More than 20 years ago, in an area of Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Kamal Parmar, owner of a small auto-fabrication workshop, noticed a group of underprivileged children on the street. Some had dropped out of school, while others had never been to school. Kamal started giving them tuition from 5:30 to 9:30 pm every day, after his regular work hours. He also provided the kids with a free dinner. Soon, 150 children were attending those classes regularly and were deeply interested in the lessons! A few teachers from a local school noticed the classes and joined the teaching for a while. One of them observed, "These children don't get proper benches to sit on, have no 'silence zone' classrooms and the vehicles passing by make lots of noise, yet they pay all their attention to what the teachers tell them. This touched my heart. The love and affection I got from them was unbelievable." Some older children who were attending regular schools also joined as volunteers to teach in Kamal's classes. One of them remarked, "We went there to teach, instead we learnt a lot from them."
1. Discuss this story in your class. What kind of attitude towards the community does it reveal?
2. What values get reflected in Kamal Parmar's initiative?
3. Think about those underprivileged children. Do you think society has been unfair to them?
4. What should society do to make sure that all children get access to education?