Teach him Universal love!

She was a young Muslim girl belonging to a poor family.   As she attained youth, she too dreamt a thousand fairy dreams about her husband and family.  She fell in love with a Hindu boy.   Love transcended caste, religion... and all barriers!   But her parents declined to accept this relationship.   She married her chosen one, against stiff opposition from her parents.   They got a baby boy.   Till now, life was a happy song for the couple. 

  

Gradually cracks developed in the relationship.  So her husband started ill treating her, physically assaulting her.  He became an alcohol addict.  She did not know what to do.    After a few years, she took divorce from him.   But the girl’s parents did not accept her back.  Her three younger sisters were yet to get married.   Later on, her husband remarried.   Now her life turned into a tragic song. 

But God stretches his helping hand in a strange way.   Another old man belonging to Hindu religion entered her life.   He was staying alone in Bangalore.   He gave shelter to this Muslim lady.  They are staying together as father and daughter.   In the meantime, she completed her B.Com.  But she could not do hard physical work due to the physical assault received at the hands of her husband.  Recently her ex-husband passed away.   She is searching for a job.  Incidentally her elder sister is also a divorcee. 

A couple of months ago she came across an article on ‘Kaliyuva Mane’ in a newspaper.   So a fortnight ago, a 13 year old boy joined Kaliyuva Mane family.  Even now she has dreams, this time about her only son.  Kaliyuva Mane will certainly fuel her dreams.  Hope the boy will rise to her expectations!  While parting, the lady told us, ‘Teach him universal love. I will be happy, if he prays to Hindu gods.  If possible, once in a while send him to mosque also.’ 

At Kaliyuva Mane, we believe and try to practice the religion, defined by Swami Vivekananda, “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within us by controlling nature, internal and external.  Do it either by work or worship, philosophy or psychic control, by one or more, or by all of these and be free.  This is the whole of RELIGION.  Doctrines or dogmas, rituals or books, temples or forms are all but secondary details.” 

Wonderful achievement!

Today 10^th  standard results are out.  All the 5 children from ‘Sphoorthi’ group, who had appeared for this important exam from ‘Kaliyuva Mane’, have emerged with flying colours, one in first class and two in second class. Each one has crossed domestic/social/economic/educational/emotional hurdles successfully and reached the goal.  All children have cleared the exam in English medium.  Congratulations! 

Brief profile of each student is presented below :

Hemanth Kumar J. ( Age : 16⁺ )    

Hemanth belongs to a lower middle class family.  His father works in a private firm.  Mother is a housewife.  His father has passed PUC and the mother has studied up to SSLC.  Hemanth’s parents knew the worth of education.  So they sent him to an English medium private reputed school.  But unfortunately, the boy could not cope up with the rigid structure of the school.   The constant failure in academics shattered young boy’s confidence. Concerned father took the boy to All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Mysore for assessment.   The boy was on the threshold of 8^th standard then, but his academic level was found to be equivalent to that of a beginner of 3^rd standard, though his IQ was age appropriate.  A copy of the report is attached. The boy was found to have ‘learning disability’.  So, Hemanth’s disappointed father brought Hemanth to Kaliyuva Mane.

He was educated as per the guidelines of the clinical psychologist, which were being practised at Kaliyuva Mane already.  He was exempted from studying two additional subjects.  Hemanth regained the interest in studies and started cooperating with the faculty members.  Now Hemanth has cleared 10^th standard examination in second class. (51.75%)  He is very happy.  His achievement has made his family members and teaching faculty of Kaliyuva mane happy and proud.

He is practicing snake catching.  He is fond of animals, wild life photography and agriculture.  He wants to continue in the same field.    

Hemanth Kumar Y.  (Age : 15⁺)

Hemanth hails from a village in Andhra Pradesh.  Hemanth had a turbulent childhood, having lost his father in a vehicle accident during his early childhood.  His mother even now works as an attender in a school in Andhra Pradesh. After the accident, Hemanth migrated to Mysore.  Hemanth’s maternal uncle started taking care of the boy.  His maternal uncle works as an electrician.  He came across an article on Kaliyuva Mane in ‘Andolana’ paper.   Two years ago, Hemanth’s maternal uncle brought Hemanth to Kaliyuva mane.  The boy joined Kaliyuva Mane as a resident scholar.   He is studious and works hard.  Having passed 10^th standard in first class, (75.2%) he is very happy now.  He wants to pursue Diploma course in Engineering. 

