Power to educate others

Recently, a news item mentioning the Padma Shri award received by an orange seller caught my attention. Harekala Hajabba, who earned his living by selling oranges, had the determination to start a school with grants from the government. The reason: He could not comprehend the English language spoken by a foreigner who wanted to buy oranges from him. To save the children of his village from facing the same plight, he set out to open a primary school from his meagre savings of Rs 5,000. Now the school has classes I to X. This news left me in total awe.

Diwali was around the corner and I decided to give my househelp a bonus. After crediting the amount to her bank account, I informed her about it. She was overjoyed. I asked her how she would spend it. She wanted to spend it on the school fees of her children. Instead of buying fancy items or clothes for them, she wanted to educate them and secure their future with a better living.

Her reply made me think. I noticed the similarity in the thoughts shared by her and the orange seller. Both of them were determined to give a better future to the next generation by providing them with better education. One wanted to educate her young ones, the other wanted to educate the entire village. For both of them, poverty was not a hurdle in accomplishing this task.

My daughter once came enthusiastically to me saying that her school had started a crowdfunding scheme to educate poor children. I was surprised at her excitement to collect money from various sources. She even went on to collect money from houses in our apartment complex. When the due date arrived, she was able to collect a sizeable amount and donate it to the funds.

In all three scenarios, the donors were not very well-off. The first two were poverty-stricken and the third one was a minor who did not have money of her own. But the enthusiasm, selfless commitment and determination that each one showed were truly amazing. Of course, I cannot compare my househelp and my daughter to the orange vendor who was determined to build a school, but the noble thought they all carried remains the same.

So, where does the power to educate others lie? One need not be affluent to do this. The very thought that people around us should be literate can go a long way in educating our future generations.