Stories of Change

Lajeena Kumari – 1st Girl in the family to go to school

Thirteen-year-old Lajeena Kumari is a Grade 6 student of Pratishthan Learning Center of Lotus Petal Foundation. Her father Noor Muhammad is a daily wage labourer and her mother Maharoom works in neighbourhood households as domestic help.

Lajeenaenrolled in a school in Jhansi in Grade 1 but never attended school until she joined PLC.Her grandmother never allowed her to go to school in Jhansi.

In 2015 she moved to Gurugram with her parents and in 2018 she joined Pratishthan Learning Center of Lotus Petal Foundation. She was regularly counselled and guided by the school counsellors who made her understand the role of school and helped her in adjusting to the surroundings.

In six months Lajeena showed great improvement and a keen interest in learning. As per her teachers, she is a hardworking and confident child and looks for opportunities to participate in house activities and morning assembly. She is extremely participative in class and has also started conversing in English.

Lajeena aspires to become a doctor and is working hard to achieve her goal.

Abhishek Kumar Paswan – A master in English

A student of Grade 5,Abhishek Kumar Paswan has been at the forefront of academics as well as extra-curricular activities. His father, Ashok Kumar Paswan is a tea stall vendor and mother Renu Devi is a domestic help.

When he joined Vidyananda School in 2015 in Grade 1, he did not know how to speak in English. But today he is one of the most fluent English speakers in the school. He was awarded the Raj Saran Varma Scholarship for Excellence in English in 2019.

As per his teachers and counselling team, he is an enthusiastic learner and he stays focused on the task at hand. He is a very sensitive and humble child who believes in helping and sharing.

He aspires to be a music director and make his father proud.

Hema Rawat – An impressive writer

Hema Rawat joined the Pratishthan Learning Center in 2016 in Grade 8. She comes from a humble family background living in the urban slums of Gurugram, Haryana, India with her parents and two older siblings. Hema’s father Hari Singh Rawat works in a printing press and her mother Pushpa works as domestic help.

In 2017, Hema participated in the 1001 Stories Contest of Stratford School, Saratoga and bagged the 1001 Stories Award where her story was published in the annual cover story of Stratford School. At just 15 years of age, she understood that a good story is a mixture of words and expressions which allows capturing the right emotion.

Other than reading and writing, she loves Korean music and her favourite band is BangtanSonyeondan. Hema aspires to become a doctor.

Aman Kumar

Student of Pratishthan Learning Center

Aman Kumar is a student of Grade 12 of Pratishthan Learning Center. His father is a driver and mother works as a housekeeping staff at Lotus Petal Foundation. His parents were struggling to give the required balanced diet to him and his brother. When Aman joined the school in 2017, he was an underweight child with a BMI of 14.6. His height was 147.5 cms and weighed 31.6 kgs.

As part of the school program, he receives regular nutritional breakfast that includes banana, organic milk with DHA enriched soy protein powder and poha or upma. For lunch Aman has fresh seasonal vegetables and pulses cooked in the school kitchen. The meals are measured for nutritional value.

Aman showed a significant improvement in his health and school performance. Within one year, his BMI increased to 18.12 and height and weight to 160 cms and 46.9 kgs. His teachers noticed that he was more attentive in class.

Shabbir Ali

Student of Pratishthan Learning Center

Shabbir Ali is a Grade 12 student of Pratishthan Learning Center. He lives in Gurugram with his parents and two younger sisters. Shabbir’s parents work as housekeeping staff in a company in Gurgaon.

During the health check-up in 2017, Shabbir’s height was 142.5 cms and he weighed 33.1 kgs. His BMI was 16.3. He received regular nutritional breakfast and lunch from the school kitchen that includes banana, organic milk, seasonal vegetables, pulses and rice or roti every day. The low spice and grease diet are rich in protein and fibre and has shown improvement in his health and immunity. All meals are measured for nutritional value to keep track of nutritional intake.

Within one year, Shabbir showed a good improvement in height and weight. His height increased to 155 cms and weight to 44.4 kgs. He gained a healthy BMI index of 18.52.

Sujal

Student of Vidyananda School

Sujal is a Grade 6 student of Vidyananda School. His father is an electrician and they stay in Gurugram slum.

During the health check-up in 2018, Sujal’s height was 134 cms and he weighed 29 kgs. His BMI was 16.15. With daily nutritious breakfast and lunch from the school kitchen, Sujal showed an improvement in his height and weight and during the health check-up in 2019, his height was recorded as 140.2 cms and weight 34.5 kgs. He gained a healthy BMI of 17.55.

Sujal has freshly cooked nutritional meals from the school kitchen every day. The meal plan is designed in consultation with Dr. Nandita Chakraborty (MD, DNB) and proper care is taken in cooking and nutritional value measurement of each meal. This helps in keeping track of the nutritional requirements of children and fulfilling them.

Khem Chand

Khem Chand the only earning member lost his job due to the pandemic. He lives in Gurgaon with his wife and two daughters. With no job and no alternate source of income, he was worried about how to feed his family run the household.

One of his daughters’ studies in Vidyananda School. Khem Chand came to know about the BlueKhoj program from the school staff and approached for help. BlueKhoj portal lists all job-seeking parents of school students and helps them find jobs.

Khem Chand’s profile details were collected and uploaded on the BlueKhoj job portal. The team shared his profile details with relevant people and Khem Chand got a job as a supervisor in Baobab Clean Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Gurgaon in August 2020. He is elated to get back the dignity of providing for his family.

Puneet Raj

Age: 23 years

Completed Jeevika Graduation from Pratishthan Learning Center in 2018

Currently, working at Asmara Apparels, Gurugram

Puneet Raj is from the first batch of students of Pratishthan Learning Center. His mother is a single parent who works as domestic help to raise her three children.

Puneet joined Pratishthan Learning Center in 2013 and completed his education from the arts stream in 2018. He also graduated in 2018 with a 1-year Jeevika vocational training course in Dress Making from ITI Gurugram. The vocational course helped him to secure employment in Asmara Apparels, Gurugram, a Thailand-based organisation. He joined Asmara Apparels as a quality assessor and has been a part of the organisation since then. His white-collar job and financial stability have changed the financial condition and social status of the family.

Kavita

Age: 41 years

Working in the school kitchen

Joined Lotus Petal Foundation in 2017

Kavita is a housekeeping member of Lotus Petal Foundation. Her husband is a driver and her two children Mukesh and Aman study in Pratishthan Learning Center.

Before joining Lotus Petal Foundation in 2017, she used to sew clothes as her husband’s income was not sufficient to support the family. She was facing a lot of difficulty in running her house and continuing her children’s education.

When Kavita came to know about a vacancy at Lotus Petal Foundation, she applied for the job and got selected. Since then, it has been no looking back for her. Kavita’s children are now in Grade 10 and she has become self-reliant. She takes care of her children’s school fees on her own. She believes that Lotus Petal Foundation has given her a purpose of living that was missing in her life.