Majeed

17 year old Majeed is an old participant of Doosra Dashak. Second in a family of 4 siblings Majeed is a student of residential open middle school in Bari Dhani village of Bap block. He joined Doosra Dashak in its second residential camp of 3 months organised in Khichan, a village near Phalodi town of Bap block. When asked about his educational status he smartly lied that he had never been to any kind of schooling ever before. His abilities to read & write and identify number were also quite bad. In the bench- mark conducted in the beginning of the camp, he could hardly do simple addition and barely read a small paragraph with easy words from a children’s book. Later, it was revealed that he had gone to a govt. school of his village for quite some time but learnt nothing. He passed grade 3 studying in residential camp in three and a half months. Govt. teacher took his exam with other children and announced him qualified for enrollment in grade V. However, his age was a barrier. It was absolutely impossible for a 16 year old to study with much younger boys and girls in the same class.

Majeed

Majeed is a natural peer leader

When DD decided to initiate OMS with the funding assistance from IGSSS Majeed was the first one to enrol.

Son of a truck driver, Majeed has his own solid logic for this decision- "I believe there is no ’meaning’ to life without knowing about the ’world’. Education has turned me from a Muslim to a human being. In OMS our schedule is very tight. We keep busy from early morning till late evening but find it really energising. What gives me satisfaction is that I have ’learnt’ and ’grown’. I am preparing for class 5th will appear for an exam in July. I am sure I would succeed as my mind has started ’working’." He proposes to complete the 8th class course in one year thereafter.

A fair number of boys, approximately in the same age group as Majeed, are studying in OMS in the hope that they would ultimately catch the bus, which they had missed. Majeed, apart from a student of OMS, is a peer educator, a communication person and a community mobiliser. When he eats with his Meghwal, Bhil and Dholi (all scheduled castes) friends in his house, his eyes twinkle with bright colour. And he proudly says: “I have changed a lot, let me complete my middle school, I will open a school for the persons of my age not just to learn language - mathematics or science but to learn about life”.