Dare to Care!
In an era where we as citizens of the earth have become self-serving, I dare to care. By caring, we can change a lot of things in the world, especially the future that we wish to walk into. The value of caring holds immense power and it can shift a person’s view of the world very dramatically. I see the world through the lens of care and curiosity. I care deeply about the work that I am engaged in, the people I interact with, and the places I go or have been. My journey is a meandering path of various distinct events that can be connected with the common thread of care and curiosity of knowing what the future holds.
About six years back, I decided to study Mechanical Engineering. I was deeply curious about the future of humanity and I felt that studying engineering would be my window to the future of humanity and the world. I envisioned the future of our world to be most impacted by technology and machines that we build. I was determined to pursue masters abroad in either Robotics or Artificial Intelligence, two fields that the best brains in the world have placed their bets on being the technologies that will end up changing the world. It was only much later I realized that humans hold the real window to the future of humanity.
Out of the need to finance my masters preparations and tests, I started working as a CAD (Computer-Aided Design) trainer towards the end of my engineering journey. Through the experience of teaching, I realized how I was already changing the future one student at a time. I started caring deeply about how my role as an educator empowered me to change a student’s awareness towards a subject. I slowly started seeing the value in investing my time, energy and passion in human development because I realized that ultimately, humans are the creators of our future.
After a great amount of reflection on the newly formed perspective, I felt ready to take a step further into education. Like it was supposed to be my destiny, right around the same time, I happened to chance upon an opportunity to a one of a kind fellowship program by Teach For India. The motto — One Day All Children Will Attain An Excellent Education — stood out to me as a strong vision for the future of our world. For, the person that I have developed into is a direct product of the excellent education that I received at Vishwajyot High School. The impact that it had on me and my journey showed me the possibility of the vision coming alive one day and I wanted to catalyze the process. I wanted to pass on the values and the lessons that impacted me so deeply as a child, to the upcoming generations of our world.
“A few months into my teaching role, I noticed how my students often fell sick. And with the pandemic rampantly spreading in the slums of Mumbai, I experienced a constant fear. The students that I teach live in a community not very far from the Deonar dumping ground — Asia’s largest dumping ground.”
While the Corona Virus pandemic was beginning to hit the country, as a part of my fellowship I was transitioning into my new role as a Class 5 Didi (Teacher) in a low-income private school in Shivaji Nagar, Govandi. A few months into my teaching role, I noticed how my students often fell sick. And with the pandemic rampantly spreading in the slums of Mumbai, I experienced a constant fear. The students that I teach live in a community not very far from the Deonar dumping ground — Asia’s largest dumping ground. And to no surprise, it has degrading effects on the lives of the students I teach. Most of my students are very dedicated learners. However, they cannot attend their classes regularly for various reasons, their health being the most prominent one.
My experience teaching these 5th graders has been eye-opening. I as a fifth-grader in a privileged school, I often took most things for granted and the hunger to learn was not as prominent. The fifth-graders that I teach, however, have such great motivation and hunger to learn. A few of my students often request us to conduct online classes on Sundays as well because they miss learning. A few of them take screenshots of the content we teach in science and use it as their virtual backgrounds on zoom. This makes me feel very proud and gives me a very heartwarming and reassuring feedback that I am doing my job well.
This November, one of my students had gone to his village and was facing constant network issues, because of which he missed his online classes for 2 weeks. He called me one day and complained about how he missed attending online classes and hated the fact that he was in his village and couldn’t see his friends & Didis and couldn’t learn with them. It made me very emotional in that moment, and so I tasked his elder brother with finding the best place in his village with network to make sure Abu continues learning online. When he finally did, the joy of coming back online and attending classes was very evident on Abu’s face. The stories are never ending and they are what make my experience of teaching most rewarding.
My care and concern for the children I teach slowly helped me see the world and the future of the world from a different perspective. I imagined the future to be a grave mess and a large web of related problems. I saw waste where ever I went and my concern for the future that we are walking into kept growing.
“…and almost a decade later I was introducing the same concept to a class of 5th graders that I teach, with few to no solid examples of people and states in India which had adopted it efficiently.”
To keep alive the fond memories of the nature trails that we were taken to at Vishwajyot, I would often trek Kharghar hills. My empathy and care towards nature are a direct result of these nature trails that educated me about the various species of plants and animals. In November 2020 while trekking Kharghar hills, all I noticed was how the people coming to trek had doubled over the years and so had the waste that they carelessly left behind on the hills. I learned about the 3 Rs — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle when I was in grade 5, and almost a decade later I was introducing the same concept to a class of 5th graders that I teach, with few to no solid examples of people and states in India which had adopted it efficiently.
I realized that teaching a concept without presenting strong role models would be an empty lesson. I have always believed in teaching through examples because that’s how I was taught the best lessons that I remember till date. I remember how at Vishwajyot while learning about waste management, we as a class were given the responsibility to maintain a composting pit for a year in the school’s ground.
That experience ended up teaching me much more than mere facts about recycling. It sensitized me towards the need for recycling and protecting the environment. To my students, I wanted to convey the same thing, that taking action is the best way to solve a problem and all that is needed is the will to change the thing that hurts something we deeply care about.
With the goal of setting an example for not just my students, but for the people who I share my city with, I began plogging. Plogging refers to picking up litter while jogging or brisk walking. I began plogging on Kharghar hills every Sunday. Soon, some of my friends started joining me. Today we are a group of about 15 people who wake up early every Sunday and go plogging in nearby areas, to set an example for our generations young and old. Social media has been a great help in educating people about this. (You can follow my page on Instagram: @mumbaiploggerss )
I am determined to model the behavior, actions and lessons that I teach my students. My activism towards the causes that I believe in is a product of the care for the world around me and my strong belief to lead by example. I want to change the world through my actions, however my true mission lies in changing the people that dwell on this world. It is my vision to shape the people who will shape the future.
Rashmi Singh is an ex-student of Vishwajyot High School. She is very passionate about saving the environment and impacting people in a positive way. She cares deeply about educating the young generations and creating responsible citizens of the future.
