World should follow Kolkata in teaching slum children: Hamilton

The international sportsman met children of St James School who teach underprivileged children from nearby slums.

Under the project by international NGO Save The Children,students from privileged backgrounds take on the role of teachers and mentors of street children in bridge course process before they are mainstreamed into the formal education system. In this way,more than a thousand children living in the streets and in slums have been educated.

Hamilton also went to brick kilns in Barasat area on the outskirts of the city where he played with the children and also tried his hand at making bricks.

“I love children. They are the future. So I am here to help them as millions and millions of children don’t get opportunities,” he told reporters.

“Today I saw it first hand. They have so many dreams. Someone wants to be a doctor,policeman…The world in which I live is so different from what I see here,” he said.

Asked as to why he chose to visit the slums of Kolkata,he said the issue here is serious enough.

On what memories would he take back from Kolkata,he said the energy of the children would linger in his mind. “They are full of dreams. I told them that you have a bright future ahead,” said the sportsman.