Arun Oraon, a former Indian Police service (IPS) officer, has begun teaching children at his home in Jharkhand. This initiative has been now developed into a large programme with at least 27 evening schools where more than 2000 students are currently being taught free of cost.
Oraon, a former Punjab cadre IPS officer took voluntary retirement in 2014 and joined a prominent political party Indian National Congress (INC), later moved to BJP, with a mission to serve the people.
He contested in the state assembly election in Jharkhand but was unable to get elected.
However, this unexpected election’s results did not divert him from this noble teaching work for the welfare of the tribal community.
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In beginning, the IPS-turned politician taught children from rural areas, particularly from the tribal belt, with the purpose of bringing them parallel with the students of private schools.
Initially, a student had requested him to teach, so Oraon started an evening school at Uchari village on the outskirts of Ranchi.
Subsequently, the initiative took momentum and spread to nearby villages.
According to The New Indian Express, at present around 27 evening schools are being successfully run under his guidance in villages in Ranchi, Gumla and Lohardaga districts, at their respective community centre.
The schools are being run by more than 200 volunteers including a few retired teachers with the same vision. These teachers are not taking fees for their teaching service.
Oraon not only conducts teacher training of the volunteers but also teaches them other life-skills to be passed on to the children.
The regular classes are conducted from 6 to 8:30 in the evening.
Oraon said that a lack of basic understanding of science and mathematics is the main reason that tribal children living in rural areas couldn’t compete with those studying in private schools.
” How can one expect these children to become doctors and engineers when they don’t have even basic knowledge of English, science and mathematics?” Oraon added.
He hopes that his initiative will help give a level-playing to them.
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