Education can solve the twin problems of unemployment and poverty. Especially for underprivileged families, their children’s education remains their sole hope for economic revival.
Thirty-year-old SK Jha has taken up a unique mission of preparing students for competitive exams and banking, railway, and other government jobs. What’s unique about his classes is that he takes them for free in the Ghats of Ganga.
Jha and his team of 15-20 teachers and their 150-member staff force train aspirants from all over Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, MP, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and West Bengal. They provide them with study materials, OMR sheets, answer keys, and also conduct mock tests.
They hold their weekend morning classes between 6 and 7.30 am at Kali ghat, Patna College ghat, and Kadam ghat. As many as 3500 students attend these classes on Saturdays, and on Sundays, over 8000 of them throng these open-air centers.
These students arrive early in the morning during the weekends, participate in group studies, write mock tests, and carry their study materials. Most of them come from poorer backgrounds and remote villages in Bihar.
Jha, who is said to treat students equally, says he chose the ghats due to limited space in his coaching center. “One morning, when I was walking on the ghat, I struck upon the idea of holding classes there.”
“I also conduct discussion classes at 10 am on my YouTube channel on weekends, and so far, more than 6 lakh have kids joined it.” He further adds, “As I spend time with them, I know which questions they will find challenging and tricky and, accordingly, we prepare the question papers to clear their concept.” He releases the scorecards of these tests on Telegram.
Businessman Harsh Goenka shared the images of these classes on Twitter. He wrote, “Kids in Patna, Bihar are preparing for competitive exams on the banks of river Ganga. It is a picture of hope and dreams(sic).”
Jha also runs a coaching center in Patna. Earlier, there were accusations that he instigated students to resort to violent protests against the Railway Recruitment Board over the exam results.
Reference: The Times of India
Image Source: ANI