31 December 2002. Midnight. As the skies of Delhi lit up with crackers heralding the beginning of yet another year, my mind wandered to the narrow, squalid lanes of Mustafabad. I had spent a considerable amount of time in the previous few days in these lanes, and had had the chance to look at the lives of the children who lived there up close. The little girl Ishrat, who had never seen the inside of a classroom but wanted some day to be a doctor; the coy Asma, whose eyes had lit up when she first read a complete sentence; the cute little brothers Danish and Dawood, who gladly came for their Bridge Class undeterred by the freezing cold; and the playful Irfan who was thrilled when I had let him hold my mobile phone in his hand. Children who, but for the efforts of Pratham and the support of NOVIB/NPL, might have been doomed to a life where written words would have remained undecipherable symbols.

I have visited a number of classes over the last nine months that I've been with Pratham Delhi. Each time, I've come out with a feeling of hope. To me, Pratham is Hope - because Pratham has devoted itself to children, and in childhood there is hope. Some of my most exciting times at Pratham have been when I have interacted with children - the rewards of my work I get in the eyes of the Pratham child. Equally exciting have been the times when I speak to the teachers, and talk of the monumental work that each Pratham teacher is doing. To me, their task is nothing short of nation building, for they have the opportunity to directly add immense value to the lives of children who are most in need of values.
As I see it, Pratham has a gargantuan task on its hands. Education is the most potent instrument for the empowerment of a community, and by extension, of the nation. Even if we assume that the government is sincere in its intentions, its monolithic structure will always be an impediment in attending to the last child with the promptness that she deserves. Pratham has the wherewithal to effectively bridge this gap. Also, Pratham is in a unique position to innovate as it implements - the recent Read India movement has clearly demonstrated that we can be flexible even while working with large numbers. This balance between flexibility and scale must continue to remain an intrinsic Pratham attribute.

The other day, my cell phone rang as I was in a Mustafabad class - it was an old friend residing in an affluent South Delhi colony. When I said I was in Mustafabad, he thought I was at Mustafa's Departmental Store in Singapore! That, to me, underscores the hiatus that exists within Delhi: for most Delhi-ites, Mustafabad does not even exist. Sadly, this is true even for those who have the authority and the mandate to make a difference. Somewhere down the line, some of these people will have to wake up and own the responsibility for bridging the gap between South Delhi and North Shahdara. Till then, Pratham continues to hold aloft the petard of hope for Ishrat and Irfan.


¹Mr Kapoor is the Programme Coordinator of Pratham, Delhi and can be contacted at chetan@pratham.org.