Paul Goldring, 51, is a teaching assistant at Concord College, and has forged links with two Indian schools following a long-time interest in the country and summers spent teaching there.
One of the schools – a government institution in a slum area in Haryana between Delhi and the Punjab – is according to Paul ‘literally built on a rubbish tip’. The other – he describes as a ‘fantastic’ place with motivated teachers – is in Kalimpong near Jaising in West Bengal.
Paul Goldring.
Both schools teach five to 14-year-olds and Paul has decided to support the two centres by returning each summer to teach youngsters. He also collected several hundred pounds at Concord College’s recent Christmas fair which will be added to other funds raised by Concord students and will then be sent over to fund vital equipment including computers.
Paul’s interest in India began when he travelled there extensively after university. His career path took him into the textiles industry and every few months he would travel to India overseeing production.
“That was when I decided I would help children in the areas of India where I worked,” he said.
“A business partner and I started helping children in Haryana which lies between Delhi and Pakistan. I also sponsored two children, Anya and Sanu, who were seven at the time, in Tamil Nadu in the south.
“I saw them grow up and knew what was going on and therefore I helped their father financially. Because I regularly visited India I wanted to help and felt I could do so with more than money.”
On his visits to Tamil Nadu, a small textile town, Paul said he would spend time at the local primary school where the native tongue was Hindi.
He returned to live in the UK from Asia three years ago but has returned to India several times.
“Every summer I have been back to India on holiday visiting people I knew when I was over there. I have been to the school in Haryana twice in the last two years. I bought them a new water tank, plates to eat off and blackboards. On my first visit two years ago I spent a couple of weeks in the school as well as visiting friends.
“When I return to Haryana this coming summer I will spend a month in the school teaching the whole time. The other school I shall visit for a month is in Kalimpong near Darjeeling where I shall teach many subjects, from English to Indian history and IT to geography.” He said some of the pupils have to walk 90 minutes to get to school in the mountainous region and he wants to make life a little easier at school for them.
“They need a generator which I will buy for them when I am out there. Three or four of the children are short sighted so I shall take them to Darjeeling to have their eyes tested. I will buy them glasses which will be kept in school.”
He said life in the schools really has to be seen to be believed and because of the ‘shocking poverty’ people need all the help they can get.
“The children in India are very deserving – I defy anyone to look at the faces of the kids and not feel a warmth and wanting to offer them protection. I also feel a sense of social responsibility,” he said.
“I came across a family of 13 living in one room. The mother died, so the eldest daughter aged 12 had to take her place.
“In this country we don’t appreciate just how lucky we are,” he added.
by Anna Williams