SRINAGAR: A 34-year-old teacher in South Kashmir is winning the internet with his unique singing-style teaching.
A video of Zubair Ahmad Khan teaching students at Government Middle School, Vailoo, Anantnag, has notched 5.50 lakh views, 1400 comments, and 3000 shares on one Facebook page alone. People have shared the video on their timelines and it has garnered a huge response.
“Abu aaya, anaar layaa…sab bachoon ne milkar khaya…,” the 2.5-minute long video of Class II poem recitation was shot by a fellow teacher without the knowledge of Zubair.
“This poem is written by Javid Kirmani. I was reciting it in a way that children could enjoy. I did not know that my fellow teacher is shooting it from his mobile phone. When it was posted on social media, I received calls and praises. I was pleasantly surprised because our school is in a remote area. Mostly students from underprivileged nomadic families are enrolled here,” Zubair told The Kashmir Monitor.
With 11 years of experience, Zubair is a much sought-after teacher in this remote area. Government Middle School, Vailoo, is one of the few institutes in the remote area which has been holding community classes for the last eight months. Such is the popularity of the school that some students trek more than 15 kilometers daily to attend classes.
“We have one student who walks 16 kilometers daily to attend community classes. We want students should spend most of their time in classrooms. We have succeeded to some extent. I have been using the play-way method of teaching and that has struck a chord with students,” said Zubair.
What makes Zubair stand out is that he spends some part of his salary on students so that they do not feel ignored or deprived.
“Once or twice a week, I treat my students with chocolates, cookies, chips, and other items. Most of the students are from impoverished families. They do not have the means to spend on these things. So I spent a small amount of my salary on these things because they are like my own children and deserve the same treatment,” he said.
This school has another first to its credit. Because of the teaching style, the school has a zero dropout rate. “Last year, our roll was 98 and this year, we have already crossed 141. We get calls from students from other schools for admission. There have been no dropouts in our school which is a big achievement given that it is situated in a jungle area,” he said.
