Retired IAF sergeant turned teacher lays runways to glory

Looking back at his 26-year-old teaching career that started from the counselling sessions at IAF, Ganesh proudly says over 1,500 aspirants under his training have so far got into various services.
K Ganesh teaching hundreds of students in one of his counselling sessions | Express
K Ganesh teaching hundreds of students in one of his counselling sessions | Express

COIMBATORE: Take-offs are awe-inspiring, always. K Ganesh from Coimbatore has seen countless jets and planes take wing on short runways and soar high, on almost every day during his 20 years of service as a sergeant in the Indian Air Force. Though retired, the 54-year-old often sees such launches even now. The difference is that it’s the dreams of scores of youths that now take the flight, and that he himself propels them.

Post his retirement from IAF station in Nagpur in 2006, Ganesh associated himself with several welfare organisations that strived for uplifting the state’s youth through better education, free of cost. “At the IAF, I had started giving career guidance and counselling to students from underprivileged groups, all free of cost. This was after I came to know that some of my friends were unaware of competitive exams conducted by the government. Later, it became a social duty for me. I am associated with the district employment office, Dr. Ambedkar Educational Employment Centre, and the National Federation for the Blind,” says Ganesh.

Through the Department of Employment and Training, he also has the additional duty of holding TNPSC classes for tribal students at Dhayanur hamlet near Baralikadu. With the onset of the pandemic challenging his initiatives, he seamlessly shifted his lessons to the online mode. “As I could not go to the hamlet, I held classes online, and nearly 27 higher secondary students attended them,” he says.

Nonetheless, for some time now, Ganesh’s day begins by browsing through editorials of various English dailies. “I take a look at the editorials and frame questions. I send them along with some basic grammar fillers to nearly 800 students through WhatsApp groups. They include aspirants of Central and state government services and public sector undertakings like banks.”

He also teaches Modern India and Geography classes for UPSC aspirants besides handling all subjects for all TNPSC and Staff Selection Commission candidates. He uses techniques of visualisation, linking subjects, and step method in his pedagogy to make the students grasp the concepts faster. M Arun Kumar (24) from Coimbatore, who attends Ganesh’s UPSC coaching sessions, said, “I have gone through videos of several coaching institutes. But Ganesh’s teaching methods stand out from those. He simplifies unknown concepts.”

For Udumalai Parthiban, a 24-year-old visually challenged aspirant, Ganesh’s classes let him visualise a world he has never seen and learn from it. “His classes are mostly practical, keeping us engaged throughout its duration. I am someone who doesn’t know about geography or even how a sea actually looks like. But he explains such things well using common examples.”

Widening his circle, Ganesh has also started giving counselling classes to students in classes 7-9. “They are given a complete insight on how to get into government service, and what group they should select for their higher education,” Ganesh says.

Looking back at his 26-year-old teaching career that started from the counselling sessions at IAF, Ganesh proudly says over 1,500 aspirants under his training have so far got into various services. For him, these take-offs are much more awe-inspiring.

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The New Indian Express
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