Sanju Kamble teaches in a Government school, and simultaneously devotes a lot of his time in giving back to society in other ways too. He hails from Solapur district, and like many parts of India, it is common for people to be discriminated against based on their caste. Understanding that the school-going age is when children develop and strengthen discriminatory attitudes, he established the ‘Rashtriya Bahuuddeshiya Samaj Savi Sanstha’ to address this issue in Solapur district. He believes that protesting atrocities and getting violent with perpetrators of assault is not a sustainable answer.
Sanju Kamble was introduced to Manuski by other Dalit rights activists and social workers in 2011. He has continued to participate in various programs organised by Manuski all over Maharashtra. His organisation has become a prominent member of Manuski’s NGO’s Network of over 50 Human Rights Organisations in Maharashtra. His association with Manuski has greatly motivated and inspired him to work on the issue of manual scavenging, and consequently he has began developing awareness on the liberation of manual scavenging amongst his community. His organisation also addresses caste-based atrocities, and awareness programs amongst SCs and STs about SCSP-TSP Budgets. Kamble has taken part in Manuski’s Capacity Building Program for NGO leaders and social workers and attended training programs in the Right to Information Act, thereby gaining knowledge on how to address issues relating to discriminated communities and making the system accountable. By attending training programs that specialise in the smooth running of organisations at Manuski, he has also gained expertise in technical aspects.
As a teacher, he has focused on educating children from marginalised communities and works on the implementation of Human Rights mechanisms in the educational system by developing his own awareness program for school children on discrimination and violence and its impact on SCs and STs. He believes in extending quality education to Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribe communities. He found that students belonging to these communities lag far behind other students, particularly in subjects like Mathematics, English & Science. He conducts private classes in these subjects to improve the educational level of SC and ST students. He has also formulated a module of “Prevention of Atrocities Act” to teach and create awareness amongst the school students about the bad impact of caste based discrimination.
He says, “I always gain tremendous inspiration, energy and spirit to work with new dimensions on social problems in our society and Manuski’s work has fulfilled my own ambitions on tackling issues like discrimination, atrocities in democratic and strategic manner”.
