Teachers are hailed for their selflessness and the ability to strive for their students so that they excel in life. And a 73-year-old man from Karnataka is one such example. Coming from Dharwad district, Nagesh Shanbag has been providing free mathematics tuition to high school students for over 50 years.
The septuagenarian, who worked as a newsreader for All India Radio (AIR), started teaching Mathematics to follow his passion which remains with him since his college days. Even after joining AIR, Nagesh could not bury his love for Maths and took to teaching despite having no professional experience as a teacher. Nagesh Shanbag explained that Mathematics keeps him fit and he feels energetic and young teaching it. He further expressed his joy in interacting with students on a daily basis, as reported by Times of India. The teacher also charges a small fee in exchange for the knowledge and utilises the amount to fund higher education of underprivileged students.
Sharing an instance, Nagesh recalled how he had to start charging the nominal fee after 42 years of teaching. He remembered one of his students who had scored well but hesitated in taking up engineering as his parents could not afford the course and that is when Nagesh’s daughter advised him to accept the fees.
According to the TOI report, Nagesh considers Maths as not only the most interesting but also one of the easiest subjects. He blames the lack of enthusiasm in teachers for the difficulties that students face practicing the subject. “I try to give the child a strong foundation,” the teacher added.
Nagesh used to earlier teach students for competitive exams at the Dr. NB Kabbur Samaraka Shiksana Vikasa Anweshana Pratisthana and also trained Mathematics teachers for free, according to the president of centre, Dr. Anand Kabbur. Despite the classes being shut now, he still sends all his tuition earnings to help the needy and talented students, the president added.
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