Most of us in India have been taught while growing up, the importance of education. But one of the harsh realities of India is how in slums and other distressed areas you can see the resistance against the education of children.
Children in slums often lose out on getting an education because of the shortage of facilities or they engage in labor work in order to become a helping hand for their parents for an earning. In the immediate lure of some amount of money prevents them from seeing the bigger picture.
There have been many humanitarians who have worked towards imparting the deserving education to the kids living in the slum.
One such person was Padma Shri Awardee, late Shri Prakash Rao, a tea-seller from Cuttack, Odisha.
An extraordinary man who use to invest half of his income in providing free education and food(daal chawal) to slum and orphaned children.
To start with, Rao’s father, he fought in the Second World War and when he returned home, he realized that there weren’t too many opportunities for people like him. Then with an initial capital of Rs.5, he opened a tea stall. And from the age of 7, Prakash started working in that tea stall but he always had the urge to complete his education. But what he couldn’t do for himself, he sought to make it happen for the kids around him.
To change the trajectory of the lives of these children who were begging on the streets or were caught, stealing, Prakash Rao started “Asha Ashawasana” for them, a school that till date has educated hundreds of kids and transformed their lives for the better. He started this school in the slums of Cuttack in Odisha.
Recently Rajnigandha Silver Pearls through their latest film honored the memory of the late Shri D Prakash Rao.
The film is a part of Pearls of India which bolsters the brand’s philosophy and the message that selfless goodness shines through the smallest acts of kindness to spread joy and aims to inspire others with the actions of such heroes.
