Teaching was never an interest for Sasi Kumar while he was studying. But, fate played its hand and the young teacher joined his alma mater Vidya Poshini Upper Primary School (VPUPS) at Vilayil, Kerala as a teacher.
He wasn’t very confident that he could do justice to his profession. Fortunately, the school, which is located in a remote village near Areekode in the Malappuram district, is now in the limelight for a host of reasons.
The school owes its gratitude to this young teacher for bringing an array of reformations in place. The electrical engineer became a hero by tapping the potential of technology to assist the students, teachers and parents.
Sasi Kumar along with his colleagues, Bibin and Suja are now developing a mobile app that brings lower primary (LP) and upper primary (UP) material to the fingertips of students, parents and teachers.
But teaching was not always his preferred choice of profession. “I didn’t want to become a teacher even though my father, who was a teacher, asked me to join a teacher training institute,” says Sasi Kumar, who is an electrical engineering graduate from the Government Polytechnic College at West Hill, Kozhikode.
All was going according to plan until tragedy struck and his father, MP Sivanandan passed away in 2003. Sivanandan was an English teacher at VPUPS and the responsibility of looking after the family fell on Sasi Kumar. Following in his father’s footsteps, Sasi Kumar joined the NSS Teachers Training Institute (TTI) at Pathanamthitta and then joined VPUPS as a Science teacher in 2006.
Things weren’t easy at first. The young man felt bound and constrained. “I became frustrated and felt like I was letting go of my dreams. But, then I won the first prize in a district-level teaching competition when I was at TTI. That built up my confidence and that was the turning point when I knew that I could be a teacher,” he says.
I was only 21 and I was privileged to be surrounded by 20 teachers as my colleagues. Although initially, I felt more irritated than privileged
But, the entire scenario changed when Sasi Kumar mingled with his students. “They became like my children and I couldn’t keep away from them. I started to enjoy going to school. Moreover, I knew that I was extending a great service to my village and society,” he says, proudly.
Sasi Kumar and his two colleagues soon realised that technology could be a boon to the students if utilised correctly. Sastra Sahayi, a science blog by the trio, is a classic example of how studying could be made an easy affair using technology.
“The world is fast changing in accordance with the developments taking place in the information, technology and communication sectors. But, most of the teachers are yet to tap the potential of technology and are still following text-oriented method of teaching. Our blog is aimed at drawing them towards the new techniques of teaching,” explains Sasi Kumar.
The blog features contents of LP and UP textbooks. Besides, it also provides various information regarding science, general knowledge and the environment
The blog educates teachers on how they can experiment with new ways in teaching and communication.
Within two years of its inception, more than two lakh people have visited the blog while teachers, students and parents across the state are using it as a reference.
