Off the beaten track: Children from upper primary school in Varanasi get lessons from District Magistrate
District Magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra adopted the school on June 27 and decided to teach children from classes 1 to 8.
The district magistrate of Varanasi dons a different role every Saturday when he reaches the upper primary school in Orderly Bazar to teach students.
DM Yogeshwar Ram Mishra adopted the school on June 27 and decided to teach children from classes 1 to 8.
“I adopted the school to improve the quality of education. As a part of the initiative, I teach students for about an hour every week. There is tremendous improvement in the knowledge and confidence of the students,” he said.
Mishra teaches arithmetic, English and science in an interactive manner. He enters any classroom randomly and asks students what they would like to study and teaches them whatever they ask for.
“Improving quality in primary and upper primary schools may be a challenge, but is not impossible. It can be improved with little efforts,” Mishra said.
He also discusses with students the importance of plants and trees in environmental conservation and asks the students to plant saplings on the school premises.
Children have a friendly interaction with Mishra. “Children interact with me and sometimes ask questions related to cricket and history. It is great to see that my effort has boosted the confidence of the students,” he said.
He said many students wanted to speak English. Mishra is also planning to take the children to a movie in a week or two to provide them exposure.
The school has just nine children each in classes 6, 7 and 8. As many as 44 students are enrolled in classes 1 to 5.
The school has poor infrastructure. After Mishra’s initiative, a corporate company has come forward and showed interest in improving the infrastructure of the school under its corporate social responsibility.
It would whitewash the school’s walls and would beautify the building. At the same time, Mishra is making efforts to equip schools with facilities like a mini-lab and projectors.
