Unity Mission School: Ray of hope for poor

LUCKNOW: He would watch, almost in a trance, students doing their PT drill daily from the Unity College school gate.
Even after the drill was over he would linger on for a while, yet never muster enough courage to enter the school. Then one day Maulana Kalbe Sadiq spotted him. He called the boy and asked him what he was doing there. “I was watching the students.I want to do this,� the boy hesitantly replied. He was a resident of a nearby slum and his father had no means to get him enrolled in the school.
The plight of the boy touched the Maulana deeply and he immediately decided to do something for such boys. And so the Unity Mission School came into being.
What started out four years ago as a small step, has today become a giant stride for propagating literacy in the nearby slum areas. Started with just 60 students, the school today, imparts free education to nearly 1,100 students, heralding a literacy awakening among the slumdwellers and small-time hawkers, thelawallas and petty workers of this old city locality. “We provide free education, books, uniforms, medical facilities and meals to these poor children,� said Kalbe Hussain, the son of Maulana Kalbe Sadiq. Of the 1,100 students, 600 are taught on the Unity College campus itself, between 2 pm and 5:40 pm, while the rest have been admitted to 7 different schools.
The Mission School bears their expenses, added Kalbe Hussain. About 20 teachers — both trained and untrained — are employed by the school and the intention is to introduce classes for the 6th Std from the next academic session, said Mohammad Naqui, administrator.
Zaman Fatima of the lower nursery is the daughter of a carpenter. Mohd Ilyas (14), a student of class VI, is the son of a zari worker. Tatheer Fatima of class IV comes from a family where the father is unemployed and the family has no source of income. “Almost 80 per cent of the students are bread-earners of their families, yet despite the odds, they eagerly attend school,� said Naqui.
“The drop-out rate is not more than three to four percent. When students collect their uniforms and vanish, we don’t admit such students in the next session,� he added. Medical check-ups of students are conducted regularly.
When asked Dr Firdaus Fatima, who was examining the students when this reporter visited her room on the college premises, said that most of students are anaemic and suffer from malnutrition. They have weak eye-sight and also suffer from skin diseases due to the unhygienic environment at home. They are treated at the school and if any student or his\her parents are seriously ill, they are treated at the Era Hospital and Zainul Abidin Hospital free of cost, Kalbe Hussain added.
These student, who otherwise may not able to even set eyes on a picnic spot, are regularly taken out on such tours. Excursions are also organised for the teachers to help improve their efficiency, Naqui said.
The Tauheed Muslimeen Trust (TMT), which runs the Unity Mission School, spends Rs 16 lakh annually on this venture. Besides this, the TMT also awards scholarships worth nearly Rs 4 crore annually to meritorious students, Kalbe Hussain informed.