Community Service @ ISB

We went out today to do some "community service". Though I would beg to differ from the what the NetImpact club seems to think community service is, I would wish to refrain from commenting as I do not think what I saw today is an indicative sample of their activity.

However, it was a day of great learning for me. Here I was in urban Hyderabad or Cyberabad - a city that boasts of Cyber towers, Hitech, Hitex cities, sprouting new ventures , rising real-estate prices - and found that there are government schools run here without basic infrastructure. I was moved to tears when I saw the faces of the students there - those innocent faces seemed to ask me what I have done towards making the lives of these future citizens better. Those smiles of the first generation learners whose parents are away to toil and boil told a lot of stories. They told me about the odds they face against educating themselves. They told me about the sheer determination it takes them to just attend school - in the midst of crumbling infrastructure, apathetic staff and corrupt and greedy government officers who think twice to pay taxes but find no compunction in laying their hands on the government funds. These kids, talking in a language which I little understand taught me several lessons.

I felt ashamed in a way. My parents shielded me from all these stuff. They sent me to a private school. My grandfather complemented formal teaching. I had no financial or infrastructure bottlenecks. Well. I did give my best and fared as well as my limited faculties would help me do, but still felt that I could and should have done a lot better.

To point out a few things - I found no lab facilities though the school is supposed to be a high-school, no proper sanitation or clean drinking water, no proper distribution of the mid-day meal and no proper office for the head-master. I found more than 10 abandoned classrooms rife with things you wouldn't want in a school, few elderly-looking boys who seemed to have no business with the place, far less teachers than operative classrooms, a sports room which looked a century old and of course a whole bunch of children craving for education - full of spirits, bubbling with enthusiasm - who think that their government and their fellow people would help them be better citizens of tomorrow.

I was told that this school is the one blessed with the best infrastructure among all those around the area.