Every evening around 7 pm, when it’s time for everyone to rush back home from the day’s work, Deshraj Varma heads for a special mission. An executive engineer in Jaipur’s PWD, Deshraj reaches Jhalana Doongri, one of the biggest slum areas of the city, where he teaches over a hundred children.
A few weeks ago, when the Class X Board results were declared in Rajasthan, it was a joyous moment for him as well as his pupils: 23 of the 35 students coached by him passed with first division, six of them scoring over 90%. The residents celebrated the day by beating drums, garlanded the successful students, and took out a procession through the ‘basti.’
The Jhalana Doongri area is home to around 12,000 people, mostly working as labourers, painters, craftsmen, and rickshaw pullers. Deshraj uses two rooms of Kalyan Vidya Mandir school where he educates students living in abject poverty for free. Though the large slum has around a dozen schools, Deshraj has taken upon himself to create greater awareness about the importance of education among school going kids here and he spares no effort in inspiring them to study hard to turn their dreams into concrete reality.
His ‘coaching centre’ can accommodate 120 students from Class VIII and Class XII. Things were very different two years ago. Most of these kids had no idea what education means. The first thing that Deshraj took up was how to be responsible towards one’s parents and the society. “Gradually, through discipline, they learnt the basic principles of science and maths, and also realized their crucial role in the society,” he said.
“The result has been encouraging: Those who expected 70% have got 90% in Board exams and those who thought they would scrape through with just 40% are now in the range of 60 to 65%. I see this as a major achievement,” says Deshraj. “I think I have been able to make them believe in themselves. That’s why even the weakest of them now want to score high marks. That’s my biggest success.”
His wife Meena too has joined him as the couple is determined to defeat poverty through education. “I was born in a very poor family in a village near Hindaun town. I was lucky to have got good teachers who kept guiding me. As a result, I completed an engineering course,” says Deshraj. He began his mission a few years ago when he was a Junior Engineer in Bharatpur district. He gave free coaching to some Polytechnic students there and hoped that someday, he would get a chance to help other students.
That opportunity came four years ago when he started teaching science and maths to students of IX and X standard at a private school in the Jhalana area in the morning. Since he refused to take a salary, the school agreed to give him two rooms to coach students of the Jhalana area in the evening. Deshraj has included four more in his team. Priya Mahavar is one of them, and interestingly, she was taught by Deshraj, who came to know that her father had made her quit her studies beyond Class XII due to lack of money, although she had got 75% in the Class X Boards. “She had science and maths in Class XII, so I asked her to teach others, and in turn, I told her I would teach her further,” Deshraj said.
Priya now teaches science and English language to students of 10th grade. “We are three sisters and a brother. If Deshraj sir had not been there, I would have been a domestic help. Now I can join a college. I want to be a teacher,” says Priya Mahavar. The children’s parents too are happy. Bajrang Lal, a painter by profession, is the proud father of Chanchal who has passed Class XII this year with good marks. Bajrang himself could not study beyond the 11th standard because of poverty. He sees his dreams fulfilled in his daughter.
“Now she wants to prepare for IIT. Had Deshraj ji not come into our lives, my daughter too would have had a tough life. I’m confident my daughter would be successful in her life.” Deshraj keeps sharing his activities on his Facebook profile. His efforts have inspired several including about 40 doctors and engineers to come forward and bear the coaching expenses for these students.
"Deshraj has earned a lot of respect in the area and people are now eager for their children to join his classes. “Our classrooms are unable to accommodate more students. With a heavy heart, we had to refuse many students,” he said.