Bihar’s Rs 5 crore KBC winner clears teachers’ eligibility test

KBC winner Sushil Kumar a resident of the northern town of Motihari, scored 100 marks out of the total 150 in the TET.
For representational purposes
For representational purposes

PATNA: The teachers’ eligibility test (TET) in Bihar this year threw up lacklustre results as only 18 per cent of the candidates cleared it, but the exercise managed to bring one of the state’s most famous men into the formal education system as a teacher.

Sushil Kumar, who made a splash by winning Rs 5 crore in the fifth season of Sony TV’s popular game show Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) in 2011, has cleared the TET. The 34-year-old former computer operator, a resident of the northern town of Motihari in East Champaran district, scored 100 marks out of the total 150 in the TET.

“Becoming a teacher at a government school had been one of my dreams. I had acquired a BEd degree earlier. I appeared in TET on the prodding of my wife, and I became successful,” said Kumar happily. “Now I look forward to joining a government school as a teacher,” he added.

Kumar, who had received around `3.6 crore of the `5-crore KBC prize money after tax deductions, had used up most of that booty and had been looking for a “reliable and satisfying” job. He had quit his job as a computer operator in MGNREGA at Chanpatia in his home district, which brought him a monthly salary of `6,000, soon after winning the television show. Although not short of cash, he longed to get a “decent job” nearer home.

He used the KBC prize money in building a house that he shares with his parents and four brothers and also bought a plot of land in Motihari in his mother’s name. He gave a part of the money to some of his relatives as loans to help them set up their own businesses, and the rest he put in fixed deposits with banks, which gives him “a decent amount” as interest.

“I really love teaching. I am sure I will be a good teacher,” said Kumar, who had adopted 40 children from a Maoist-affected area for a year and financed their education with the KBC prize money. He has also been educating children from the dirt-poor Musahar community.

Preservation of environment being an issue close to his heart, he set up Champaran Cycle Sangh, an organisation that encourages people to shun motorcycles and cars and use bicycles instead.

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