Teacher who refused lucrative job offers for students’ sake

Established Maths Lab, digital board at his own money

Lokmat News Network

Mehboob Inamdar

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Yogeshwar Duttatray Nikam, who is a teacher in a secondary school of the city refused lucrative job offers from top higher education institutes of the country for the love of teaching school students Vedic Mathematics.

He secured second place in the first round of international Vedic Mathematics competitions held in Brisbane (Australia) in 2024 and first place in national-level Vedic Mathematics examinations held in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi between 2017 and 22.

Talking to this newspaper, Yogeshwar Nikam, who works at the secondary section of Maharashtra Hindi Vidyalaya, said that the students of his school are from poor and underprivileged families.

“As a teacher, I have found the financial condition of our school children is not good. Parents make their children work at a young age, which leads to apathy among the students instead of education. This situation becomes a hindrance in students' social and educational development and go away from the mainstream of education,” he said.

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Rejected offers; made learning fun

“It is the responsibility of the education system to make them competent citizens. When I passed Vedic Mathematics competitions on national and international level, I had several good job offers from top higher education institutions. I rejected those offers and thought of making learning at school fun for my students,” he said.

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Maths Lab, digital board & activity book made available for poor students from his own money

--He set up a Mathematics laboratory for students by spending his own money of Rs 1.10 lakh.

--The teacher bought a digital board at the school at Rs 1.21 lakh. He paid the charges from his pocket.

--He also prepared an ‘activity book of Mathematics’ for students from the fifth to the 10th standard from his own money.

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Lab set up to remove learning gap in Covid

The schools were shut down in Covid, so online teaching was started. He participated in the state-level project of making 750 videos for primary students. “It did not benefit to my school students as the majority of had no smartphones in Covid. When the school reopened, I decided to establish a Mathematics lab in the school to remove the fear of the subject among the students,” he said.

He said that, unlike traditional mathematics teaching methods, the laboratory provides an interactive and practical environment, where students use tools and techniques to think critically. He received the Sharad Pawar Inspire Fellowship (Education) for this initiative.

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How My Interest in Mathematics Was Developed

“Until class 10, I was an average student in Mathematics. I considered mathematics my favourite subject because my father, though a farmer, was very strong in Mathematics.

He said that people of his village often invited his father to measure land.

“I found this very fascinating. I decided to make a career in teaching Mathematics after I was inspired from my teacher, late Vijaysingh Ghoti, who taught Mathematics at the Zillaa Parishad School in Bazar Sauangi, with his unique teaching style. Watching him teach, I was inspired and began working hard to progress in mathematics. I studied all the basic concepts thoroughly”.