Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers' stir: Kids attend e-classes at protest site, with a little help from locals

TIKRI: In the past nine months since the lockdown, Jarnail Singh, a nine-year-old who studies in the fourth standard, has managed to adapt to the new normal of e-learning. Now, he is faced with another challenge. In the past week, while timings for his online classes have remained the same — 9.30am to 1pm — the venue has shifted, from his home in Faridkot to a protest site at the Delhi-Haryana border, where his parents have gathered with thousands of others. Jarnail, a student of Guru Gobind Singh International School in Faridkot, said he is ready for the long haul. “I have been attending my classes from here for the past five days. My teachers and classmates know that I am at the protest site and they have encouraged me to stay on. I am mentally prepared that we will be staying here for months, at least till the time my father gets what he has been fighting for,” said Jarnail, even as his two-year-old sister Ravi, who may be among the youngest at the site, is busy playing with her soft toy. Their mother, Jagroop Kaur, said they have been forced to move to the protest site together as a family as leaving two small children behind was not an option. “We have been staying here for around a week now and protecting the kids from the severe cold is a challenge. Earlier, going to the bathroom was difficult but now the locals have graciously allowed us to use theirs. My son is attending his classes from here and we will continue to stay here till our demands are met,” she said. Like Jarnail, Gurpreet Singh, another nine-year-old boy who hails from Fatehabad, is trying to attend as many online classes as he can. “It depends on the availability of a smartphone and whether it's charged,” he said. Gurpreet and the other children have been getting help from the local shopkeepers on Rohtak road, who are helping them charge their smartphones so that they don’t miss out on classes.

The Times of India

2020-12-04

Gurgaon