Class-VIII student activism helps repair broken road

LUCKNOW: The Mulayamnagar road in Ismailganj ward is no longer potholed. The narrow road, running into the Faizabad road is now also free from garbage piles and open drains. One can see a footpath along this road and saplings planted on the sides. In addition, there are adequate street lights too. All thanks to 10 students of Doon Valley School—affiliated to Uttar Pradesh board—who influenced the policy makers in getting the Mulayamnagar road, leading to their school, laid out again.

Having convinced the local leaders and municipal officers, the students, all from class VIII, said the road was bad and posed a threat to the life and limbs of commuters, especially students. “In rainy season, the road is totally waterlogged as it is in the low lying area and with all the potholes, the road was just a broken strip of grass. Also, there were posters on the boundary walls,’’ said the team. The students also persuaded local police to patrol the stretch during school hours for safety of students and to prevent eve-teasing.

In April, students volunteered to participate in a programme held by Bangalore-based advocacy group

Bala Janagraha

. Around 40,000 students from 536 schools across 25 cities in the country are participating in this project. The Lucknow team won the North zone prize in a contest that took place in Delhi on Friday. In the North zone, schools from Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Chandigarh, Kanpur, Ludhiana, Dehradun, Delhi and Lucknow took part. The Lucknow team will now compete with the zonal winners in Bangalore on February 11.

The team of seven boys Divyansh Rawat, Vishal Singh, Sohrab Khan, Faizan Khan, Ashutosh Maurya, Ishu Pathak, Rishabh Vishwakarma and three girls Unaima Khan, Khushi Singh and Riya Verma undertook the project in April. “We went around the locality to speak to families of residents. We asked their civic problems and started meeting the officials concerned to do the needful. Soon, the local councilor took it up and got the road repaired. Even local residents contributed to cover the open drains,’’ said Unaima.

School principal Beena Jain said, “The project aims to transform every student of today into active citizens of tomorrow. Covering a bigger sphere, this civic project included students to look at issues ranging from pollution, community policing, RTE, civic authorities. Our students took up the issue consistently and became the agents of change.’’