KANHANGAD: Linza R J, 39, worked as a cleaning staff and attender for 12 years in Iqbal Higher Secondary School at Kanhangad. Today she teaches English in the same government-funded school.
“She can become the principal of this school one day,” predicts headmistress Praveena M V, clearly impressed by Linza’s progression.
But the flight had a turbulent start. Linza was in the final year of bachelor’s degree course when her father Rajan K K, 47, died in 2001. He taught Sanskrit at the school.
Based on her qualifications, the school offered her the job of cleaning staff on compassionate grounds. The offer was against a leave vacancy.
She took up the offer as her brother Sanath Khalon was then in Class XI and had a family to look after.
But when she was not running errands or cleaning up the staff rooms, she would sit in the head teacher’s office and study. “I completed my BA and did my MA English while working there,” said Linza.
In 2006, she had to leave the job as the regular janitor returned from leave.But she made use of the time to pursue BEd, a mandatory course to be a teacher and started teaching English in private schools.
She did it for five years until 2012 when Iqbal school offered her the job of cleaning staff again in 2013.
She took it up and was kind of content with the job.
“She used to tidy up the school in the evening and run errands in the morning. And in her free time, she was busy with WhatsApp and Facebook,” said Praveena.
“I saw brilliant talent going waste and asked her to prepare for teacher’s eligibility test,” she said.
Initially, Linza gave excuses of being a mother to a newborn girl and a six-year-old boy.
“But when I told her that I married early because of poverty and did my entire higher education after becoming the mother of two children, she got the message,” said the headmistress.
Since then, Iqbal school became a school for Linza, too. In her free time, she would prepare for the eligibility tests and the headmistress would pitch in by babysitting the daughter. Linza went on to clear the Kerala Teacher Eligibility Test (K-TET) Second and Third, making her qualified to teach in upper primary school and high school.
Then she cleared the State Eligibility Test (SET) to become eligible to teach in high secondary school. She also picked up computer skills such as word processing, Photoshop, making spreadsheets. With all these qualifications, she did not shrink from her work as cleaning staff.
“When I first joined in 2001, I had the ego that I was an undergraduate, but when I cleared PG and BEd and joined back again, I was grounded. The qualifications never went into my head,” said Linza.
For six years, from 2013 to 2018, she worked as the cleaning staff. In 2018, there was an opening for a teacher’s post in the primary section and she applied.
On the first day, the students were surprised to see her in the class.
“They thought I’m standing in for an absent teacher,” said Linza. Understandably, she was doubtful if the students would accept her in the new role. “I started off by addressing the class in English. It was not only to assure myself that I can do it but also to remove the scepticism in students’ minds,” said Linza.
That worked, and she never used Malayalam to teach English. “Today, my children in Class VI and VII communicate in English,” she said, not hiding her pride.
The headmistress also nudged her to start a Guides company in the school. The unit has 21 students. Interestingly, the school is yet to have a scouts company.
“She has leadership quality. It would have been a big loss for the students of this school had she remained a cleaning staff,” said Praveena.