..A Promise Of Hope
A PROMISE OF HOPE

About a kilometre-and-half from Liluah station, just 10 minutes of train travel from Howrah, within the high boundary walls of the Don Bosco Self-Employment Research Institute at Mirpara, lie four acres of salvation for hundreds of school drop-outs. Started of in 1978 on hired premises by Brother T.V. Mathew (SDB), whose connection to Bengal goes back to 1957 when he came to study in Bandel, the institute shifted to this location in 1990 to keep up with growing numbers of students.
The institute imparts a year-long technical training-recognised by the Ministry of Human Resource Development - in 15 non-formal income-generating vocations to nearly 250 students, free. The training enables students to learn skills that will help them earn an honest living, despite having dropped out of formal schools at various stages. Sixty-five per cent of the seats, however, are reserved for women, aged 15 years and above.

On entering the premises, one is usually greeted by a cacophony of sounds emanating from the engineering section, where a number of young boys and girls are in the process of learning the basics in refrigeration and air-
conditioning, welding and fabrication, electric wiring and machine shop work. The put their skills to practice on machines that Telco gave away to the Institute free of cost, instead of scrapping them. Hindusthan Motors, too has been very supportive to this unit, placing substantial orders with this section, directly or through agents. Unfortunately, much of the help has been undone because the cash strapped company hasn?t been able to clear its dues, amounting to Rs. 29 lakhs, to the unit.

The other problem this section suffers from is the lack of orders from other manufacturers due to the non-registration of the unit under Small Scale Industry, as is necessary with Ordinance Factory Board, for instance.

The largest section of students are, however, housed in an adjoining building where they are given hands-on training in such diverse trades as carpentry, tailoring, embroidery, kantha-stitching, knitting and making a variety of jute products. Expectedly, a majority of the students are women, mostly young girls. Though the last one, sponsored jointly by UNDP and National Council for Jute Development, is open only to housewives. Among the other skills taught here are TV and radio repair, computer training for the physically-handicapped and clock and watch repairing.

A recent addition has been food processing. As the sole distributor for TTKs Yummies (Fryums of yore), students have learned to fry pellets, make masala salt and pack them. Though the unit is capable of producing 10,000 daily, just 40 per cent of that capacity is in use, admittedly, for want of good marketing effort. However, the planned launch of Jhin Chak & O Rings, two other products from the same stable, is expected to give the necessary impetus.

In most cases, the students get the opportunity to start earning right after first six months of training. The institute helps them set out on their own by providing or arranging the initial start-up capital. The students pay back the loan by earmarking 25 per cent of earnings for the institute, 40 per cent to themselves. Given that students tend to make around Rs.2,500 a month at the institute and almost double that working outside, the process has proved its success.

The only formal course this place offers is Building Construction Technician training, offered both to both boys and girls who have passed class 10. Affiliated to ICSE Board, this is a three year course and the only one where a fee is charged, though it's very nominal and only to offset some miscellaneous expenses. But it is a tough course, and not all manage to see it through.

A daily literacy program for the students, Sunday coaching classes for 1,500 underprivileged children, Boy Scout and Girl Guide programs for children of the locality and music and dance classes for 100 poor children (under Bangiya Sahitya Parishad and Rabindra Bharati University) are some of the other initiatives of the institute.
The campus houses a 40 bed hostel for students, complete with a basketball court, and an initial training centre for staff of Salesian Society. An interesting feature here is an indigenous bio-gas plant that is connected to a toilet used daily by a 100 boys. The gas is used in cooking, lighting lamps, and even welding and cutting metal. It has been suggested that this system, with some modifications, be replicated in the concrete toilets that CMC construct in slums, to ensure a smooth refuse disposal system as well as lighting.

At present, the institute is constructing a large, five storied building on its premises - it's nearly complete that will house not only proper administrative offices, conference and state-of-art teaching facilities and larger hostel for boys, but also provide for another 250 trainees and 15 more market-oriented skills such as fish farming (using pond besides), medical lab technician and CAD-CAM training.

The state government has promised 1.5 acres of adjacent land to build a girls' hostel and request for the land to be provided free of cost has already been made. A German donor agency, Misereor, has agreed to pay for cost of the building, in addition to the Rs.1.5 crores already granted for the ongoing construction. Other big donors funding this expansion are IDBI (Rs. 46 lakhs), ICICI (Rs. 30 lakhs) and Reliance (Rs. 5 lakhs).

Expectedly, organising funds for the recurring expenses of the centre is the biggest headache for Br. Mathew. Specially now that the scale of operations is expected to double. Prolonged litigation on leasehold rights over the land have also been a drain. And it is still quite unclear what is to happen once the residual lease on land runs out in another 10 year's time.

One man's vision and initiative has, over the years, successfully managed to bring hope to lives of many who would otherwise have been left out of the social mainstream. It is important therefore, to ensure that this promise of hope is kept alive. And that can only happen if we, too, support this noble effort to empower the weakest section of society in every way we can.

Reported in THE STATESMAN
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