RAJASTHAN: A modest school teacher, Sunita Raiwar embarked on a journey of compassion and dedication five years ago. It all began when the 45-year-old English teacher at a government school in Sabalpura of Sikar district in Rajasthan saw the sight of children from the slum near the local Power House collecting garbage. She was deeply moved by this.
Sunita was dismayed at the circumstances these children were living in, a life of scavenging and begging. She knew education can offer them a chance to lead a better life. Sunita urged the families in the slum area to enroll their children in school. Struggling to secure one meal a day, they weren’t keen.
Undaunted, Sunita decided to collect children by going door-to-door and spend two-three hours every day. Her approach goes beyond imparting bookish knowledge. She aims to provide these children with a holistic education that includes confidence-building and an understanding of their surroundings. She doesn’t want them to follow in their parents’ footsteps of begging and scavenging.
“My aim is not that they should acquire bookish knowledge. They should have knowledge of the area and they should also have the self-confidence that they too have the capability and can move forward in life and do something. I did not want them to spoil their life by begging or ragpicking,” says Sunita.
She has transformed the situation of the children so much that even those, who once earned their living by picking garbage, have started reading English books. Sunita has taken it upon herself to educate the children about personal safety, particularly girls who are vulnerable to early physical abuse due to their impoverished backgrounds. She encourages them to speak up if they face any wrongdoing and has created a trusting relationship with these children, who consider her a mother figure.
Sunita imparts personality-building training that includes good touch and bad touch. She says that the condition of daughters in these families is bad.
“Poverty brings with it many inequalities and evils. The girls of these families are easy targets of physical abuse at an early age. They are pushed into prostitution. My aim is to save them from the dirt. I tell them if anything wrong happens to you, tell your mother or me,” Sunita says.
She counsels the girls regularly. She says, “Don’t remain silent. I have two daughters of my own. They should develop awareness about their safety and be able to fight their own battle. I have a daughter-mother-like relationship with these girls. They consider me as their mother and tell me everything about their lives. If I don’t go for a day, I get a call from them asking me to come.”
Sunita’s classes cater to children aged 3 and 14. Besides teaching, she regularly counsels their families to ensure the children aren’t forced into child labour or subjected to hunger. She also helps mothers find alternative employment so they can avoid degrading work.
“The children now wake up early, bathe daily, and one girl has advanced to the ninth grade, becoming a mentor for others,” Sunita says. She wants her to become a teacher and support underprivileged children in their education. She has even motivated fellow teachers to provide extra classes to the slum’s class 10 students, aiming to help them excel in their examinations.
She has also adopted five underprivileged children, vowing to cover their educational expenses. She attributes her unwavering spirit of social service to her father who was a commerce teacher and taught accounts to children for free. He invested Rs 10 lakhs in establishing a library for children in their village to facilitate their education and growth. Sunita’s father and her husband’s encouragement inspire her to continue her extraordinary work.