This 54-year-old teacher is bringing hope to children in rural Haryana
Basruddin Khan, 54, who teaches science and math at Government Middle School, Tappan village, is using education as a tool to bring change in Haryana.
For the last 25 years, Basruddin Khan has been working as an elementary school teacher. His life has revolved around three villages in Haryana where he has brought down the school dropout rate, encouraged many girls to attend school, and increased the literacy rate. His efforts have now been recognised - he is a recipient of the recently announced national awards for teachers.
Basruddin started his career in teaching at a government school in Jharpuri village, Haryana. The school had only 20 students - in Classes 6 to 8 - when he started. With his intervention, the number rose to 60 students in two years.
After his stint at Jharpuri village, Basruddin moved to Sirroli village in Haryana, which proved to be the turning point in his life. He made extra efforts to help his students learn - he used to teach almost for 12 hours and held special classes for weak students after school. Over time, he inspired many youngsters to attend the school, which now has 638 students, says The Tribune.
The Siroli village school, where the number of girl students was almost nil, saw enrolment of 50 students over the last 18 years. The school has also upheld its reputation of having 100 percent pass record for many years, says One India.
Speaking about his passion for education, Basruddin said to The Tribune,
My father was a labourer and we struggled for subsistence. One day I heard someone say education alone had the power to change our fate and that of others. That stayed with me. I studied against all odds, became a government schoolteacher, and decided to help others like me.
For the last five years, he has been teaching in Government Middle School in Tappan village, Haryana. The student population was only 78 when he joined; it has now gone up to 600 students. He roped in a few NGOs and other agencies to invest Rs 1.7 crore to ensure better facilities for students.
Impressed by his efforts, the village panchayat of Tappan approved six acres of land for expansion of the school. It also made a road at the cost of Rs 5.6 lakh to ease accessibility to the school. With the help of SRF Foundation, Haryana, Basruddin successfully installed a solar panel of 5kW capacity and also got 12 computers for the school, says Jagran.
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