Have you ever spent time with a child before? Apart from their naughtiness, for which they are notoriously popular, there’s an interesting other side as well. Irrespective of their “financial background”, there’s a strong reason to love children.
Curiosity in children, which drive them to explore the world as much as possible, should attract you as it always does to me. It compels me to spent quality time interacting with them in various ways including weird ones.
Whenever I see children at public places or traffic signals begging for their survival, I feel pity – not only on parents who force their children to beg, but on myself for not taking out enough time to rescue them.
However, there are numerous NGOs and corporates who come forward to help the destitute children. Recently, I noticed a banner in Hyderabad’s Mindspace on my way to office. The banner read: “Teaching Tree by Mindspace – A better future through quality education.”
This particular initiative from Mindspace, a special economic zone (SEZ) by India’s leading real estate developer K Raheja Corp., aims to empower children from low income groups with better quality education. On its official FB page, the company states: “We stand committed and seek your partnership in paving the way for a brighter tomorrow.”
For this initiative, Mindspace has partnered with Teach for India, a nationwide NGO of college graduates and professionals. The initiative began with Hyderabad and Mumbai, and likely to be taken to other cities as well in near future.
In addition, individual efforts to teach children from poor family backgrounds matter a lot. Mohammed Abdul Mumin, a professional who works in an IT company in Mindspace, regularly takes out time to teach children at schools.
When I asked him why he does it. He argues that poor children cannot be left at the mercy of God for education and there’s a need to teach them by any means. Therefore, he spends time with school children especially on weekends.
He strongly believe that “to dream of a society with no prejudice, no poverty, no crime and utmost empathy towards nature, one cannot afford to leave it to the God or goodwill alone. The onus of educating poor children is on every privileged person of the society, especially a professional.”
He also points out that the poor economical class does try hard. “However, the real struggle is that of the privileged ones whether they are ready to give poor that Midas Touch or small push.”