60-Year-Old Lily Sawant Gives Lessons in Maths, English And Moral Science As A Volunteer
Ketan Tanna I TNN
The best way to describe 60-year-old Lily Sawant is that she is a serial volunteer. For the last 38 years, Sawant has been teaching students in Delhi, Aurangabad and Mumbai. When asked why she didn’t opt for teaching as a profession, she giggles. “I am addicted to teaching and not to money.
Mana lagli chand, Govind Govind,” she says, quoting a Tukaram abhang, which translates as, “I got addicted to my passion for teaching.” It all began in 1972, when she joined her research scholar husband at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. “During the holidays, especially in the afternoons, many teachers would take a nap and their children would play in the hot sun. One day, I decided that I should make them utilise their time constructively. I had graduated in chemistry and was very fond of maths. So, I devised puzzles and stories to teach them maths and even English,” she says.
When her husband got a job in Aurangabad University, she continued to teach in that town. In 1984, there was a drought in Aurangabad and other parts of Marathwada. The armed forces had advertised for entry-level posts and hundreds of youngsters from peasant families wanted to get in. To do so, they needed to pass an entrance exam and English was compulsory. Sawant was contacted by a colonel who asked if she could help. “All my boys passed. It was a cent per cent result,” she says proudly. “They came to me with a box of pedas and told me that whichever part of the world they ended up in, they would never forget me.”
Sawant moved to Mumbai with her husband in 1988. For the last 10 years, she has been teaching her favourite subjects—mathematics, English and moral science—as a volunteer in different schools. In 1995, when she was teaching science to students at a municipal school, she had to use a projector for a slide display. Her mind started ticking and she wondered how the visually impaired learned their lessons. Curiosity took her to Vikas Shorewalla, a visually challenged person from Charni Road, who taught her the basics of Braille.
A few months later, someone told her that children from a home for the blind were looking for a maths teacher for their board exam. The hitch was that though Sawant had learnt basic Braille, she didn’t know maths Braille, which had its own rules. But she started learning it and taught not only the students of that batch but four other batches as well. “My entire batch passed with good marks. When some of them got jobs, they came to me with gifts. That’s my reward. I don’t need money or a proper job to get satisfaction. Helping people grow and do well in life has its own joy,” she says.
For four years, Sawant has been teaching underprivileged children at the Baljivan Trust in Santa Cruz. She teaches them maths and science in Marathi, English and Hindi. She also trains students in disaster management.
Now that she is 60 and getting on, does she plan to take a break? “Not at all,”she retorts, aghast at the very thought. “I like to teach and I like to talk. If I don’t do both, I will go mad.”
(Lily Sawant can be contacted on 022-26670213)
Mana lagli chand, Govind Govind,” she says, quoting a Tukaram abhang, which translates as, “I got addicted to my passion for teaching.” It all began in 1972, when she joined her research scholar husband at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. “During the holidays, especially in the afternoons, many teachers would take a nap and their children would play in the hot sun. One day, I decided that I should make them utilise their time constructively. I had graduated in chemistry and was very fond of maths. So, I devised puzzles and stories to teach them maths and even English,” she says.
When her husband got a job in Aurangabad University, she continued to teach in that town. In 1984, there was a drought in Aurangabad and other parts of Marathwada. The armed forces had advertised for entry-level posts and hundreds of youngsters from peasant families wanted to get in. To do so, they needed to pass an entrance exam and English was compulsory. Sawant was contacted by a colonel who asked if she could help. “All my boys passed. It was a cent per cent result,” she says proudly. “They came to me with a box of pedas and told me that whichever part of the world they ended up in, they would never forget me.”
Sawant moved to Mumbai with her husband in 1988. For the last 10 years, she has been teaching her favourite subjects—mathematics, English and moral science—as a volunteer in different schools. In 1995, when she was teaching science to students at a municipal school, she had to use a projector for a slide display. Her mind started ticking and she wondered how the visually impaired learned their lessons. Curiosity took her to Vikas Shorewalla, a visually challenged person from Charni Road, who taught her the basics of Braille.
A few months later, someone told her that children from a home for the blind were looking for a maths teacher for their board exam. The hitch was that though Sawant had learnt basic Braille, she didn’t know maths Braille, which had its own rules. But she started learning it and taught not only the students of that batch but four other batches as well. “My entire batch passed with good marks. When some of them got jobs, they came to me with gifts. That’s my reward. I don’t need money or a proper job to get satisfaction. Helping people grow and do well in life has its own joy,” she says.
For four years, Sawant has been teaching underprivileged children at the Baljivan Trust in Santa Cruz. She teaches them maths and science in Marathi, English and Hindi. She also trains students in disaster management.
Now that she is 60 and getting on, does she plan to take a break? “Not at all,”she retorts, aghast at the very thought. “I like to teach and I like to talk. If I don’t do both, I will go mad.”
(Lily Sawant can be contacted on 022-26670213)
ON A MISSION: For four years, Sawant has been teaching deprived children at Baljivan Trust in Santa Cruz
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