Bangalore: In 1986, eight teenagers met at St Joseph’s College of Commerce (SJCC) and did what every college going teenager would do, from parties, movies to heartaches and heartbreaks. But through their friendship, they inculcated a value system and most importantly, they created a bond which stayed with them even after they finished college. These students became adults and graduated in 1991. Post college, most of the boys went abroad for studies and corporate work. Inspite of their varied professional interests, these bunch of friends would meet frequently or infrequently depending on their geographical location to spend a few hours and relive their past.
Almost 24 years later, they met for the first time and decided to do ‘something for the society’. Thus, started their dream project, a school for under privileged children in Ejipura which caters to children from slums. This is the story of Chaaya Foundation and their school ‘Carnations’ and how these friends got together to provide free education to 100 children. The eight friends are Vivek Kumar, Roy Mammen, Raman Mangalorkar, Vijay Talwar, M C Cariappa, Ramesh Athihalli and Kenny Ramanand. So, how and when did they start Carnations? To this, Sunil Gupta who is into textile industry said, “All of us were approaching our forties and we felt the desire to do something for the society. After toying with a lot of options like sports and other stuff, we zeroed on free education for under privileged children.”
The decision to opt for education as a medium to pay back to the society also has a unique story behind it. Kenny Ramanand, one of the founders said, “Most of us lived in India, whereas, a couple of friends like Raman and Vijay moved to USA for their careers. However, the incident that really inspired us to start a school was when Jyoti, who is the daughter of Sunil’s domestic help (who was working in their family for over 20 years) graduated and got a job and her empowerment changed the life of her family. When we discussed this issue one evening that education for under privileged children would actually be a life changer, it got us going.”
The idea was conceived in January 2010 and the school commenced operations with just 30 children from June that year. The expense of the school is approximately `3000 per day, that is, close to `1 lakh per month. The school is currently housed in a rented accommodation. Today, the school has about 67 children, although it has a facility to include 100 children. There are five classrooms and children upto 1st standard study here. They are given free meals, uniform, transport apart from free education. “Under the present rules, one can open a school without getting into the procedural complexities only up to first standard,” said Sunil.
However, quizzing him on their life after Carnations, he said, “We are trying to have a tie up with other schools too. There is one in Mekhri Circle but the school is far for the children here.”As far as the facilities are concerned in the school, there is not a single glitch. The good quality of education is what the founders boast of and they have every reason to rejoice. There are five teachers trained on the Montessori method, hence, for the kids, school is all fun and learning. Each class room has a computer and the students are taught with demo presentations. There is also a play area for children on the terrace. Although the play area is housed in the terrace, proper fencing has been done.
The initial challenge for the eight friends was identifying the right location and subsequently enrolling the children. The school has two social workers who make regular visits to the nearby slums and explain the importance of getting their children to school at an early age. Paul, one of the social worker says, “We identity poor children in slums and we have a questionnaire that we run through to get their children to our institution.”
Kenny adds, “The school celebrates annual day in the month of April every year and has special events on Children’s Day, apart form the regular birthday celebrations.” The parents feel happy that their children are provided such an opportunity as most families can’t even afford one proper meal a day.
Carnations is one such success story that Bangalore can be proud of. If today, every youngster starts sharing the same ideas and emotions, and come together with a zeal to give something back to the society, sooner or later, we will be able to delete the problem of illiteracy and other social evils from our dictionary.
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