A life dedicated to his students

Unfazed about consequences and future, he left his rather 'well settled' job almost 18 years ago to impart education to the underprivileged kids. In 1996, he opened a small school, Vivekanand Bal Vidya Mandir at Bangla Bazaar with hardly 10 students. Today that number has multiplied to more than 200 with an additional branch at Aashiana.

Meet Chandra Bhushan Tiwari, a teacher who has dedicated his life to the cause of the education.

Narrating his story that prompted him to leave his job (a teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Sambalpur in Orissa in 1993), Tiwari said, "When I was studying, I used to take tuitions for the underprivileged kids, whose families did not even know the importance of education. When I was appointed as a teacher, these kids sent me letters asking for toys, clothes, food and other things. It was their love that I decided to quit my job and open a school for them."

In his school, there seven teachers (four in first school and three in second) taking care of 220 children. Together, they train the young ones how to read, write and learn. Basic subjects like Hindi, English, Mathematics, and Social Sciences are taught here. "We motivate kids to talk and write in Hindi, and understand the basic number game. English lessons are also taught here," he said.

With gradual success of the two schools, Tiwari now plans to open a third one at a different locality. On asking about the fee charged from the kids, Tiwari said that the main objective of running a school like this is totally non-profitable. Free of cost education is given to poor kids. So how is the school able to fulfill the basic requirement? Tiwari says, "Senior police officers, industrialists and other elite ones give us gifts both in cash and kind. There are families who pay us a fixed amount monthly."

A modest Tiwari who also visits several schools to give lessons to the students always ask them to circulate education to others and plant as many saplings as they can. On the occasion of Teacher's Day, students of Vivekanand Bal Vidya Mandir will plant a sapling for a better environment, which he considers as his gift.

Highlighting the importance of education, Tiwari says, 'thoda pado to kaam se judo, thoda aur pado to gaon se judo, aur thoda pado to Hindustan se judo'. Tiwari uses these lines in contrast and appeal to students to work for the nation.