Mahesh Desai, 56, educates slum children in Ahmedabad

 
Spreading cheer on a rain-soaked morning, 30-odd students are participating animatedly in discussions with teachers while taking down notes in a room tucked amid deserted shanties in Adarshnagar, a sprawling slum in Ahmedabad. This is not just a classroom, mind you, but an entire school. Welcome to Helpline Education Home, which trains children to sit for their Class 10 board exams when they turn 17. Jostling for space along with teachers and students in the room are big iron cupboards, a TV set, piles of books and files, water containers and utensils in which food for students is cooked. Run by 56 year-old Mahesh Desai, who owns a jeans manufacturing business in Ahmedabad, Helpline Education Home began as a morning school in 2000. “Initially, I lured children and parents with old clothes collected from nearby societies,” he shares. However, once the gifts stopped, children dropped out. “Getting the kids to enroll is a Herculean task as they earn over ₹ 250 to ₹ 300 a day if they beg in upscale areas,” points out Desai, who has so far taken over a thousand children under his wings. The school’s faculty comprises five teachers. “I have been with this school since five years,” says principal Gayatri Joshi. “I suppose it’s going to be a lifelong association.” Some children trained here have done exceptionally well like Chintan Vijaybhai Patni, who is currently pursuing higher studies at a leading Ahmedabad college. “Chintan wants to become a judge and we are all working hard to make his dream come true,” says Desai. Hailing from Talegaon in Maharashtra, Desai believes Ahmedabad, where he lives with his wife, is his karmabhoomi. “We have been able to ignite the minds of these children and convince them to continue with us,” he says. “Now my dream is to set up a gurukul.”

—Nayeem Quadri

Photo: Madhavi Jhurmarwala
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
October 2017