FREEPATHSHALA

It was the uniqueness of Raddi Se Tarakki (RST), which I heard about four years ago that led to contacting RST volunteer Mumtaj, who connected me with Ritu Pal, a teacher at Freepathshala (Free school). She apprised me about their four free schools then, and introduced me to Founder Roshan Kumar Rawat, an MBA in Human Resource and Master of Social Work.

Roshan, 46, over a telephonic interview divulged, “There are around 54 million children of construction workers across India. Most of them are deprived of education. I got my first awakening in May 2015, wherein I started Freepathshala as an individual social initiative, by teaching three kids in my parking area in Gurugram. The number snowballed to 65 kids by December 2016. We believe in fostering equal learning opportunities irrespective of socioeconomic status. Our Mission is to break the cycle of poverty with literacy, and empower every construction worker’s child with a better future, contributing to social change as a whole. Within our bridge schools, we educate kids to their age-appropriate levels and then admit them to nearby mainstream schools.”

To help this very worthy cause, in 2021 some residents in our gated community, Central Park-1 also in Gurugram, started a RST What’s App group. It was just so simple! Once a month, Mumtaj, who doesn’t know his date of birth, laughing announces  “30-35 ke beech mein hoon” (am between 30-35 years) collects raddi waste — paper, glass, metal, wood, old equipment, broken furniture et al from donor residents in four-five residential societies.

What initiates people like Mumtaj, who themselves belong to the socially disadvantaged rung of citizens, to magnanimously give of his time and earnings to help those as unprivileged as him?

He replies, “Because no other job will be a better reward than seeing these children proudly attending school. Would love to do more for these schools. Also, it’s the trust I get from residents who know I will never cheat them. My wife Sahar approves of what I do. I earn one rupee per kilo of what I collect and sell. The rest goes to Freepathshala. Sadly, during Covid, many people stopped getting the newspaper and never restarted. Still, feel that loss.”

The difference in generating income starts from here, with an unlikely form of crowd funding. Mumtaj, doesn’t pay residents for the scrap donated. Instead, after selling it, he hands his earnings to this NGO. At our end, the contribution from each house is weighed to give us an idea of how much money our waste would generate. Freepathshala uses the revenue for buying stationery. This earning is augmented with support from friends and relatives, plus corporates like Signature Global, M&S, Jetking, PARK Industries, Aao Khilayen, Fortune Stones Limited, Cloths Box Foundation etc.

Over four years since inception, Freepathshala has flourished from 108 kids to 450 kids and from two centres to seven centres. Till date, 200+ students have been enrolled for mainstream education. Support to the labourers families is provided absolutely free of cost.

Ritu Pal, 26, has been teaching at Freepathshala since 2017. Originally from Chhatarpur district in Madhya Pradesh, after moving to then Gurgaon with her family, she graduated in English, Hindi and History from Delhi University’s Open University. A computer course for three months armed her with basic knowledge, a skill she is enhancing presently. “My mother had a tea stall near the first school. Roshan Sir met her and asked if her daughters would teach. My sister-in-law joined and taught for a while. She fell ill and asked me to take over her job. I did, and started with 40 kids at the Sector 46 school which had students between five to 15 years old. Some had been to schools in villages, and because of their parents’ migratory jobs, moved from place to place, disrupting their schooling. Some construction sites had no school in the vicinity. Learning and education were very static and interrupted. I teach Hindi, English, Maths, General Knowledge and Environmental Science. My laptop enables kids getting familiar with basic computer science. Exams are held thrice a year. Lucky are those who found Roshan Sir, as by then he was also helping the workers get jobs in the neighbourhood after their contracts finished, to enable continued schooling for their children.”

When asked, if with her experience, would Ritu like to move to a bigger school, paying more salary? Pat came the young, recently-married teacher’s reply, further affirming Ritu’s dedication to her job. “Opportunities have come my way. The pyaar (love) and izzat (respect) I get from my students, and sensing the joy when I am with them, means much more than I could earn anywhere else. My husband, Anil Kumar, supports my work immensely.”

Roshan mentioned Freepathshala was very keen to impart computer literacy in their schools, by either getting computers or by tying up with organisations to teach computer science to the children.

Another recent, co-related initiative is the FreeNaukri Center. “To ensure students do not get dropped out, we follow these multidimensional approaches. We help labour to find jobs near Freepathshalas. We connect with building contractors and request them to approach us for their manpower needs so that parents do not have to shift to far away sites, disrupting their children’s education,” reveals Roshan.

During clear weather, classes are held outdoors in public parks, and during monsoons and inclement weather, sometimes even in the under-construction sites, often with their parents working around them while the young ones learn! Children bring food from home, but stationery and books are provided by the schools. In addition, activities like sports, exercises, singing and dancing are included, and festivals are celebrated.

Roshan’s career portfolio included working for corporates like Genpact, Pentair & Quatrro and as an HR Head for a 12,000-employee startup, fymobile. He left his last role as Leading Talent Acquisition of Quatrro to move out and pursue his dreams of starting a technology recruitment firm and founding the Freepathshala chain of schools.

The Founder expresses, “A decade ago, I realised construction workers will never be able to provide education for their kids due to their nomadic jobs, and without education, these young ones might end up being construction labourers too. To break this vicious circle, they need to have an ecosystem that understands their methodology and plans their development without disturbing their routine. Today, on the entrepreneurial front, my technology recruitment firm has 15 employees. Our clients include IT Giants like Tech Mahindra, LTIMindtree, and banks like RBL, IndusInd Bank, and AU Bank.”

And continues, “Through our holistic approach, Freepathshala strives to create a brighter future for the students and contributes to bring a change in societal educational statistics. We understand the unique challenges faced by these children, whose marginalised backgrounds and transient lifestyles are evident due to their parents’ work in the construction industry. We aim to empower them to reach their full potential and lead meaningful lives by equipping them with a strong educational foundation to enhance their self-confidence and help them become active contributors to their communities.”

Looking ahead, with Freepathshala, as a Bridge School, Roshan “dreams of building a strong education system that is easily accessible for every construction labourer’s child across India, wherein we not only focus on education but also on health, skill development, alternative career planning for parents, and creating a stronger understanding between parents and kids, and, finally, focusing on sending their children to mainstream schools within, or in areas neighbouring our Sectors 45,46,51,52. To conclude, I invite Everyone to Become a Changemaker from Anywhere!” 

Is Freepathshala then the start of another widespread success story in the making?

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