Mrs. Rajani
Paranjpe
We live once, still if we can do it right, then once is
also enough. The relevance of this statement is ascertained by the story of
Mrs. Rajani Paranjpe, popularly called Rajani Tai, a
renowned and inspirational social worker.
In a developing country like India, with a
massive growth in economy and education it is hard to spot the progress of the
ones who are born poor and underprivileged. The needs of these backward
sections remain unheard, their dreams unfulfilled. But still in this age of
smart phones and space ships, there are a few who look back at the people
deprived of the basic necessities and who believe that once these people become
a part of this modernization process, the pace of development can increase many
folds. Mrs. Rajani is one such
example who is a well educated and socially aware citizen and who has enlightened
the path to serve the needful.
The process of thinking independently and in
a unique manner originated from her home. Rajani Tai belonged to an old fashioned
middle class joint family where she had a lot to learn from her parents,
grandparents and other elderly persons. The way they cared, sacrificed for the
betterment of the family helped her invent a soft corner within her towards
serving others. Rajani Tai had the dream to do a post graduation in Marathi but
because of her husband’s transferable nature of job she could not pursue her
education further. During that period she was a complete housewife involved in
activities like looking after the family and raising her children. However, at
the back of her mind the desire to study further was always persistent.
One day by chance, she came across an article
about a course in a newspaper which grabbed her attention. It suddenly helped
her realize her dreams. She gave a second thought on her priorities which
circled around her urge to work for the society and to help people. She
recapped the way she used to connect with those characters that were selfless
and would sacrifice for parents, family or society in various books and movies.
This gave her a call that till that point she had not done anything which could
be termed as “Social Work”. This self realization made her feel attracted to a
course in Social Work than in Marathi. Rajani Tai then decided to join college
for doing her Masters in Social Work. After 15 years of graduation, she went
back to school to get a Masters degree in Social Work sector. By that time
she had three children, the eldest one studying in 9th grade and the youngest
in 1st standard. In the very beginning of her journey, she
realized that her fondness for research and the possession of an analytical
mind definitely will help her cover a long way.
After spending a few years in the field, she
joined Nirmala Niketan, the college of social work in Bombay as a faculty
member. School Social Work was initiated by this college in a few Municipal
Corporation schools of Mumbai. The primary motive of this program was to reduce
the number of drop outs in schools and to improve the quality of
education. Experience of work with drop-out students clearly revealed that one
of the major reasons behind the hike in the dropout rate was the prevailing
circumstance of the parents. A fair example can be that if the parents are
working, the children will have to bear all the responsibilities of the family.
The day to day activities will include looking after younger siblings and a
house that lacks security without even a single door; keeping a track of the
water supply at various tankers or public taps which can include any odd time
of the day. This clearly means that these children cannot afford to stay away
from home for nearly eight hours a day to attend a formal school. Hence this is
a typical problem of nuclear family units, particularly of
the migrant population residing in the city slums. Thus was generated the idea
of taking education to these children at their doorsteps. She said during the
interview, “I often think that future is
like a big dense jungle where we are able to see only one step at a time but
that does not mean that there is no road ahead. When you take one step you see
the road for your next step and so on.”
Door Step
School is an initiative that has aimed at establishing 100 percent
literacy. It is an association of people taking pleasure in service to the
society and who believe that service starts at empowering the future of the
nation i.e. children. The empowerment is
made way by an initial qualitative education. Door Step School, a non-profit
organization founded by Rajani Tai has this objective of providing primary
education to children, mostly of the migrant workers. The lack of “culture of
education” in family is a major block in children’s education.
The reason behind
Rajani Tai’s decision to work in the field of education included the vital
importance education plays in one’s life and the kind of luxury that a onetime
quality education brings in one’s life. The various exposures she had as a
researcher and a teacher and the kind of support she acquired from some of her
students like Ms. Bina Seth Lashkari helped her invent the concept of
‘Door Step School’.
The organization is named so because the
education is provided to children wherever they are and the classes are
scheduled right there. The targeted children are aged from 3 to 18. Now the
number of students covered by this program is around 50000 in the Pune branch
and approximately 12000 in the Mumbai branch. The Door Step School is funded by
donations from individuals and organizations like Vibha foundations and several
government and corporate companies.
This program emphasises on the elimination
of issues related to stagnation, wastage and non enrolment via four programs.
