Teachers Day: How a drought-stricken land found prosperity in education, now known as the village of teachers

Waghapur is a village with a population of around 3,000, where today there are 300 teachers. The villagers proudly tell everyone that there is at least one teacher in every family. They are employed in Waghapur and nearby villages like Daund, Bhor, Velha, Haveli, Saswad, etc. It all started back in the 1970s.

Being a drought-stricken area, the villagers struggled to put food on their tables. Indubai Kunjir, 78, during her prime years, used to walk two kilometres to do backbreaking work at a quarry. It was in such conditions that she birthed her son Sanjay. One day while walking back home, Indubai took shelter at a hut and delivered the baby.

“It was a really difficult time, even the memories of it haunt us,” she said.

Today Sanjay, 51, works as a teacher. “Even though my parents were not educated and they had little resources, they still made sure our education didn’t suffer and I will always be grateful for that,” he said. Indubai had only studied till grade two and dropped out after that, as was the case with most from her generation. That generation of the village, being uneducated, mostly worked as daily wagers at railway and dam construction sites. Around 70 to 80 villagers were working on railway construction sites.

Ashok Jagannath Kunjir, a retired teacher, dwells on the history of how the village came to become a village of teachers. He said, “Purandar is divided into two parts by the Karha river. Our part of the village didn’t have any school till 1892. It was on March 9, 1892 that the first primary school was established. Students from nearby villages also started coming here for education. That’s how the first time teachers came to this village”.

After Ashok completed Class 7, he trained for two years and started teaching at primary level. “At that time, the government wanted to spread education, so they would train pass outs of Class 7 and ask them to teach at primary level”, he said.

The high school was established with contributions of Rs 40 per month by railway workers and other contributions by teachers and villagers.

But the village still didn’t have a high school and the teachers felt the need to establish one. “People came together and established a high school in 1961. After that again students from here started scoring good marks and would take up admission for courses in diploma in education. From each batch the village would produce at least 10 to 15 teachers, that’s how the number increased.”

The high school was established with contributions of Rs 40 per month by railway workers and other contributions by teachers and villagers. A resident, Vishwas Kunjir donated land for the high school. Today the village has one primary school, one high school and one private English medium school.

Villagers recall the time during the 1980s when the village would get 100 percent results. Students would study round the clock, before morning prayers in the school and after the school below a tree at night. It’s with this discipline that the current generation has made a mark in many fields like Madhura. There are some working in civil services, some as doctors, some are pursuing research abroad. “Children who are born in difficult situations, they have a different kind of fire within them”, said Sanjay.

Santosh did his diploma in education in Pune. It was the top choice of students from the village. Santosh’s father also did diploma from the same college. Sharing an anecdote Santosh says, “Since a lot of students from Waghapur were residing in Pune to study diploma in education, everyday with a state transport bus, our parents would send us tiffins which we collected at Swargate bus stand”, he says as he remembers the kind of support he got to complete his education.

As the village became more and more literate, Indubai too learnt to read at the age of 60 and now spends her time reading all religious texts. But now the tradition is on decline, with less teacher recruitments and students gaining access to explore more career options.