Page 60 - Education World November 2022

People

for 60 children from my savings and such as PwC, Genpact,
started Apna School (‘my school’) CTS, Exide, Infinity Info-
on an open ground in Jaisinghpur tech, Tata, and EY conduct
ward,” recounts Yadav, who teaches regular programmes to
children before and after duty hours identify skill gaps and
on working days. we address them with
Direct talk. “It’s been one year since specially designed training
I began teaching these children basic programmes,” says Das,
reading and writing. Recently, I di- an alumnus of Calcutta,
vided them into three groups accord- Guwahati and Dibrugarh
ing to their learning abilities choos- universities and former
ing specific lessons for each group assistant general manager
to ensure they upgrade their reading at Allahabad Bank, who
and writing skills. Moreover with co-founded UCK in 2007.
many people writing about Apna UCK conducts 12-15
School in the media and videos going Parimal Das: emancipation precondition month programmes
viral on social media, members of the in its state-of-the-art
public have begun to visit the school vocational training programmes to learning centre in Kolkata which
and donate clothes and food to our homeless children. In 2007, philan- houses two classrooms, auditorium,
children. I have also persuaded some thropist-educationist Bhandari and computer lab, mentoring and confer-
local businessmen to donate books, Das, former president of the Rotary ence rooms.
shoes and stationery,” he says. Club of Kolkata and banking profes- Direct talk. “Most of our young
Future plans. Though this good cop sional, promoted UCK, with funding women fellows are first generation
has gone beyond the call of duty to support from industrialists Suresh learners from underprivileged homes
teach slum children, he is worried Neotia and B.D. Sureka. Currently, in Kolkata who haven’t received any
about the future of Apna School the parent Udayan Care has 28 chap- career counselling and mentoring,
as he could be posted out of Ayod- ters countrywide. especially in government schools.
hya any time. “I want to register a Newspeg. In November, UCK is Our fellowship programme fills this
foundation with the mission to run all set to induct 400 girl students lacuna, by providing them profes-
Apna School with trained teachers. I into the Udayan Shalini Fellowship sional guidance, training and coun-
have also contacted several NGOs to Programme — the NGO’s flagship selling as well as monetary support
help our children procure the neces- initiative that prepares meritorious to pursue higher education,” says
sary documents required for their underprivileged girl students in the Das.
admission into the local government age group 16-22 for higher educa- Future plans. The duo believes that
school. Every child has the right to tion and the job market. Fellows are women’s education and emancipa-
quality education and it is the duty selected through a careful evaluation tion is the prerequisite of national
of government to provide it,” says process which includes a written test, development. With the UCK experi-
Yadav. interview and home visits. Appli- ment having proved successful in
An exemplary model for police- cants should be girls/women from Kolkata, they have finalised plans to
men countrywide! households with monthly incomes roll out the fellowship programme in
Nishant Saxena (Lucknow) below Rs.15,000 with 60 percent- smaller towns such as Shantiniketan
plus average in class X or XII school- and Siliguri. “Both UCK and our par-
Women's education leaving board exams. ent Udayan Care have been receiv-
ing excellent support from reputed
History. Introduced in 2002, the
champions Udayan Shalini Fellowship Pro- corporate houses because over the
past two decades, we have demon-
gramme (USFP) has provided
scholarships and job-readiness strated transparency and credibility
USUM BHANDARI and programmes to 13,000 girl students by way of learning outcomes. I am
PARIMAL DAS are joint countrywide with the Kolkata chap- sure we will be able to expand this
Kconveners of Udayan Care ter contributing 2,600 beneficiaries. programme into rural Bengal and
Kolkata (UCK), the regional chapter “Once selected for USFP, women empower a substantial number of
of Udayan Care, an NGO founded students are provided extensive underprivileged girl children,” he
in Delhi in 2002 by social activist training in English, computer and says.
Kiran Modi. Udayan Care provides communication skills. Managers and Wind beneath your wings!
shelter, education scholarships and executives from blue-chip companies Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata

60 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2022