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School - The place from where you lead

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Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. — Albert Einstein

A very personal story of my life, am sharing with the readers, something I always wished to do with someone but never got that someone to understand me from my perspective. School has always had a very special place in my heart. Since the time I have started going to school as a toddler I felt like a complete soul, the knowledge, the freedom of thoughts, the power of the mind, the individuality given to all was always appreciated. Throughout my life have been to high income schools and hence in that age never tried to understand the other part of the same coin.

There are millions of students who probably are not receiving education and there are lots more who are not gaining the right education and leaving everything there are students who cannot afford all the facilities like we did and goes to a low income school where it is all about education and nothing else.

I never knew I will grow up to be a teacher. The twist in the tale happens when I get recruited with “Teach for India” and I am placed in a low income private school last year on June 2013. Never knew how a low income school looks like and how are the infrastructure and specially the stakeholders which include the students and the parents.

With an open mind I stepped the school. A small ground and a 2 levelled building of British architecture and instantly I recollected my school and such a stark difference. I put a step back to think that how lucky I was or maybe how lucky these kids are compared to those who probably never saw a school. Days passed by, months passed by and gradually I felt the need, the need for urgency, the need to work even more harder not me for the kids who in these months have made me feel am at home, who has made me feel loved and cared for, who has made me feel that am no new and someone of their own.

I realized the differences again where in high income schools, students probably never cared for the teachers, never appreciated of their existence as teachers, as gurus but here when I was sitting on the other side as a teacher I realized how genuine the smile is, the compliments are, the support is when these students extend their hands. A economically low schools are a place to start from to realize that “It is not just money which can make a difference but it’s the heart of a newly blossomed flower which makes the difference”.