Online classes have left many children from following a regular curriculum during the pandemic.
Just before Independence Day, as part of its special series "Lost Generation" which focused on how children have been dropping out of online classes as many families can't afford smartphones, NDTV reported how 15 per cent of Delhi government school students have been untraceable as they haven't attended any online classes since April.
After the story aired kids and their families who live in slums and are struggling, many people extended their support. They have now donated devices including smartphones and a laptop to help out 13 families so far and the help continues to pour in.
"If our kids don't study what kind of a future will they have? This is what I am worried about and have sleepless nights. I fear that my kids may end up illiterate like me," Farhana, 35, had said earlier this month.
Farhana is a single mother who lives in a slum in Delhi's Trilokpuri with her sons 9-year-old Sameer and 13-year-old Shoaib. They had not attended a single online class for five months because the family could not afford even a basic phone.
But soon after the story aired on NDTV, people offered to donate a smartphone to her. Now that the kids have started attending online classes she has hopes about their future.
On Sunday, she told NDTV, "Children have their dreams and I also have dreams for them. I want my kid to become a doctor. I love them and I feel that they will do well in life. Even if they don't become doctors they should get a good designation somewhere."
NDTV had also reported how 14-year-old Aarti, who had to share the only phone in the house with her siblings and often kept missing classes, would get scolded by their teacher. Their father is a gardener and would take away the only phone in the house while he went away for work. The children would get it only once he came back.
But now with another smartphone, she can keep up. Aarti told NDTV, "Now it will be easier for us. Now me and my brother can share one phone and the new one can be used by my sister."
People offered to help other such families too. So far, 12 smartphones and a second-hand laptop has been donated. Activists of the NGO 'Josh' which has been working for 12 years for the education children who live in slums, helped deliver the devices to the families.
Jyoti Mahore, social activist and member of Josh, said, "There were a lot of issues that several families were facing. Many didn't have phones, others had phones but no money for recharge. The future of these kids has been saved because of those who offered their help."
Bhaskar Bhatt, Product Manager at a Publishing House is among the donors. He says, "I have been doing the relief work since the beginning of the nationwide lockdown and have raised Rs 10.5 lakh through my crowdfunding campaign. I am from a middle class family and owing to the lack of funds and resources, I could not pursue my dream of studying journalism. So, when I started reading about the kids from underprivileged families not being able to continue their online studies as their parents are unable to afford smartphones, I decided to help them as no child should be deprived of education due to the lack of funds and resources."
"Farhana's story on NDTV where she was saying how she remained sleepless at night, worrying about the education of her sons, shook me to my core and I decided to send a smartphone for her children. So far, I have sent seven smartphones for kids in Pune and Delhi and now raising money for another 20," he added.
Another donor Ankit Gupta who is an Urdu poet said, "I have been involved in relief work since day one of lockdown and that is why I was aware about the ground reality of underprivileged families. When I got to know that their kids are unable to take their online classes because their parents can't afford smartphones I decided to help them and started crowdfunding. So far I have distributed 75 smartphones to the kids in Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Odisha and Kanpur. I have more requests pending and I am trying to fulfil all those in the upcoming days."