The Contribution Of Selfless Bipin Dhane

Imparting quality education to each and every student of India is a major goal that needs to be fulfilled. It is not just the responsibility of the government to achieve this goal. The government and private persons need to work together in order to achieve this goal of literate India. In the year 2015, Bipin Dhane, who is a 2013 IIT-Kharagpur graduate in Naval Architecture decided to quit his job in Singapore so as to teach underprivileged children in Assam's flood-affected villages.

When Bipin informed everyone about his decision, none was happy. His parents also did not approve of his choice. Despite everyone’s disapproval he did not change his mind. He had always wished to work in the field of education and was not very fond of hi corporate lifestyle. Presently, Bipin runs “The Hummingbird School” in Majuli, which is a remote island in Assam. This was not at all easy for him. When he left his job, he immediately connected with one of his friends who was teaching in Majuli and inquired about the opportunities there. In the year 2017, he laid the foundation of this school for the underprivileged children of the indigenous Missing tribal community. Presently, the school has enrolled a total number of 240 kids including 70 hostellers, from 11 villages. Apart from the school, Bipin and his team founded the Ayang Trust in order to extend their work with the community in November 2017. The school and the trust are presently working in order to transform five government schools and run a community library for children from five villages. Ayang Trust is also working towards improving locals' livelihood by promoting a producers' group and working with Majuli's women weavers. The journey was just not easy for Bipin. In times of crisis, the local families came forward to help him. Three families donated land, and some residents built the school for free. By early-2017, the school with 120 students from 11 villages of Majuli was established. Another major challenge for Bipin was dealing with the annual floods. But slowly and steadily the situation has become better by putting to use modern and traditional techniques. The Hummingbird School doesn’t have a fixed curriculum. The school doesn’t burden the students at all. The school has students until class 5 and is not affiliated to any boards till date. Students are taught basic language and computational skills, life skills, agriculture/farming practices, bamboo craft, art, music, self-defense, folk dance and storytelling. The school also has a football coach. While the school staff and local villagers arrange food and other things, the school requires money for basic items like clothes and medicine. The school and villagers are trying to collect money by promoting eco-tourism. Tourists staying for over 10 days pay an amount that helps in funding 1-2 students' yearly tuition fees.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://www.newsbytesapp.com/timeline/India/43796/196582/meet-bipin-dhane-who-runs-school-for-poor-kids/amp/google