A priest of Pilar Fathers, whose selfless service to educate children of migrant mining workers at the Padr Agnel Seva Kendra, Khamamol, has encouraged children to join local medium schools for further studies
The emphasis of newly-elected Pope Francis that the Church’s mission is to serve the poor has been welcomed by those actively serving the poor across the world.
The pope’s personal experiences of having served the poor in his native Argentina strikes a similar chord to the untiring efforts of a priest from the Pilar Fathers, who has been educating children of migrant labourers at the Padr Agnel Seva Kendra, a non-formal school at Khamamol-Curchorem.
This little known non-formal school has almost completed 10 years and its first batch of students will appear for the SSC board exams this year through the Guardian Angel High School, Curchorem.
A mission venture of the Pilar Fathers, Fr Henry D’Souza, manager of Guardian Angel Educational Complex, dedicates his time to the migrant people, who used to work in mining-related activities at Curchorem.
His selfless work to educate children of migrant workers had a humble beginning and began on an open ground, until a family from Curchorem offered him a room to conduct classes for the migrant children.
Since the past few years, there were over 60 students regularly attending classes, but numbers have decreased in the last few months due to a halt in mining activities.
“These migrant labourers used to take their little ones along with them to their workplace, where they were unloading the ore from the wagons in the railway yard. Due to the dusty condition in the yard, the children were suffering from various illnesses like bronchitis and cough,” explains Fr D’Souza.
Keen to do something for these children, Fr D’Souza decided to start a non-formal school for these children, where he would educate them to read, write, dance, sing and give them some educational health tips, etc.
“This school also benefited the parents, as they found themselves very free to work without having to mind their children in dust and accident-prone areas,” Fr D’Souza added.
Fr D’Souza then sought the assistance of a teacher from their own community, who knew their language, and paid her an honorarium from the contribution of well-wishers.
“Although government, aided and unaided schools are present in the vicinity, these children prefer this school, since education is taught to them in their own mother tongue. They are also provided with some nourishing food,” said Fr D’Souza.
The results have been encouraging and many children, after having spent some years in this school, have joined the local Marathi, Konkani and English medium schools for further studies.
Fr D’Souza is keen to provide various curricular and extra-curricular activities to the migrant children.
“Every year, we organise various events for these students and their parents, which are normally held during the Christmas season,” says Fr D’Souza.
He is grateful to the support and donation of locals in his efforts to provide education to the poorer sections of society.
“Support and cooperation from locals has motivated me to continue this activity,” acknowledged Fr D’Souza.
