Ms. Chhavi Agrawal: a passionate teacher and a social worker who influenced the community as the best resource to develop her school and get the work done by them of worth Rs. 40 lakhs.

There are people who are not known to the world but are relentlessly working to uplift the neglected part of the society. Their actions are guided by sheer passion and a belief to do something. Stories of such personalities are often buried and don’t come in the limelight. One such person is Ms. Chhavi Agrawal: a passionate teacher and a social worker who influenced the community as the best resource to develop her school and get the work done by them of worth Rs. 40 lakhs.

She started her teaching career with Primary School Bhagautidaspur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh moving to her present school, Primary School Banpurwa, Kashi Vidyapith, in 2018, she worked at Primary School Payagpur, Arazilines block and drastically converted this school infrastructurally. Her work was not only focused on improving the learning environment but escalated to many initiatives like girl child education and highlighting sports as a medium of education to name a few.

Worked on developing Infrastructure

Infrastructure is an important guiding principle to attract a large number of parents as it has a impact on the enrollment of students. The parents are often concerned towards sending their ward to a place which offers a good ambiance. Ms. Chavvi Agrawal understood this and worked on it. She initiated the infrastructural development and changed the face of the school, which looked just like any other English medium school. She also managed to get desks and benches for classrooms. These developments were done with the help and donation of NGOs and community helpers who came out voluntarily.

It brought an immense change as parents readily agreed to send their wards to the school where the infrastructure was good. Her work was appreciated by the community and well as by parents. There was a donation of RO with the help of a strong network of alumni of the school. With the help of a few classmates and other good wishers, they got in touch with the people who adopted the school and provided all the necessary items needed for proper functioning. This won accolades from the community members. One such well-wisher was Ms. Shweta Pathak, a close acquaintance of Ms. Chavvi who runs a club named ‘Round Table.’ Not only that the conditions of lavatories were also changed and separated for girls and boys.

Round Table organization helped to achieve Chhavi’s dream school

‘Round Table India works for providing better educational facilities and environment for underprivileged kids. “When our Varanasi chapter was formed we were looking for a government school which is in bad shape and needs to be improved. My wife Shveta who is a batchmate of Chaavi suggested that there is a school which is in very bad shape and we should adopt it. So that’s how, the adoption of the Prathamik Vidyalaya Payagpur took place’, Says Abhishek Pathak, Charter Chairman, Varanasi Elite round table.

When asked about the work that was done so far he said “ When we adopted the school in 2016-17 there were only 2 classrooms which were in bad shape, no toilet, no furniture, no boundary wall and gate in school, no provision for drinking water, no electricity and fitting, the ground was also all muddy”.

Mr. Abhishek Pathak also mentioned that, under this initiative there are many construction projects that were undertaken and successfully completed.  He says “6 new classroom, 2 toilet blocks, complete boundary wall of school with huge gate, school benches in each class for kids, electric fitting, complete interlocking flooring of the school apart from complete painting of the school. Cost so far we have incurred is around 40 lakhs plus”.

He concluded with saying “Ms.Chaavi is a hardworking teacher with zeal to learn and grow. We convey our best wishes to her”

Girl’s education

Recently with Modi Government’s initiative for Beti Bachao and Beti Padhao, there has been a series of initiatives that Ms.Chavvi took to promote the idea of equality and the right to education for a girl child. She started with a very important topic which is considered a taboo in the Indian society and not talked about openly. Periods or topics surrounding menstruation are often faced with a stare with raised eyebrows.

With ‘Ask a Pad’ campaign run by ladies group of the school which was in collaboration with Sakhi Pad Bank, run by Ms. Sunita Bhargav. Meetings were conducted with girls of junior school (class 6-8) which largely concentrated on discussing problems and distributing large amounts of pads. With a well-thought behavior, she wanted to help the middle school as she understood the problems related to the taboo and wanted to ignite a healthy discussion. Her efforts here were not only focused on a few schools but all the schools in the area.

Astitva: Ek Pehel 

This campaign focused on the mothers with a thought that girls are more closed to their mothers when it comes to sharing physical problems and this campaign aimed to discuss the problems related to periods and health checkups were conducted. Along with these campaigns, many teaching and learning activities are performed so that the students stay focused and the work ethics are also highlighted. This initiative has garnered a lot of attention because of its one of its kind thought of including mothers to promote education for the girls. The aim of the campaign therefore is to ask for the support of the mothers that will help the children in education. This was done in collaboration with Heritage Hospital.

Sports as a medium of education

“All work and no play made Jack a dull boy”, taking inspiration from this quote she made sure that Games and activities are organized at the school level and every student participates. Her efforts are focused on giving them as much exposure as possible so that they become future-ready. Two days a week, karate and martial art trainings are given to the students for their overall physical development. Swings have been established in the schools so that they are given a playtime to relax and have fun.

Helping Hands: Adding resource to School

Helping Hand is an organisation with a motto to do something for society. Therefore Ms.Chhavi approached Mr Shashank Deva, founder of Helping Hands Organization and his friend Ms Renu Paul, and managed to get some material support. They initially provided dustbins,  big thick Durries,  UPS for their computers,  fans for the classes,  a set of stationery for all the students (250),  copies, books, puzzles, games, educational games & aids, teaching aids and food items. They also donated painting /drawing related items. They provided every child with different coloured (Polo) T-shirts dividing them into houses.

Ms. Chhavi  as her name alludes to rightly, is a very helpful person and has good connectivity with the children. She is focused and thinks about the welfare of the children and school through her ideas and actions.

Her altruistic actions could not be limited to words and cannot be expressed in any form of language. We salute her work and wish that she continues to work for the betterment of the underprivileged section of the society.

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All the stories are originally designed by team Sarkari School. Strict action will be taken against plagiarism.