At 70, ex-teacher Govardhan Sahu gifts education to tribal kids

KORAPUT: After dedicating over three decades of his life to the teaching profession, a 70-year-old retired teacher Govardhan Sahu is now walking the extra mile to ensure that children in the Maoist-hit Bandhugaon village of Koraput district are not deprived of English education. Even after his retirement from Bandhugaon High School, he has been giving free English lessons to children of the school.

Govardhan, a native of Angul, started his teaching career at Dasmantapur High School in 1975 and joined Bandhugaon High School in 1993. He retired from the school as its headmaster. After his retirement in 2012, Sahu decided not to return to Angul but to stay back in Koraput to teach tribal children of Bandhugaon High School free of cost. And he has been doing so till now.

Every morning, he teaches English to students of Class IX and X because he feels the subject is the most difficult one for tribal children. And in the evening, he gives free tuition to them at his home.“Such teachers are actually a blessing for society. Rarely do we come across teachers who willingly stay back in a remote village after retirement just to educate the new generation of learners,” said the headmistress of the school Rasmita Sahu.

While his children stay outside the State, Sahu’s wife died in Angul of Covid-19 last year. “I have no family here so I have decided to dedicate my entire life to educating children of this village,” said the retired teacher.  After his retirement, Sahu received several teaching offers from private institutions in Angul but his passion to educate the tribal children held him back at Koraput.