Educating the Street Children

Under the auspices of Shri Radhey Govind Charnarpit Sewa Trust, Jaipur (Raj.) I made up my mind to give the lesson of cleanliness to the innocent, cheerful children of the Jhuggi Jhonpri and Kachchi Basti of Mansarovar, Jaipur whom I observed to be in the most dirty areas and filthy surroundings.

A survey was made with the help of some lady teachers of the Angel's Academy, Saryu Marg, Mansarovar under the guidance of their Principal, Mrs. Beena Shukla. It was found that more than 70 families who came from Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan etc.lived along the VT Road, Mansarovar in very unhygienic conditions. The number of children of the age between 4 to 12 years was also great who were leading a miserable life along with their parents.

So, it aws decided to improve the lot of those children by means of 'literacy campaign'. With the help of the proprietors of 'Krishna Furnitures' and 'Vinayak Marbles', VT Road, Mansarovar 2 "Gyan Yagya" (Education) Centres were started in their premises.

Four lady teachers, experienced and able to serve with devotion, were appointed to train the children of the locality to live in better conditions, with clean habits and to let them learn basic alphabets and 3 Rs, i.e. Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Nearly 70 children were looked after daily at the 2 centres. A number of people who appreciated the project offered to join hands with the Trust.

It was on the 26th day of January, 2008 that an Inaugural Function was held to celebrate the Gyan Yagya Function. A good number of Jhuggi Jhonpri children and their parents attended the function. A number of persons of great social importance graced the function. The trustees and the executive members of the Trust welcomed them. The report about the efforts taken so far to improve the condition of the Jhuggi Jhonpri children by providing them clothes, medicines, soap, towels, and hair oil, reading and writing material for their all round development and over all the efforts to make them good citizens was appreciated by the audience.

In this social and national work, many more persons took interest to encourage the Trustees for carrying on the nice 'project'. So, new Gyan Yagya Centres were started at different places in the vicinity of Kachchi Bastis and Jhuggi Jhonpris. The number of beneficiaries increased thereby.

An annual function was held on the 26th Jan. 2009, presided by Shri Panna Lal Ji Maheshwari, 'Swatantra Sainani' who had been honoured by the President of India, Hon'ble Smt. Pratibha Patil, Shri Manik Chand Ji Bohra, 'Sarvodayee Neta', Jaipur and the reputed jeweller, Shri Vipin Ji Khinduka were the guests of honor along with Shri Girdhari Lal Ji Bhargava, M.P. Jaipur, the Patron of the Trust. The great and respected Sant Shri Albeli Madhuri Sharan JI lighted the lamp along with other distinguished persons and the Chief Guest to open the Function at 3pm. Mrs. Manan Chaturvedi, Surman Sansthan, Jaipur and Mrs. Daksha Sharma, 'Apna Ghar', Jaipur participated along with their little artists who impressed the audience very much.

The little artists of Jhuggi Jhopris and students of Gyan Yagya showed their talents in the function by participating in the cultural activities. All the guests and persons who witnessed the function were spell bound and appreciated the activities of the little artists who were trained by Gyan Yagya teachers.

Besides educating the illiterate poor children of Jhuggi Jhopris  and Kachchi Bastis, our aim is to provide them opportunities for their personality development so as to make them good citizens. For this object in view several days are celebrated such as Bal Diwas on 14 Nov., Independence Day and Annual Day on 26 Jan.

Shri Vinay Singh is our associate as a Homeopathy Doctor who periodically visits the Gyan Yagya (Education) Centres to examine the children with regard to their health problems. He treats not only the students but their guardians, parents, brothers and sisters also. 

Our aim is also to maintain, preserve, protect and improve the ecological balance and environment, flora and fauna by way of plantation. The students are trained to water the plants and to see that they grow smoothly under their care and supervision.

The poor ladies and girls of Kachchi Bastis are given training for sewing and cutting their dresses. Three sewing centres are being run under the auspices of the trust to make them self reliant. Many of them are able to stand on their own legs since they earn their own livelihood by the use of sewing machines.

The Trust, Radhey Govind Charnarpit Sewa Trust, Jaipur was established in 2005. Since then the trust has been serving well for the cause 'Service to Humanity'.