Manu H.  (Age : 15⁺)

Manu is from a rural ‘below poverty line’ family.  His father works as a security guard in a  private company.  Both the parents are illiterates.  Manu was studying in a Government Kannada medium school.   Parents came to know about Kaliyuva Mane.   So his parents brought him to Kaliyuva Mane five years ago. Though  his academic level at the time of joining Kaliyuva Mane was below par, he gained enthusiasm for studies. Now he has passed SSLC.  Everyone at his home and at Kaliyuva Mane is happy about his achievement.  He wants to become an actor. 

Shankara : ( Age: 16+)

Shankar hails from Mellahalli village on the outskirts of Mysore city.  He too had a turbulent childhood.  He lost his mother quite early in his life.  His father has remarried and lives in a separate house.  His father is an illiterate and does some odd jobs like selling vegetables, painting etc.   Shankar used to stay with his grandmother.  He was going to the Government Kannada medium school there.

Two school dropouts had passed 10^th standard examination from Kaliyuva mane earlier.  So one resident of Mellahalli village brought Shankar to Kaliyuva Mane and he became a part of Kaliyuva Mane family

He instantly liked the child friendly atmosphere prevailing at Kaliyuva Mane.  He started evincing keen interest in studies.  Now he has passed SSLC in second class. (58.4%). He wants to pursue Diploma in engineering course.

Srikrishna A. (Age : 16⁺)

Shrikrishna’s parents are educated.  Inspired by the ideals of Sri Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda, they were conducting supplementary classes for rural school going kids mornings and evenings free of cost staying in a village on the outskirts of Mysore since 1992.  Conceptualization of ‘Kaliyuva Mane’ took place, based on this grassroots level experience.   Due to paucity of resources, they could not start the school and were forced to send their son to a mainstream school.  After Kindergarten, the boy joined 1^st standard in a mainstream school.  Initially he was happy.  But later on, he developed an aversion to the school and refused to go to the school.   With no other options, parents forced him to go to the school.  The boy, out of compulsions started attending classes submissively.    Eventually parents withdrew him from the school.

He was taken for counseling.  Counselor suggested an informal school for him. There was no such school in Mysore.  Even when Kaliyuva Mane was started he refused to learn there.   Gradually since 4 or 5 years, he has started attending classes regularly.   He is very intelligent.  But due to his traumatic childhood, he is poor in social skills.  Now he has passed 10th standard.    We hope, this result will give him enough confidence to face life.  He wants to become a successful businessman. 

Suma blooms!!!

She is 12 years young. She joined Kaliyuva Mane only last year.   She can read 7th standard Kannada lessons now.  She has learnt all the basic arithmetic operations. She can speak a few English words.  Well, someone  may ask us, " What is so great about this?"  Have a look at her academic report  just a year ago!. click on the link below :
http://www.divya-deepa.blogspot.in/2012/02/how-to-give-this-child-better-future.html

 She has regained her lost enthusiasm for studies.  Watch her reading Kannada. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMSx9z8ZyME

Now she wants to become a teacher at Kaliyuva Mane.  She  is learning English too!  Despite our fight with the system (about land, about recognition for the school, about registration of the vehicle, about funds), our journey inside the young minds is very very pleasant and adventurous too!

Where is the school for this deprived child?

30th May 2013 - A child joined Kaliyuva Mane as a resident scholar - 12 years young – No parents - rural background - Staying with his illiterate grandmother - Due to inherent dislike for structured studies, rote learning and lack of parental guidance, the boy had dropped out of Kannada medium rural school after 3rd standard –  came to know about two school dropouts from his village, continuing education after passing SSLC in English medium  – One of his well-wishers brought him to Kaliyuva Mane – A desire to learn, which was hitherto latent in him has surfaced NOW.

