When a 27-year-old school teacher, Ashish Dangwal, told his students that he has been transferred to another district, they couldn’t believe. They didn’t want their favourite teacher to leave the school or the village. Probably, that is why, when the final day came Dangwal witnessed an unexpected outpour of emotions from the villagers and the school students - requesting him not to leave.
On the day of his farewell, villagers of seven villages and children in Uttarkashi’s Kersu valley gathered near his school with tears in their eyes and drums in their hands. They couldn’t believe that their teacher, whom they considered a “member of their family,” was going away.
Dangwal was an assistant teacher in Government Inter-College in Bankholi village in Uttarkashi from December 2017 till August 21 this year. The school is attended by about 200 children of seven villages.
“I had spent three years teaching children in this school and spending with the villagers of those seven villages. They always considered me like a member of their own family. That is why when I told them that I have been transferred to as lecturer in another school in Tehri Garhwal district, they could not believe it,” said Dangwal.
{{/usCountry}}“I had spent three years teaching children in this school and spending with the villagers of those seven villages. They always considered me like a member of their own family. That is why when I told them that I have been transferred to as lecturer in another school in Tehri Garhwal district, they could not believe it,” said Dangwal.
{{/usCountry}}On learning his transfer the villagers had told him that they would like to organise a farewell for him, on which he agreed but placed a condition that “It should be a small function.”
“However, on the final day on August 21, I was surprised to see large number of villagers gathered near the school with drums. As soon as I stepped out of the school, children and women started crying by hugging me while asking me not to go. The love brought tears to my eyes as well,” Dangwal said. The villagers also played drums and escorted him to his residence in the village.
Remembering his early days in the school, Dangwal said it was not easy for him to adjust but gradually he managed it. “This was my first stint as a school teacher. But in the six months, I had faced some problem as the culture and language of the villagers in the area was different than mine. I learnt it which helped me to get along with the children and villagers,” Dangwal recalled.
“He was not just a school teacher of our children but one of us. He always stood with every villager in the hour of need. Him leaving the school is a big loss for us,” one of the villagers, Mamta Rawat, said while praising Dangwal.
“He was one of the few teachers who decided to live in the village where the school was located. Otherwise most of the teachers would live at more comfortable places away from the village. This really touched us,” said another villager Harish Uniyal. “He would always be in our hearts,” Uniyal further added.