In the year 2016, I was appointed as an assistant teacher to a primary school in Uttar Pradesh’s Banjaria village in Pilibhit district. After staying there for two years, I was transferred to Saida Pur Primary School in Pilibhit in 2018. At that time, many parents in the area did not send their children to school. When I tried to find out the reason behind this, I found out that most of the parents themselves were illiterate and didn’t believe in the importance of education. Then I started going to the multiple household to explain to the parents — a campaign that started off for the first time with the school’s cook.
Today, our cook, 60-year-old Nanhidevi can write her name in English. After that, I taught other parents how to read and write so that at least they can write their names.
Here, I started ensuring other positive changes too. Along with children, I also explain it to their parents that how important it is to read and write. There is a girl named Anushka in my school who is currently studying in the fourth grade. Anushka is differently-abled and wanted to dance, but her brother Shubham, who was a class ahead of her, always discouraged her from dancing. I explained to her brother, and then during the World Disability Day event, Anushka danced, and everyone praised her. Even now, whenever there is a cultural program in school, she always participates.
She also now takes exams like all the other children, there have been many changes in Triveni in just one year. Along with being a teacher, I am also a mother of a five-month-old girl, and I leave her at home and go to school every day. I took on the responsibility of my school when my daughter was only three months old. My school is 48 km away from my home, but I go on a scooter and go to the village once a week to meet the parents of the children.
As Anita Vishwakarma told Ambika Tripathi who interns for Gaon Connection.
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