There are orphanages for him.   Even that is doubtful.  For admission, death certificate of one of the parents is a must.  But where is the school for him?  RTE Act ensures admission into schools for all the children below 14 years.  But does it ensure learning?   It is a challenge for Kaliyuva Mane to build his future.  Keep him happy, motivate him to study, start teaching from scratch,….     

Kaliyuva Mane has not only implemented RTE Act in spirit, but has gone beyond RTE.   It is an irony that Kaliyuva Mane lacks recognition from the Education department.   Forget about Government support, often its rules and regulations have become stumbling blocks for Kaliyuva Mane.   We are buying 24 seater school bus for ferrying school dropouts, first generation school goers and children labelled as ‘slow learners’ from far off villages.  Because our education system is not recognized, we have to pay 40 times more road tax!   We have to run pillar to post to get documents such as study certificate and rural certificate.   

DDPI has come to our school and has left this remark in the guestbook, “The school premises were very pleasant”.    On 29^th December 2012, Block education Officer, Mysore Rural visited Kaliyuva Mane.  He was happy and has left the following remark in our guestbook, “Good learning environment exists. The method of teaching considering not only the age, but the lacunae in learning, is really special here.”   The Karnataka Government, labour department has carried a 4 page article on our alternative school, ‘Kaliyuva Mane’.  

We have filed an application seeking recognition for Kaliyuva Mane.   But BEO feels, there is no space in the education system for innovative/alternate thinking.  It is only a prerogative of the Government.   Finally he has agreed to forward our letter to the Commissioner – Education.   Democracy means Government of the people, by the people and for the people! – only on paper!

As a last resort, in November, I tried to meet the then education minister, Mr. Kageri  Vishweshwara Hegde.  I got his number from the net.  Dialled the number, felt so happy to hear the voice of his personal secretary.  I requested for an appointment with the education minister and got immediately.  Next day, i.e. on 26-11-2012  at 4.00 am I boarded the Bangalore bus.   I was the first one to sit in front of Kageri’s room waiting.   By 8.45 am the room door opened.  We were let inside.  There were about 20 people waiting to meet him.  I was allowed inside.  I started off the conversation, “Namaskara, we are running a school…….”  I was interrupted by his impatient voice,   “What do you want, tell me fast”   I wanted at least 15 minutes to articulate about Kaliyuva Mane.    The best thing I could do was to invite him to our school.  Unfortunately, God forgot to give me the ‘Gift of gab’.  I am not blaming the education minister.  He must have been very busy on that particular day.   I am blaming the system.  At least he could have had a secretary who could devote adequate time to solve common man’s problems.

I am neither rich nor politically connected.  I am neither a cricketer nor a film actor.   I am a low profile common citizen.   I know how difficult it is to meet local MLA for a common citizen like me?  So the system has to be changed for better participation of the common citizen in the governance of the country.  When?, How?,  are the million dollar questions!

Ananth Kumar – First volunteer

Yet another milestone

We feel very happy to share with you this news.  Yesterday 10th standard results were out.  All the 3 children Anand (15years),  Shivu (15years) and Kartik(16 years) of Chaitanya group who had appeared for the 10th standard exams from Kaliyuva Mane have passed  in flying colours.  Anand and Shivu have secured FIRST CLASS.  All have cleared the exams in English medium successfully crossing different domestic, economic, educational and emotional hurdles.

One boy is a first generation school goer from a village near HD Kote.  He was going to a rural Kannada medium free school.  The child was a zero level learner in that school.    Another child is motherless and his father is blind. He was studying in a Govt. Kannada medium school in a village prior to joining Kaliyuva Mane in 2010 as a resident scholar.  Another child is from a broken family. Father is not staying with the family. Mother sells fruits near bus station. The child was not going to the formal school regularly in spite of the best efforts of the mother.  Mother had changed the school for the boy thrice earlier.

All the children studied at Kaliyuva Mane as resident scholars.  [a free school including food, accommodation, entertainment and  medicare].  Nobody was sent to any outside formal school.   These were educated in a special way.  A new education system has emerged here at  ‘Kaliyuva Mane’.   This free experimental residential school is reaching out to more and more rural opportunity deprived children every year.    It is soon reaching its capacity of 100 children including 36 resident scholars.

