Mending young minds with poems
“When students pass their nodal exams, their parents come to school with a box of sweets in their hands and tears in their eyes. Their gratitude, trust and respect for me is my greatest award.” – Mr. Surender Singh
Mr. Surender Singh
A teacher supported at our Shikshaantaar program in Delhi (ITEI-NDMC)
Quite early in his career, Surender understood the importance of staying calm and understanding the needs of his students. His teachers showed him the path in life and taught him to follow his passion. Inspired by his mother’s wish to become a teacher, he entered the noble profession to
bring about a change in society with quality education.
Surender is a teacher at M.C. Primary School, Civil Lines Zone in North Delhi Municipal Corporation. He has received many prestigious awards at the state level and zonal level for his efforts as a Teacher and has been honoured with the National Award for the ‘Best Teacher’ by the Government of India in 2020. However, he feels that his biggest awards come from his students and their parents. “When students pass their nodal exams, their parents come to school with a box of sweets in their hands and tears in their eyes. Their gratitude, trust and respect for me is my greatest award.” – says Surender.
He has been part of many capacity-building workshops at ITEI-NDMC and admires the energy of the faculty members. Besides, he is greatly influenced by certain books recommended by them, such as Diwaswapn and Toto Chan and tries to incorporate the teachings in his classroom. He tries to implement a variety of innovative ideas in his classroom to bring values in the learning environment for the children to make them sincere and sensible. His mantra to his students is “Practice makes a man perfect” to encourage them to strive for excellence. During his twenty-one years of career as a teacher, his achievements and contributions in the field of education have been commendable.
Quite innovatively, he used poems to impart moral education in his students as they have a rhythm and the message it gives stays in their minds. He intended to use it as a catalyst to eradicate the use of slang language in the MCD schools. Moreover, he created a treasure of stories and rewarded children with items of stationery as a mark of encouragement for reading and sharing them. His children are free to speak to him as he instills a sense of freedom in his students so that their queries are not suppressed.
Surender focuses to direct the energy and chaos of children in the right direction to help them achieve the best.