School


School, we dread it when were young (Well most of us), but education is a very im-portant thing, books have spread all over the world and so have schools they can be found in the cities to the rural areas.

I set out to ask questions about education and it’s purpose, What's the point of being educated if it creates no jobs? What's the point of it if you live at the bottom of the social/ economic ladder? What can the children gain from it? I try to ask these ques-tions and more.

Education is something we take for granted, like a child takes a mother and father for granted. When you are born, your parent's are like your parents, when you are a baby you can't feed yourself, they feed you, and when you are cold they clothe you.
I feel education is like a mother and father, it is the parent of knowledge without it we could not read these words, education give you the tool to apply yourself to the real world.

But what happens when we live in the real world, where money speaks sometimes louder than words and actions. Take Kerala for example 90% of the population is educated, but the employment level is 10%.

And also what happens when your family income is ten dollars a month for the whole family? What use is education then? I have asked these questions and I feel finally found the answer.

Now I will introduce you to Pardada Pardadi school for underprivileged children, this is no ordinary school, the school is a girl's school, why girls? I hear you ask, girls in India are sadly neglected by society, they are seen as less important to boys. In some villages they drowned at birth, because girls are seen as burden to a family and when married they have to give a dowry to sun’s side of the family.

This school takes girls from families of a low income, and gives them a new hope, they give them a helping hand they not only do this but also teach them a skills so they can help themselves (not take handouts) and through this action they gain a sense of self worth, and get educated at the same time.

At Pardada Pardadi teaches them how to do block printing, shadow embroidery, ma-chine embroidery and many other types of arts and crafts.

The girls are learning how to master the crafts and once a day are taught how to mas-ter the keyboard. The girl from the village is now producing products of a world-class product and also learning how to use Word Processing programs.

They learn how to produce these things and get paid for their effort, a salary is given everyday and they work from Monday-Saturday, half of their income goes to a bank account and the rest goes into their hand. I think their is a lesion in this it's self, they are being taught very early how to save money, when the courses finish's the girl earns a respectful income.

This gives them a stepping-stone, a leverage to be independent and self sufficient, and when they finish their course they are given a job to produce products that are marketed worldwide.

How simple it sounds? Doesn't it? I think every kid has the potential to be a star, every single child has it in them.

From the poor underprivileged children a new hope has come.

They all have the potently to give back to society. If we look beyond the dirty cloths, there is a hope in everyone one of them, these kids in the school were once kids like them.

But now they laugh and gossip just like us, When they are reading, their eye's light up with excitement. They pay attention to every word and sentence, their enthusiasm is contagious.

they have discussion about society, they gossip, they joke around they are just like us, with a helping hand they can make a difference in their own life's.

They can stay in their villages, and live more peacefully and cleaner lives, then they would have in the city. Rural India is huge, it's cleaner, less polluted, it makes more sense to develop and stay their, then to come to the overpopulated city's.

The hand that once begged now gives, it is possible for a change, things can be dif-ferent, if we act and help without any greedy intention, I believe that the world could be a better place. The name of the school is Pardada Pardadi which means grandfa-ther, grandmother, we have forgot are past, I leave you with one question, what was your grandfathers name?.

G