After 17 years of education, it is our duty to share our knowledge and skills with those who need it the most. We students of grade 11 were extremely fortunate to have had this opportunity to experience not just the immense responsibility and authority in the hands of a teacher, but also the various challenges as well as the happiness and satisfaction that comes with it.

SVAYAM opened our eyes to a world that was fundamentally different from our own. Working as volunteer teachers helped us reach out to a generation of underprivileged children in dire need of real guidance and care. Several weeks before our journey to Bhuj, we students planned to teach simple English vocabulary, basic mathematics, the concept of time and the importance of health through various games, songs and interactive activities.

Those first few days of teaching were the most difficult of our lives. The children didn't immediately accept us as their teachers, and there was always the challenge of a language barrier. However, as days passed by, the students got attached to all of us in a way we could never imagine. In the end, it changed all of our lives in a significant way.

In some ways, it almost seemed like we were more than just teachers to those children. We were their family, their friends, and their mentors, trying to connect with them and fully understand their backgrounds and help them become successful in achieving certain skills.

I don't think we can ever know exactly how much of an impact we had on those children, but I do know that for me it was a radically eye-opening experience that I will never forget.

– Kirtana Ananth, Grade 11