A few years ago, a worker at the sanitation department in AIIMS-Bhopal lost her husband. She had to take care of her two sons, and their education was her main concern. However, she realised that help was not far. There was a school that was well within her reach— the Apna School within the AIIMS compound. “The support of the school and entire AIIMS-Bhopal family has seen both my sons get admission at Mount Carmel School,” she says. Apna School— a preparatory school and facilitation centre —was started under the open sky in the sprawling AIIMS-Bhopal premises in 2012.
Over the years, it has rendered primary education to the kids of migrant labourers engaged in construction work on the institute’s premises. It has also facilitated the selection of over 50 such students to premier private and government schools in the state capital. “We never dreamt of sending our kids to a school, but with my son now studying at a proper school due to Apna School grounding, we now dream of making him a government officer,” says a migrant woman worker from the neighbouring state of Chhattisgarh. It all began when Dr Ashwin Kotnis and Dr Rashmi Chaudhary, saw kids of labourers working at the institute’s buildings wandering aimlessly in the absence of proper care. The institute faculties then took a black marble slab and few chalks and started teaching the labourers’ children under the open sky.
These ‘classes’ later shifted to the parking space of the Type-V quarters. Seeing the passion of his faculties, the then AIIMS-Bhopal Director Prof Sandeep Kumar allotted a Type-III quarter for the full-fledged running of the first-of-its-kind preparatory school, Apna School. “The first batch included children aged between six to eight years, for whom going to school was a dream,” recalls Dr Ashwin Kotnis, Associate Professor at Department of Biochemistry and one of the founder members of the Apna School. A motivational teacher Pushplata was drafted to inspire the kids. Soon, these children started studying the basics from part-time teachers, including the AIIMS teachers and staff.
In 2013, the Apna School found a friend in Mount Carmel School in Bhopal’s Baghmugalia area, which had just begun its Hindi wing. The strong basic educational grounding at Apna School saw half-a-dozen students of the first batch get selected to Mount Carmel. The Apna School fraternity and their well-wishers also arranged uniforms, books and a school van for the new school entrants.
The school then engaged a full-time trained woman teacher Savitri for its operations. It also found the state government- run Shaskiya Gyanodaya Awasiya Vidyalaya as the other destination for its students.
“Around 50 Apna School students are studying either at Mount Carmel or the Shaskiya Gyanodaya Awasiya Vidyalaya and other government schools in Bhopal. Their education needs are being met by a wide network of Apna School wellwishers, including the entire AIIMS-Bhopal family as well as philanthropists,” says Dr Kotnis.
AIIMS-Bhopal Director Prof Sarman Singh is planning to shift it to a full-fledged Type-I quarter. “We now want to get the Apna School recognised by the government. We are also working at broad-basing it to include kids from other underprivileged sections,” says Prof Singh.
Delivering quality education since 2012 Apna School was started in the AIIMS-Bhopal premises in 2012. Over the years, it has rendered primary education to the kids of migrant labourers engaged in construction work on the institute’s premises
50 students admitted to premier schools Around 50 Apna School students are studying at premier private and government schools in Bhopal. Their education needs are being met by a network of wellwishers including the AIIMSBhopal family and philanthropists