A teacher in Kashmir creates a wealth of memories and learning from waste

Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir

The classroom is a buzz of activity. It is part of a two-storeyed heritage building, once the home of former chief minister, Sheikh Abdullah. One room of the heritage property has been converted into a school where 25 students are enrolled. Along with three teachers and one helper, the children share that space where they come to learn.

In the medium-sized room, Roohi Sultana, she sits on the floor, surrounded by her students. The room, which is all that the Government Middle School, Tailbal in Srinagar has got, has two wooden windows through which some light streams in. The walls are covered in charts and a birdhouse hangs from the ceiling. There are windchimes made by the students with the help of Sultana and it is an explosion of colour everywhere.

Sultana recalls her childhood and how school was no fun at all in her young days. “Nothing was made easy or entertaining for us to actually learn anything. There were limited creative activities,” the 51-year-old teacher told Gaon Connection.

She uses innovative teaching techniques, including using waste materials, to engage her students. There is a constant stream of kids handing her discarded bottle caps, small cartons and scraps of shiny paper for her to work her magic and make something fun for them. Even fruit peels and seeds lay everywhere.

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“One day, Roohi ma'am asked us to draw a rainy day, but instead of raindrops, she asked us to use orange seeds. We were amazed to see how she turned something seemingly useless into something beautiful. Now whenever I find something of no use at home, I collect it and give it to Roohi Ma'am because she can create amazing things out of them,” Basharat, a class five student, told Gaon Connection.

“I want to become that person for these kids, who made learning fun. They are the future, and I believe if they are happy they can learn things faster and can remember them for a lifetime. This is the age we always look back upon with nostalgia when we want to cheer ourselves up, so I am helping my students make childhood memories that will remain with them always,” she said. “ I hope they will remember me and my efforts in their journey,” she smiled.

“Roohi Ma'am asked us to call each other by the name of a fruit, and for that day, I was called Tomato,” giggled Basit, a class two student, who till then found it difficult to learn the name of fruits. But not any more. “Later, she used the same activity to teach us the names of colours and days of the week, and it became so much easier to understand. Roohi ma'am makes learning so much fun,” Basit told Gaon Connection.

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For Sultana, this method of teaching places no burden on the parents, many of them who struggle financially. “I teach children through things I make out of waste. Many of them cannot afford to buy things for school activities,” the teacher said. “It’s totally zero investment education where my focus is on cognitive development,” she added.

So, there are face masks for the children made with disposable plates, and corn husks are converted into wall hangings. Children, with their tongues sticking out in concentration, paint faces on mango seeds.

These activities, Sultana said, were good for motor skills. “I remember giving needles and threads to children to make necklaces out of beads and realised one of them was having a problem with the task. It turned out the child’s vision was weak, and I alerted her parents about it,” Sultana said.

Sultana’s approach to education has earned her several awards, including the Best Teacher National Award in 2020, the National Award in Zero Investment in Education Award 2019, and the Mirchi Powered Women Award for Path Breaking Work in the Field of Education in 2021. She was also awarded the Women Achievers Award on International Women’s Day, in 2022.

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Sultana said that her approach to learning has been appreciated by the parents of her students and the teaching community. “The response is good, and many other schools are doing the same thing with their students. This method needs no investment, but the outcomes are so many and so positive,” the teacher pointed out.

Shaheen, a mother of two children, one who is in Kindergarten and the other in Class two in the school was all praises. “My children are enjoying school and are studying well. Everything is free for them from school uniforms and books to mid-day meals. We don’t have to spend a single penny on their education. I am grateful to these teachers always,” she told Gaon Connection.