to drugs. Then they would be married off early by their families in an effort to make them give up their bad habits. Explaining this process, Rathod said, "We used to study in a municipal school, where passing from first to fourth standard was easy. Since there was no pressure to pass in any subject, no one would bother to study. In the fifth standard, English was introduced as a subject and everybody had to score above the pass mark in it. As a result, a lot of my friends started dropping out after class four. To my friends, earning money by selling fish was a better option. My friends and even their families were happy and satisfied with the money they used to get by selling fish. As a result of easy cash inflow, a lot of my friends got addicted to drugs."
At one point of time even Ashok thought of dropping out to take up a job, but his father was greatly opposed to it. His father, a fisherman, encouraged Ashok to continue his education at least till his 12th standard.
Rahod started volunteering for a NGO known as Doorstep School (DSS), which conducted different activities for children from a low socio-economic background, while he was studying. Through DSS, Ashok got introduced to Magic Bus, a NGO that works on child development through sports. He played rugby there for five years. After his studies, Rathod joined Magic Bus and began working as a youth mentor. He taught football and other sports for the development of the youth.
"Even after I grew up I noticed that the same cycle still continued—children were still dropping out of school to sell fish and acquiring bad habits. I wanted to change all that and hence I joined Oscar Foundation," said Rathod. "Through football I wanted to teach the kids the importance of education. Just like in football, even if the opponent team scores goals against us, we keep going on, similarly one should continue studying inspite of the obstacles faced," Rathod added. One of the major reasons behind the children dropping out was because they did not even know basic English and Mathematics. Oscar foundation takes care of that. Rathod shared, "The main reason for us to teach them the basics of English and Mathematics was so that they could pass in their examinations and get motivated to continue their education."
Ashok's vision is to create a world that enables the youth to become role models through sport and to inspire and educate them to actively participate in community initiatives.