Deprived of education, slum kids receive classes from JNU students

NEW DELHI: As the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on education becomes severe day by day, it is the deprived who are put to the maximum disadvantage. Since schools are shut, classrooms have moved online. However, only those children can attend classes whose families have the luxury of possessing multiple mobile phones.

The situation has left underprivileged children in a state of misery. However, a group of students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has taken the initiative to help a few such children. For the last 11 days, around 15 students of JNU have been regularly visiting MadhukarBasti, a slum in Munirka locality, and teaching over 30 children there. The unit of AkhilBhartiyaVidyarthiParishad (ABVP) from the JNU is spearheading this initiative, named Basti Ki Pathshala.

"We initiated the Basti Ki Pathshalaprogramme to enable uninterrupted learning and education to the schoolchildren of MadhukarBasti. Our volunteers go every evening and teach more than 30 children from the slum whose learning had stopped as they could not afford mobile phones to continue with their studies," said ShivamChaurasia, president, ABVP-JNU. Chaurasia said that the student volunteers teach core subjects like Mathematics, Science, English, and others. "We intend to keep the momentum of education even during the lockdown period for these deprived children," he added. The volunteers said that they had kept a whiteboard in an open space in the slum where they gathered each evening to attend the class held between 5 to 6 pm. Besides, they also provided study materials to these children. (IANS)

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