At this happy moment, we express our deep gratitude to all of you - the patrons, volunteers and well-wishers for your support.  Needless to say we need your support always.   Kaliyuva Mane welcomes you all.   For updates :  http://www.facebook.com/divyadeepa.trust

for Diyvadeepa family

Ananth

9341369901

www.divyadeepatrust.org

First resort of a patriot - POLITICS

There are good and bad engineers.  There are good and bad doctors.  There are good and bad teachers…..  But even today the words ‘Engineer’, ‘Doctor’ and ‘Teacher’ connote a positive vibration.  But thanks to our politicians, they have managed to change the meaning of the word ‘Politics’.   This word instead of meaning ‘Art or science of government’ connotes negative and repulsive vibrations.  When greed for power and money raises its ugly head anywhere, we suspect the entry of politics, whether it is a temple or an educational institution.

Now I would like to introduce a patriot  by name C.K. Naveena, CEO of Karthavya IT solutions.  It was in 2006 January, one of Divyadeepa’s wellwisher introduced C.K. Naveena to me.  A huge photograph of  my hero, ‘Swami Vivekananda’  adorned a wall of his office.  He spoke softly.  He expressed his desire to visit Kaliyuva Mane.  A few youth visited Kaliyuva mane a few days later.   I’m not sure of the date, may be in February 2006, I received a call from him.  Myself, Padma and Srikrishna were in Mysore city.  Naveena invited us to attend website launching function of his company.  Swamy Nithyasthanandaji of Sri Ramakrishna Ashram was there to launch the website.  As usual I sat in a corner.  Suddenly Naveena requested me to speak a few words about Kaliyuva Mane.  I know pretty well how good I am at public speaking!  Somehow I uttered a few words and invited all the people who had gathered there to Kaliyuva Mane.  After the meeting was over, a few youth ( I am sure of Ashwin, Saurabh and Neetu ) came to me.  We were discussing informally.  They were keen to visit Kaliyuva Mane.  After a few days 16 youth came by 8 bikes to Kaliyuva Mane and expressed their happiness to support Kaliyuva Mane.  That was the beginning of volunteers’ movement!!!

Later onwards Naveena interviewed me for his ‘mysorematters.com’.   At that time I also asked him a few questions.  He expressed his inclination towards entering politics.  My anathema for politics is well-known.  But why not? He has the fire in his belly.  He is honest.  He is educated.  He is an Engineer.  He is young.  Below 30!  More than everything, he is committed.  What other qualifications you need?  He is contesting from Krishnaraja constituency.  Unfortunately I cannot vote for him, as I stay in a different constituency.  He needs our support.  He also needs the support of Divyadeepa volunteers.

Naveena, God bless you!  More and more honest, educated patriots should enter politics.  The word, ‘Politics’ should regain its lost meaning.  This word should bring back to our memories the contributions of politicians of the calibre of  Lal Bahadur Sastry.

-Ananth

Journey inside the young minds!!!

Admission No. 145 ((A boy)

Date of Admission : 16-08-2012

On 16^th August 2012, 3 persons belonging to 3 different generations visited Kaliyuva Mane - a 9 or 10 year old young boy, his mother and an old man from Kenchalagudu village.   The mother and son were from a far off village.  The father was an alcoholic addict.   According to the mother of the boy, her husband had extra-marital affairs and used to visit home occasionally.   Both the parents were illiterates.   The mother could not check her tears while revealing this.   The mother used to work as a coolie.  

The son used to go to a Kannada medium rural mainstream free school.   But due to some reasons, he stopped going to the school.  At that time he was studying in 5^th standard. (Later, the mother submitted the boy’s 4^th standard progress report)  But unfortunately the boy fell into bad company and started stealing.  He used to get caught in the act sometimes and punished by the owners.  The boy’s mother became restless.  Her anxiety about the future of her only son also started growing.  Out of anger and desperation, the mother started beating her son. 

We could notice 6 or 8 burnt marks on the boy’s body.  These were clearly the marks of the frustration of his mother. An old man from Kenchalagudu brought the boy’s mother to Kaliyuva Mane.  The boy’s mother wanted admission for him as a resident scholar.   It was difficult for us to accommodate him as a resident scholar.   We admitted him as a day scholar. 

