Courage uninterrupted
PUNJAB: Two decades ago, Ram Dayal, a part of India’s peacekeeping force in Kosovo, lost both his legs in a train accident in Germany. He remained in a coma for 13 days. His life changed completely thereafter.
First came depression. “I had two options: one, I should perpetually remain in my devastated state; and the second was to muster courage that my elder brother Mohan Lal demanded from me so that I could follow in the footsteps of my mother, who was devoted to community care,” recalls Dayal.
Dayal, who is currently an inspector in Chandigarh Police, decided he would heed to the advice of his brother, who had retired as a DIG from BSF. “My second brother Ramjit, who retired from the Punjab Education Department, too lent me a helping hand.”
Since then Dayal has devoted himself to coaching underprivileged children free of cost for their selection in Navodaya schools and motivating them not to drop out. “I started out in the year 2000 itself, the year I met with an accident, and since 2006, I have been coaching for Navodaya. It was a tribute to my mother Pyaro Devi, who always believed in helping children,” says Dayal. For coaching students for selection in the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, he takes all subjects. The test is conducted every year for admission to Class VI.
The students are trained for the language test (Punjabi, Hindi or English) which is of 20 marks, mathematics (20 marks) and reasoning (40 marks). Dayal believes that givers are more blessed. “This is my eighth term in so many years. At times, I have had to stop my coaching classes due to lack of funds,” says Dayal. “I don’t take any financial help from the government or any other private sector institution.
centres across seven districts in Punjab | Express
All funds are arranged from personal finances and resources or help from friends, though we accept books or whatever is the requirement as a donation.” The Covid pandemic halted Dayal’s drive. This year he has started it again. “More than 900 students have attended our coaching classes and got admission in JNVs. Some of them have passed schools and are in graduation classes.
Many of them have completed their studies and are now working,” says Dayal. This year he has enrolled 4,000 students from seven districts of Punjab — Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, SBS Nagar, Ropar, SAS Nagar, Patiala and Fategarh Sahib. “Many of those who are now employed join me in teaching the students in our coaching classes,’’ he says.
When he started Navodaya coaching, it was the only such centre in 2005-06 at his native village Hukran village in Hoshiarpur district. “That year seven students passed out of a total 80 of them. This year, we have 80 centres across Punjab in the seven districts at the block level with 85 teachers. This is due to student strength as it varies between 35 and 62,” explains Dayal.
“We select a government school in every block and offer coaching for five hours from 9 am to 2 pm on weekends and holidays, including winter vacations. As the students are taught for 50 days in six months (from August to January), so we pay Rs 5,000 per teacher for the entire duration.’’ Tanvir, a student of B.Sc final year, who took coaching from Dayal is now coaching this year at Bahadurpur school in Hoshiarpur district.
Similarly, Vishal is now pursuing B.Com and is coaching at Bambeli Mahilpur. Yet another student, Avtar Singh, who is pursuing B.Ed., is providing free tuition to 120 poor students at his village Kalewal-Bhagtan in Hoshiarpur.