Blogs

8 years old Priyanka Parmar, a class 3rd student, participates as 36 years old Govind Vishwakarma, a teacher, conducts an activity during a classroom session as part of the Foundational Learning and Numeracy programme at a govt. primary school at Lasudalya Patla village in Kalapipal, Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh, India, July 2023. Govind says, "I never thought I'd become a teacher, but things changed when my father passed away. I had to make a tough choice to support my family. When I started teaching at this school, hardly any students came. People around here preferred private schools. I started feeling less interested in teaching because there weren't many students. I wanted to go to a private school or a city for a better life. Then the Ankur Mission came, and everything changed. I attended all the teacher's trainings and became a kid myself in that process. There was so much to unlearn in order to understand new methodologies. Students who were in private schools saw my YouTube videos and decided to come to our school. I made the videos just to show my daily routine and celebrate good moments with students. People from other places started watching them too. My YouTube channel became a way to show that government schools can be great too. It created awareness about our school and how we teach. Even when I walk in the village, people know me from my videos and they like how I teach. Teaching is a real joy now. My school staff supported me a lot, and with their help, we changed things." "You can see it for yourself – our classrooms are full of students who are excited to learn. "The Ankur Mission transformed our school, and now it's a place where students thrive and love to learn.", he adds. CSF/India/Srishti Bhardwaj