This way the boy joined Kaliyuva Mane.   But the same afternoon he was on the verge of leaving the school.  The reason: one of our new teachers had scolded him for his bad behaviour.   During lunch time, we found the boy missing.  Getting some clue from one of the children, Mahadeva Swamy, one of our staff members took scooter and brought him back to Kaliyuva Mane.  In the evening, we all the discussed about the boy’s future.   There were two options for us, either to send him out of Kaliyuva Mane which would make him an antisocial element or to try to mend the boy to the best of our ability.  So we spoke to the boy, gave him the freedom to attend the classes whenever he liked.   He used to play the slide and swing.   One day he came to the computer lab.  He started coming to computer classes alone.  One of our school teachers, Kavita offered him a new set of clothes, a pair of slippers. Kavita has excellent soft skills.  On that night his mother called us and enquired whether her son had stolen any material from the school!   He started attending that particular teacher’s classes.  Gradually he started attending all the classes.  We were happy seeing the transformation in the boy!

After 3 months, he instigated one resident scholar to steal some money from one of the German volunteers.   The boy shared the booty with other friends.  This was really shocking and shameful for us.  What our foreign guest think about Indians?  But we did not know how to handle the situation.  After this incident, the boy did not come to Kaliyuva Mane for a week.   After a week, his mother brought him to the school.  For one week, we made him sit alone in Kaliyuva Mane’s office for contemplation.  On hourly basis, one of the teachers used to sit with him and counsel.  

Now, after 7 months, he is attending all the classes regularly and learning well.  He does not use vulgar words.  He is less quarrelsome.  But the million dollar question is, “Is this transformation permanent?”    His mother is happy.   We really don’t know how to handle the situation, if he starts stealing again.  Pray and hope, he will not!

Victims of the system

From this academic year, Kaliyuva Mane is conducting entrance test for the teachers.   Test paper contains questions on Kannada, English, Mathematics, Science and General knowledge.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8t7d9R2HGUJeTM0RXZZZ1ZGcGs/edit
Her qualification is M.A., B.Ed.  Can we select her?    Till now more than 60 aspirants have taken the test.   Unfortunately till now,  none of them have passed the test.

From this year onwards, the Government has revised the 5th std., 8th std. and 1st PU text books.  The whole idea is to raise the standard of State Board education and bring it on par with CBSE standard.   It is a welcome move!  So policy makers have revised the curriculum and revised the text books, but have not thought about the implementers.   I'm teaching 5th standard English to our trainee teachers.  Now they can read and understand 5th standard text books.   Still they cannot answer the questions at the end of the lesson.  Proper formation of sentences is a big problem.

When do the policy makers learn to think holistically?  When are they going to change teacher training programmes?  How long our D.Ed. and B.Ed. colleges keep on producing unemployables?  Some brain storming is required.  We should stop victimizing  innocent rural candidates.

Most of the urban elite children pursue lucrative courses like engineering, medicine, business management and very few aspire to become primary school teachers.  The salary package does not attract them to choose teaching as a career.  Most of the rural children who have studied in Kannada Medium in high school continue to study PUC (higher secondary) also in Kannada medium taking ‘History, sociology and economics’ as electives.  Then they study D.Ed.  Generally this does not equip them to teach English, Hindi, Mathematics, Science and Social Science even for 5^th standard children.  Hence this obsolete teacher training course on one hand is creating plenty of rural jobless/underpaid candidates with graduate and post graduate degrees and on the other hand has created a scarcity of competent teachers to teach English, Mathematics and Science in rural areas. Very few teachers realize that teaching is a time based activity, whereas learning is a process based activity.   

