Dwija Pado Banerjee earns a paltry salary, lives in a rented house and has no awards to his credit. Yet, the 75-year-old teacher of Banga Vidyalaya, Jharia, established in 1931, visits the school and takes regular classes between 9am and 1.30pm.

"When I joined the school, my salary was Rs 500 a month, considered high at a time when it was the main school of Jharia. Now, after 50 years of service, I get Rs 1,600 per month. But, money was never the issue. Service to society was more important," said Banerjee, who is most proud of his students, names of whom he loves to rattle off.

D. Chakraborty is a gynaecologist, he said, R.N. Mukherjee a BCCL physician, Swapan Mukherjee a renowned lawyer of Dhanbad, Amiya Chatterjee a magistrate and S.K. Bakshi a trade union leader.

"For a teacher, the success of his students are his certificates and the respect of society is the biggest achievement. This is more than any salary. I am very rich on both these fronts as dozens of my students have reached the pinnacle of their careers in engineering, medical, legal and other professions," said Banerjee, a resident of Barmasia in Bokaro, who moved to Dhanbad in 1960.

Banerjee, who completed his graduation from RSP College, Jharia, in 1964 to join Banga Vidyalaya in 1965 as a teacher of Bengali, pointed out that teaching was unlike any other profession. "We teachers must try to establish a balance between professionalism and service to society," he said, adding that whatever he could earn from the farmland he owned at Barmasia helped him support the family in the early days.

Later, when his two sons and three daughters grew up, he could always count on their support. "I am grateful to my dear departed wife Bela Banerjee, sons Gopal (a life insurance agent) and Jivan (a private firm employee) and daughters Anjana Mukherjee, Shantana Chakraborty and Archana Chaudhary (all are married) who never complained," said Banerjee.

Once upon a time, Banga Vidyalaya was known to be one of the best schools of Jharia. At the time, Raj High School, Jharia, served as its feeder centre, recalled Banerjee.

"After completing Class VII from our school, students used to take admission in Raj High School," he said, but added that the state of affairs was not good as parents, lured by the various "incentives" like free education, midday meals, free bicycle and free uniforms, preferred to send their children to government schools even though Banga Vidyalaya charged only Rs 15 as monthly fee.

"The government should fund private institutions like ours... those that are dedicated to the cause of education. But, the management should remain in private hands in order to maintain quality of teaching," he said.

Banga Vidyalaya has 50 students on its rolls.

Banerjee admitted he was not at all pleased with the present state of education. "Though the present system is helping us produce more professionals like doctors and engineers, the overall quality of education is not as good. In those days, students had to study more subjects," he said.