The scene at the Government-run primary school No. 28 located near Rishikul Ayurvedic College changed in a month following the visit of few women to it. Earlier, the students who were from poor families were bereft of the basic facilities like bench to sit on. They took lessons while sitting on mats. They used to shiver in the cold as they had no sweater to put on to beat the chill.
Moved by the pathetic plight of the students, the disaster management officer Meera Kaintura asked the members of SIIDCUL Industrial Association to provide sweaters to 104 students of the school studying in class 1 to 5.
The wives of some industrialists like Kavita Srivastav, Bijal Mattoo, Swati Chauhan and Simran Bagga came forward and spent a day with the students. Finding that the students were eager to learn English, Bijal Mattoo started taking classes. Others came forward to assist the students in crafts and other such activities. Cluster resource centre coordinator Anju Mehandiratta helped the students learn 74 phrases commonly used in English.
“There was no furniture in the school and the students used to sit on the floor when I visited the school last month. Things have changed now. The kids are happy,” said Meera Kaintura.
President of SIIDCUL Industrial Association Arun Saraswat guided the girl students on the techniques of self –defence while making them aware of the difference in physical contacts so as to enable them to differentiate the normal from the abnormal ones. “We have other plans too for the school. It needs plastering of the walls, garden and playground. The wives of the industrialists would take care of these things,” said Saraswat.
The children looked ecstatic to have badminton kit, carom board and hand balls in the school campus. “This is something like dream come true,” said one of them.