Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well,” wrote Aristotle, the great philosopher.
Under the category of this blessed profession falls this bunch of volunteer teachers at Samarthanam, an organisation at J P Nagar which aims at providing opportunities for the disabled. The world of difference these teachers make to the lives of differently abled students has to be seen to be believed.
With Teachers’ Day fast approaching (September 5), Metrolife caught up with a few of these teachers, most of whom are pursuing different walks of life. The absence of professional teacher training or relevant academic degrees do not really matter in their labour of love. Their passion to give back something to society more than makes up for everything.
“This place is a tonic for me. I get energised here,” says Vasanthi, Trustee, who has been actively involved with Samarthanam since its inception. The passion to work for visually impaired students was one of the reasons this former teacher of Nehru Smaraka Vidya Kendra at Jayanagar opted for voluntary retirement.
Volunteer Uma Satyanarayan, a homemaker who teaches Hindi for an hour daily during late afternoons for students who lack sight, says, “I am really enjoying it. It is very satisfying.” She also teaches dance for a similar batch during the evenings.
Another individual gaining immense satisfaction from teaching here is 63-year old Srinivasan, who retired as vice president from Graphite India. He teaches Physics and Maths for Class X students as well as Business Studies for students hailing from economically weaker sections.
The teachers who frequent this place read out lessons aloud and explain them to students of the Samarthanam school and also work as their scribes. Over 100 such individuals, a majority of whom are homemakers, visit the five centres of Samarthanam during weekdays.
The weekend witnesses volunteers in huge numbers from the employed category, particularly the IT sector. This young and highly educated group clearly brings in a rush of new ideas to better the lives of students.
Suresh, an advisory IT specialist at IBM and Raghu, an Application programmer at the same concern are keen to make these students competent in a world driven by technology.
They strongly believe that good communication skills hold the key to gain a foothold in the BPO and IT sector and conduct classes that run for over two hours every Sunday. Along with Vikram, they have created a Tech Vision project for the students.
`Excel’ is one of their courses which aims at making students proficient in the English language. A bit more advanced is the `Pearl’ course which targets college students and focuses on developing their personality. “We make them talk and express their opinions freely,” says Raghu. “We have learnt a lot from them,” he adds. For Suresh, the work he does here is “a kind of give-back to society.”
It was a similar desire that goaded Mahantesh G Kivadasannavar, Managing Trustee, Samarthanam, to start this noble venture along with Paul Muddha and S P Nagesh in 1997. Mahantesh is partially visually impaired and has completed his M Phil in English Literature. “I was helped more by voluntary teachers than mainstream teachers in my studies,” he recalls. “I really want to return something of what I have learnt,” he says.
At a juncture when the nation is stunned and students are traumatised over the shameful behaviour of a few teachers who have brought disrepute to the profession, it is indeed heartening to know such a different bunch of teachers exist.