The summary of the findings of the Karnataka Jnana Aayoga, a high powered commission constituted in September 2008 by then chief minister of Karnataka under the chairmanship of renowned space scientist Dr K. Kasturirangan  about D.Ed. colleges is given below

“The colleges where the study was undertaken had adequate infrastructure; 65% of students  opted this course were females; 47% belonged to OBC category; 26% belonged to SC category; 71.4% belonged to low income group with an annual income of Rs.6000-Rs.12000; most of the students belonged to social science stream. Majority of the teachers were males (63%), average age was 37 years and very few (15%) had teaching experience in primary schools. They had attended an average of 2.5 training programmes in their entire career and showed poor readiness to implement reforms in school education. In all the colleges lectures were dominant with more stress on written work. It was a common feeling that curriculum was too heavy. Most of the educators felt that the time available for content enrichment was very less”.   Details are available at the following website :http://jnanaayoga.in/index.php/resources/research-studies

Kaliyuva Mane’s biggest hurdle is the non-availability of persons with knowledge, skill, passion and commitment to teach.   The impact of Kaliyuva Mane on children would have been 200% more if we had had such man makers.   The role of teachers in nation building is grossly under-estimated in India.  So it is a challenge to discover service minded persons with requisite knowledge, competency to transmit knowledge in rural areas. 

A doctor’s blunder kills a patient; An engineer’s blunder spoils a monument; A teacher’s mistake spoils generations - Dr. Radhakrishnan  ( heard )

Raji, India & We

Raji, India and We :

Rajeshwari (fondly called as Raji) was 11 years young when she joined Kaliyuva mane.  At the time of admission, she did not know how to spell the word, “English” and had committed more than half a dozen mistakes in three lines of Kannada writing.   She was neither a school dropout nor a dyslexic.  She had completed 6^th standard and was going regularly to school. I wanted to know her aspirations.  She uttered, 'DOCTOR'.  I could not suppress my smile.  I decided to make her at least a nurse.  

But she went on to finish X standard in first class that too in English medium! This speaks volumes about her grit, steely determination and hard work. [Her detailed case study has been given at the end.]  Raji's feat made Prof. Rame Gowda who sponsored her education  happy.   But Raji was adamant.   She reiterated her wish to study medicine.  I thought, she was overambitious.  But she went ahead and joined NIE PU college taking PCMB as electives.  Generous help came from Shashank, our volunteer who arranged her college fees.  Now every weekend  Azaruddin (our volunteer) and Raji come to Kaliyuva Mane.  Azaruddin sits with her for several hours mentoring and tutoring her. He inspires me too!  Even now I consider Raji overambitious and feel MBBS is Mt. Everest for her, but silently want her to become Edmund Hilary or Tenzing.

Raji raises many ‘if and buts’.   If she had had the same quality(?) education of 2+6 years just like her urban counterparts from educated families, she would have definitely become a doctor.  Who knows, even now she may pass PUC in flying colours and join MBBS.  If she cannot, who is responsible?  Raji or the system?  Is Raji's a stray case?  No, there are millions of Rajis in the villages of India.  In fact, 51.8% of 5th standard rural children cannot read 2^nd standard mother tongue text books as per the Annual Status of Education Report released by Dr. Kapil Sibal, our minister of human resources! (http://images2.asercentre.org/aserreports/ASER_2011/press_release_15jan_2011.pdf ) What about these children’s future?  MBBS doctors refuse to serve one year in villages!  Rather they prefer to pay a fine of ₹1,00,000/-.  So what about the future of Indian villages where more than two third of Indians dwell?  Finally what about the future of  India as a whole?  Though our constitution guarantees EQUALITY of status and of opportunity to all Indians, this has remained a distant dream even after 65 years of freedom.   

We all love India.  We celebrate Independence day.  We respect national flag and anthem.  We celebrate India's success in cricket.  We rejoice when Indians win medals at Olympics.  Divyadeepa wants to go beyond this token patriotism.  We consisder every educated person with values as an asset to our country in particular and to the world at large.  "Human capital is a vital ingredient in building a nation. Education is the passport to accelerated economic growth and is the key to build human capital"  - Anon

So more Kaliyuva Manes ( to be precise, better models of Kaliyuva Manes ) functioning on the principle “School for children” should come up throughout the length and breadth of Indian villages and co-exist with the main stream schools which work on the principle “Children for school”.  For that to happen, we should stabilize existing Kaliyuva Mane first.  We should transform Kaliyuva Mane from individual model to institution model.   Without indulging in any blame game we must go on to create a replicable model of education system for mentally sound children who find main stream schools inadequate.

