In the temple town of Ayodhya, Inspector Ranjeet Singh Yadav is referred to as ‘Khaki wale Guruji.’ His goal is to educate the kids of slum residents. The UP policeman was on duty when he got the idea for his ‘Apna School’ programme. ‘I was posted at one of the ghats along the Saryu in Kotwali Ayodhya. I’d notice many children begging near temples and the ghats. Whenever I tried to interact with them, they would flee, fearing my khaki uniform,’ he says.
These were the slum children who lived beside the Saryu who were out begging as the sun rose. One day, Yadav rode his bike to the Khajua Kund slums in the temple town and arrived to see a large number of kids and their parents getting ready for the day.
‘For them, survival was the biggest challenge. When I asked their parents if they were willing to spare their children for studies, they happily nodded, but they did not have the required documents. This drove the teacher inside me and I offered to teach them myself daily,’ says Inspector Yadav. The police officer arrived in Khajua Kund’s slums the following morning before the kids could join their parents for begging.
‘I had gone prepared with notebooks, pencils, rubbers, slates, chalks, and a mat for at least 60 children to sit on and a board to teach them,’ says the inspector. ‘I asked the children to give me a broom so that I could clean the area for them to sit. But they cleaned a patch of land themselves, spread out the mat, and put up the board on a chair under a tree. That’s how the idea of ‘Apna School’ started taking shape,’ says Yadav.
The police officer himself is from a lowly background. He recalls how closely he witnessed the lack of resources and how he and his brothers battled to receive an education since their father was unable to secure books for them.
He is the son of a farmer from Azamgarh and has four brothers. Yadav, a postgraduate in philosophy from BHU said, ‘I studied by borrowing books for a limited period of time.’Only 30 students attended Apna School at the beginning. The strength has increased to 60.