An English teacher at Bisheshar Nath Inter College in Akbarpur, Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Kumar Mishra has been teaching since 1997. He shares a story of one of his students who wanted to drop out of school to support his family, but was persuaded to stay on. The student is today in the Indian Army.

Coming from a middle class background myself, I have more empathy for those students who struggle to continue with school because they cannot afford it. This is the story of one such student of mine.

Due to economic reasons, my student Ramesh Chandra Yadav was about to drop out of school. His father, who was a farmer in Akbarpur, decided to send him off to his uncle’s in Mumbai. The family hoped this might give them some respite from their financial struggles. The uncle had a dairy business in Mumbai.

Ramesh, who was in class 11 and was 15 years old then, came to me and told me that he wanted to join the armed forces.

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I advised him to join the National Cadet Corps (NCC), and start earning some money by giving tuitions to other children in his locality. That way, he could at least take care of his own expenses and not be a burden on his parents.

Ramesh began to train himself to appear for the NCC physical examination and he qualified in it. He also began to teach children in order to make some money. The money took care of his personal expenses and helped out his family too.

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My children were still very young and I did not have too many expenses so I would occasionally help out Ramesh by buying him his books, some clothes, etc. Soon, Ramesh’s dream came true.

Ramesh Chandra Yadav is in the Indian Army, and whenever he comes home, he makes it a point to meet me. And, he is ever ready to help other children in his village in any way they require.

The story has been written by Danish Iqbal, an intern with Gaon Connection.

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