Deep Narayan Nayak (37) grew up with restricted means in a giant household in Nandigaon village in Jamuria, Asansol, West Bengal. From the primary day of faculty until the final, he by no means wore a brand new uniform or studied from a brand new e-book. Deep and his 4 older sisters managed with hand-me-downs and worn-out uniforms which their mom would by some means patch up for them. 

Such was his want to check that he all the time stored the assets from affecting his educational efficiency. However because the 5 kids grew up, their father’s earnings, derived from a number of jobs, was simply not ample to feed the 9 mouths (together with his grandparents). Whereas all of the siblings attended college until Class 8, the monetary constraints grew, inflicting his sisters to drop out of faculty.

As a boy, Deep managed to complete his training, incomes a BSc in Botany. Later, he needed to cease learning however pursued trainer coaching and have become a main college trainer. Witnessing kids dealing with related struggles to his personal childhood, he refused to remain silent. He was decided to not let different kids, particularly women like his sisters, face the hardships he skilled.

Deep started by helping two kids in his college, offering them with new books, slates, and different necessities. This small act grew into an enormous motion to teach underprivileged kids and break the cycle of poverty. Beginning in Jamuria district, it expanded to seven extra districts in West Bengal, Jharkhand, and even Bangladesh, impacting over 10,000 college students.

Referred to as ‘Raster Grasp’ (trainer of the streets), Deep educates not simply kids, but in addition their mother and father and grandparents. His programmes are geared toward lowering dropouts, offering nutritious meals, stopping little one marriages, bridging the gender hole in training, empowering ladies, and altering mindsets.

Moreover, he works on bettering training and livelihoods by way of his Raster Grasp Analysis Centre and Worldwide Basis.

Breaking the vicious cycle of poverty

Deep remembers his father working as a every day wage labourer within the morning, cleansing a medical store after, and dealing as a watchman at night time. Actually, the household stayed in the home the place his father labored because the homeowners have been in a foreign country.

“My father labored day and night time for us. However after the home proprietor returned, we needed to transfer out to a small clay home (kutia) away from the village the place there was no electrical energy. So I might get up at 3 am day-after-day to check, and within the evenings, I studied on the road because it was well-lit,” says Deep.

He completed college with out electrical energy at house.

After Class 10, his classmates moved to cities for greater training, however he couldn’t attributable to monetary constraints. He thought of quitting and dealing, like his sisters. So he started tutoring children. However a gentleman noticed his good scores and inspired him to maintain learning.

Regardless of a authorities college being obtainable, few enrolled. Deep was among the many three college students there, and he was the one one who handed the Boards.

The well-wisher additional lent him books with a situation to return them inside two years. “He was saving the e-book for his home assist’s little one, who was two years youthful than me. He motivated me to check nicely and end Class 12,” provides Deep.

Initially wanting to check chemistry, he modified his thoughts as he couldn’t afford the various books the course required. So he selected botany as an alternative because it concerned a lesser variety of books. After beginning faculty, he had no books for almost three months. When the principal came upon, he organized for Deep to borrow books from the library for a yr.

After ending his diploma, Deep grew to become a main trainer in 2010. On his first day in school, he felt an odd sense of deja vu, one thing he didn’t count on or want.

“I noticed kids who got here from backgrounds like mine — three to 4 siblings, no correct jobs for folks, and borrowing previous books. These kids have been going by way of the identical ache and battle I did whereas rising up. I didn’t need to see one other little one face the identical hassles as me to get a very good training,” he provides.

He began shopping for new books and slates for 2 kids at his college. The quantity slowly elevated as different kids additionally wished these shiny books. Most of those kids didn’t know what a brand new e-book or slate even appeared like. Whereas the ‘Raster Grasp’ tried to purchase it for as many kids as he may together with his personal cash, he knew that it wasn’t one thing he may proceed doing in the long term.

So he got here up with a singular mannequin that might be step one to what would quickly rework right into a motion.

The 3G Mannequin

Deep began turning the partitions of kids’s houses into blackboards, by portray them. This manner, when kids returned from college with homework, mother and father started studying too. He calls it the 3G mannequin — educating three generations in reverse. The kid, typically the primary learner within the household, teaches mother and father and grandparents.

He began by changing the mud partitions of the homes within the village into classroom partitions, the place he teaches. By portray small parts of the partitions black, he created a number of blackboards open for studying proper on the doorsteps of those kids.

Whereas mother and father have been reluctant about sending their kids to those courses, he began asking the youngsters to show their mother and father. Now, many moms, fathers and grandparents have learnt sufficient to put in writing a sentence or their very own identify. He says this technique will increase bonding, offers primary training to individuals no matter age, and helps the older era realise the significance of training.

His motto is, “The place there’s a wall, there’s a method,”

“After I started educating children, I seen that their training typically stopped round Class 10. Boys would begin working, and women would both get married or work as nicely. The 3G mannequin helps to forestall this. It makes mother and father conscious of what they missed and emphasises the significance of training,” says Deep.

