Achaljamu – a remote village located in Bishungarh subdivision, Hazaribagh district, Jharkhand. The villagers are mostly farmers and a lot of them are even below poverty line. For the children of such underprivileged families, many of whom do not even get to finish school education, studying in private tuition is nothing less than a dream! However, all thanks to village resident Kunal Paswan, the children of Hazaribagh’s Achaljamu are living that dream!
On Children’s Day 14th November 2022, The CSR Journal brings to you the story of Kunal Paswan, who runs a coaching centre called KP Classes for the underprivileged village children only at a meagre monthly fee of Rs 200.
KP Classes, Achaljamu, Hazaribagh
Around 80-90 children, who study in local government schools from classes 1-10, study at the coaching centre early in the morning and afternoon. Over here, these kids are being taught the NCERT syllabus. The children, most of whose parents are farmers, come from extremely backward families and find it difficult to even pay Rs 200 per month for Paswan’s coaching class. Hence some of these children are being taught absolutely for free.
Yoga, physical trining, picnics and festival celebration
Apart from education following the NCERT syllabus, the children are also being introduced to digital education, physical training and yoga. Weekly and monthly examination is also conducted at the coaching centre to evaluate the students’ progress and help them work on their weak points. Online class facility is also available for students if they can’t physically attend class on some days.
Not just education, the children also celebrate festivals like Holi and Diwali together and are even occasionally taken to picnics! Watch our video to know more…
Convincing villagers to send their children for tuition
Talking about his journey and the challenges which he faced, Kunal Paswan told The CSR Journal, “I along with a friend of mine Jiwadhan Pandit started this initiative a few years ago with the aim of bridging the education gap and provide private tuition facility to the children from underprivileged families in Achaljamu village of Hazaribagh. However, our journey wasn’t easy. We had to visit door to door and convince the villagers to send their children to our coaching class, the fees for which are just nominal. Initially, a lot of parents were hesitant saying their children have to do a lot of household chores and going to coaching class after school will only waste their time.”
Changing lives of rural children
However, the picture is a lot better in the present day where almost 80-90 local children attend the coaching class before or after their school. The change is visible as the students have started to perform better in the school examinations. This is inspiring more and more parents of Achaljamu village to send their children to KP Classes instead of engaging them in household chores or making them assist in the fields.
