A Silent Revolution - Helping the helpless

Shoshit Samadhan Kendra, the fully free English medium residential school, for the poor the poorest of the poor, observed its 10^th Foundation on July 16, 2016. The Governor of the state of Bihar was the Chief Guest and the function was attended by a large number of special invitees as well as parents and guardians of the students, many of them had come from distant villages. The quality of education imparted by SSK was reflected in a truly scintillating performance by the students on the Foundation Day. The students enacted Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’. Their acting, diction and rendering of the dialogue was truly amazing. A student of class IX gave an excellent performance as ‘Hamlet’. His rendering of the famous soliloquy ‘to be or not to be’ was truly brilliant.  Equally, amazing was the performance of the play in Hindi called ‘Shudra’. It was a highly erudite and a philosophical dialogue between the great Chanakya and the Archaryas (Professors) of Taxila (world famous university in ancient India) who were opposing the rise of Chandragupta Maurya as the king emperor of India because of his low caste. The student who acted as Chanakya gave an excellent performance. He spoke with passion and great conviction. This student has lost his mother in the most tragic circumstances and his father is a landless agricultural labourer. His life story is indeed heart-rending. Both the above mentioned students joined SSK in class I. The performances of the students in both the play would without any doubt do proud to the best of the schools in India.  There were song -dance performances by the students including one by the primary students of the school. The cultural presentation was widely appreciated.

60 students were admitted to SSK at the commencement of the current academic year in May 2016. All the admissions were in pre-school class and the boys were from remote and distant villages in various districts of Bihar. The total number of students in SSK is now 400. A sports teacher has been  appointed and games including cricket, volley-ball, basket-ball etc. are held daily. Inter-house competitions are organized. Efforts were made to develop the school campus and increase the facilities in the computer, physics and chemistry laboratories. 

Shoshit Samadhan Kendra is operated by Shoshit Seva Sangh, an NGO formed with the objective of providing quality education to the children of the musahar(or “rat-eater”) community of Bihar. The musahars have lived in abysmal poverty for centuries, with a population estimated to be four to five million. Most of the musahars are landless labourers, and many even bonded labourers. The vast majority of them are caught in a debt-trap, finding it impossible to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty.

Attempting to turn the tide of history may seem like an impossible task, but the school is dedicated to empowering its students by providing them with quality education. Relying on the reservation system in institutions of higher learning, each of the students at the school is being prepared for higher studies with a view to making a quantum jump in life, leap-frogging from the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder, to become catalysts of change for their community.

This year’s class X Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) examination results have more than validated Shoshit Seva Sangh’s model of achieving transformative change through education. Of the 15 students, all being first generation learners, who appeared for the board examinations, eight received more than 90%, five received more than 80%, and the remaining two students received more than 75%.

With more than fifty per cent of its students scoring in excess of 90% in the CBSE examinations, Shoshit Samadhan Kendra, perhaps, has outperformed not only many government schools, but also many private schools in the country. All the students of SSK took the Board examinations in the English medium.

This exceptional outcome is a testament to the dedication of the teachers and staff at the school, the tireless efforts of the trustees of Shoshit Seva Sangh, and the support of countless donors and benefactors. Above all, it is the culmination of many hours of hard work on the part of the students themselves and a consequence of the faith reposed by their parents in Shoshit Seva Sangh.