Retired Prof. Santosh Kumar from Bihar College of Engineering (now NIT Patna) dreams of bettering the society and ending inequality through education. He is spreading awareness about education among those who are unable to complete their studies due to financial constraints. For the last two and a half decades, he has been teaching poor children for free. After retiring from NIT, he has now made this his life’s goal. Every day, from 4 pm to 6:30 pm, classes are held at his Rajendra Nagar residence. Children from poor families like maids, washermen, barbers, labourers etc. participate in it. He teaches students from sixth to tenth standard. His wife Dr. Bharti S. Kumar also supports him. She helped her maid’s son in his studies. Now he is an engineer.
Bandana Preyashi opened a computer center for children in the village
Patna. Secretary of the Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bandana Preyashi has taken the initiative to make the deprived children of the society technically proficient. She is an Indian Administrative Service officer of the 2003 batch. She has established a center in her native village Koyli village of Nanpur block of Sitamarhi district, where poor and deprived children are given free education. Here children especially study computers. Along with this, classes are also conducted in this center to reduce the learning gap of children studying in government schools, so that they can compete with the children of private schools. Reading material is also provided to the children. Vandana Preyashi herself goes there and takes classes by saving time from the responsibility of government service. She says – My parents have been teachers. My effort is to make the children who lag behind in studies due to lack of resources, technically proficient.
Not a teacher but has been educating children for ten years
Kadambini Sinha, a resident of Patel Nagar, was fond of becoming a teacher since childhood. But it could not happen. When she got a chance, she started teaching children at home by calling them. For the last ten years, Kadambini Sinha has been teaching children from slums around Patel Nagar. She spends three to four hours every day teaching children. Earlier, she used to teach only slum children, but after Corona, I am also giving free education to children of many such families who do not have money to send children to school. This gives self-satisfaction. I was very fond of teaching since childhood.
She teaches the slum children by going door to door
She made up her mind and started teaching slum children by going door to door. After this, she never looked back. Vandana, a craft designer by profession, said that she used to make crafts. She used to make things from jute etc. She was doing the work, but was not enjoying it. She was not getting satisfaction. One day she sat down to teach some slum children. She felt very good. After this, she made this work her passion. Now she has opened her own centre in Cheena Kothi. She gathers the children of that area and teaches them. Earlier, children did not come, but later she started teaching by encouraging the parents. Now a lot of children come to study. Vandana Kumari said that after giving basic information, she gets the children enrolled in the government school. After school, she herself teaches the children. Vandana Kumari has been doing this work for the last several years.
