Saturday 31 May 2014

A Dedicated Teacher

A Dedicated Teacher- The basic most requirement of every school and every teacher. Also, the basic most quality every teacher must possess. Dedication makes a perfect teacher.
      This blog is about, how a Dedicated retired teacher teaches his students in extreme conditions.
         Saraswati Mandir School is a school located in Meghma, a popular trekking destination towards the end of West Bengal on the Indo-Nepal border. This village is located 10000Ft above sea level and is covered in a blanket of clouds most of the time. So, biking or trekking around that area is quite a tough job.
       ChandraKumar Pradhan is that dedicated and passionate teacher who used to teach at the school since he was 19. He retired at the age of 61 as a principal of that school. But, nothing stops him from teaching. He still continues to teach the students in the school free of cost.
       Saraswati Mandir School has 3 classrooms and 20 students from lower economic background. Actually, 20 Passionate students. Because, most of the students of the school live at a higher altitude than the school. Most of them have to trek for about 2-3 Kilometers to reach the school. As I said earlier, trekking is not a easy task. Number of obstacles welcome them on the way. The main obstacle is the shaking cold and heavy downpour. But, they still choose to study ignoring the obstacles. 
       The benches at school shaky, the walls often peel off, the blackboards are faded and cracked, but the dedication of Pradhan sir motivates them to study.
        Suryakumar Pradhan decided to become a teacher when he was in 4th std. He remember writing in his diary that he wants to become a teacher, but not in the urban areas. He wanted to teach in the rural and less developed areas. He wanted to give rural children the gift of education, that too, free of cost. His aim was to ensure that every house gets education. Neela Ma'am, another teacher in the school, supports him. She often takes care about the student's basic supplies like stationery. Pradhan sir manages the administrative work of the school and also gives tuition to students free of cost.
        The students do not have proper facilities to study. They use their pencil until it turns into a stub in their hands.
Very often, the letters written on the cracked and faded blackboards are tough to understand, so they often write on floor with pebbles and stones kept on each letters.



"Do Right" is a Tata Initiative, in which, Do Righters travel all over India to places where lies real stories of obstacles, sacrifices and challenges. They travel to places you have never visited, meet people you have never heard of and to know about their sacrifices and obstacles they face.
  
     In the case of Saraswati Mandir School, they contributed 2 new blackboards and 20 stationery sets for the students, so they can get uninterrupted education. 

Salute to Pradhan Sir and Salute to the "Do Righters".
Hope they continue their campaign and keep helping the ones who deserves.
To Know more about the DoRight campaign, visit www.doright.in

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