In a country like India where the population is growing rapidly, the growth in education is a mismatch. Due to severe poverty, we are facing a huge number of primary school dropouts today. In government schools, there is no provision for basic facilities like classrooms, toilets, drinking water, playgrounds, etc. According to a study, more than 30 per cent of educational funds are granted towards higher education. For this reason, primary section faces a lot of difficulties for improvements.

Seeing this scenario and feeling the need of the children, a Class X student of Pathways School, Gurugram, Tushar Mehrotra took an initiative with a vision of inculcating reading habits amongst underprivileged students. He started this initiative to change the destiny of these children and thus founded “Foundation for Future”. His vision was to encourage reading habits and get them acquainted with basics of English.

The foundation teaches the children basic English through reading books. He started this journey by using his pocket money to install drinking water facilities, collected money from cloud sourcing platform and fixed fans in the school. Mehrotra talks about how he manages his own classes and his future plans. Excerpts from an interview:

Q. You have been a brave soul in starting such a foundation. Can you share how it works?

Foundation for Future, is a completely non-profit organisation, and has been kept on a small scale, wherein with assistance from my parents, I take all the actions. We started out with a drive where we collected money through an online fundraiser and also donation boxes around the area to fund the school, with some basic necessities. With the money that we collected at first, we were able to aid the school with six brand new functioning fans, to escape the heat of the summer.

After that we had conducted a book collection drive where I posted on groups, spoke to people, and got books from people around the area helping me with idea of the library. Currently, after another donation drive, I am able to fund the school with notebooks, as well as a water purifier. I am in direct contact with the caretaker of the government school; therefore after taking his needs for the school and students into consideration, I am able to plan my next activity.

Q. What is the age group of these children and which school do they come from?

This school in Suncity township sector 54 is a primary government school and therefore ranges from nursery grade to 5th grade having around 150 students.

Q. Being in Class X — is it not difficult to manage classes and school as this is supposed to be a crucial period in one’s career.

I do have a lot of responsibility and pressure on my shoulders, but just like any other sport or activity other kids might take up, I have embarked on a journey to help our underprivileged neighbour students in being better learners. Moreover, I believe consuming three to four hours in a month as a start to give back to the community, would not harm holistically after all! Moreover, this foundation teaches me many skills such as time-management, and collaboration, and many more, in turn helping me in school.

Q. How do you plan to expand the foundation in the near future?

For the next year or so I am planning to work in the same mode, and help these 150 students flourish. With that I will be able to learn a lot through what I am doing, and so once I do go school to school, I will be more organised and planned. “Foundation for Future” is only driven by one idea of life, and it is to provide opportunity, by educating.

Q. Are you planning to approach the government for any assistance?

At this stage, and stages coming up, I don’t believe I will need any assistance from the government.

I wish to keep the organisation functioning, yet small scale. Moreover, with the advancements in technology lately, one can be more functional than the government by using online platforms like crowd funding, etc.