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If setting up and running Vidyagyan has been rewarding for its 90-odd staff, teachers and the Shiv Nadar Foundation and family, it hasn't been without its struggles.
Bishwajit Banerjee, 49, principal of Vidyagyan (Bulandshahr) - who has spent 27 years in education, most of which has been with the Delhi Public Schools - says that the first challenge they faced was convincing parents that this was a genuine initiative, not some scheme to lure their children away into something undesirable.
"We had launched a private initiative and were unsure whether it would have takers in the first year. When we would explain that this was a residential school where all expenses for their child would be borne by us and it would cost them nothing, their first reaction was disbelief," says Banerjee, saying that the revenue expenses (or only expenses?) per child amount to roughly Rs 1.5-2 lakh a year. As miracles usually don't happen in the lives of the poor, many parents viewed with suspicion the intent behind the venture.
In many cases, the students took the test based on the schools' recommendations, not fully aware of what they were getting into. Moreover, in many cases, the parents were illiterate or uneducated so the value of what was being offered was lost on them.
If getting students admitted was tough in the first year, getting them to stay proved tougher still. Adapting to their new life and environment, without the support of their parents, was not easy. Several children had never, for instance, seen or used a toilet (only open fields) and the "basics of toilet etiquette" had to be explained. Food was alien and more than one student threatened to leave on this ground alone.
"Young children who had been separated from their families for the first time. New environment, new people, different food - we had many students who would threaten to take their lives if we didn't send them back home immediately," says the principal. He recalls one young Muslim girl who every evening was found sitting at a certain spot in the school threatening to take her life if she was not sent home right away. "Gentle persuasion, explaining why this would eventually be for their good, mentoring and trying to keep their spirits up was all part and parcel of the job for us," explains Banerjee.
It also meant being very vigilant just in case one of the children actually decided to carry out her threat.
If students were a challenge, parents weren't much easier. Every once in a while, a family would turn up and ask to take their child back. "Every possible reason would be given. We have changed our mind, his mother is missing him too much, his grandparents are demanding his return, someone has fallen ill - we were faced with every possible excuse."
But once they managed to convince parents not to withdraw, several of them slowly began to see the benefits. "Many parents who saw their children after almost six months did not recognise them. The improved diet and cleaner environment showed visibly on the children, several of whom were malnourished when they joined."
Another challenge was the shift in medium to English. Most students who join the school have a very basic rudimentary knowledge of English, if at all, and have to quickly move to an English-medium system of education. "But since these are usually the toppers and the brightest students, they catch up remarkably fast," says Vice-Principal Anita Paul.
Today, six years after it started, the word has spread and parents, and in many cases the rest of the village, has seen the change in the children of Vidyagyan. In Shivani Yadav's village in Mainpuri district, many students are now lining up for the admission test and she has acquired a sort of "celebrity status". Not only does she speak and sound different, she has smartened up so much that no one can doubt the good the school has done for her.
So from a situation where parents and children were wary, now parents are even using underhand means to gain admission. The school, therefore, now has to be very careful while checking the claims "especially on income" when choosing their students.
And now, as the school embarks on its second phase of expansion (there are 10 acres lying barren next to the existing building where expansion is underway) - it will add 1,200-1,400 students to its existing 897 - finding students is the least of their worries.