Reasonably good infrastructure has been built.   We need a school bus to ferry more day scholars, one more driver and more diesel month after month.  During night we have lost two bicycles and an old scooter. So campus needs a compound wall and the residents feel secure.  On positive side, more children friendly systems are evolving.  We have taken up 3 years' rigorous Teacher empowerment programme'.   Income generating units have to be established.  Kaliyuva Mane should  become financially self-sustaining.

Parallely  efforts to get recognition for Kaliyuva Mane is going on.   I personally met BEO.  I have officially written to BEO requesting him to visit Kaliyuva Mane for inspection.  But he is yet to respond.  Today we are going to officially file application seeking recognition for Kaliyuva Mane. (to both DDPI and BEO)   It took plenty of time for me to prepare a document of 160 pages.  If they don't respond, we have to write to Education ministers.  If not.................. 

So plenty of work to do! Millions of people have sacrificed their lives to give us political freedom.  Now we have to free India from poverty and ignorance.  Divyadeepa needs  resources- both  human and financial.  Divyadeepa needs continued support from patrons, volunteers and well-wishers.  We need more patrons, volunteers and well-wishers for this grass root level nation-building task.  Whether you are a selfish person  seeking your happiness in helping others or a spiritual person who consider work as body's best prayer to the Divine, you are welcome to associate with Divyadeepa.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8t7d9R2HGUJR0FRY0hoMTc4eUU/edit

Crossing all the hurdles

Crossing all the hurdles......

Shwetha M. (DOB : 27-01-1997)

Shwetha's father works in a mutton shop.  Her mother works as a domestic help from dawn to dusk.  Father is an illiterate and mother has studied up to 4^th standard.  They stay in a small tiny rented shed in Srirampura village, around 7 kms from Kaliyuva Mane.  Shwetha's parents have 5 children.  Shwetha is the middle one.  Shwetha's mother takes major share of the responsibility of the family.  Father has not found time to visit Kaliyuva Mane even once where his daughter stays since five years.  

Shwetha was going to the main stream rural Kannada medium school.  She was going to the school once in a blue moon due to multiple reasons such as inherent disinterest, rote teaching methods, lack of guidance at home, fear of punishment at schools etc.  She eventually dropped out.  After dropping out 10 year old Shwetha started accompanying her mother.  While her mother used to work, daughter used to play at the mother's work place.  

Shwetha's mother Bhagya used to come to Kaliyuva Mane in exingent situations.  While her mother used to be busy in washing vessels, this little girl used to enjoy swing  at Kaliyuva mane. One day Bhagya had come to Kaliyuva mane with her five children.   Elders used to help her mother, while others used to play.  We asked the eldest child to join the school.  But Shwetha was keener.  So she became a part of Kaliyuva Mane family on 17-04-2007.  

She started learning from scratch at Kaliyuva mane.  i.e from Kannada alphabets and numbers.  She was happy and progressing during first 3 years.  But gradually her interest declined.  During the summer vacation of 2011, Shwetha did not return to Kaliyuva mane.  Instead she went to Bangalore and was working in someone's home taking care of a one year young infant.  That experience was an eye opener for her!  She came back to Kaliyuva Mane  with a firm determination.  She started cooperating with the staff members.  Now she has passed X standard public examination in English medium.  She is the first girl to have passed X standard in the whole family.  She has one younger brother and one younger sister who have dropped out from the school.  A few days ago, her younger sister Megha joined Kaliyuva mane as a resident scholar.   

Shwetha wants to stay at Kaliyuva Mane and learn dance, arts and tailoring. 

Manu Kumar K. (DOB : 27^th November 1993)

Manu hails from Mellahalli located on Bannur road.  Both the parents are illiterates.  Manu is the second son.   Farming is the family profession.  Manu completed 1^st standard from a rural main stream Kannada medium school.  He lost interest in the studies and dropped out from the school due to multiple reasons such as inherent disinterest, rote teaching methods, lack of guidance at home, fear of punishment at schools etc. 

