Suresh: A Story of Perseverance

- Nomita (Curriculum Support and Facilitator)

When we approach a child, who is as skittish as a young doe, unable to stay long enough to listen, afraid to make eye contact, and avoids all communication; we know we have work to do. Suresh (name changed) is a Nepali child who did not know Kannada, or even enough Hindi to communicate with anyone. He was trying in his own child-like ways to manage the system; determined that he come out a winner.

The spirit in him is what we found endearing. With patience and love he gained trust - fearful as he was of the unknown.  We saw him engage with other children often frustrated in his inability to communicate. Gradually they began to understand each other. His keen mathematical mind and ability to keep stock of play equipment, using symbols, made him the go-to person before playtime. He was clearly the leader for his playmates in this space. 

"I am a winner!"

In Kannada and English classes, he consumed pictures, cards, and stories, keen to connect to something - in fact, anything. His eyes would brighten up and he would shout out names of anything that came from ‘his world’. We prompted him, gave him the vocabulary in Hindi, Kannada or English; or asked him to draw or explain what he could. He built his connections slowly and surely and with blinkers on he galloped forward. Within one year he was mainstreamed to Grade 3 in our host government school. Such was his energy and confidence that the school teachers soon found him reading age-appropriate level Grade 4 texts (in Kannada) and engaging in the class confidently; they made a case for his attendance in grade 4. 

While at Gubbachi, our savings initiative for children saw him save successfully towards buying himself a second hand bicycle. Where he would have indulged in chips and biscuits he bought himself a means to ride to school. 

Today Suresh is in Grade 4, in our host school; while his younger brother, 4-year-old Sejan (name changed) attends the ECCE Center at Gubbachi. Both children have been mainstreamed successfully and the parents support their education completely. Suresh has now saved money to buy himself a Snakes and Ladders and Ludo set – games he loves playing. Financial literacy too has sowed its roots in this young mind.