·
Non formal Education program
·
Pre primary education program
·
Study support class program
·
Community library program
Some other programs include crèches,
training teachers, producing teaching aids, school enrolment, transport
facility, school on wheel etc. Also regular meetings are conducted with parents
to let them know the progress of their children. The focus is to extend the
interaction level with the parents to keep a track of the students migrating to
other places so that their continuous education is guaranteed. The
effectiveness of these programs is monitored via performance of children and
their attendance in the school by maintaining records of these regularly.
When asked about the inspiration in her life
to cultivate such innovative ideas during interview, Rajani Tai replies “I think inspiration is like a spark. Simple
things or small steps are like fuel. Both are required to become successful in
whatever you are doing.” She is aware of the cruel realities of life. She
knows that there are domestic workers, hotel workers, and even there are
children who work on docks, go to sea on fishing boats and stay in the deep
blue sea for days. There are several children on streets that are the major
source of income to their parents and also there are migrant families such as
construction labourers whose children need not necessarily be working but still
can’t attend school because of the nature of their parents’ occupation.
A significant hurdle that Rajani Tai faces
is the lack of any established culture of education and even a more substantial
issue is tackling the attitude and lack of interest levels of the well educated
class of people regarding this sensitive issue of the upliftment of the poor. She
quotes that “Educated people have not
given a thought to the significance of Universalisation of Education. We as a
class look at our uneducated brothers as a hopeless case. This attitude needs
to be changed. But changing it is a big challenge.” Despite these
unfavourable circumstances, Rajani Tai has displayed significant interest and
bravery to combat the issues.
While working for contract labourers’
children, another big challenge she faced was of tracking them because they
moved from one site to another. Some of her initiatives for tracking the
location of children were self addressing post cards, teaching children how to
call from their new location, distributing ‘my book’ (A book especially designed
for children with all their personal details, photograph, progress report and
phone numbers of “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan” centres) and so on.
All of them who were a part of this
initiative were established professional social workers. Hence the focus and
the action plan were clear enough from the beginning. She states that those
traits which if inculcated within one self can revolutionize the persistent
thinking in a common man include patience, flexibility, willingness to initiate
ideas, conviction, openness to learn, analytical thinking, perseverance, and
above all a happy go and positive attitude. She believes that instead of
jumping to distinct conclusions, one should focus on one step at a time. This
way the analysis is justified and the path becomes clearer. She also thinks
that failures can bring greater glory as they make one stronger and adaptive.
In short, Rajani Tai has proved that even if
the situations are inconsistent and adverse, with the willingness to bring
about a change in the society coupled with a ‘not giving up’ attitude, one can
sail the boat right through a tormenting storm.
Primary Source: Interview of Mrs. Rajani Paranjpe conducted
on 25th April.
1. What inspired to do
whatever you have done for making a difference to others? What are the sources
of inspiration? (If you like you may mention any one or two instances that changed your life and made you
start something new or something different that laid the foundation for your
work)?
It
is very difficult to say what inspired me to do the work I am doing for more
than 25 years now. I got married in 1955 at the age of 18. At that time I had
almost completed three years of college (got married in the month of Feb. and
exams were in April.) I studied one year after my marriage and in 1956
completed my graduation (B.A. or Bachelor of Arts) with Marathi as my main
subject.
I
always wanted to do post graduation in Marathi and my ambition at that time was
to teach in a college. However, my husband’s job was transferable and I could
not pursue my education. During that period I was a total housewife having no
activities other than looking after my family and raising children.
However,
at the back of my mind the desire to study further was always there. But at one
point I felt more attracted to a course in Social Work than in Marathi. It was
when by chance I came across an article about this course in a Newspaper and
somehow I felt like keeping the cutting of that article with me. Here I really
do not know why I did so because normally I am not a person who carefully keeps
some newspaper cuttings, or letters or any such personal records with me. As a
result, after a gap of fourteen years, I once again joined college in 1970 for
doing my Masters in Social Work (MSW). By that time I had three children eldest
studying in 9th grade and youngest in 1st grade. I always liked the idea of
working for society, helping people etc. In books or movies I would identify
with characters that were selfless and would sacrifice for parents, family or
society. But in reality, till that point, I had not done anything which could
be called “Social Work”.
After completing my course I worked as a Foster Worker in an
NGO and later joined my alma mater, College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan,
University of Bombay as a Research Assistant. That, I like to do Research or
rather I have an analytical mind, was a revelation to me! I came to know that
during my Social Work studies.
In
1976, I started teaching Research Methodology and Indian Social Problems in the
same college. My experience of the field through students, placements, and
through different research studies led me to the work I am doing today.