Manu started helping his parents in farming and taking care of the cows.  In the meantime, Manu's uncle Shivalingu, an illiterate had learnt reading and writing attending literacy classes conducted by Divyadeepa at Mellahali way back in 1996.  His uncle having understood the importance of education brought Manu's parents to Kaliyuva Mane.  On 9^th April 2007, Manu became a part of Kaliyuva mane family.   He knew only to write his name in Kannada, but started cooperating with the staff.  With his fine attitude and hard work he could complete X standard public examination in English medium.   His younger brother 14 year Mahesha is continuing his education at Kaliyuva Mane having dropped out of school for more than 4 years. 

Renuka Swamy S.M. : ( DOB : 31^st January, 1996)

Renuka Swamy lost his father when he was quite young.  His mother brought him up.  His mother works in a small eatery in a village on the outskirts of Davanagere.   Her dream was to give her only son good education.  She had studied up to 9^th standard and knew the worth of education. So with great difficulty, she made him join a private Kannada medium school.  

But Renuka did not show much interest in studies.  He failed in 6^th standard and stopped going to school.  Through word of mouth, Renuka’s mother came to know about Kaliyuva Mane.  So Renuka joined Kaliyuva Mane on 15-04-2008 as a resident scholar.  We found him bright but not suitable for structured studies.  Even at Kaliyuva Mane, he was not interested in studies initially.   But he gradually started evincing interest in studies. Renuka has passed X standard exams in English medium. 

Rajeshwari M. (DOB : 16^th April 1996)

Rajeshwari’s parents stay at Ashokapuram in a rented house. Her father works as a painter.  Her mother is a housewife.    Father has passed SSLC and mother has passed 5^th standard.  So they are aware of the importance of education.  They have 4 daughters.  Rajeshwari is the youngest.  Rajeshwari was regularly attending main stream Kannada medium school.  

Rajeshwari’s eldest sister Jaishri stays at Kenchalagudu.  Divyadeepa has trained her and presently she is working in Divyadeepa.  Jaishri was worried about her sister’s poor academic performance.  So Jaishri brought her sister to Kaliyuva Mane.  She had passed 6^th standard in the main stream school.  At Kaliyuva Mane she was subjected to a simple assessment test.  The result was shocking.  She could not write a few lines properly in her mother tongue. 

She joined Kaliyuva Mane as a day scholar on 31^st May 2007.  In 2009, she joined as a resident scholar. We found her studious and hard working.  She has passed X standard public exams in English medium in first class.  

Dhanush P. (27^th December 1996) 

Dhanush’s father Mr. Puttaswamy was working in a private firm at Kollegal.  But unfortunately the firm closed down.  So he did not  get wages for several months. Divydeepa’s wellwisher introduced Puttaswamy to Divyadeepa in 2003.   For several years, Dhanush’s father used to work at Divyadeepa taking care of the dairy farm and the land.  Kaliyuva Mane was started in June 2005.  Naturally his daughter joined Kaliyuva Mane.  Dhanush who had completed 4^th standard in a Kannada medium main stream school, joined Kaliyuva Mane in 2006 as a resident scholar. 

Dhanush’s parents are educated.  Lady luck smiled on Puttaswamy’s family.  Puttaswamy’s wife got a Anganwadi teacher’s job in Kenchalagudu itself.    Mr. Puttaswamy  got a job as a cook in a hostel. Presently they are staying in a rented house in Kenchalagudu. 

Dhanush is a bright boy.  Now he has passed X standard  in English medium, securing first class.   

Shivaraj (DOB : 20^th August 1996) 

Shivaraj’s parents stay at Dhanagahalli in a small house.   Shivaraj’s father works in an industry.   Mother is a housewife.  Father has studied up to 9^th standard.  

Shivaraj was studying in a Kannada medium main stream school.  His parents were not happy with the boy’s scholastic performance. Through word of mouth, Shivaraj’s father came to know about Kaliyuva Mane.   So they brought the boy to Kaliyuva Mane.  On 04-06-2007, he joined the school as a day scholar.  In  2009, he joined as a resident scholar.  

His younger brother Manju also studies at Kaliyuva Mane.

To know Kaliyuva Mane method of education click here

To contribute click here

To volunteer click here