Dumka (Jharkhand), May 18: A man in Jharkhand's Dumka district is running a small school for the children of shepherd community from a small shelter to enable them become literate.

By running a free school for five years, Balmukund Yadav, who is in his thirties, has instilled hope among villagers that their children can be literate.

Yadav felt driven to educate village children after he personally faced much hardship to educate himself due to poverty. Thus, he resolved to educate other children of the area.

"I belong to a family where no one has even matriculated. Our society is backward. After seeing the hardships here, I thought it wouldn't be enough if only I am educated here. I had an option of working elsewhere but I decided that I would teach the youngsters in our society who are in dire need of education," said Balmukund Yadav, founder of school, Dumarthar.

There are presently 80 students belonging to Dumarthar and adjoining villages at this school. But the space and facilities notwithstanding, the small school is an ultimate hope for children here.

Having noticed Balmukund Yadav showing deep interest to enable village kids to read and write, villagers joined hands and raised a structure for the school. It resembles a large hut.

Located in Dumarthar Village of the district, this small school despite lacking basic facilities of any normal school, has been educating many children here.

Students as well as their parents or guardians are delighted to have a teacher who is dedicated and is eager to make the children learned.

"I did not even know the alphabets. After coming here I have learnt to read in English," said Karamveer Kumar, a student of school set up by Balmukund Yadav in Dumarthar

The first batch from the school is set take grade X exams this year.

Meanwhile, Yadav hopes that the government will provide a proper school building and a library, as these students cannot afford books on their own. (ANI)