Anushree Sardar, 3, has been living in a makeshift room with her parents as their house in Gabberia village, South 24-Parganas, was demolished by Cyclone Amphan.

Sree Chakraborty, 5, of Singheshwar village, Lovely Gayen of Ramlochanpur village and Priti Halder of Siddhiberia village share a similar story.

Their parents, mostly daily labourers, are in search of work to make ends meet amidst the pandemic.

But Anushree, Sree, Lovely or Priti did not have to stop their studies, which they loved most. Their school extended a helping hand to keep their dreams alive.

Khelaghar, a community school run by an NGO, Young Men’s Welfare Society, has taken the initiative to help more than 1,700 families, including those of their students and others associated with the school, to survive during the pandemic and in the aftermath of Amphan.

“We work in 46 villages of South 24-Parganas where thousands of families lost their homes and crops to Amphan and the flood caused by the breach of embankments. Most don’t have any work because of the pandemic,” Shazia Begum, the NGO’s rural secretary, said. “We reach out to around 7,000 individuals every day as part of the relief and rehabilitation project.”

Khelaghar has branches in Raghunathpur, Joynagar and Bhagabatipur in South 24-Parganas. The three branches combined have 1,700 students.

The school has organised relief camps in these areas and distributed basic food items such as rice, pulses, wholemeal flour, potatoes and oil, and non-food essentials such as masks and sanitisers. The school has supplied people with asbestos among others that is needed to rebuild their homes.

“We have been getting dry rations regularly from the school. It’s crucial for our survival,” Sraboni Chakraborty, Sree’s mother, said.

Sree is a KG II student of Khelaghar, Bhagabatipur.

Khelaghar has cared for everyone associated with the school, be it cooks, gardeners or van-pullers. “I couldn’t earn anything because of the lockdown; my house, too, was damaged by Amphan. Khelaghar helped me with dry rations and gave me five asbestos sheets to rebuild my home,” Gopal Halder, a van-puller who used to ferry children from villages to Khelaghar before the pandemic, said.

The NGO provides pre-primary and primary education to underprivileged children aged between three and nine. “Our aim is to make the learning experience more enjoyable and relevant. A clean and bright ambience, innovative teaching-learning methods and a caring team of teachers are the most important elements of our school,” Sangeeta Mukerji, trustee of Young Men’s Welfare Society, said.

The NGO turns 50 this year.

Khelaghar has ensured that the kids continue with their studies. Teachers have been sending tutorial videos to parents or those with smartphones so that the kids can go through the videos. If students do not have access to smartphones, teachers assign them homework in exercise books through their parents. “My daughter is getting restless as she is unable to go to Khelaghar. Thanks to the tutorial videos sent by the school, she can at least continue with her studies,” Mallika Gayen, Lovely’s mother, said.

Lovely is a Class III student of the school.

Anushree, Sree, Lovely, and Priti — all are desperate to return to Khelaghar, the place they love to be at.

“I want to go to school. I like the ambience, the teachers and everything about our school,” Priti, a Class III student, said.