For almost a decade now, 34-year-old Niranjan Giri, a night school teacher, says he has had only one priority — making night schools popular. He travels to different corners of the city, convincing those who can’t access school during the day to take up education in night schools. “Night shift for me in not by chance, it is by choice,” says Giri. “Many teachers work in schools during regular hours and then double up as part-time night school teachers, However, I work only during the night, and use the day to promote night schools.”
Even though his working hours begin at 6 pm everyday, Giri says he works round the clock to encourage drop-outs and those who never been to school to take up education. However, he says the push from the authorities is missing. “Almost 19 night schools have shut down in the city since 2013, snuffing the hopes of hundreds of students. Instead of upgrading these schools, the government decided to close them down,” says Giri, who works for less than half the salary of a day-school teacher.
There are 182 night schools in Maharashtra and 139 out of these are in Mumbai alone.
Giri, who lives in Badlapur, travels all the way to the Modern night school at Mumbai Central every day. It takes a little over five hours for Giri to travel from his residence to school and back.
After school gets over at 9.30 pm, Giri waits to guide students who stay back. Despite getting home late every night, Giri starts his day at 6.30 am. By 10 am, he leaves home to meet new people, appealing to them to join night schools and complete their education.
Children of migrant workers from across India are on his roll call, attending classes as they fight to survive in Mumbai’s slums and crumbling tenement blocks. “Students who study in these schools are from poor backgrounds. They work hard during the day and come to study at night. The grant that night schools get is not enough for them. On top of that, the BMC collects rent from organisations that run such schools,” says Giri.
“Night schools are for all those needy students who work during the day to support their families. To achieve their dreams, they join night schools. There so many people who think education is impossible after they drop out. My mission is to show them the way to a night school. After all, teachers are supposed to guide students.”
Giri has also been fighting a lone battle against the state government, demanding not just better infrastructure and facilities for night schools, but also better salaries and other benefits to teachers, so more teachers join such schools.
[Source:-The Indian express]
