The children who are in age group of 6-14 years must not roam on roads and streets but they must be seen in the school premises. A school going child should not work as porter on railway stations, as domestic servants in houses, as servants in hotels and shops, the girl child should not remain in houses to look after the siblings, helping parents in house chores and lending help in agriculture fields. In fact, a school going age child should remain in the school with cheerful mind and should study and play.

The children of disadvantaged groups and disabled children must be given special care in sending them to schools. Various studies have revealed that poverty can be reduced by sending the children to schools instead of sending them to work on wages. If a child is in the school then certainly, adults of his/her family will get work from where the child used to work. Thus adults will get employment and comparatively more wages than the children. It is also found that when the child of family goes for work then, adults of that family generally sit idle and the wages earned by the children are ill spent by their family. The employers prefer to engage children on work rather than adults so that they have to pay less wages to children. In this way, the children are exploited by the employers.

So, it becomes the duty of parents, teachers, educational administrators and society at large that school going age child should not remain at work site or out of school for any other reason but in neat and clean atmosphere of the schools. The Child herself/himself cannot ensure this environment. It needs to be watched by parents, teachers, community and educational administrators that child should not leave the school in between due to any reason. The child once admitted in school should remain, there till he/she completes the schooling. Thereafter, quality education becomes right of the child. To ensure this, every stakeholder should participate in the mission as detailed below :

Teacher should ensure enrolment and retention of the child in the school through quality education and enriched environment.

Community /Parents should cooperate at each stage in learning processes of the child.

Educational Administrators should develop, design and ensure implementation of the strategies specifically: teacher availability, teacher competence and teacher motivation shall be ensured so that they impart quality education to children.

Now I am grown up & still now I have a deep love for my aunty & I am proud of her and her family. Rajan, Sukhdev, 11yrs Daisy & 5 yrs Rosy, filled with so much love. My father and mother have accepted their love marriage.

As my beloved aunt Rajan is now running a free school for the poor and needy children and I visited my aunt’s place to spend my vacations.

As, on 15th of August which is our Independence day, after the flag hosting ceremony, the students of Buddha’s Smile School delivered the speech and did some dance programme. Although I speak from my own experience, I feel that all sentient beings, particularly human beings, want happiness, love and care & do not want pain & suffering. On those grounds, we have every right to be happy & to use different methods or means to overcome suffering and to achieve happier lives. I exchanged my feelings with them and also shared their thoughts and soon realised how tough their life is; so pathetic; so miserable. Poverty is a curse. I felt that these students have the determination of a mirror which never loses it’s ability to reflect in spite of it being broken into pieces.

I was observing these students and their action; suddenly tears rolled down from my eyes and I felt that really these children need love, attention, education, care for making their future bright and colourful.

From the deep core of my heart; I am feeling proud of my Rajan aunty who is sincerely doing her job with full dedication. She is very kind hearted women, who is enlightening the minds of young children. She showers her motherly affection on these needy children. According to me , only eyes speak the truth, neither the mirror nor the lips.., the person who loves can see the pain in the eyes while everyone else still believes in only smile. I have noticed , immense love, care and respect towards me from these children.

As, I am a student belonging to a middle class family with lots of hopes & big dreams in my small socket of eyes. From my childhood, the thing which stood as a obstacle in my educational career is ‘money’. But fortunately, money never motivates me, the thing which motivates me is my grade in the class. I am really impressed by the way, the students of BSS, are learning. Upon asked by my, Rajan aunty, I have got the opportunity to teach these students and I felt myself very fortunate to share my knowledge with them.

These children are ignored and not cared at all in their home. Here, in U.P I saw that untouchables and caste system is still prevailing in the society. There is a great deal to teach these children as they do not get support and guidance from their parents. We must seek our happiness in the happiness of all & regard the sorrows & sufferings of others as yours and hasten to assuage them. This is a true life.

It’s very difficult to find someone like Rajan (my aunt). It’s like opening a 1,000 shells under the sea to find one pearl. Anybody can love a rosebud it takes a great deal to love a leaf! It’s very easy to love someone who is beautiful, but love the one who can make your life beautiful…I have spend my few vacations with BSS children and provided the vocational training to them. They all were excited and curious to learn and gain the knowledge. It’s true to say that when you start caring about yourself, you start loving somebody. But when you start caring about others, somebody will start loving you. It was my first experience though it was pleasant. From these experiences my life has been enriched and I have learned many valuable things.

Priya Saini, a student of microbiology; B.SC (Honours) studying at Calcutta university (Maulana azad college) – Govt. college of West Bengal.

Mattia Silvani

My name is Mattia and I have recently spent time teaching Sanskrit at Buddha’s Smile School. Despite my broken Hindi, the small students actually listened to the lessons with interest. The children memorized Sanskrit verses and made an effort to learn the first steps in the language.

Rajan is providing a rare opportunity for these children, to acquire an education that their background would normally not afford them.

At the time when I was teaching, the facilities were limited. I used to teach Sanskrit to about fourteen children, but in the classes there were at least another ten, since they had no other place to stay during pauses. To my surprise, even some of the children who were sitting there in ‘stand-by’ mode, had been attentive enough to memorize a few verses. They were also quite eager to repeat them aloud.

Sanskrit and Hindi are quite close, and the students had no great difficulty in picking up a very precise pronunciation. Of all the activities, they seemed to enjoy memorization and chanting, and Rajan included some of the salutations to Ganesa (the god that removes obstacles) to their morning prayer.

Knowing some Sanskrit opens up an immense storehouse of traditional knowledge, which is often far from the reach of even many Indians. More immediately, chanting the verses puts the children, and whomsoever can hear their enthusiastic renditions, in touch with a sense of very enjoyable, cheerful sacredness. I often wondered who else will have a chance to hear these Sanskrit verses: probably their parents and relatives will be amused to hear their small kids bring home what usually only trained professional priests can.

I am not sure as to whether any of the children will go much further with the Sanskrit, but who knows? Anyhow, they seem to enjoy it. This rich language has been one of the favoured idioms of culture in India for millennia: they should access and carry some Sanskrit to their lives, if they so wish.

Mattia Salvini
Ph.D.candidate and Part Time Lecturer
Dept. Of Study of Religions
SOAS University of London