These Indian teachers are braving multiple challenges to ensure their students continue to learn
A good teacher often makes all the difference, and some even leave you with lessons to keep for life. Here are some Indian teachers who went above and beyond their call of duty for their students.
Teachers are not only crucial to opening up a student’s mind to the curriculum, but also experience a whole different world. A good teacher can make all the difference to a student’s life and future.
Some teachers often beyond their call of duty to make education better and fun for their students. We list a few teachers in India, who have gone out of their way to help their students.
Muneer Alam
Kashmir (Representational image)
A mathematics teacher residing in Kashmir, Muneer wakes up at 4:30 am these days, drives to Srinagar’s Old Town area with a whiteboard stand and walks 500 metres into the green cover of the forest.
Here, he conducts an ‘open-air’ mathematics class, which attracts many students in and around the town. The classes are conducted early in the day so students can return home before the sun gets brighter.
Alam, who has been teaching for more than 20 years, also runs a coaching institute called ‘Gaash – the Light of Knowledge’, which hasn’t been operational due to the coronavirus induced lockdown.
While he tried taking his classes at his place, but it wasn’t feasible due to the many batches. So, he adopted this open-air system, where children can bring their own chairs or mats.
Murali Krishnan
Representational image
Fondly called Madhu, Murali Krishnan is an Assistant Section Officer at the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, who has been giving PSC training classes to students free of cost.
In 1995, Murali cleared the PSC exam and landed the job of a lower division clerk in a government library in the city. However, two of his friends did not clear the exam. That’s when he started taking these classes after work.
Thanks to his efforts, both his friends cleared the exam. Soon, word got out and Murali was teaching more students aspiring for government jobs. In the last 25 years, he has helped more than 5,000 students clear the PSC exam for free.
Now, due to the constraints brought about by the pandemic, he has created a YouTube channel called ‘Future College Online’, and has been uploading videos of PSC-related topics with the help of his students.
Pravinsinh Jadeja
In the Dahod district of Gujarat, 60 out of the 87 students in classes 3-5 in a local primary school do not have access to internet facilities. As a result, taking classes online during the pandemic was impossible. But a primary school teacher changed the scenario.
Meet 43-year-old Pravinsinh Jadeja, who has been taking classes for seven children of class 3 using his smartphone, which broadcasts DD Girnar’s YouTube channel in the ‘Home Learning Programme’ that was launched by the state government to ensure uninterrupted classes even during the lockdown.
During these classes, Jadeja makes it a point to pause and engage the students with questions and activities. He also gives them homework to keep them up to date.
Jadeja is one among the 30 teachers in the district who have gone out of their way to conduct classes for their students.
Vinod Dikshit
Representational image
A cop by profession, Vinod Dikshit took on the mantle of a teacher for one boy during the lockdown. Vinod met his student while patrolling through a notorious neighbourhood in Indore.
The 12-year-old boy, who aspires to be a policeman, comes from a family that cannot afford tuitions.
So, the Station House Officer teaches the boy Mathematics and English to help him achieve his dream.
Do you have a teacher who changed your life?
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta