO has opened another branch at Tikri.

Besides a painting exhibition, two seminars on various topics take place everyday. The topics also cover the farm laws as well as new ways to take the movement to new places.

“We do not know the fate of this struggle. However, children and local residents will remember the protesters as people, who gave something to the society,” Chadha added.