Utilising the attraction and love of the world’s most popular team game — football aka soccer — Ashok Rathod (20) has initiated a pioneering effort to educate children of the 30,000-strong Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar slum colony in south Mumbai. Rathod invites the children for football training and when they are hooked onto the game, he introduces them to academic education. Most of the children training with him are school dropouts, with some never having attended school at all.
Perhaps the most educated individual in the slum colony, young Rathod completed secondary school but suffered a setback in 2006 when he failed his class XII higher secondary exam. However, hope came in the form of a job offer from Magic Bus, an NGO whose objective is to educate destitute children. To attract children to school, Magic Bus uses entertainment and sports. One of the attractions is football which Rathod himself learnt while at Magic Bus and began teaching to children. The proposition impressed him so much that he implemented it in his own slum colony. He organised a group of children interested in football and started the Oscar Sports Club. As weeks passed and Ashoka Youth Venture Challenge, an NGO which invests in young people, enabled the purchase of sports equipment, membership of the club increased.
Three months later, Rathod’s determined solo effort attracted the attention of two voluntary education institutions named Doorstep and Down To Earth, which came forward to provide resources to educate members of the sports club. Today, Rathod conducts informal learning classes, three days per week, for 30 children augmented with football training during weekends.
In Rathod’s informal classes children — most of whom have never been inside a classroom — are now learning the alphabet, maths, physiology, simple conversation skills etc. With the help of Down To Earth, they are also learning how to converse in English. “My main objective is to help these kids understand the importance of education in shaping their futures. Football is only a means to this end,” says Rathod who himself has revived his academic journey by writing the class XII school leaving exam this year.
“Although I’ve been successful in getting several boys to attend my classes, parents are still reluctant to send their daughters. To get the girls of our colony to join the club I have enlisted the help of two female teachers from Down To Earth. I am sure this situation will change. Very soon with the help of Down To Earth, my little group is going to come to grips with the basics of English conversation,” says Rathod with quiet determination.
Keep trucking!
Neil Valentine D’Silva (Mumbai)