EM Bypass: Jolly Mollah's seven-year-old daughter Simran might have never gone to an English-medium school if her home had a television or a refrigerator.
Ankur, the school in which Simran is a student of Class II, is known to be meticulously strict about its admission criteria being met. Just that the yardstick for selection is the antithesis of what most institutions would follow.
" Pucca bari ki na? (Is the house concrete or not?)," the third page of the school's unusual admission form enquires. "Poribar-er gor mashik aai? (Monthly household income?)," question number 5 asks.
After a total of 10 such questions comes the "verification" section that starts with another query: "TV achhe ki nei? (Is there a TV or not?)."
This one is to be answered by a representative of the school who visits the candidate's home. A "yes" usually implies disqualification on financial grounds.
"We give priority to children whose homes don't have any of the assets mentioned in the form. We make it a point to visit them at home to assess their financial status and also understand their circumstances," Rajyasri Halder, who co-founded Ankur in 2005 along with a friend, told Metro.
Rajyasri was on the Science City auditorium stage last Saturday with a bunch of energetic kids from Ankur to collect The Caring Minds Award for "A School That Cares" at The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence 2018, presented by IIHM and powered by Sister Nivedita University.
Ankur, nestled amid paddy fields and ponds at Kusumba village near Garia, has over the years turned into more than a primary school that provides an English-medium education for free. Often, when a student is in distress, the school becomes the family the child needs.
The mother of six-year-old Asifa Mondal, a student of Class II, died last month after leaving her in the care of a teacher. "Asifa's mother had been hospitalised for the birth of her second child. The baby survived but she did not, and Asifa is now our responsibility," her class teacher Nilanjana Roy said.
Saima Mondal, whose husband is a mason, can't thank Ankur enough for giving her daughters - five-year-old Farhen in Class I and seven-year-old Firdausi in Class II - an education. Being a parent to two schoolgirls has been an education for her too.
"The focus of our parent-teacher meetings is on training them to oversee how their children study," Rajyasri said.
School awards convener Barry O'Brien highlighted this facet of Ankur while introducing the institute to the Science City audience. "They actually educate the parents about what education is for their children.... What an example for many of our established schools to follow, where we shut the gates and do not want to communicate too much or at all with parents!" he said.
Minu Budhia, founding director of Caring Minds, said: "The Telegraph School Awards for Excellence recognises the unsung heroes and we join in our efforts to enable the able so that they get the wings to fly."
Most of the 86 children who study at Ankur are daughters and sons of rickshaw-pullers, domestic workers and daily wage-earners.
Ankur used to provide afternoon meals to them but discarded the practice because the management did not want it to become a " khichudi school". The new system has students pooling the food they bring from home and everyone gets a share.
The school currently has classes Nursery to III, after which students join primary institutes in the vicinity. Funding is through donations.
Since there is no public transport to the school, located 1.5km from the Bypass, the five teachers and two other staff members have to walk that stretch, sometimes through slush. The smiles that greet them at Ankur are their only reward.
Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya
