R Sathy

A prestigious gift awaits R Sathy , headmistress of the Panchayat Union Primary School in Malumichampatti near Coimbatore, this Teachers' Day. The 46-year-old, a teacher for 23 years, will receive the National Award to Teachers, 2017, at a function in New Delhi on September 5.

The only teacher from Tamil Nadu to bag the award given by the ministry of human resource development this year, Sathy had been honoured with the state government's best teacher award last year.

A resident of Podanur near the city, Sathy began her career in 1995 at the Sultanpet Panchayat Union Primary School and became headmistress of the Bodipalayam Panchayat Union Primary School in 2004. She joined the primary school in Malumichampatti in 2012. In the first two years, she took up renovating the school infrastructure. She roped in L&T, which adopted the school, gave it a makeover and also constructed the much-needed toilets and a reverse osmosis (RO) drinking water unit.

Sathy then set up a smart classroom with the help of benefactors. "We replaced blackboards with green boards, in which we can use magnets to place maps or pictures for students," she said.

One of her landmark initiatives was the 'Kutti Commandos'. She formed a group of Class V students to go around the locality early in the morning and whistle, shout and embarrass people defecating in the open. They also check whether public toilets have water and electricity. "When anything is found lacking, they approach officials directly," said Sathy. The initiative earned her an award from the collector.

In January, Sathy introduced a novel way of making students grasp lessons easily. She made the teachers convert lessons into skits and made students enact them. "We film it and upload it online, which makes the students very interested in lessons," she told TOI.

Under her guidance, the students also grow vegetables on the campus. The produce is used for noon meal and the excess is given to students.

Sathy undertook a door-to-door campaign in the locality to make migrant labourers enrol their children in school. "Today, about 42 children of north Indian labourers study in the school. One of them gave a Tamil speech for Kamarajar's birthday," Sathy said. "To eliminate plastic on the school campus, we plan to provide steel water bottles and tiffin boxes to the students."

The school has 270 students and eight teachers.

