Nagpur Youth Sets Up Convent School To Educate Children In Destitute

The school, set up by Khushal Dhak, accepts a token admission fee of Rs 1 and notebooks, books, uniforms and shoes are provided for free.

Nagpur: A young man from Nagpur has been working indefatigably for the last 19 years to ensure that children from the deprived, neglected and marginalised sections are not bereft of education.

Khushal Dhak, the youth, opened a convent school in Rahate Nagar Toli settlement in Nagpur three years ago to impart free education to such children. After enrolment for a token of Rs 1, all facilities from notebooks, books, uniforms and shoes are provided free.

When Dhak decided to start the convent, he had no plan of funds. He rented a shed in Rahate Toli settlement for Rs 3,000 a month. With the help of some social workers, these children received uniforms, notebooks and books. But the real question was how to bring all these children to school.

Dhak took help from Archana Mankar, a resident, who worked hard to get students. Many had to be picked up from their homes. These children had to wear the school uniform themselves. The efforts that began three years ago have started to bear fruit. The children have started to develop a taste for education. Along with Marathi, they can speak and read English.

Students attending a class in the convent (ETV Bharat)

Dhak works elsewhere and spends 70 per cent of his salary on the education of these children. "I have been working here for 19 years. We faced some opposition in the beginning. The teachers were not ready to come here. Archana is the first student from her community to graduate after Independence. The students are getting good quality education. Earlier they used to collect garbage with their parents. The school was started three years ago seeing their plight. Gradually, the children started learning from the convent," Dhak said.

Dhak wanted to do something for the poor children and he has been working incessantly for the last 19 years to grow interest in education in the deprived, neglected and marginalised children.

"Today many girls from this community have reached the threshold of becoming highly educated," he said.

Before bringing the students to school, Dhak distributes free books to children and cajoles them to come to school.