JAGATSINGHPUR: Chintamani Rout of Jagatsinghpur retired as a primary school teacher 24 years back. He, however, hasn’t stopped teaching. The 83-year-old educationist from Kelapada village under Kujang Tehsil retired from Paschimeswer government primary school at Banito in 1999 but continues to teach students at the school every day without charging a penny for the work. He also provides mid-day meals to children on various occasions, visits all households in the village speaks to parents of dropouts to get them back to school and distributes books to them free of cost.
Rout spends his pension money in doing so. Because, he feels, it is his responsibility to empower every child of the village. “I never feel tired of teaching children. Most of the students here are from poor backgrounds and cannot afford tuition or reference books,” he says. Hence, Rout stays back after school hours to clear the doubts of the children and even allows students to come to his house every evening for free tuition.
His initiative does not end here. He owns six acres of agricultural land where his six-member family grows vegetables and fruits. A substantial part of the produce every season is donated to the school for distribution among children. “The cycle of poverty in this village can only end if every child is educated and it is also my responsibility to ensure that,” he says.
The headmaster of the school Sarada Prasad Das said the primary school has a seat strength of 221 and needs eight teachers. However, it has six teachers now. “But because of Rout’s contribution towards the education of our children, we have never felt the shortage of two teachers,” he adds.