When Hanamantha Masali, Akshara’s District Field Coordinator, Belagavi district, reached the Gram Panchayat (GP) Maths Contest venue in the Dodavad village school in Bailhongal block, a conflict was already brewing. With the potential for a perfect storm had it not been for the character and presence of mind of a remarkable GP Team Leader, Vinod Nanannavar.
Vinod is one of those abundant people. He’s an Akshara Volunteer, one of around 40,000 in a community of givers across Karnataka, young men and women, who stirred by passion and purpose, dedicate themselves without monetary compensation to the education of their government school-going village children.
As Vinod told Masali three years back when he joined, “I want to gift back to the village school I studied in. With Akshara I get a platform for serving.” Vinod is just 26. In stature that day he towered. It was the first GP Contest in Dodavad, an unfamiliar event, and teachers of the 4-5 participating schools had a few concerns. They were getting “plainly agitated” when Masali arrived, and Vinod was increasingly at the receiving end of the ire.
He’s just 26. In stature that day he towered. The centrepiece of the disagreement was that teachers felt this was going to be a public display of their capabilities that would reflect adversely on them. Students’ failure would be construed as teacher incompetence, poor quality classroom instruction, and teachers didn’t want to be judged. Vinod listened with understanding and empathy and became an epitome of calmness. Determined to uphold the spirit and unparalleled nature of the Contests, Vinod navigated through with grace and responsibility.
How did he do it? “With humility and deference,” he says. He spelt out the purpose of the Contests clearly and quietly, giving no offence, paying homage to the teachers’ seniority in age and experience, and appealing to their right-mindedness. Some of the teachers had taught him in this very same village school years ago and Masali bore admiring witness to the way Vinod managed to control and defuse the situation, bowing reverentially “as he would to a Guru and explaining the good points of the Contests.”
It didn’t end there. In the grading room where the answer sheets were being corrected, teachers milled around wanting a say in the assignment of marks for 3 children who were tied at the same score for a prize. But, as a relieved Masali watched on, Vinod brought peace and harmony over the small, anxious crowd. He pacified them, all well-intentioned, seasoned teachers, guardians of the classroom, wanting the best for their students. Once Vinod explained the assessments, did the context-setting, and detailed how such an evaluation would benefit them and have a positive impact on their students’ learning outcomes, they became partners in the endeavour. “He found a solution,” says Masali jubilantly. “Conflict resolution is something Akshara trains the Volunteers in.”
Over and above the cash rewards and certificates the prizewinners got, the 3 students were specially called to the dais to receive school bags as gifts. All students got one, organised by Vinod through a Taluk Panchayat member from Dodavad whom the Team Leader persuaded. The bags were a personal gift from the member. The 3 children were singled out for acclaim and the teachers were overjoyed.
Vinod comes across as aware, astute, and wise. A science graduate, he now stands on the threshold of hope aiming to be a Group A Government Officer. He knows only too intimately the vulnerability of being straitened – no resources to broaden his scope, no internet to see far into the world, no smartphone to reach for opportunity from an anonymous little village.
“My struggles in school shouldn’t happen to these children in my village, any village. That’s my inspiration. Being an Akshara Volunteer gives me a kind of fulfilment. I get respect from parents, children, teachers, the GP. I get certificates of appreciation.”
