HYDERABAD: Maths can scare the best of us. However, Ramadugu Lakshmi Narsimha Murthy, better known as RLN Murthy, a maths teacher for the past 35 years begs to differ. Murthy, 55, who currently lives in Gurram Guda, Hyderabad hails from the remote Medaram village in PA Pally Mandal, Nalgonda district and asserts that, “Maths is easy. There is no need to memorise; it is logical and concept-based.”
Recently on the occasion of World Mathematics Day on December 22 in recognition of his efforts in teaching maths, he received the ‘Ganitha Bhushan’ award by If Foundation. Murthy who has been teaching maths to Classes VIII, IX, and X at Zilla Parishad High School (ZPHS) in Toopranpet village, Yadadri Bhongir district since 1998 also has a YouTube channel ‘Sakala Vidya’ where he has uploaded over 1,200 videos. The topics he covers ranges from the Intermediate level to EAMCET and IIT-JEE Mains, among others.
Since the Covid-19 lockdown started, he has been taking live interactive classes for Intermediate, EAMCET and other competitive exams. All of Murthy’s classes and videos are free. Inspired by Anand
Kumar, a teacher who imparts IIT coaching for underprivileged kids for free, Murthy says, “Even I felt that it would be great if someone could teach even without charging one rupee. I decided I would be that someone and would do it for free.”
The blackboard has been replaced by a digital board and using ICT tools, such as Desmos, OpenBoard, etc., he takes sessions daily that last an average of two hours each. He proudly says, “I have finished 90 per cent of the syllabus of Intermediate and EAMCET for this year.” He also takes classes on government channels, T-SAT NIPUNA, and T-SAT Vidya.
The teaching medium is in English, as he has students not just from all over India, but also from neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Nepal. “My methods of teaching are easy-to-understand,
concept-based, teach shortcuts and time management techniques,” he shares.
Murthy did most of his primary education from his village. An MSc in Mathematics, and B.Ed from Osmania University, he says his plans after retirement include starting a hostel in his village to teach tribal and poor students free-of-cost. He says, “I want everyone to have a chance at education, just like I did and this would be my way of giving back to society.”
As of now, almost 99.7K people subscribe to his YouTube channel. One popular video on shortcuts to math problems has around 4,74,601 views.
Problem-solving strategies
Read the question comprehensively
Understand the question correctly
Selection of right method/formulae
Continuation using four fundamental operations- addition, subtraction, multiplication and division