Stories of Hope

SHARAD

* A short 10 year old

* Had never been to school
* Passion: Cart wheeling. A budding gymnast
* Obstinate - has a mind of his own, will only do what excites him
* Intelligent, mischievous
* Constantly needs to be challenged

Sharad is the third child in a family of four siblings. He had seen his father lying dead on the railway tracks where he had been run over by a train while in an inebriated state. For Sharad, he had lost his role-model, and the bread earner in one stroke. This left a scar on the mind of this young lad. When he first came to Ananya, he was violent, and restless with very low level of concentration.
At Ananya, he was allowed to study whenever he wanted and wherever he wanted. He preferred to be outside the classroom, cart wheeling his way around the campus, playing or climbing trees. He studied more when out rather than when forced to sit in the classroom. We allowed him the liberty of doing what made him comfortable. This provided him with the right environment for academic development.

Today he is doing very well academically learning Hindi, English and Kannada with equal ease, good in both mental and written mathematics work. He is able to sit in a class for the entire duration without getting easily distracted. He still cartwheels his way around the campus. His violent tendencies are non-existent and his athletic abilities have made him a leader and he is now the role-model for other children, some older than him!

His views about school can be surmised in one sentence—he loves Mondays and is eagerly waiting at the van pick-up point early Monday mornings, neatly dressed and ready for another week of school, which means, friends, fun, books and games.