Children encouraged to participate in group settings in a Swanirvar school.
“One good teacher in a lifetime may sometimes change a delinquent into a solid citizen.”
The story of Samiul Gazi, is a very inspiring one, and fills our heart with immense pride and motivation to continue our efforts with our partners, to enable a child to be educated and self-sustained. Samiul, 17 years old, comes from very poor family from a village in North 24 Paragana in West Bengal. His father is the only earning member of the family, working as a daily wage laborer with a monthly income of Rs.3000.00 (avg. $ 57/ month). They have no farm land and live in a mud house with two more children.
Samiul was admitted in 1st Grade (Class 1) in Swanirvar primary school. He was the first in his generation to go to a school, and his parents being illiterate didn’t realize the importance of educating their children. Having never been in a school environment, he was a very shy and reserved child. But with time, he started opening up, started enjoying school, and participated in all kind of activities to enhance learning. He moved to the area high school and performed very well, securing 82% in his 10th Board examination. He never had access to a tutor, but through his sheer motivation and sustained hard-work, he maintained good scores. Presently he is preparing for his 12th Grade (High School final year), and at the same time spends time on his hobbies – writing poetry and drama. He is a popular child in his school known for his leadership qualities and his talent in writing.
Just as the name of the project suggests Swanirvar (Self-sustained, self-reliant) – has been focusing on building a community which is self-sustained, aimed at societal and individual growth. One of the key focus areas of Swanirvar has been providing quality training to teachers who in turn can provide quality education to children who do not have access to qualitative learning. Vibha has especially focused on providing the funding to train the teachers since the dearth of properly trained teachers in rural India serves as among the biggest challenge to improve the quality of education in that region. Teachers serve as role model, bring quality learning tools and enable talented students such as Saimul Gazi to perform at high levels and thus enable us to make an impactful difference in the lives children supported through the project. Vibha has been partnering with Swanirvar since 2006 and the journey has been an incredible one, positively affecting the lives of almost 300 children.
We encourage each and every one of you reading this story to join Vibha’s goal of raising $200,000 till end of the year so we can together help more children like Saimul and make the impact. Please join our campaign at vibha.org.
– written by Mahua Chatterjee