For
example, our College had initiated “School Social Work‟ in Municipal
Corporation Schools in Mumbai. We used to place our MSW students in schools who
then worked with the drop-out students and their parents; they organized study
classes and book banks etc. for the students in BMC schools. Experience of work
with drop-out students clearly showed that the reasons for dropping out are
directly related to the children’s / parents circumstances - which are not in
their or our immediate control. E.g. if parents are working, it is the children
of the family who have to take on responsibilities. Looking after younger siblings,
looking after a house which has no security – not even a simple door; filling
water when water comes through tanker or public taps at any odd time. There is
nobody else to do these jobs but the children! They cannot afford to stay away
from home for nearly eight hours a day to attend a formal school. This is a
typical problem of nuclear family units particularly of migrant population
residing in city slums. This led to the idea of taking education to these
children at their doorsteps.
Experience of difficulties in Adult Education highlighted
the need to focus on children’s education as a priority. The decision to work
in the field of education was based on many factors but mainly due to the
importance of education in a person’s life; the tremendous leverage that
quality education provides and its snowball effect covering every aspect of
life; and also the need to give it only one time. If we work in health field,
for example, the service is given to an individual and it benefits only that
individual. There is hardly any snowball effect, and the need is likely to
recur so we serve one individual again and again. This does not make it less
important but it is more difficult. I selected the easy path.
I
had the opportunities to try out my ideas in small ways with the help of my
students. By 1988-89 the blue print was ready and I registered the NGO named
The Society for Door Step Schools.
2. What are the
challenges that you faced while working on your initiative?
There
are so many different groups of children who remain out of school due to their
circumstances that finding suitable ways to reach out to them is challenging.
E.g. there are domestic workers, there are hotel workers, and there are
children who work on docks and go to sea on fishing boats in deep sea and stay
there for days. There are children on streets for whose parents they are main
source of income; there are adolescent girls, there are migrant families such
as construction labourers, brick kiln workers whose children need not
necessarily be working but still remain out of school due to their parents’
occupation. Although we try different ways to reach out to these children we
have still not been able to find out appropriate ways of reaching out to groups
such as hotel workers. And of course each group has its own
peculiar problems. Identifying them and dealing with each on its own terms is
the main challenge. The lack of “culture of education‟ in family is a major
block in children’s education. Educating parents for their role as a school
going child’s parent is difficult; but even more difficult is to change the
attitude and lack of interest of the educated class regarding this issue.
Educated
people have not given a thought to the significance of Universalisation of
Education. We as a class look at our uneducated brothers as a hopeless case.
This attitude needs to be changed. But changing it is a big challenge
3. What is your opinion
on getting inspiration and using your talent for doing simple things that eventually become great and
make a difference in the lives of others?
I
think inspiration is like a spark. Simple things or small steps are like fuel.
Both are required to become successful in whatever you are doing.
4. What do you consider
as your own strong points that helped you to accomplish whatever you have been able to?
Positive
attitude, patience, perseverance, feeling happy about even small successes and
not getting disappointed even with big failures. Flexibility, Conviction and
belief are the cause for which I am working objectivity, and an analytical
mind. Good health and willingness to do any work as the situation demands.
- An
openness to learn new things
- Being
able to focus despite distractions. (like Arjuna in Mahabharat)
- Taking one step at a time.
- Not worrying much about what will
happen next.
I
often think that future is like a big dense jungle where we
are able to see only one step at a time but that does not mean that there is no
road ahead. When you take one step you see the road for your next step and so
on.
Also,
having more failures than successes is a way of life. A mango tree blossoms
abundantly but only a small part of it bears fruit.
5. When did you discover
them? How? How did you cultivate them?
I have never given it a thought really. I have thought of all
these points as I was trying to answer these questions. I think it is my
upbringing, in a simple, old fashioned, orthodox, middle class, joint family.
It is what I learnt through my parents and grandparents, uncles and aunts, who
did not do any social work as such but I have seen them all caring for each
other, sacrificing individual interests for the family‟s welfare and wishes.
5. What in your opinion are
some of the qualities that people need to cultivate to make a difference
to others?
Same
as above
6. What messages would
you like to give for others to be or to become an effective person?
Do what you like to do
with courage of conviction. There will be difficult times but do not give up
completely. Keep at it in whichever way it is possible. Situations change.
Below are references from which the secondary data is
collected on 23rd and 24th April’15:
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