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| Kulwant lost his school but got a class in jail | | Prisons get IT labs, inmates turning buffs | | ZAFAR CHOUDHARY
Jammu, Dec 9: A teacher of repute and proven results Kulwant Singh is now, unfortunately, in the prison but he has a reason to rejoice over and a cause to pursue. As he did in the normal life, Kulwant has a class to teach inside the four walls of prison and his students are unexpectedly receptive, bit dull yet sensitive –making the two-hour long daily affair encouraging and interesting.
In his class of 46, at district jail of Jammu, Kulwant bears a broad smile as Johail, 13, and Birbal, 58, repeat the sentences after this teacher finishes reading. The youngest and the oldest students in the class, respectively, Johail and Birbal were never to school before Director General of Prisons Dr Ashok Bhan turned this part of the jail into a school.
“I had an excellently performing private school of my own on the outskirts of Jammu City before misfortune brought me here”, says Kulwant, humble yet confident and dressed up like a typical countryside school-master. “What life is all about in jails is better left unexplained but what I missed most was my teaching”, says Kulwant as he smiles and shivers with excitement to add: “DG sahib has restored my school to me”.
Soon after Dr Bhan was deputed to the Prisons Department as Director General, he appears to have embarked on the idea of gainful human development out of the prisoners. A school for as illiterate as clean slate ‘students’ is one such project being run with no extra cost. No extra cost means the educated among the inmates are the teachers and uneducated are the students. Azhar Ahmed of Bhaderwah, an MBA, is another teacher-colleague of Kulwant in the class. The range of students come from petty criminals to the hardened ones but the chorus of repeating sentences alternately piercing into pin-drop silence exhibits the best practices of discipline. Bhan’s idea, it seems, is successful and perhaps needs to be told to Kapil Sibal as well.
This is not the only project. At a close distance, there is a computer class. Among 17 students, 12 are Higher Secondary passed and five are graduate –all in their 20s and early 30s. They are on the charges mostly most serious -302, 376 and 379 RPC to name. Reading the sections one feels little pathetic. But when Dr Bhan today launched for them a computer course, it was a different scene. This part of prison looked like an IT lab and these jail-mates as the IT geeks. “It is a surprise, it is a gift that I don’t have the words to say thanks”, says Kuldeep Chowdhary facing murder charges.
When spoken to, a cross section of them said, “we look forward to leading a life of gains and meanings once we step out…and the beginning has been made.
As an advance new year gift for the sensible jail residents, Ashok Bhan today inaugurated DOEACC Extension Centres at District Jail, Jammu Ambphalla and Central Jail, Kotbhalwal. The Extension Centres have been opened as per the MoU entered in between J&K Prisons Department and J&K State Department of Electronics Accredited Computer course (DOEACC) Centre, Government of India, University of Jammu. Similar, Extension Centre shall start functioning at Central Jail, Srinagar in the last week of this month.
Local Area Networking has already been installed in all the three Jails with five computers at each location. Computer Concept Course called as CCC is the first training programme being started in all three extension centers with 25 candidates (Prisoners) in each centre. It is expected that by the time online test is conducted in May 2010, 75 prisoners in all shall be ready for the online examination. On qualifying the same, they will get diploma from DOEACC. The programme is aimed at providing vocational training to the inmates, which will ensure employment to them after their release.
During the inauguration, other officers present were Susheel Gabotra, Joint Director, DOEACC, Dr. Mohammad Sultan Lone, Deputy Inspector General of Prisons; Javid Masood Fazili, Staff Officer to DGP Prisons, Mirza Saleem Ahmed Beig, Superintendent Central Jail Kotbhalwal Jammu, Dr. Vinod and, Superintendent District Jail Jammu and V.S. Krishnamurti, Superintendent Workshop, Mr. Rajnesh Rana, Deputy engineer, DOEACC besides enrolled prisoners and other staff of the Prison Department.
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