Ranchi, Aug. 27: When former president A.P.J. Kalam was alive, he used to often break protocol and go out of the way to teach children. For him, education was nation-building.
Although it has been more than two years since Kalam passed away, his legacy lives on in people like Md Moinuddin Ansari of Lohardaga. Ansari has been taking the former President's passion forward with the same zeal. Despite having retired from the government girls' middle school at Tati village of Kuru block, around 60km from here, in 2014, he continues to teach children without charging a dime.
When a team of district administration officials visited the school as part of a cleanliness campaign on Friday, Ansari was there taking mathematics and science classes.
The school, which was established in 1956, has 533 students, mainly tribals from poor families.
Ansari, popularly known as master sahib, arrives daily well before classes start and leaves only after the school is shut. "We had organised a farewell programme after his retirement. But we were pleasantly surprised when he told us that he would continue to teach without charging a paisa," Yogendra Narayan Yadav, headmaster, said.
When the school decided to pay an honorarium to Ansari as token of respect, he refused. "Master ji refused to accept even a paise. Ansariji is a great help for us because he is an experienced chemistry and mathematics teacher. Such is his passion that he doesn't even avail casual leaves," Yadav said.
After school, Ansari, who joined the profession in 1976 and received the best teacher award at district level in 2000, gives free tuitions to poor students of his locality. "Though my sons requested me to help them run our grocery shop, I told them that I know only teaching," he said.
"Even Kalam sahib used to teach children. Everybody should contribute to nation-building. These are poor students who are fighting against odds for education. They are weak in science and mathematics. If I have the knowledge, I must share it," he said.
"Mathematics and science always gave us a scare. But masterji made it simple for us," said Arti Oraon, a class 8 student.
