Pallabi : A Ray Of Hope, (Kolkata)

Pallabi’s father is a daily-wage worker and mother works in a factory. She stays with her parents and two elder brothers in the Mundapara slum community in Kolkata, in a rented home. With a brother suffering from a mental ailment and a father who whiles away his time doused in alcohol, making both ends meet remains a tough challenge for Pallabi’s mother. Yet, when she learnt of our ECD programme from her neighbours, she took special initiative to come meet us to understand us better, and enrol her daughter with us. She was quite forthright in her approach – she told us that both she and her husband were illiterate, but she doesn’t want her daughter to meet the same fate. For Pallabi, a shy and reticent girl, this was a whole new world. With repeated efforts from our educator, she started opening up and participating in group activities. Even while her mother was ready to send her to a formal school, we felt otherwise. We thought she still needs further preparation before exposing her to the rigours of mainstream education. Our educator convinced her mother to allow Pallabi to continue her stint with ECD for another session, to which she agreed. Pallabi is picking up quite fast, and we will make sure that she is ready for mainstream schooling before she takes the plunge.