Subesh Kumar Kuiti

Fifty five-year old Subesh Kumar Kuiti’s day starts at five in the morning, when he starts out from his home in Garia for his school, Muraripukur Government Sponsored Higher Secondary School, on Ultadanga Main Road.

The headmaster of the school since 2007, he still takes pleasure in teaching small children and prefers them to senior students. “The smaller ones can be nurtured,” says Kuiti. He was among seven teachers from the state who received the National Award to Teachers given by the ministry of human resource development in recognition of their work on September 5, at Vigyan Bhavan, in Delhi. Kuiti, in his sixth posting now, was recommended by the school education department of West Bengal.

Kuiti began his career as assistant teacher at Sreepur Siksha Sadan, in South 24-Parganas, run by Bharat Sevashram Sangha, in 1975. From here, he moved to Bishpur High School. His most satisfying stint was at Hingalgunj High School, where he worked from 1993 to 1997. “The school was in a remote village and many of my students were first-generation learners. Some of them were very enthusiastic to learn, despite the lack of educational background,” he says.

Kuiti would pedal to far-off villages on his bicycle to counsel parents to send their wards to school. “Many of them were more inclined to marry off their daughters at an early age,” he recalls.

Kuiti wants to give away the award money of Rs 25,000 to an institution for either blind or marginalised people.