27-Year-Old, Under a Delhi Barapullah Flyover teaches kids at free of cost!

starting from 5 kids and now to 300 kids has been an inspiring journey…

 On the Mark of Teachers day, here’s an inspiring story of Satyendra Pal, who is a Founder of PANCHSHEEL SHIKSHAN SANSTHAN.

Teacher is not only a person who teaches you, or guides you, Satyendra Pal, 27-year-old who teaches kids in an open air classroom under a Delhi Barapullah flyover at that too at free of cost with no other specification.

Satyendra Pal, Postgraduate in Education from Azim Premji University, Bengaluru has been teaching children at the Y.K. Jhuggi Camp in Delhi’s Yamuna Khadar.

The number of students in his school has increased since the lockdown was imposed in March, with children coming in from other nearby settlements too.

During the conversation with this inspiring teacher, we asked several questions;

What came into your mind to begin with this initiative?

Replying to the question Satyendra said,

The children to whom I teach are basically from the underprivileged family, their parents are either poor farmers or vegetable sellers.

I was the only graduate in my family when I came here to stay in yamuna khadar , compelled to work for the bread and butter of my family. While residing in the place I saw the poor conditions of the children of my area, who either cannot afford to think beyond the poverty or not getting appropriate conditions to flourish in their education. I saw some bright minds within the community who can be the bright future and help families with their wit to shine.

I tried my best to guide them and make their future bright.

How was the response of kids when they came to know about open air school?

He said; At that time, when the foundation of Panchsheel Educational Institute was laid with five children under a tree in the open sky, the interest of the children in reading and their parents in teaching those children was very low, but as they worked together, I thought about how we could work together with them and how they could progress well and come to their success.

So as we were working, it was the winter season in December. Because of the shadow of the tree, we used to sit in the sun, and when it was hot, we used to sit in the shade, but when it was raining, we could not sit.Many times it happened that we would have to suspend the classes due to rain.

By then, the number of children had increased from 5 to almost 100 plus, and as soon as the learning outcomes were seen in these children, and the parents of these children should teach their children to read well, they together tried to make a small classroom.

Now, if we talk about 2022, then this number has crossed 10 times. This means that there are around 40 to 50 children who have been able to give their 12th examination. And one thing to be proud of is that at that time, only passing was a big thing in the children's lives.

Now they have chosen their streams according to their interests, like science, commerce, and the arts. The art classes are doing their studies by choosing according to their wishes, and they want to achieve something in life and want to do something for their country and their society.

Now,their parents are supporting them to study accordingly. They have gone to school so that they can study.

How you helped students with offline classes during Covid-19

The teacher said; when a nationwide epidemic came, all the schools had to be closed. Because of this, the children of Yamuna Khadar were also unable to go to school.

Some data from the media shows that children from poor families do not have smartphones or other types of devices that hinder their studies.

Among them, there were some children without Khadar who were struggling with this problem at that time. There were those who had neither electricity nor drinking water and were not able to go to school instead of living properly.

Then, according to the guidelines of the government, such as using social distance, face mask, sanitiser, children who use their own .

At that time, together with everyone, distributed food in the morning and evening to 700 families to eat for about 40 to 50 days so that they could get rid of this epidemic and in such a way that the small children who had lost their lives would not starve.

At this phase children couldn’t access online apps and use smartphones. 

So, I started giving classes to those by maintaining all the government’s guidelines. 

On the mark of teachers day, what are the good qualities that a teacher should have?

Today we are celebrating Teacher's Day, which has been the tradition of our country that it is a very good thing to respect one's guru, whether he has been a spiritual teacher or an academic guru. Today we bow down to all our gurus, so if we talk about the qualities of a teacher, then we see that those who should be inside the guru have different meanings. Like when we talk about the children we have.

 We are working closely with what context they are in. Do we understand their context? Are we able to hear them? Until we understand the context of the children,their problems do not know their abilities. How do we work with them?

If the work is given the form of a job, then it becomes a job, due to which neither the teachers eat more nor the children insist on learning more.

But as far as the teacher's qualities are concerned, the teacher always teaches his disciples and learns something new from them. The most important quality is that the teacher is always eager to learn something or the other. He will insist on teaching something to other people, and this is a good definition of a teacher.

How many kids do you teach every day ?

Replying to it he says, The current strength of the students in our schools is 250.

Times Magazine India and team thanks for sharing such an inspiring story.