Retired IPS officer Jyoti Niwas Kumar takes a class at his English medium residential school for Dalit children at Khajpura in Patna. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Nov. 6: Tainted IAS officer S.S. Verma’s palatial house in Rukkanpura was turned in to a school for Dalit children. On the other end, retired 1967 Bihar-cadre IPS officer Jyotiniwas Kumar Sinha runs an English-medium residential school for Musahar community children since 2007.

At the school, where children come from different districts, the students are computer-savvy, speak fluent English and have a good command over grammar. They know about APJ Abdul Kalam and Steve Jobs and want to become doctors, engineers and crack UPSC exam. Kalam will even visit the school on November 15.

Thirteen-year-old Om Prakash joined the school — Shoshit Samadhan Kendra in Khajpura — in 2007 and wants to become a software engineer. In Class V now, his command over English is good. “I get all kind of facilities here, including food, lodging and quality education. I used to rear pigs at home but since coming here, I have become aware about the importance of education. Now, I can take part in debates and English-writing competitions,” said Om.

Affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, the school, which started with just 40 students, has now taken its strength up to 250. Sinha said: “The Musahar community is the most exploited and least educated section of society. Just 3 per cent of the people are literate in the state. Most of the community members are involved in petty crimes and are heavy drinkers. The children, exposed to such a climate, also start drinking at a young age.

“To break this vicious circle, we need to provide the children quality education. We need to bring them in to mainstream society. So, I decided to provide them all kinds of facilities that are required by children,” added Sinha.

On giving importance to English, the retired IPS officer said: “It is beneficial to know English as it boosts employment opportunities. Most of the students picked up science, mathematics and social studies quickly but their English was poor. But today, their parents feel proud when they speak and write in English.”

Class IV student Anuj Kumar wants to crack UPSC exam. “I want to serve my state and nation. Before coming here two years ago, I had never seen a laptop but today, I can type on MS Word and surf the Net.”

Anuj, Om and Co. have a former language instructor from BBC, Patna, and a former corporate leading them on the path of education. Sinha said: “We want to make the children self-reliant and self-employed so that they can create employment opportunities for others in their community. We are not equipping them for chasing white-collar jobs.”