It has been more than a year now that Nishi Matkan, a student of BA III at the local Government College for Women, teaches children who reside in hutments near the Railway Colony 10. The children work at the flower market near the Durga Mata Mandir here.

What started as a group project a year ago is today being spearheaded by Nishi alone. While others gradually left the path midway, this young girl was determined to bring a positive change in the lives of these slum kids who too would compete with privileged, private school going students one day.

“Teaching students between 12 to 20 was also a big challenge because of their timings. Since most of them used to work during the day time which could stretch till late in the evening, it was a Hurculean task to teach them,” explains the young damsel.

“Even my parents did not encourage me but the saving grace was that they never discouraged me either. I am known rebel in my college as I raise questions regarding the outdated and ineffective education system that produces educated ‘uneducated’ people,” she says while highlighting her belief in doing extraordinary out of the ordinary.

She believes that it is more important to prepare students for their everyday life and infusing confidence in their work. “Good communication skills are of utmost importance these days. It is the era of marketing. Since my students have to deal with customers in their respective jobs, so I have framed different teaching modules to cater to their individual needs,” she said.

“When I started teaching them, most of them could not read or write and faced problems at their workplace (flower-market),” she added.

One of her students, who is 18 says that earlier he used to find it difficult to deliver bouquets as he was illiterate. But now he can read and write, which has immensely blossomed his flower business. “I am a lot more confident guy today,” smiles Rocky.

“Our lives have changed since we began to understand the letters. I do not know how to thank our teacher who has regularly been teaching us without any financial gains,” says Rakesh.