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Empowerment | Touched by sight of barefoot schoolkids, Jalore collector takes up cause -Ashish Mehta

Touched by sight of barefoot schoolkids, Jalore collector takes up cause -Ashish Mehta

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published Published on Jan 21, 2016   modified Modified on Jan 21, 2016
-The Times of India

JAIPUR: Moved by the sight of some students coming to school barefoot in the chilly December weather, Jalore collector Jitendra Kumar Soni, a young IAS officer, started an innovative scheme aimed at providing free shoes to downtrodden and deprived children.

Christened as 'Charan Paduka Yojna', the scheme aims at distributing shoes to nearly 25,000 school kids before the Republic Day this year.

Soni, who hails from Dhanasar village near Rawatsar in Hanumangarh, comes from a very humble background. His father is a watchmaker who worked hard to provide better education to two of his sons. "I also attended a government school and know the hard work my father had put in to get me educated. I always wore clothes stitched by a tailor and never visited a big city," he said while talking to TOI.

On the scheme, the 2010 batch IAS officer said, "During mid-December last year, when I was on a visit to a school, I had tears in my eyes when I saw three students coming to the school without shoes in the shivering cold. Teachers of the government school told me that these children are very poor and their parents can't afford even their books," he added. Soni took them to the market and bought shoes for them.

"This incident triggered the launch of the scheme. I told the school authorities of 274 gram panchayats and three nagar palikas in my district to give me a detailed report on how many students come without shoes. As normal, non-branded school shoes cost just between Rs 200 and Rs 300, I thought people would help me if I ask them for support," Jitendra added.

After a survey of various schools it was found that nearly 10 kids in each of the 2,500 schools were coming barefoot. "From the first week of January, we launched the scheme with the help of donors. I have asked authorities to ensure that all these 25,000 kids get a pair of shoes on or before Republic Day," he said.

He said this initiative will not be confined to this Republic Day alone. "We have decided that for winters, we will provide shoes on or before Republic Day and for summers, we will give them on or before Independence Day," he added.

Soni praised the people who came to his office everyday with donations. "This has become people's scheme and I am just playing the role of a facilitator to ensure poor students of my district get shoes," he added.

The campaign has gained further momentum in the district. "Some of the teachers are touched by our initiative and they have agreed to take care of the barefoot children in their schools."
 
The Times of India, 19 January, 2016, please click here to access

The Times of India, 19 January, 2016, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Touched-by-sight-of-barefoot-schoolkids-Jalore-collector-takes-up-cause/articleshow/50634402.cms?from=mdr


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