The ‘Foot-Soldiers’ of Pratham

It was late evening and we were in two minds whether to stretch our travel till Agra. We had begun from District Gonda in the morning and after a brief halt at Lucknow, decided to move ahead.  However, as the days in winters are short, it was finally agreed that we should not move ahead and halt at Kannauj.

Ramnaresh ji, who was with me throughout my stay in Uttar Pradesh, suggested that we visit and meet our Block members at Kannauj first and then lookout for a Hotel where I could be accommodated for the night. However, as we headed towards the Block, a thought struck me – ‘why should I not stay here? Let me talk and interact with my colleagues from Kannauj and understand how they live and together make an impact on the ground for Pratham!’ Ramnareshji happily agreed to this.

Kannauj is a ‘rurban’ area! On one end of the road you see buildings and shops and on the other end, there are agricultural fields spread far and wide. Our car took a left turn and took a small road that went through the fields. And then after a few more turns on even smaller lanes, we finally arrived at a place that had many houses around. Nitin and Vivek, two of our colleagues had come to receive us. “Tirwa block mein aapka swagat hain, sirji” (“Welcome to Tirwa block, sir”). It was then I realized that I was in the Tirwa village of Kannauj. We had to walk some distance as the place where they lived was further inside.

It was 7:30 when we reached. Everyone from the team had come back after a busy day at work. Nitin introduced me to the others – Kuldep, Sanjay, Nainsi, Sushma and Rooma. These people constitute the Tirwa block of Kannauj.  After the offering of chai and biscuits, we began discussing about work. I was enlightened about the fact that there is a government partnership in the district, which has 1200 primary schools. There are six blocks in the district and Tirwa was one of them. Under this block, there are 262 schools and they were handled by this team. Under the government partnership, two teachers from each primary school in the district were trained under the CAMaL methodology.

A working day for them constitutes meetings, traveling and discussions.  Everyone has to travel to the schools that are assigned to them.  They have to coordinate with the school teachers who are trained in CAMaL and address their difficulties. In addition to this, they also have to visit the library program in the evening and keep a track of its progress.  Kuldeep and Sanjay are district leaders and they also have to coordinate with the government officials at the district level and keep them informed about the activities in these schools.

It was time for dinner. A lot of mattresses were shuffled and space was created for every one of us to sit together and eat. As promised, I was treated with ‘local, ghar ka khana’ and I admit it was the one of my best eating experiences in a while! While eating, I glanced at a section of the wall that was decorated. Kuldeep saw my stare and chipped in, “Yeh Sir humne New Year ke samay kiya tha.” (We did this during New Year celebrations.) All of them joined Kuldeep and told me how they had celebrated the New Year by playing songs and cutting a cake. It was evident that they lived together as a team and enjoyed their moments together as well. 

A Learning Camp underway. 

I had to leave for Agra the next day. When I woke up, I found that almost half of the team members had already left and started their day. Those who were about to leave gave me a glimpse of their day ahead. Some of them had to visit schools, while one of them had a meeting with a government officer. However, everyone had a smile on their face when they told me this.

There are people who complete the tasks assigned to them on a routine basis and they are good at it as well! However, people who think beyond this assigned task and create a positive difference in their job are the ones who create an impact on the ultimate beneficiaries! I see a smile on every child’s face whenever I visit our learning camp. However, that day I understood how that smile is an eventual outcome of the smile that these colleagues of ours have on their face when their work! For they are a part of the larger cause of Pratham, which is Every Child in School and Learning Well! Yes, they are the impact-makers of Pratham, the ‘Foot-soldiers’ of Pratham!