Krishna Jha: The Story of determination

Krishna Jha: The Story of determination

Poverty is known to negatively affect school readiness of children. School readiness reflects a child’s ability to succeed academically and socially in a school environment. Strong, secure households help stabilize children’s behavior and provide the core guidance needed to build a child’s mind and personality. Families facing economic hardships are often characterized by heightened anxiety, depression and irritability, which is not conducive to a child’s holistic development. This leads to children being less inclined towards education and results in an increased percentage of school dropouts.

However, defying these statistical norms is Krishna Jha. Living in a small slum community near the Marol pipeline, Krishna’s father, a security guard by profession, tried to bring up his family of 5 with as much integrity as possible. When his monthly income of Rs. 9000 seemed inadequate to run the household or pay for his children’s education, Mr. Jha worked overtime to provide for it. As the eldest child of the family, Krishna at times tried to supplement the family income by repairing computers and household appliances, enjoying and absorbing the knowledge of electronics that this task gave.

This arrangement seemed to work up until Krishna completed high school. A technological enthusiast at heart, Krishna had his ambitious mind set upon studying computers closely. The course he selected to pursue this aspiration, however, came at a cost that his father’s paycheck couldn’t cover. This time, even his father’s overtime duties couldn’t help him out in coming up with the necessary amount to pay his course fees. Feeling dejected, Krishna started looking for alternate courses that could feed his passion for computers and technology.

While this was happening, Krishna found out about a mobilization drive that was taking place near his residential area, undertaken by Mumbai Smiles. A gathering had been called for students living in that community by the field coordinators of Future Smiles, an education project of Mumbai Smiles. It was here that Krishna found out that he needn’t give up on his dream just yet; there was a way to salvage it. After filling out the necessary forms for the scholarship program, Krishna and his family spent the next couple of weeks in anxious anticipation, waiting for a reply from us.

After extensively studying all the applications, the Future Smiles team shortlisted Krishna as one of the candidates deemed worthy of the scholarship. With his fervor to study, Krishna had impressed and inspired us. His joy knew no bounds when he was informed about his scholarship, and realized that he didn’t have to compromise on his educational aspiration. Krishna was granted funds to start his degree in computer application, and he routinely updated us with his exemplary academic progress.

Krishna has now completed his BCA (Bachelors of Computer Application), and plans to work for a year along with preparing for the entrance exams to do his masters in the same field. He wants to ensure that both his younger sisters never have to undergo the anxiety that he went through before he was associated with Mumbai Smiles. He thinks that being financially stress-free in terms of educational fees can bring about a significant boost in a student’s academic performance and confidence, which he experienced himself. He credits Mumbai Smiles for rescuing his goals from the misfortune of poverty, and helping him on his path to success.