Differently-abled teacher writes with leg to teach students

A differently abled person since her birth, Shobha has obtained her post-graduate degree in history followed by a diploma in computer and finally a job in the primary school at Rangapukuria village in the Raiganj block.

With the chalk clasped firmly between her toes, Shobha in her mid-20s moves the leg swiftly on the blackboard kept on the floor and teaches her students.

"Everybody writes with his or her hands. My hands are non-functional. So I write with my leg," she says talking to PTI at her school.

Sobha said her mother Shanti Majumder encouraged her all along to practice writing with her leg.

"Initially, I had faced problem getting admission in school as a student with the authorities thinking I will not be able to continue my studies this way. However, they relented later," she says.

Born into a very poor family, Shobha was given free tuition by her teachers till she passed the board examinations. She then cleared BA and MA in History from North Bengal University.

Apart from teaching in the school, Shobha also helps in the household chores like cutting vegetables with her leg.

Her parents are all very proud of their daughter. "Shobha has realised what we had earlier thought impossible. She has a job," her mother says proudly.

District Magistrate Sunil Dandapat said the district administration would felicitate Shobha for what she has done.