Surojit, a pupil of Deep’s for over seven years, mentions that every one the youngsters eagerly await Deep’s visits to their Bankura village. Surojit, now 20 and learning engineering, credit Deep for his vital help. His father does odd jobs, and Surojit would be the first engineer from their village. “All of us watch for the Grasp’s arrival, particularly the youthful children. He additionally will get meals for us, which the youngsters, who in any other case eat mid-day meals, get pleasure from very a lot,” he says.

Due to Deep’s efforts, quite a few children at the moment are pursuing varied levels like engineering, nursing, arts, and extra, exterior their villages and even past the state. The trainer feels immensely proud, sharing tales from a pupil learning psychology at Delhi College to a different securing a authorities job, amongst many others.

“Earlier, a baby would exit of the village solely as a labourer or after getting married (with respect to women). Now, they’ve the freedom to dream and pursue an training of their alternative,” he shares.

Shalini from Sukhbazar in Howrah is the primary from her village to go to Delhi to check. She was positive that she wished to pursue a level in psychology and labored in the direction of it. Whereas most ladies in her college obtained married throughout college or after Class 12, Shalini took Deep’s assist to persuade her mother and father to pursue her training.

“Everybody in our village needs to get women married early. They really feel {that a} lady ought to exit of the village solely to her husband’s home. It’s due to Deep Sir that I used to be capable of pursue my psychology honours at Delhi College,” says Shalini.

Beginning in Jamuria, Deep’s initiative regularly expanded to different districts in West Bengal and Jharkhand. He now has a crew that trains different lecturers as they’ve college students from age 5-50.

“One has to show in a method that matches how every age group learns. We’ve got a crew of 150, which consists of fifty lecturers and 100 associates. After coaching, the associates grow to be lecturers. We go to every village and select lecturers from there as they’re finest geared up to show the youngsters,” he provides.

The ‘Raster Grasp’ training mannequin is nearly a zero funding system with nice returns. The trainer says that it prices Rs 100 to transform a avenue right into a classroom. It helps bridge the digital divide for college kids who can’t afford telephones, don’t have web and have patchy electrical energy.

Every little one is taught 5 languages — Bengali, English, Hindi, Urdu and Ol Chiki — by way of the 5L (language) mannequin. They will learn, converse and write in all of the languages. The courses are held earlier than and after college, and Deep himself is on the streets from 8 am to eight pm. He continues his authorities trainer job and takes courses earlier than and after college. 

He additionally offers nutritious meals to kids as he doesn’t need them to be a sufferer of malnutrition. He pays for all this from his personal pocket, exhausting all his financial savings and wage for the trigger.

‘I really feel responsible about my sisters dropping out’

When Deep was younger, he didn’t discover he was the one one inspired to check, owing to his male gender. As he grew up, he seen women nonetheless face limitations in training in the present day. This impressed him to make it his mission to help women and discuss to their households about giving them higher training alternatives.

“Even in the present day, persons are not blissful when a lady is born. Despite the fact that intercourse dedication checks are unlawful in India, individuals nonetheless discover a technique to discover out and abort the child. I need to be sure that each little one, particularly women, get a very good training,” he says.

Deep started visiting hospitals and houses each time a lady was born to encourage mother and father to rejoice her arrival. He items sweets and provides them 10 saplings, which develop into priceless bushes over 20 years that may be offered for a very good worth. “I give bushes like mahogany which promote for about Rs 1 lakh per tree as soon as grown, which takes roughly 10 years. I inform them to water these bushes fastidiously which might tomorrow grow to be an asset for them,” provides the trainer.

He believes caring for the bushes is like nurturing your goals. Initially, individuals didn’t belief him, however as they noticed bushes rising in varied houses, their belief grew within the Raster Grasp. To encourage mother and father to teach their women, he brings again former college students from the village who at the moment are profitable engineers and graduates.

“Earlier, I might convey large officers to present inspirational talks, however that didn’t work. When a lady whom they’ve seen since childhood comes with a level, mother and father join extra, as they arrive from the identical background,” he provides. He reveals them real-life heroes who they’ll join with and relate to, which makes them really feel that these goals are inside attain.

His purpose now, he says, is to unfold his centres worldwide and make training accessible to all. “I don’t need anybody to undergo what my sisters did. I’ll be sure that each lady and each boy will get an training,” he says.

He was chosen among the many Prime 10 lecturers for the 2023 World Instructor Prize, introduced by the Varkey Basis in partnership with UNESCO. 

He wants extra funding to increase his mannequin and supply extra assets for college kids. When you want to assist, you possibly can contribute to:

Raster Grasp Worldwide Basis 

A/C No – 40715717111

IFSC – SBIN0006188

Department – Jamuria Bazar