Deepalaya - Enabling Self-Reliance

Children spontaneously reach out to each other without any inhibitions. They hold back nothing and delight in establishing new bonds of friendship. The colour or creed or country of the other does not come in the way. This was amply on display at Deepalaya School, Kalkaji Extension on 10th January when 31 students and 4 Professors from New York University Gallatin School of Individualised Study, visited the school. The American students had come on a visit to India and meeting and interacting with children studying at an NGO Educational Institute was part of their itinerary. Initially, the visiting children asked numerous questions and the Principal of the School, Ms. Shikha Pal responded. Queries related to Indian Schooling System, different Vocational Trainings, Environment Education and the like. Then the visiting children were split into groups and freely mingled with the Indian children. In no time everyone was communicating, asking numerous questions, explaining their own culture, society, climate, geography etc.

What struck one was that the barriers, if any were overcome in a jiffy and students of the two nationalities treated each other as though they were long time friends. There was no communication barrier either. Where there were difficult concepts to comprehend like the caste system, discrimination against blacks etc, the teachers on either side intervened and explained. The Indian children reacted to the experiences of the day in the following manner: “Unforgettable Moments”, “An Interesting Event. Great Fun for us”, “The event has boosted my confidence level”.

One got the feeling that all the children were none but part of one homogenous group. For whatever reason they had been separated and geographical barriers brought in between. There were numerous identification of aspects of one culture with the comparable components in the other.

For instance, shorn of technical rules, the games that the students played were essentially the same in either country though superficially they are dissimilar. As adults, looking at them we felt we had to learn much from these children in eliminating unfounded biases and fears that we have created to mark people as belonging to different countries and cultures.