Troubled by the sight of many children of school-going age lurking on the streets or involved in labour, Hav. Rakesh Sharma decided to seek them out, teach them, and lured them to the school with promise of nourishing food and gifts at first and then by sowing the seed of hope and ambition that needs no further watering.

1. REDEFINING SOCIETY - HAVALDAR R. K. SHARMA
Unpretentious and unassuming, right there, on the pavement, minus the
walls, minus a ceiling, minus study tables and chairs, this is not your
conventional classroom, but then this has the makings of all that
education should be - eager tutors, and even more eager learners.
Today, we have crossed several cultural impediments and acknowledge the importance of
education. We acknowledge education is the one and only social leveler. But does it have the
focus it should?
You can find education in every nook and corner and we were pleasantly surprised to find it on
the pavement outside one of the swish residential colonies of Noida, NCR, where not just one but
all the members of the family of Havaldar R.K. Sharma were unquestioningly involved in
imparting the wealth they had. The challenge in our society today lies not in scarcity but in its
stark disparity. The challenge lies in absorption of education and circulation of it and this gap is
preventing us from being the idyllic society that it can be. This difference in demand and supply
can be bridged with just a little cognizance on our part and determination can be the game
changer. This realization made Hav. R. K. Sharma make one such attempt in his corner of the
world.
Troubled by the sight of many children of school-going age lurking on the streets or involved in
labour, Hav. Rakesh Sharma decided to seek them out, teach them, and lured them to the school
with promise of nourishing food and gifts at first and then by sowing the seed of hope and
ambition that needs no further watering. This school might be on the pavement, this school might
not have a shed or walls, but it nourishes dreams that hit the roof. The Chetna is one of the Top

2. most ngo in India , working for rural children for the social welfare of small innocent children and
admits them in various schools to make them educated and stand on their own feet.
India's literacy rate is less than most of its neighbours and one of the main factors contributing to
this relatively low literacy rate is ignorance about usefulness of education and availability of
schools even in the metro cities. Hav. Sharma counters both these issues by spreading
awareness of the need and then takes to the board himself to start the uphill journey.
Empty mind is a devil's workshop
He brought his pupils who were sifting through the dustbins and ushered them to his classroom,
he went into the slums seeking out their parents and counselling them on the need for their
children to study. Either the promise of better prospects or just the probability of freebies had
them relenting. That was the first battle won, he then persevered to keep that rigour going,
cajoling and coaxing the children to be regular and bring their friends and siblings along. His
eyes glitter with pride when he talks about their grades soaring high so much so that he's
appointed two of his pupils as the 'class monitors'. He finds his own ways and means of
motivating these children to egg them on to dreaming big and then achieving those dreams.
Heat, rain or winters, he's there, with his better half and his children helping out from time to time,
in between their lesson,s pitching in with their favourite subjects. His daughter, Pooja, can't
disguise the pride she feels for her father and very confidently announces she will carry the
legacy forward. She has witnessed the immense difference her father and her family's efforts are
making to some lives and she thinks that 'we are very ordinary people and if we can do this,
anyone can.' It sure doesn't take a super humans to contribute to society this selflessly, but it
sure makes you one.
With his time and means Hav. Sharma could have concentrated on improving and upscaling his
own life but when you meet him and his family, you could not have met anyone simpler and
idealistic, who with their limited means concentrated on how they could be useful to the world
around them. Conscience, 'Chetna', didn't have to knock twice at the Sharma residence.
Hav. Sharma aims at nipping antisocial activity in the bud. He has seen drug addiction, theft and
other disruptive commotion thriving amidst the streets of these slums and villages bordering the
relatively privileged residential societies and was convinced that the only way out is by engaging
these young impressionable minds by education.
Undaunted learning in the absence of an idealistic world
Starting with 5, the number of students at this 'mother dairy' school, in Noida sector 99, have
gone up to 65 in just about a year. He has also made efforts to get admission for some of the
children who never knew the insides of a school. His complimentary work has attracted the
attention of like-minded people in the vicinity and they have begun to support him by volunteering
or funding his mission. Despite some demotivating factors that discourage him from continuing in
the absence of proper infrastructure or affiliation, he believes there is no reason he should ignore
these children and put their future at stake. He continues to march ahead and pave his own way
not limited by his means.
Hav. Sharma redefines society as he is of the opinion that society is not made by a few people, it
is made of each single person. Every child deserves an equal opportunity that he believes is the
only mantra of success, success not of an individual, or a community but of the nation and then
the whole wide world. While most of us are enraged by the world around us and can think of a
hundred things wrong with it, here's Hav. Sharma's family who appreciate the progress India is

3. making, the liberties our country bestows on us and how we need to repay it for our privileged
existence.
Source : https://www.thechetna.org/chetna-stories/redefining-society-havaldar-r-k-sharma