meerut in 1999 anupam and jyoti sharma both in their twenties took an unusual decision the two sisters unlike most of their peers decided that they would not get married and will devote their time and energy towards the betterment of underprivileged children after a brief thought the two began teaching children from poor families and today the sisters are proud to be running a school of their own with strength of about 100 students i started teaching at raja ram memorial school a local educational institution in late 90s when i realized that there were several students there who were from economically backward backgrounds and could not afford stationary and study material i brought a few of them home for free tuitions they started doing well in academics but i always feared that a majority of them would soon have to dropout as their parents didnt have resources to continue their education says anupam with time the number of students coming to anupams house increased and her younger sister jyoti too began teaching gradually we became so engrossed with these children that we could think of nothing but them recalls jyoti who was just 20 years old then throughout the day we found ourselves discussing about the progress of each and every child who was coming to us in 1999 anupam a postgraduate in english literature left teaching at school and started an educational institution at her home today anupam jyoti vidyapeeth is nothing short of a blessing for underprivileged children in the city by then marriage proposals had started coming we had an option and we chose to dedicate our lives to the welfare of these children our parents were shocked to hear this and used all kinds of pressure tactics to get us married but we were determined not to relent says jyoti i realise that i really pressurised them at that point of time i even sent them for counselling one day during a heated argument they threatened to end their lives if i forced them any further i didnt raise the issue again says jp sharma father of the two however pressure for marriage wasnt the only problem staring at anupam and jyoti initially parents were reluctant in sending their children to our school they didnt even have money to pay monthly fees of rs 25 let alone buying books and stationary for their kids with no source of alternate income we had to work exceptionally hard to sustain our initiative says jyoti its been 15 years since the sisters started the school but till date they are unhappy that their institution doesnt help students from higher classes our school is only up to class v what happens to children after getting out of here is an unpleasant fact most of them give up education due to paucity of resources says a dejected jyoti who suddenly cheers up when she recalls that one of her students managed to become an engineer and is currently working