An NIT student teaches children at a slum in Adityapur. (Bhola Prasad)

Jamshedpur, Jan. 27: Giving shape to their dream of a literate society, eight aspiring engineers of National Institute of Technology (NIT) have started Kartavya, a unique school that imparts education free to children from humble backgrounds.

The teachers are the NIT students themselves. Anupam Singh, Balram, Harendra Gurjar, Abhishek Kuumar Meena, Mohnish, Manpreet Arora, Neeraj Kumar and Anil Kundu, take turns in teaching 100 children from Mohan Bustee in Adityapur, which is located near their institute.

The students have taken three rooms on rent in a house where they hold evening evening classes, from lower KG to Class IX. Three months ago, when the school started, there were 20 students. Today there are 100.

“It was a Herculean task to convince the children and their families. The kids are mostly child labourers who did not want to waste time studying. At first we managed to convince very few, but then seeing them the others started sending their children. This is a backward area with no schools for poor children. We are just the medium to fulfil the need for education in this area,” said Abhishek, a second year student of civil engineering.

The students run their dream school from 4.30pm to 7pm, after attending classes themselves. The students generate funds themselves through various means including selling old newspapers, and use the money to buy stationary for the children.

The teachers follow the CBSE syllabus and try to make learning fun. The syllabus comprises mathematics, science, English and Hindi, and there are weekly tests to check progress and a little prize for the one who scores the highest.

In the last three months the teachers have already found 12 meritorious students who they want to send to mainstream schools, but funds are a problem.

“We teach everything from alphabets to trigonometry. There are dropouts and also toddlers who have never gone to school. We just want them to be literate,” said Neeraj.

The students are enthosiastic too. Said six-year-old Shampa Pradhan: “My father refused to send me to school. But, I wanted to study and become a doctor. It was my mother who decided to educate me.”