Ravi Kumar, a teacher beyond classroom
Warangal Rural: Though financial hardships forced him to ‘drop out’ of school, the passion for education, and commitment and sincerity at work helped Kasula Ravi Kumar (35), a resident of Narsampet town in Warangal Rural district, earn a gold medal in MA English, second rank in EdCET and finally the ‘Post Graduate Teacher (PGT)’ post at a government model school.
The problems he had faced in life also prompted him to extend a helping hand to students and the youth. Now, Ravi Kumar, who owns a house, has earmarked a portion of the house for a library. “I did several menial jobs to contribute to the little income of earned by my father, Narendra Chary, who was an autorickshaw driver, and mother Sarala Devi, a beedi roller. I worked as a paperboy and also at a telephone booth before entering the teaching profession,” said Ravi Kumar, who is now working as a PGT at Government Model School in Jawahar Nagar of Venkatapur mandal, Mulugu district.
A staunch believer in the motto — ‘Education is the only weapon to defeat all the problems in the life’, Ravi Kumar has become an inspiration to many youths in the Warangal Rural and Mulugu districts with his service activities. He has been conducting spoken English classes for several years now for the benefit of rural students.
“Due to the meagre income my family had, I, along with my sister and brother, had to face many hardships. Though I secured a good rank in the ECET, I had to give up the hopes of joining B.Tech due to financial issues. But my go-getting nature prompted me to go for BA with English as one subject from Dr BR Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad, and earn MA English at Nizam College of Osmania University (OU). I even secured the second rank in EdCET. I got the seat in the OU campus, Hyderabad, but I preferred joining a private college in my native place (Narsampet) since I wanted to continue with my service to students and the youth,” he said and added that he had taught spoken English to nearly 2,500 students from schools and colleges.
“I worked as a part-time school teacher, lecturer and then as the school principal before getting the government job as PGT in 2013,” Ravi Kumar, who also wrote a book in English grammar, said. “I have distributed 2,500 copies of ‘Global English Grammar’ by publishing the book on my own,” he said and added that many of his students had secured good jobs. “I have started LEAD (Leadership qualities, education to the poor, aim in life and development of rural youth) in 2007 and set up the LEAD Children’s Library in November this year by allocating a portion of my house. I made 6,000 books available at the library and spent almost Rs 10 lakh on books and furniture,” he said and added that he was contemplating setting up a mobile library for students and also set up small libraries in villages in the district.
On the other hand, Ravi Kumar has been conducting several programmes aimed at creating awareness among students and young children on the need to protect the environment. “I have distributed around 10,000 pamphlets on the need to protect the Ozone layer and conducted rallies besides conducting essay writing and drawing competitions in association with the Forest Department,” he added. He has also penned an anthology of poetry “Mugimpuleni Vakyam” and is also contributing articles to vernacular newspapers on different subjects.
During the Covid-19 lockdown, the LEAD distributed essential commodities to 265 families.
Dr Surender Naik, who is now studying MS (General Surgery) at the Kakatiya Medical College (KMC), Warangal, said he could come out of the fear of English after Ravi Kumar’s classes. “I will remain thankful to Ravi Kumar sir forever for his guidance and also classes in spoken English which helped me a lot in continuing my education,” he added.
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