Om Prakash, despite all the odds in life, never gave up. He worked really hard for his NGO and made a life of himself which truly sets an example for those who are born lesser.

Om Prakash is serving in the capacity of the Executive Secretary of a twenty-year-old NGO by the name, CULP- Centre for Unfolding Learning Potentials. CULP primarily works in the field of providing education to children who are not able to attend school. It runs innovative programmes to educate children from marginalised communities and bring them to the mainstream.

Om Prakash was born in a very small village. He was born in a farmer’s family. Both his parents were illiterate. He completed his primary education in his village itself. For his further school education, he would walk to a school 10 km from his village everyday.

Talking about his childhood, Om Prakash says that his childhood was full of hardships.. His father had a small land to cultivate and would earn just enough for the survival of the family. There were eight siblings in the family. Besides his studies he would help his parents in their agrarian work, herd the cattle, and take care of his siblings. There was no electricity in his village and it was mainly a deserted area.

Om Prakash, despite all the hardships, worked very hard and passed with a First Division  his 10th and 11th senior secondary exams. Later his father sent him to a university. Being a good student, he received a scholarship and with this scholarship and some financial support from his father he completed his college education. Later when his elder brother started working, he too supported Om Prakash financially. Om Prakash’s father always motivated him to be the most educated person in his entire village and with this motivation, he completed his PhD. in Botany.

After completing his PhD, for a brief period Om Prakash struggled as he was searching for a job and his family was also facing some financial crunch at their end. Sometimes, he had to go to bed empty stomach. But soon, he got a teaching job at a university and things started to change for the better at his end. Later he came in contact with the then Education Secretary Anil Godiya who inspired him to come in the social development sector and work for elementary education. He constituted a professional group and named it Sandhan and served as a senior founding faculty there. He worked there for sixteen years and assisted the government in its various programmes for education. In 2001, with an aim to work on the grassroot level, he along with his group members formed a separate organisation by the name CULP. And since then he has been heading CULP as the Chief Functionary and Executive Secretary.

Om Prakash shares that in 1987, a survey was done and it was found that in Jaipur rural, more than fifty percent of girls were out of school. Later when he also did his survey he found that more than one lac girls were not attending school. With an aim to educate such girls, he started a project named Pehchan.

Om Prakash says that during Covid he had to suspend all the organisational activities at once. He advised his staff to take care of themselves and follow the Covid protocols. He started conducting online meetings. He, along with his volunteers, provided ration to the  needy in different cities of Rajasthan by collaborating with the administrations there. Later when situations normalised a bit, he started his learning centres again and provided education to the girls in groups of five by adhering to the Covid protocols.

Talking about his achievements, Om Prakash says that he was able to educate girls who could never go to school. Many of these girls were married off at an early age and post their weddings, they studied and completed their graduations and post graduations. Besides, he was also appreciated and felicitated by many national and international organisations for his work. These are a few of his achievements.

Om Prakash believes in leading a disciplined life. He shares his three indicators to decide on a good life, working wholeheartedly, eating good food and having a good sleep. Besides, he stresses the importance of working in a team.

Om Prakash advises that we should never feel that we’re doing a favour to people by working for them. He also adds that we work for ourselves and not for others and if we work with a sense of doing a favour to others, it never fructifies.

During his free time, Om Prakash listens to Lataji and Rafi Saheb’s songs. Besides, he also likes to teach science experiments to kids and sing rhymes with them.