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Teacher’s Diary: An English medium teacher took up the challenge of teaching economics in Hindi

Manish Hindavi, who had studied in English medium institutions all through his student life, took up the challenge of teaching economics in Hindi when he joined a college in Basti, Uttar Pradesh. Along with teaching, Manish has been working on various social causes including distribution of sanitary pads and health awareness.
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I was born in Gonda in 1977, and studied there till I graduated from Lal Bahadur Shastri University, Gonda, Uttar Pradesh with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1998. After this I did my Masters in Economics from Lucknow University and graduated in 2001.

After clearing my UGC-NET in 2002, I joined as a lecturer at Shiv Harsh Kisan PG College in Basti Uttar Pradesh. This was where I faced my biggest challenge.

My education up till now was all in English medium institutions and here I was in a college where I was asked to take classes in Hindi.

My students came from humble homes. Some of them could not afford textbooks. I bought hindi text books or borrowed them from the library, and began to study them myself. Then, I made notes for my students in Hindi.

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I realised how post-intermediate education in villages, even where there are private colleges functioning, is a huge challenge to students. It is made up of students whose parents couldn’t afford to send them off to cities.

I decided to shake things up a bit and decided to hold a national seminar on recession in a college that had never seen one. The year was 2010. I sent out a proposal to UGC and it was approved. Conducting this seminar was like getting my daughters married off! But the seminar ended up a hit and people appreciated it quite a lot.

While I was teaching in Shiv Harsh Kisan PG College in Basti Uttar Pradesh, I came to know that there was a vacancy in the economics department at Vidyant College in Lucknow. I applied and I have been working there since 2015.

Also Read: Teachers’ Diary: As a child I was weak in studies, but I did PhD in mathematics and now teach maths

I did what I could at Basti and even in Lucknow I wanted to do besides just teaching. I started the Vivekananda Samta Foundation. Its first campaign was an awareness drive for girls called the “Wings Movement” in which we distributed sanitary pads. We also began a Hand Hygiene campaign even before COVID-19 pandemic. When the first lockdown was imposed, our foundation along with the Lucknow administration provided ration to about ten thousand households.

I enjoy teaching economics and when I have time, I accept invitations to be a panellist on television as an economics and political analyst.

Note: Manish Hindavi is currently an Associate Professor of Economics at Vidyant College, Lucknow University.

As told to Danish Iqbal, an intern with Gaon Connection. Translated by Mahima Gujjar.

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