Meet D Prakash Rao, the Odisha tea seller who runs school for slum kids

He also visits patients in hospitals every day and help those in need be it with free food or with his services and sometimes with money. Rao’s selfless act gained a lot of attention when PM Modi in his latest radio address of Mann ki Baat praised the good Samaritan.

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He also volunteers at hospitals and help those in need be it with money, time or his services. (Source: ANI/ Twitter)

Setting an example, a tea-seller in Cuttack has been changing lives of scores of slum children by not only providing them free education but also free meal. Sixty-year-old D Prakash Rao has been a beacon of hope for around 75 children in a slum. For the last 17 years, Rao has been donating half of his income towards the running of the school, news agency ANI reported.

Rao’s selfless act gained a lot of attention when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his latest radio address of Mann ki Baat, praised the good samaritan for his relentless service to the poor. “People have started touching my feet now,” he told the news agency. Rao, who had to leave his own education mid-way to help his family, doesn’t want the same fate for other children from similar background.

Rao provides basic level education – from kindergarten to class III for the kids at the school and later helps them to get enrolled in various government schools.

And his list of helping others doesn’t end with teaching. He also visits patients in hospitals every day and help those in need, be it with free food or with his services and sometimes with money. “I don’t want these children to lack behind in studies just because they don’t have money. So I divide my time between school, tea shop and visiting patients at a hospital,” he added.

Odisha: D Prakash Rao, tea seller in Cuttack who also runs school for children living in slums, was praised by PM Modi in #MannKiBaat this Sunday. He says ‘I also help patients at hospital. I sell tea till 10 am,after that I come here to teach&use half my income for this school’. pic.twitter.com/qxC6aPiNMc

— ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

Here’s what PM Modi said about him:

Recently, he also met the Prime Minister in Cuttack along with few children from his school where he teaches and left everyone in awe.

During my visit to Cuttack yesterday, I was delighted to meet D. Prakash Rao and some of the students whose life he is transforming. #MannKiBaat pic.twitter.com/31VCbOGmBX

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 27, 2018