‘I too was a small boy…’ Once upon a time, he used to work as a laborer at a dhaba, but today he is handing over books to thousands of children.

In his childhood, at the age when children should have books in their hands, Ricky was working at Raj Dhaba. Poverty and compulsions forced him to do child labour, but he made his struggle his strength. Today the same Ricky is working to connect thousands of needy children with education and is not handing over wages but books to them. His story is an example of the fact that even difficult circumstances cannot stop big dreams.

This is the story of Ricky Raj, who is the founder of ‘Chhotu Foundation’ and through his efforts is providing education to needy children across the country. The childhood of Rikki Raj, resident of Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, was spent in a lot of struggles. The family was struggling with financial crisis. The father worked as a laborer and the family lived in a slum. Due to poor financial condition of the family, Ricky also had to work at a young age. He worked at a dhaba and experienced the difficulties of labor in his childhood itself. Ricky tells that while working, the question often arose in his mind as to why he had to work as a child.

Amidst the struggles he completed his studies from a government school. His childhood experiences created a resolve in his mind that when he grows up, he will work for those children who are forced to do child labour. With this thinking in mind, he started ‘Chhotu Foundation’ in the year 2018.

Today, through Chhotu Foundation, thousands of children are being given education through ‘Chhotu Ki Pathshala’. The organization is not limited to education only, but also provides the necessary items to the poor and needy children. Ricky believes that no child should feel inferior to others just because of poverty.

Ricky says that earlier his dream was to become a journalist, but the circumstances were different. However, today he is happy that he is working to bring a change in the lives of children. He says that his aim is to educate the children so much that they can stand on their own feet. Even if all the children do not become big officers, they must study enough to be able to take their own decisions and live a respectable life.

He says that many children who have graduated from Chhotu Foundation have become self-reliant today and are doing good work in various fields. Their aim is that these children should become responsible and good citizens of the country after getting education.

Rikki Raj told that Chhotu’s school was started from Firozabad, but today this initiative has reached many states of the country. Smiling, he said that many times children have to be given food items or small gifts to bring them to school. He believes that if children get involved in education on this pretext then this effort is worthwhile.

Social media has also become a major basis for the success of Chhotu Foundation. Lakhs of people are connected on the social media platforms of Chhotu Foundation. More than 15 lakh people follow the organization on Facebook alone. Ricky says that he gets the most support through social media, with the help of which he is able to reach more and more children.