Vijayshree to Vijeta School of Ludhiana ..

Ludhiana, Jan 16 (HS): A five-years-old Rashi who has been selected for admission to Bhartiya Vidya Mandir (BVM), a dream-liner school of Ludhiana, has a dream to be fulfilled. A very little girl child lost her father at her early childhood. Now she is being supported by her mother and wanted to continue her studies to fulfill the dreams of her father.

She is presently continuing her studies in preparatory school, Vijeta, an initiative of The income tax department Ludhiana which was launched for the underprivileged students. The income tax department of Ludhiana had opened this school for children of migrant laborers living in Rishi Valmiki Nagar near the IT Office.

It was the birth anniversary of Maharshi Valmiki last year and on the occasion Chief Commissioner, IT department, Ludhiana, Binay K Jha had said, “It was appropriate that the department start this school that will provide education to those children, who have so far been deprived of the opportunity.”

In this initiative, the department, with the help of an NGO, found 54 children, who didn’t attend school in Rishi Valmiki Nagar slum. The school that has been named ‘Vijetha School’ is a simple message to children that they can also be winners in their life. A special feature of the school is that it will be run entirely out of the contributions from the employees of the IT Department.

Also, B.Ed qualified teacher Kashmira Devi, who has volunteered to teach, is the wife of one of the department employees, while the families of the IT officials living in Rishi Nagar colony are assisting in running the school.

Now, the school is being run from a room on rent paid through contributions. The school is a simple message from the department that they are not only tax collectors, but also responsive to the social and natural environment around us.

This school is also a part of the department’s initiative called — Slum-to-Scholars or “S2S” scheme, whereby the department is seeking the involvement of students from leading schools of Ludhiana in supporting the children of industrial workers in localities around their school and helping them in getting education and self-reliance and even becoming future taxpayers and thereby contributing to national development.

School is also getting help from leading schools of Ludhiana which agreed that their students would be ready to forgo a pizza a month and with the money saved being pulled to support the education of children of migrant labor and others who cannot afford education.

The aim is to cover around 35000 such children in the near future. The officers and staff of the Income Tax Department, Ludhiana have agreed to voluntarily support the initiative”. However, for all these efforts for poverty-stricken people, credit goes to Binay Kumar Jha, Chief Commissioner, Income Tax Department, Ludhiana who cared to contemplate such initiative, first.