UP: Tattoo-wali teacher who brought kids back to school

LUCKNOW: Much before the clock strikes eight in the morning, her class is crowded with eager students. Tattoos on her body and puppets in hands, she walks in with a sprint in her step, sparking an excitement you rarely see in conventional classrooms.
Meet Shipra Tiwari, a primary teacher, who has deservedly earned the sobriquet ‘Tattoo-wali Madam-ji’ given that her funky style and wacky tools of teaching have improved attendance at this government school in Sonwa, Bakshi ka Talab.

“I don’t miss her class for a single day,” beamed Suhani Sharma, a student. “Like big schools, we too have a class monitor, a best performer award and an all-rounder selfie corner,” Suhani added. Suchit, another student, said he liked the bottle garden session. “We collect old bottles and turn them into fancy planters. Best out of waste is our motto. We have not only decorated our whole school, but also our homes,” he said.

There was a time when this Sonwa school had thin attendance. The few who came to class eagerly waited for the lunch bell to ring. All that has changed. “I didn’t want my students to study without interest or come to school just for midday meal. I decided to make learning fun for them so that they attended their classes by choice,” Shipra told TOI.

Among her first teaching tools were puppets. She used them to teach hygiene like washing hands before meals. She also uses modern tools like Android apps. “My students went up to their friends and told them about gudda-guddi (puppet) show. The next day the classroom was chock-a-block,” Shipra said.