HYDERABAD: Known for its work for the community and especially the children in the destitute areas of Bhubaneswar, Desire Foundation is all set to step into Hyderabad in a couple of months. Under their on-going project ‘Adhyayan’ they make an attempt to admit eligible children from various slums across the city to private schools under the RTE Act section 12 (1)(c) of the Indian constitution which mandates a minimum of 25 percent reservation for children at the entry level belonging to economically and socially weaker sections in private unaided primary schools.
Three years ago, a bunch of youngsters from KIIT university founded Desire foundation. With a motto to encourage social entrepreneurship, they started manufacturing books and lights for slum dwellers. This was also the time when they realised that the problem is not the facilities, but lack of education.
Speaking to the City Express the team coordinator said, “Along with manufacturing books and lights, we also started the Rice Bucket Challenge in Bhubaneshwar after it was initiated in Hyderabad. Then, we came across this (education) issue and when we went through the statistics of implementation of RTE Act section 12 (1)(c) of our constitution, we found it to be negligible in the city. This was the time when we decided to work on it and make people aware of the act and get it implemented.”
This group of youngsters went through an internship programme in IIM Ahmedabad on public policy before starting Adhyayan. “It has been a year that we started Adhyayan and during this span, we have admitted five children from the Mahimanagar slum, Bhubaneshwar, in the private school and shortlisted 50 children for the same,” he stated.
They say we rise by lifting others, Desire believes in a similar thought. What all challenges did they face while working on the project? “Well, there were many obstacles while working on it. Some parents were not aware of the act. Convincing them was a tough task. Language was another formidable issue that we faced. However, overcoming all of it, we finally managed to shortlist 25 eligible children. Only seven out of these 25 children had the required documents. We contacted a number of schools nearby to discuss the admission procedures,” he says.
He adds, “We realised that RTE awareness is in a dire state. Most schools were unaware of any such act. In order to solve this, we approached OPEPA (Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority) seeking their support. The officials at OPEPA recommended us to meet BEO authorities (Block Education Office) for the matter. We commuted every day to the Block Education Office to carve out a solution for the situation. The officials at BEO were highly coordinating and supportive of our cause and eventually, the first phase of Adhyayan towards the change was successful,” responded the 24-year-old.
Desire foundation has initiated the project with a survey in Hyderabad. Ten interns are working on the issue in the city. “We are seeking support for ‘Adhyayan’ from Hyderabad as well to admit 50 children to school this year and give wings to their dream,” concludes the team coordinator.