LUCKNOW: Last year in December, a government aided inter-college in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya District received a consignment of over 300 books for its library. The books were donated by a 16-year-old US based NRI, Alisha Madhuvarshi, who was born in Delhi, but now based in Houston, Texas.
The teenager spends her summer vacation giving mathematics tuition to students who find the subject difficult, and the money she raised from teaching is spent on buying books and other materials for underprivileged children of India. Back in 2020 she managed 800$ by giving virtual classes of maths, and bought sanitary pads, school bags, sports kit for inmates of an orphanage based in Polampalli village of Mancherial district, Telangana. In 2021, she donated books for Pragati Maidan (New Delhi) based Sabki Pathshala run by Nitu Singh for underprivileged children and, 2022, she managed to donate 10 chairs and close to 300 books from her earnings to Vedic Inter college Dibiyapur which is 180 km away from state capital Lucknow.
Her endeavor started after she came in contact with deputy commandant in CISF, Rakesh Nikhaj, on social media. The 2012 batch officer Rakesh who originally hails from Sonpur, Bihar has opened a library in slum area of Gopalpur Mukherjee Nagar, New Delhi and also contributed to Sabki Pathshala from his salary. Besides personal capacity, he also runs CISF programmes to educate underprivileged children.
"Alisha contacted me after going through my social media post on a mission to educate children. Since she can’t be in India on a regular basis, she buys books from her earnings, and I donate them to those children who don’t have access to good books," said Nikhaj, who is also a motivational speaker and regularly visits schools and slum areas to boost the morale of students. He also holds classes in his spare time for underprivileged children and helps them to prepare for competitive exams. Currently he is posted in Jaipur.
Speaking to TOI, Santosh Kumar Shukla, the principal of Vedic Inter college Dibiyapur said, “We are thankful to Rakesh Nikhaj and Alisha for their efforts towards educating children. The books which they donated are not only used by our school students, but also by other under-privileged kids who wish to prepare for competitive exams. After school hours, the library is open for everyone between 3-5pm.”
According to Alisha’s mother, Shama Arya who is a teacher in Texas, "From very early age Alisha has an inclination for helping the needy ones. Back in 2015 when an earthquake hit Nepal, she raised funds to provide food, clothes and medicine to affected people. Since she is good at math's and wrote a book (Number Sense Workbook) on multiple tricks that aid in performing mental calculations in the shortest possible time. The royalty she earns from the books is used in funding education of underprivileged kids in India.”
“Whenever I speak to children to whom I donate books and other stuff, it makes me realize how important education is. Often, I’m told by underprivileged kids that they need opportunities to grow, and I’m just trying to help them in their endeavor,” said Alisha, who wishes to pursue higher education in artificial intelligence. She is currently studying in 11th-grade at Texas Academy of Math and Science in Dallas and is a former TedX speaker.
