Children at a Kartavya centre in Dhanbad. Picture by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad, April 4: Slum children of Dhaiya were given the task of decorating their alma maters that have brought the light of education into their otherwise hopeless life.

The occasion was a decoration contest at Kartavya centres, run by ISM Students’ Society, at Mandal Basti, Lahbani, Koranga and Barmasia, in the same area.

Teachers and heads of several top schools of the town, including Delhi Public School principal K.B. Bhargava and his counterpart from Doon Public School J.N. Singh, also attended the event. They formed the jury that selected the best decoration.

The participants used an array of items such as ice-cream sticks and straws to give shape to their imagination. A team comprised of 15 members, slum children led by an ISM student as their class teacher.

Elaborating on the event, Purushottam, a final year BTech student, said the programme was basically aimed at giving attractive look to the centres to attract more and more slum children.

The society, started in 1999 by some final year students of ISM, runs four centers in seven buildings at different parts of the district. More than 250 slum children, whose parents are either day workers or rickshaw pullers, study at at these centers. Not only children but their mothers are also benefited from the centres that offer vocational training in sewing, knitting and envelope-making.