For many years it has been the custom that applications for the admission of students to Kishor Nagar for the next school year are received on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of March. This year also we had fixed these three days for receiving applications and interviewing children and their guardians. By word of mouth the news had spread to far away villages.
Lining up for obtaining an admission form
Even though it was a cold and rainy day, some guardians arrived in Kishor already on the previous night, i.e. on 28th February 2014. In three days we received 830 applications while we can only accommodate about 90 candidates. People lined up from early morning till evening. There were three counters where our senior boys noted down the required information from the guardians and filled up the admission form. After completing the form, the guardians with their wards were sent to the Director or the Assistant Director for a short interview.
Senior boys obtain the required information and fill up the forms
Waiting in line for the interview
Among the applicants there are several orphan children, brought here by relatives or neighbours. The largest number of applications are from families with only one parent; either the mother has died or the father has died. A mother, who is alone, has to go out for work so as to earn a living and the education of the children suffers. Then there also cases of families, where both the parents go out for seasonal work (from December till June) in the brick kilns in Bihar or other places. Some of them take their children along while others leave them in the village under the care of the grandparents, who are too old to look after them. There are also cases of broken families: the husband has gone out of the village in search of work, finds another woman and does not come back. Another problem is that father of the family becomes addicted to alcoholic drinks and does not take care of the cultivation of the fields. As a result the family gets into a debt trap and has to mortgage the land in order to pay back loans. The mother is left alone to struggle for educating the children and fight for survival.
Fr. Walter interviewing a mother and her child
Now we are facing the difficult task of making a careful selection of the neediest boys. Even though we have personally interviewed each and every guardian, it is not at all easy to make a judicious choice.