Calcutta: Thirteen-year-old Pankaj Kumar has only seen a big school in pictures and films. He would often wonder how students of private schools study behind those high gates, what games they play and what they talk about during recess.
His dreams were realised last month when he got to play on the grounds of Indus Valley World School, interact with the students and even eat at a “lovely” cafeteria inside the school.
Pankaj, who resides at Kumartuli, was one of the 40 kids from his school to be taken to a summer camp organised by Indus Valley World School along with the community service wing of Calcutta Police.
To share their school space with the lesser privileged, Indus Valley World School's interact club members had invited kids under the Calcutta Police’s Nabadisha project for a five-day summer camp from May 15. Under this project, 34 schools are run within and around 30 police stations in the city with over 2,000 students (many of them drop-outs) receiving free education, food and health check-up.
The school invited 40 children each day from different police station areas such as South and West Port, Garden Reach, Taratala, Charu Market, Alipore, Jorabagan Traffic Guard and Ultadanga.
Pankaj and his friends from Jorabagan Traffic Guard spent Day 4 at the camp. “We were given snacks and had fun playing games,” said the boy, still gushing from the experience.
“I made friends with a didi from the big school. She smiled and spoke to me. I wish we could chat more. I also enjoyed the food offered. The students of the big school were serving us themselves. I am looking forward to another visit,” said an equally excited Arpita Shau of Class VIII, Jorabagan Traffic Police Guard.
“What these kids enjoyed most was travelling in a police van to the camp. We escorted them,” said an officer in charge of community policing.
The school members were as excited. “Seeing the happy faces of the visiting kids made us happy too. I learnt that there is as much joy in sharing,” said Sanvi of Class VIII. The interact club members had planned different activities for the visiting kids.
“There were yoga, games, dance, pottery and music activities lined up. The children got a tour of the school as we led them to the dance room for a class, pottery room for a session and the cafeteria for the meals. We chatted with them as we served food. Most of the kids said they enjoyed the games and art. We got a peek into their lives as well,” said Ishita Gupta of Class IX of the host school.
The students have been inviting marginalised children to different events since the pandemic. “It has motivated us to look out for the underprivileged children near our homes too. I have been serving them refreshments near my home,” said Ishita.
According to school director Amita Prasad, the students have been sharing many festivals and activities with marginalised children since last year. “The aim is to make our children appreciate their privileged lives as well. Last summer, we invited children of NGO Ektara to a camp. We have also been helping the local kids. They were invited over last Diwali. We got some marginalised children over for Holi as well. But this project with the police helped us reach out to areas where we had not before,” said Prasad.
