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| Confident and spirited, Kiran Kumari, 21, works as a police officer in Bhagalpur, a small town in Jharkhand, India. As self-assured as she is today, getting to this place in life was far from a given. Her parents, construction workers in Bihar with three other children to support, did not have the means to help her financially. | | In a world where everyone is only interested in commercial gain, he works for the underprivileged who have no means but want to get ahead in life. - Kiran Kumari  | | “After finishing the 10th grade, I heard about free coaching classes in my village offered by someone who charged only 18 tree saplings in lieu of fees, which my family couldn’t have afforded,” said Kumari. Like all students who attend coaching, she was able to do so side-by-side with her last two years of high school. “Thanks to Suman Sir, I could take classes for the competitive exam for entrance to the police, and pass.” For Kumari, Suman was a lifesaver, offering a path that would otherwise have been closed to her. “He is like a god to me. In a world where everyone is only interested in commercial gain, he works for the underprivileged who have no means but want to get ahead in life.” Because of the support and guidance Kumari received from the instructors teaching Suman’s coaching classes, she said she is now “able to support her family and dream of a better future.” In India, government services — like the police force — all have separate entrance exams that are hard to crack. Top coaching centers that prepare students for these competitive exams often charge exorbitant fees that underprivileged students simply can’t afford. Since 2008, Rajesh Kumar Suman, 33 — known locally as the Oxygen Man or Tree Man — has run a unique coaching center called the BSS Club in Dharha, a small village along the Burhi Gandak River in the Samastipur district of eastern India. Suman offers coaching to impoverished students whose parents — mostly farmers, rickshaw drivers or daily wage laborers — can’t afford the fees for this crucial training. In his unique model, Suman does not charge any fees for coaching at his center, which employs a staff of qualified volunteers who provide aspirants with both instruction and study materials. Instead, he asks for compensation of 18 tree saplings from each student, which they can plant on their own farmland or, if they don’t have land of their own, on neighborhood or government land. |
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| Suman’s motive for the free training? “I wanted to make a difference in the lives of local children and families,” he said. “In this remote district, most girls are not educated beyond high school, as they will be married off.” In a rural area where girls are often expected to stay home to do domestic chores — and where child marriage is rampant — Suman’s work is not taken for granted. “Along with some like-minded friends, we wanted to make a difference; make these girls and boys self-reliant and empower girls to take up jobs,” he emphasized. He founded his training center with twin objectives: to help provide young people with few prospects a way to advance in life while at the same time increasing tree cover in the region. | | Along with some like-minded friends, we wanted to make a difference; make these girls and boys self-reliant and empower girls to take up jobs. - Rajesh Kumar Suman |
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| Suman, who hails from a modest farmer’s family, has been planting trees with his father since he was young. “As the eldest son, there is a belief in my village that if I plant a tree it will grow faster, and I have always been encouraged to garden and propagate greenery,” he explained. “We always gifted saplings to others on occasions like birthdays or weddings. I want the students to understand the importance of conservation and get them involved.” | | I ask parents with daughters to plant the saplings outside their homes and other homes in the village with daughters, so they remind them of their daughters after they are married and gone. - Rajesh Kumar Suman | | Suman chose the number 18 to charge as compensation after reading a report stating that one person inhales as much oxygen throughout their life as 18 plants generate. The trees are then planted in various places around the region. “I ask parents with daughters to plant the saplings outside their homes and other homes in the village with daughters, so they remind them of their daughters after they are married and gone.” Most of the saplings are fruit-bearing, with an abundance of mango trees. |
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| All of the teachers who coach at the center have other paid jobs and volunteer here for a couple of hours in the morning or evening to assist the poor. Suman has an income from farming to sustain himself. Many former students also volunteer at the center to give back something they benefited from. At first, it wasn’t easy for Suman to gain a foothold, as the villagers thought he was bananas. They questioned his motives, boycotted him and barred him from social events and feasts. | | Many former students also volunteer at the center to give back. | | “But now they invite me as a chief guest for functions and respect what I’m trying to do for the village,” he said. |
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| The coaching center has changed the destinies of dozens of underprivileged students from nearby villages. Many of his students have passed exams and gone on to become officers in the Bihar Police. More than 40% of his students are female and his coaching class has empowered a generation of young women, who are now in a position to support their own families. | | The coaching center has changed the destinies of dozens of underprivileged students from nearby villages. | | Ruby Kumari, 30, comes from the tiny village of Mirajapur, Bihar, where her parents are farmers with limited resources. Although she was married in 2011, she continued her education and earned a teaching degree. She explains: “But my heart was not in teaching, I was interested in a government job and in improving my life as well as the lives of the other villagers. When I heard about Suman Sir’s coaching classes I wanted to join in and sit for the competitive exams for government services. Though many people in the village were skeptical initially that he was only accepting saplings instead of fees, slowly respect for his efforts grew, as students passed the exam and got good jobs.” Today, Kumari is being trained for the Bihar Police as a sub-inspector. “The last time I visited my village, I discovered that each coaching class now has as many as 300 people. It is a genuine effort to improve underprivileged people’s lives and gives me a lot of hope for the future,” she said. |
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| Along with changing lives, Suman’s project has altered landscapes. The institute has so far taught more than 10,000 young people, many of whom have gone on to government jobs and even the private sector. This enrollment has translated into more than 160,000 saplings being collected from students since the project began in 2008. These have been planted in Samastipur, Darbhanga, Begusarai and other districts of North Bihar, where many trees have been felled to make way for roads and farmland, and where pollution and heat waves are worsening. | | Along with changing lives, Suman’s project has altered landscapes. | | On Sundays, when the school is closed, Suman travels to neighboring villages to educate people about the need for conservation and to encourage them to plant more trees. He also conducts green yatras (journeys) in Delhi and across the states of Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh to raise awareness about environmental conservation. The maverick farmer straps a water canister around his back and an oxygen mask to his face to drive home to people how climate change affects their lives, and how they can make a difference by planting trees. “Many of my students are planting trees wherever they are, and taking my message forward. Many have improved their lives thanks to the classes. Nothing can give me more joy than seeing this progress,” said Suman. |
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Can you envision a way to positively impact your community and the climate at the same time? | | |
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