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Two Sikhs
students beat shackles of poverty to study
WSN Network
PATIALA: Poverty
did not hold them back from dreaming. And hardwork was something
they had never shirked away from. With a Singh and a Kaur suffixed
to their name, they had no option but to stand stand tall amid all
odds and achieve their goal. The faith in the Guru and a resolute
bent of mind to defeat all obstacles finally made these two children
of rag pickers prove what a Sikh caught in adversity can achieve.
Torn between the
desire to pursue studies and an obligation to earn there livelihood,
Gurjant Singh and Sarbjit Kaur, the two children of rag-pickers,
last week succeeded in taking the first step towards a better future
by clearing the Punjab state-level Joint Entrance Test (JET) and
secured admission in three-year diploma courses.
Singh had got
admission in diploma in computer in Thapar Polytechnic while Kaur
has chosen information technology in Government Polytechnic for
Girls, Patiala.
Both the childtren,
along with their parents, reside in rag-pickers' colony situated
behind the Thapar University.
After completing
their studies they, unlike other students want to tread the path
less traveled. “I have secured 1,384 ranks without any tuition. I
want to teach children of my colony, as, like me, most of them
aspire to study, but their parents want them to work. Moreover, they
don’t have money to pay for education,” said Singh. Kaur said she
wanted to start a project for the uplift of girls of her colony.
In class X, Singh
had secured 77% and Kaur 65% without any tuition.
Hit by penury,
about 100 families are averse to sending their kids to schools, but
due to the consistent efforts of Malwa Arts Sports Cultural and
Educational Trust (MASCUT), parents have started sending their wards
to primary school.
“We had launched a
special project here in 2000. Initially parents were against sending
their children to school and preferred them to earn. But things
changed after we started offering free food and clothes. At present,
there are 94 kids from this colony who are getting free education
from MASCUT. From the beginning, we have been sponsoring the
education of Sarbjit Kaur and Gurjant Singh and will continue to do
so," said Ujagar Singh, executive member of governing body of
MASCUT.
To educate more
students, MASCUT also runs an evening school in the colony so that
children can attend classes after their day's work.
19
August 2009
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