Let me tell you about this amazing thing that happened. Every year despite Dad and Vasu Mama saying no to presents from the housekeepers at our hotel, they always get them a little something for Christmas. This year among themselves, they collected $300 to donate to Sidsar, as a present to Dad and Mama. These housekeepers often struggle to make ends meet for themselves and their families and it is the slower season so they don't make as much; when they could use those few extra dollars for a Christmas gift for their kids here they are collecting three hundred dollars for our kids. When dad told me, I was blown away to nearly tears. People in the US who don't have much and those who Dad and Mama are trying to find ways and give extra bonuses and different things to so they don't have to lay these people off, are trying to raise money for our kids here in India. These people who might not know where India is located let alone where Sidsar is but they still want to help. How incredible is that?
So how can we as a community and country not fix this school and other schools? Our Indian education system is broken but this school we can fix. These kids we can help. These teachers we can support.
When you come to the Sankul you are taken back, for us kids in the US this place is like paradise. There are palm trees, lots of open space, and white buildings. The facade is there but are the things that really matter there? I don't think so.
Hostels, there are often 10 kids to a room. Yes that's 10. They have a bed, a blanket, and a pillow. They have one small clothes hanging rod and a shelf to keep their personal things. The bathrooms aren't clean, forget using them, you don't even want to walk by them, let alone walk into them. And the kids have to use these on a daily basis. Why are we putting them though that, we can do better. We need to do better.
It's a boarding school, so a majority of the teachers live there too. But the teachers lack their own separate living area. They live in the hostels right along side the kids. This has it's pluses with being right by supervising but also the teachers don't have a place to call their own to relax or just even have a break. The rooms are right in the hostel with no different or extra amenities. They sleep in the same type of rooms, the same small beds, use the same bathrooms. I personally think this is one of the biggest needs, to take care of these necessities for the teachers so this is a place where they also enjoy being.
The school has it's own needs to be tended to, while it is beautiful and has ample rooms, the finishing and use of the classrooms can improve. What we have as common things in the US, doesn't exist here. The chemistry lab full with dangerous chemicals, doesn't have a single glove or glasses to wear when using the lab. So kids and teachers here are handling the chemicals and other items without any safety measurements or any washing stations for an emergency which we have in every science room in the US. These are the type of things that need improvement, especially when it comes to the safety of these kids and teachers. We should not be happy with meeting the standards of here, we should be meeting our own standards.
I have been sitting in classes for three days now, observing teachers and their techniques. Overall I think the teachers are doing a great job with how they are teaching and what they are teaching. There are always things that we can improve and change a little to make it even better or do some thing's that they might not have thought to do before. But I don't think that the passion and ways of the teachers are a struggle. The teachers here are so giving and passionate and conscious of their ways, it is motivating.
Now we should not just teach them but give them the proper facility and tools to learn and grow.
The more and more I see and learn, the more and more I see needs to be fixed. This school is like a beautiful, young, healthy person, with pretty clothes with who has cancer. You don't see it from the surface but if you open it up and look closely it's hurting inside. But is something we can treat, something we can fix, something that can go on to live and thrive for generations to come. It is a place that can go on to positively impact kids and teachers and their futures for years to come. And these are the kids that if we give them these right opportunities that will go on to do great things and leave a positive mark on society.
So you tell me, how can we not do everything we can to help give these kids the best opportunities possible, by fixing what is broken and bettering what isn't?
- Aekta
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