Making a difference in the lives of students

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 5

While teaching the visually impaired children for the last 17 years at the Vocational Rehabilitation and Training Centre (VRTC), Hambran Road, Maya (50) makes sure her lessons are interesting and replete with anecdotes and stories.

Despite being devoid of sense of sight, she goes out of her way to inspire the children she teaches.

“I faced many odds in my childhood, as I wanted to become educated. My parents were not educated and nobody in the village in Narnaul in Haryana would cooperate. But I completed my schooling because of my uncle’s efforts. He used to take me to school, holding my hand and bring me back,” she said. Despite such ordeal, she was determined to study and completed her graduation.

After that, she started teaching as a special teacher in Rewari village, where she taught for nine years before moving to Ludhiana to teach at the VRTC. She now teaches children from Kindergarten to Class IV.

She says she knows everything about her students. “Good teaching begins with knowing your pupil well. I make up for not being able to see by touching students and feeling their expressions,” she says. She ensures that students share everything, even problems, with her.

“I also tell their parents to treat them as normal kids and allow them to do everyday chores at home. I especially tell them to learn to dress up well and keep themselves neat and clean,” she said.

Harjiv Kumar, another teacher at the school, says he makes children feel different things to improve their ‘touching’ power so that they can understand different surfaces more effectively. A music teacher, he also goes out of the way in teaching students how to read and write Braille script.

“It is important for children to become self-sufficient and lead a life of respect,” he says.