A Man behind the Free School under the Bridge

At 8:45 am sharp, a man of about 45, de boards a feeder bus near Yamuna Bank and walks under the bridge of Yamuna Bank metro station. He unlocks one of the trunks kept near Pillar no.5, take out a broom and cleans the area. He then takes out the ragged floor mats and roll them over, all across the floor. Following which, he cleans the blackboards drawn on the metro station walls and puts on the current date.

The man is Mr. Rajesh Kumar Sharma, who is having the same routine over the past 10 years.

Shopkeeper by profession, Mr. Sharma commutes daily in a feeder bus from Mayur Vihar to Yamuna Bank to teach slum kids for free.

He completely can feel the inability of these kids' parents to send them to school and provide them with an ensured future. When asked what motivated him to start this school, he gravely answered that every person should help someone who is less privileged than him.

He said “I have seen poverty very closely and the opportunities it robes away from the poor. Everyone should do something on his level to help those in need".

Mr. Sharma is an informed Indian citizen who is aware that every child in India between the age of 6 and 14 years is entitled to have free education under the 'Right to Education Act'.

In the absence of birth certificates and any identification and moreover by their negligence, most of these slum children cannot avail any of the government schemes. Mr. Sharma then took the responsibility on his shoulders to ensure these under privileged kids, their fundamental right to education.

The challenge was big but bigger was the determination and passion to make Lotuses bloom in the mud of poverty. Started in 2006, with only 2 kids as his students; today Mr. Sharma along with his associate Mr. Laxmi Chandra and other set of volunteers teach more than 200 slum kids of Yamuna Bank.