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1 Published by CEQUE 5A, Nav Meghdoot CHS Ltd. 535/36, Linking Road, Khar (W) Mumbai, Maharashtra, 400052 Written by ASHISH KELSHIKAR CHATURA RAO DEEPA DEOSTHALEE HARSHAVARDHAN DANGE RACHNA BISHT RAWAT Edited by ANKITA SHAH Illustrations by ANANYA BROKER PAREKH Book Design by SOUMYA JAIN Copyright © 2021, Centre for Equity and Quality in Universal Education All rights reserved. Centre for Equity and Quality in Universal Education (CEQUE) is a nonprofit that works with teachers in government and low income private schools to improve learning for all children. CEQUE believes every child deserves a great teacher. It develops teachers to teach better in order to enable quality learning for every child. www.ceque.org “Teachers are a beacon of every society. Staying true to this adage, the teachers of the Zilla Parishad and private schools supported by CEQUE went beyond the call of duty to educate underprivileged children during the pandemic. I commend them for their grit and determination to re-engineer their teaching modules and skill sets to keep children in the fold of learning in tough times. This book is a fine testament to their commitment to society at large.” KAKU NAKHATE President & India Country Head, Bank of America Published with the support of “Teachers such as those showcased in the book are a beacon of hope in these challenging times of the pandemic. I congratulate CEQUE for highlighting their efforts and contributing to Maharashtra government’s initiative, ‘Shala Band pan Shikshan Chalu’.” DINKAR TEMKAR Director, SCERT, Maharashtra “In these unsettling and anxious times, there are a few teachers who remained unruffled by the challenges and forged a link between the students and education during the state-wide closure of schools. I have a deep respect for the teacher innovators showcased in these stories that themselves bear a stamp of excellence. No doubt, they will serve as a guide star for others to explore various ways to reach learners.” DR. NEHA BELSARE Director, MIEPA, Aurangabad “The stories of teachers making a difference to the lives of their students during these hard Covid ridden days are truly inspiring. These stories have convinced me, that even though academics may spend hours discussing and debating educational policies and their implementation, the master key to real grassroot level education lies with devoted and motivated teachers. Especially the underprivileged ones who have limited digital means.” VEENA NARAVANE Educator and President, Army Wives Welfare Association “These are incredible stories of grit and determination demonstrated by these inspiring teachers. It takes the readers through a journey of doubt and adversity to accomplishment and achievement experienced by the teachers. The essence of this project is empowering young learners with opportunities to learn through engaging and meaningful experiences.” PALLAVI NAIK Principal, Dr. Kalmadi Shamarao High School, Pune. TO ALL TEACHERS who went beyond their call of duty, so children could continue to learn CONTENTS FOREWORD INTRODUCTION MEET THE TEACHERS 1. A Ray of Hope ........................................................... 6 2. Building Bridges ......................................................... 10 3. The Makeshift Classroom .......................................... 14 4. Building Schoolrooms from Hope .............................. 19 5. Blackboards on Walls .................................................. 22 6. I Have a Dream .......................................................... 26 7. The Hero of Malegaon .............................................. 29 8. Man with a Plan ......................................................... 32 9. A Different Kind of Warrior ...................................... 36 10. In Her Own Voice ...................................................... 39 11. The Teacher Who Wished to Be an Actor ................. 42 12. If I Could, They Can Too .......................................... 46 13. Building a Virtual Classroom ...................................... 50 14. The Magic of the Profile Picture ................................ 54 15. The Coolest Bike Rider .............................................. 58 ABOUT THE AUTHORS FOREWORD The pandemic came unexpectedly, with a force that thrust us in the midst of compelling challenges. Children’s education was suddenly disrupted, and we faced the risk of students dropping out and facing an incalculable loss in learning. In the face of this crisis, there was no precedence or blueprint for a solution. Despite this, the Government of Maharashtra put together a cogent plan of action which recognized teachers as the backbone of its system. Supporting and educating teachers to adopt new modalities of teaching and making resources available to them became the cornerstone of our strategy. And the teachers have shone! As story after story in this book reveals, they have gone beyond the call of duty. Their challenges as teachers were exacerbated because they worked with communities that lived in poverty or with minimal resources. However, they did not allow the circumstances to paralyze them. On the contrary, they demonstrated that no mountain is insurmountable if one has the will, the commitment, and the capacity to care. Many teachers sought creative solutions to their children’s absences, the lack of technology available to them or to help maintain their focus on the small screen of a smartphone, in spaces with multiple distractions. They motivated parents and mobilized communities at their local levels and engaged them in contributing to solutions. It gives me great pleasure to congratulate these teachers and teachers like them. I also commend CEQUE for their work with these teachers and shining the spotlight on how they kept the flame of learning alive for their students. In this current crisis, our teachers join the ranks of frontline workers. The teachers in this book recognized their critical role in the fabric of the education system to ensure learning for all their students. As we celebrate their achievements, it is my sincere hope that their stories will motivate and inspire others and serve as a call to action for all. With all best wishes, SHRI VISHAL SOLANKI, IAS Commissioner, School Education and Sports Department Government of Maharashtra 1 INTRODUCTION Shankar Mali taught in a Zilla Parishad school, in a small tribal hamlet nestled deep in Palghar district. Making the train journey from Mumbai, we rode pillion with the school’s second teacher and a volunteer villager to the school. A tall, frail man, edging close to retirement, Mali sir was a legend in the area. He had been working in this hamlet school for the past 17 years. Mali sir had originally been assigned to a larger school in the vicinity; however, he noticed that children from this hamlet were not attending school. Distance was not an issue, culture was. And so, he set about petitioning for a ‘satellite school’ for the children in the hamlet, figuring that if the children had a school to call their own, they would study. His petition was approved, and he supervised building of the hamlet’s school to which the community contributed free labour. As it’s first teacher, he created a pathway to making education relevant to the children. He learnt their language, incorporated local arts and crafts as part of the curriculum, and figured out ways of making the syllabus interesting for his children. He shared with pride that all the children from his first cohort had cleared their 12th grade exams and one had secured admission in engineering college. Mali sir’s story is inspirational. But it is by no means one of a kind. At CEQUE, through the course of our work with teachers, we come across very many who make an unprecedented difference to their children’s lives—through their caring and creativity. This has been true more so during the pandemic. Through the pandemic, the more we interacted with our teachers, the more we felt that their stories needed to be told. Take for example, Rohini Dandge from Kasara, who took to teaching her students at night since that was the only time they had access to their parents’ smartphones. Or, Pramod Khandekar, from Gadchiroli, who mobilized the painting of the outside walls of nine village homes that served as blackboards for his unique experiment of creating open classrooms. Or, Pinesh Jadhav from Musarne who reached children in remote tribal hamlets through the speakerphone of a parent’s simple mobile phone. We did not set out to make heroes out of these teachers through the stories documented in this book. But in 2 shining the spotlight on their work, we wanted to recognize their everyday acts of heroism, of courage, of caring that makes education possible in a real way for the most underprivileged children of our country. In this, we acknowledge the work of the District Education Departments (DIETs) and CEQUE’s team whose efforts, side by side with the teachers’, kept motivation levels high and the search for solutions during the pandemic, an ongoing endeavour. A huge thank you to Bank of America whose support has made this book possible. Thank you to our team of writers – Rachna, Deepa, Chatura, Ashish, and Harshavardhan, and the CEQUE team for patiently drawing out the stories from teachers and weaving them into beautiful narratives. Thank you also to Ankita for your editorial skills that have brought the best out of the stories, to Ananya for bringing them to life through your illustrations and Soumya for the aesthetic book design. Finally,