Unlike many others they did not go to a slum or an orphanage to teach kids, a group of youths chose to empower the children of gravediggers at Kalpalli cemetery educationally.
Samuel Gladson, who has done research on “Living and Working Conditions of Grave Diggers in City”, started Rupantara, an after school programme in February, 2016, along with his classmate Gleeda D’Silva to educate the kids of the undertakers of cemetery.
Gladson told Deccan Herald, “It was during my grandfather’s funeral that I learnt the plight of the children of gravediggers. A year later, a friend of mine died of cancer and during the funeral I noticed that nothing had changed for the kids. That was when I decided do something about these children. I quit my job in a private company and decided to launch an initiative.”
“Around 25 such kids were roped in, most of them were school dropouts while a few were going to a government school,” he added.
The kids usually quit schools after they lose interest and start helping their parents, in this case, digging graves at an early age. “There are around 16 families residing on the premises and most of them are into grave digging jobs, while a few of them go out to work. We have adopted a creative way of teaching to make them grasp quickly. He has found that several children have learning disorder and are not interested in studies. During the morning, we take classes for the dropouts and in the evening the school-going kids,” said Gleeda D’Silva. She too quit her job to join Rupantara.
“We keeping posting about our programme on Facebook and other social media platforms, and this has garnered huge attention. Now, we have people from corporate companies, students and businessmen willing to volunteer for the programme during the weekends. Around six volunteers work on a regular basis” she added. Gladson and D’Silva faced stiff opposition from their parents. “Everyday our parents used to criticise us and ask us not to visit the graveyard. But we have made up our minds on educating these kids and bring them to the mainstream society and expand the programme to other graveyards in future,” they added.
Joy, a 10-year-old boy, had not been to school. He used to roam around the graveyard. Now, he always wears a smile on his face while sitting with a book in his hand. His dream is to go to a college on a bike.
Leema, whose husband works as a gravedigger said, “We could never send our children to the school. But after these people approached us, we are now confident that even our children can study. We are into this profession and it has been passed on to us from past five generation. We do not want our kids to end up like us.”