Through the Window of Opportunity School

“Bhaiya Opportunity School kahan par hai?”

Even after spending more than 2 years on campus, we had to ask this question in our quest for information pertaining to the school. You can blame us for being ill-informed but the fault is not entirely ours. The school is indeed discreetly located as are the ambitions of the kids whom we generally overlook. All we knew was that it was beside the rear side entrance of ShopC. On seeking help, we were guided to the entrance gate, from where the path was no less than a maze.

                                                              Children queueing up for morning assembly

Opportunity School was set up in 1967 soon after Kendriya Vidyalaya and Campus School sprung up on the premises of IIT Kanpur. As both of them were meant exclusively for the children of IITK employees and administrative officials, there was a dire need of a school for children hailing from economically weaker backgrounds. Mr Santosh Kumar, a former student who has been teaching here for the past 15 years, recalls,”In earlier days we had to literally pick up children wandering on campus, but things have improved a lot now”.  The students here are mostly children of migrant laborers, mess workers and domestic servants of areas in and around IITK. The school receives funding primarily from three sources: alumni, faculty and staff, and the Institute.

The school started off with as few as 5-6 students, with a very meagre amount of fund. Day-to-day running of the school was a difficult task. It was during this time that a saviour in the form of Mr R S Shrivastava joined the school. A teacher, a principal, a guardian, even a cleaner, he donned all hats and donned them well. Mrs. Shalini pitches in, “In those days, the school did not have enough fund to employ cleaners, so Sir used to do the cleaning job himself. He even went from hostel to hostel seeking donation for the school.”  Few years after joining, he was made the principal. Since then, the school has made a lot of progress under his tutelage. Only last year, he retired, devoting almost five decades of selfless service to the school. Mrs. Shalini adds, “I have never seen Gandhiji, for me Sir is his incarnation.”

 The teaching and working staff with the principal, Mr R S Shrivastava, seated to the right

Opportunity school, recognised by the Uttar Pradesh Board of High School and Intermediate Education, is presently a middle school (primary to class 8th). It has a total strength of 325 students unequally divided among the various classes with girls comprising nearly half of the total strength. A dedicated staff of 12 teachers work relentlessly to run the school. Over the years, their hard work has borne fruits. Abhishek Shukla of Class 8 has developed a game using Scratch programming language as a part of the Google Code to Learn contest. Regarding his entry, his computer teacher, Mrs Nirupama says, “His project may not stand anywhere in the international arena, but it has stood upto my expectations, in fact surpassed it”. For extraordinary students like Abhishek, there is a Beyond Opportunity School (BOS) programme through which 5 meritorious students from each batch get to join the school of their choice after passing out.

    Mr Santosh Kumar makes sure his class is interactive

The school has a number of distinguished alumni who are flourishing in their respective fields, be it Engineering, Navy, Air Force or the Police. Two of the most noteworthy alumni are Shubham Singh, who is a part of the National Target Ball Team and has represented India in overseas tournaments and Arvind Kumar, an engineering graduate, who has made an award winning documentary, “Ganga tera Paani” concerning the plight of the river Ganga.

The enthusiasm with which the teachers speak about the school and the kids is endearing. When we asked them their wish list with regard to the school,  they set about answering it with a renewed vigour. First and foremost they insisted on expanding the infrastructure, increasing the number of classrooms, because then they would not have to turn away the kids wanting to join the school. They also wanted an upgradation in the sports facilities, even hoped for a basketball court and a coach one day. The next thing on their list was a provision for nutritious mid-day meal along with health and personality development education. The one thing they iterated time and again was to ensure that the kids have enough scope to pursue their passion. The Academic Co-ordinator of the school says, “The kids here have a lot of talent. It is our responsibility to hone them. We want to give them the freedom to choose their ambition without any inhibition”.  For this they called for dance, music and art classes on a weekly basis.

When we asked the teachers to tell us about the kids, they summed it all up in one word, “Bindaas” (carefree). ”We make sure the students learn without fear, hence we maintain a friendly classroom environment”, adds Mr Santosh. This was confirmed when we watched him from a distance, teaching. We asked the kids just one question- what they aspired to become in future. The conviction with which they answered it, despite the inadequacy, would send a disoriented person into an introspection spree. We had come here to get a perspective on the life of the kids but ended up getting one on our own.  

If you wish to help the kids fulfil their aspirations, you can contribute at http://www.iitk.ac.in/dora/donation/

Written by Naman Gupta and Samanwita Samal