People often associate the Bandra suburb of Mumbai with plush apartments, multi cuisine restaurants and Bollywood stars! However, Bazaar Road presents a complete contrast to this preconceived notion of Bandra. Characterised by old and dilapidated buildings, this area houses many of the low-income groups of the city, including small shopkeepers, blue collar workers, domestic helpers and many others. However, this part of the city is still home to a number of fantastic change makers, and Shehnaz Ansari is one of them!
Shehnaz is a Balwadi teacher who started her preschool centre in 2005. She realised that children around her lacked basic, fundamental education. At the time, municipal schools in Mumbai did not offer any preschool facility, and the enrollment of children in schools - directly happened in the first grade. As a result, most of the children could not cope with the school curriculum, since they had no previous base. Many of them were first generation learners as well. And while there were a few private preschool centres around, they were all rather expensive. Through Pratham, Shehnaz decided to fill this gap and consequently began her journey with us.
One of the biggest challenges she faced at the beginning, was of the attitude of people around her. She remembers that parents back then were not keen to send their children to a Balwadi, with one of the often repeated questions being - " What and why will a three-year-old learn?" As a result, she began to regularly visit households, so as to personally convince people about the importance of preschool education.
Shehnaz recalls that in her first year, only 8 to 10 children registered in her Balwadi. However, her repeated visits to households and convince people, slowly but steadily bore fruit, with the number going up the following year.
Today, Shehnaz's Balwadi is a place where there is a constant dialogue with children as well as their parents. Apart from educational activities, the activities conducted help increase awareness about nutrition, vaccination and cleanliness. " Every child in my Balwadi brings a Tiffin that has home-cooked food. No one brings fast food like vada-pav or chips", she says proudly. Many parents often come up to her and ask her for advice - both about their children and otherwise as well. Shehnaz encourages parents to even do some activities with their children at home and has found that children from her Balwadi are generally able to grasp things quickly once they enter school.
In addition to the children that Shehnaz has directly impacted, one of her greatest contribution has been to influence others like herself to start their own Balwadi. This has only been possible by her efforts on the grounds.
She truly is an unsung hero of Mumbai!
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