Changing lives of the underprivileged

Minna Zutshi

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 26

Small efforts can make a big difference. A few words of encouragement, coupled with some perseverance, can help change lives, as Sukhdhir Singh Sekhon, the founder-president of Navchetna Child Welfare Committee, discovered.

An incorrigible drifter finds a meaning in life

A migrant’s son was a habitual dropout from school. He would stop going to school on one pretext or the other. Sekhon took the child’s father into confidence. He held several informal counselling sessions with the child to encourage the latter to continue with his school education. He cajoled him, persuaded him and tried to reason out with the child, using every possible argument he could conceive of. The boy relented. Only to give up studies after a couple of years. Again, Sekhon prevailed upon him. And this continued till the boy finally cleared his Class X examination. In between, there were a few detours like the pull of the Bollywood that made the boy run away to Mumbai! However, Sekhon was not the one to give up. He continued his ‘counselling sessions’ with the boy. Eventually, the youngster who was reluctant to attend school even as a Class V student, cleared Class XII. Today, he is employed. He has every reason to thank Sekhon for his “never-give-up” attitude.

“As a teacher, I know what it takes to keep children motivated enough to continue with their studies,” says Sekhon. His motto is never to give up on any child. And he eschews ‘labels’.

Sekhon recalls the case of a minor girl from a village in Ludhiana whose parents wanted to marry her off to a 30-something man. He sought the help of woman police officials and the girl’s marriage was called off. She got a fresh opportunity to continue with her school education without any interruption. Today, Ludhiana West legislator Bharat Bhushan Ashu gave a cheque worth Rs45,000 to the Trust to help it in its work for the underprivileged children.