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By:

Shoumojit Banerjee

27 August 2024 at 9:57:52 am

Classroom of Courage

In drought-scarred Maharashtra, a couple’s experiment in democratic schooling is turning child beggars into model citizens In the parched stretches of Maharashtra, from Solapur to the drought-hit villages of Marathwada, a modest social experiment has quietly unfolded for nearly two decades. It is neither a grand government scheme nor a corporate-backed charity. Since 2007, the Ajit Foundation, founded by Mahesh and Vinaya Nimbalkar, has worked with children living at the sharpest edges of...

Classroom of Courage

In drought-scarred Maharashtra, a couple’s experiment in democratic schooling is turning child beggars into model citizens In the parched stretches of Maharashtra, from Solapur to the drought-hit villages of Marathwada, a modest social experiment has quietly unfolded for nearly two decades. It is neither a grand government scheme nor a corporate-backed charity. Since 2007, the Ajit Foundation, founded by Mahesh and Vinaya Nimbalkar, has worked with children living at the sharpest edges of society in Maharashtra. The foundation has become a home for out-of-school children, those who have never enrolled, the children of migrant labourers and single parents, and those who scavenge at garbage dumps or drift between odd jobs. To call their foundation an “NGO” is to miss the point. Vinaya Nimbalkar describes it as a “democratic laboratory”, where education is not merely instruction but an initiation into citizenship. The couple were once government schoolteachers with the Solapur Zilla Parishad, leading stable lives. Yet what they witnessed unsettled them: children who had never held a pencil, begging at traffic signals or sorting refuse for a living. Prompted by this reality, the Nimbalkars resigned their jobs to work full-time for the education of such children. Leap of Faith They began modestly, teaching children in migrant settlements in Solapur and using their own salaries to pay small honorariums to activists. Funds soon ran dry, and volunteers drifted away. Forced out of their home because of their commitment to the cause, they started a one-room school where Vinaya, Mahesh, their infant son Srijan and forty children aged six to fourteen lived together as an unlikely family. The experiment later moved to Barshi in the Solapur district with support from Anandvan. Rural hardship, financial uncertainty and the pandemic repeatedly tested their resolve. At one stage, they assumed educational guardianship of nearly 200 children from families that survived by collecting scrap on the village outskirts. Eventually, the foundation relocated to Talegaon Dabhade near Pune, where it now runs a residential hostel. Twenty-five children currently live and study there. The numbers may seem modest, but the ambition is not. Democracy in Practice What distinguishes the Ajit Foundation is not only who it serves but also how it operates. Within its walls, democracy is practised through a Children’s Gram Panchayat and a miniature Municipal Council elected by the children themselves. Young candidates canvass, hold meetings and present their budgets. Children maintain accounts and share decisions about chores, activities and certain disciplinary matters. In a country where democratic culture is often reduced to voting, the foundation’s approach is quietly radical. It treats children from marginalised backgrounds as citizens in formation. The right to choose — whether to focus on sport, cooking, mathematics or cultural activities — is respected. “We try never to take away what is their own,” says Vinaya Nimbalkar. Rather than forcing every child into a uniform academic mould, individual abilities are encouraged. A boy skilled in daily calculations may not be pushed into hours of bookish study; a girl who excels in cooking may lead the kitchen team. For children who have known only precarity, standing for election, managing a budget or speaking at a meeting can be transformative. On International Women’s Day, the foundation seeks visibility not just for praise but for partnership. If you are inspired by their mission, consider supporting or collaborating—your involvement can help extend opportunities to more children in need.

A fresh peek into ancient worlds

Globally-curated new CSMVS gallery wows Mumbai

Mumbai: A new, globally-curated gallery - affording an insight into how the ancient world was not secluded but interconnected 5,000 years ago through trade, religion, arts, communication and common purpose - which opened this month enthralls locals and tourists alike. 


Envisioned by the 103-year-old Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) in Mumbai, the expo - titled ‘Networks of the Past: A Study Gallery of India and the Ancient World’, features thrilling stories from the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Rome, Persia, China, Egypt and India. 


The 300 carefully sourced and selected archaeological artifacts provide deep awareness into the history of that era’s thriving cultures, including the oldest, Harappan (Sindhu-Sarasvati) civilization – not as isolated entities, but as a vibrant web of relationships that shaped humanity thousands of years ago. 


In the making for over four years, the gallery puts forth a simple yet powerful idea – that “the ancient world was deeply interconnected and long before modern borders were created or technologies developed, people, goods, beliefs and ideas traversed vast distances, linking each other closely”. 


Expected to motivate and fire the imaginations of students, scholars, teachers, historians and intellectuals to teach history with objects, the gallery breathes life into those ancient links in an engaging, accessible and deeply humane touch. 


“Civilization is not a destination, it’s a journey. The past has profoundly shaped our global, national and local relationships between societies and individuals for hundreds of centuries, and the events, innovations and decisions made in antiquity continue to influence us even today,” remarked CSMVS Director-General Sabyasachi Mukherjee.


Global Exchange

Moving away from the narratives that revolved around the ancient world on the Mediterranean regions, the new gallery highlights the classical India’s dynamic role in the global exchange, and how these interactions shaped Indian society down the centuries – positioning India as not on the margins of world history but at its crossroads. 


“Here, visitors encounter a story of dialogue rather than dominance, of mutual influence instead of a one-way transmission. It places education at its core and intends to be a long-term resource for schools, colleges, universities, researchers and historians, supporting object-based learning and interdisciplinary inquiry,” said Suhas B. Naik-Satam, Chief Executive, National Centre for Science Communicators (NSCS).


Own Space 

The display includes an awe-inspiring collection of maps, visual reconstructions, interpretative texts to simplify complex history in a layered manner allowing wide-eyed newcomers and veteran scholars to engage at their own pace, he added. 


The outcome of an exceptional international collaboration, alongside CSMVS, leading institutions like The British Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum Rietberg in Zurich, the Benaki Museum and the Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens, the Al-Sabah Collection in Kuwait, have shared knowledge and collections. 


Besides the CSMVS, the initiative elicited strong support from the Archaeological Survey of India and eight major museums across the country, reflecting a collective commitment to rethinking how history is presented and studied. 


Mukherjee said that even in today’s interconnected world no major event passes without impacting humanity, and to understand our history meaningfully, “we must move beyond isolated narratives and cultivate a global perspective” as the present and future is built on the foundations of the ancient cultures and civilizations.


A window to lost civilizations

Rather than following a rigid timeline, the new gallery adopts a thematic approach that encourages exploration and comparison. Starting with the Harappan (Sindhu–Sarasvati) Civilisation around 3000 BCE, it jumps to the Gupta period in the 6th century CE, explaining Indian history within a broader global context. 


The exciting  journey culminates with Nalanda (India) and Alexandria (Egypt), the two legendary centres of learning, symbolising the ancient world’s shared pursuit of knowledge though separated by over 5000-kms. 


The objects are as diverse as the cultures they represent: sculptures, coins, inscriptions, jewellery, ceramics, paintings, and funerary objects, replicas of iconic portraits, and together they reveal striking similarities in materials, techniques, plus motifs, underscoring how ideas and aesthetics travelled across regions. 


Both Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Suhas B. Naik-Satam said that the connections where we once saw divisions, were actually exchanges and cooperation that were central to human progress, affording a richer understanding of antiquity.

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