The child of two teachers, Gamchi Timre R Marak was actually reluctant to follow in her parents’ footsteps but, decades on, she will be recognised with the National Teacher Award by President Draupadi Murmu in New Delhi today on the occasion of Teachers’ Day.
“My parents started their careers as teachers, though my father went on to get an administrative role as Block Development Officer,” Marak told Highland Post. “They always wanted me to be a teacher but, considering the tedious work, I never wanted to be a teacher.”
However, when her husband got a job as a government science teacher he had two options – to take up a post in Maharam in South West Khasi Hills or Williamnagar in East Garo Hills. “I told my husband that Garo Hills needed us more.”
She received plenty of teaching offers herself and finally helped to open Greenyard Higher Secondary School where she became headmistress. “Once I became a teacher, my passion and need to educate naturally ignited and I took it as a challenge to make the children of a backward, often scoffed area, to be competent, conscientious, resourceful adults and better human beings.”
After five years, she left to open her own school, Educere, with the help of the community.
“It became a need-based institution in response to prevailing situations, from poverty to insurgency and problems arising from the fallout of coal mining and other social problems,” she said, referring to rampant alcoholism, domestic violence, early marriage, etc. “More recently, I started ‘whole brain learning’ and integrated academics with music, taekwondo, fine arts and motivation classes with NLP (neuro linguistic programme). The school has become a sort of reformatory school and a refuge for problem children who are enabled to get on in life.”
The school grants admission to dropouts, failed students, repeaters, those who were expelled from other schools and out-of-school children. In 2022, the success rate was 100 percent both for regular students and repeaters.
“From the outset, Educere was started by pooling of resources. At the inception, few parents were government servants. Most were poor and collection of fees was irregular. Payment of salary to teachers was a perennial problem. So, we regularly undertook fundraising programmes. The late Maicklind D Sangma and Kroshnil D Sangma, readily lent us funds, which were paid back by educating their children,” the founder explained.
Marak has received recognition for her work several times over the years, such as the District Teacher Award in 2013, State Award in 2015 and she was selected for the in-residence programme for award winning teachers at Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2016.
Educere then celebrated its silver jubilee in 2019 but the following year brought a fresh challenge in the form of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Right from the start, it had not been easy to manage and maintain the school because [Williamnagar] was underdeveloped and resources were few,” Marak explained.
The Covid-induced lockdown saw a number of dropouts throughout Garo Hills as children were thrown into an uncertain future. “The school had to reach out, bring them back, counsel and help them to perform,” she said.
Before coronavirus, there was ‘coal belt syndrome’, which Marak explained as referring to children spoiled by rich, coal mine-owning parents who also lacked proper supervision and guidance. “I took it as my mission to turn them around and had many successes.”
There was also the problem of insurgency, as Williamnagar was a hotspot. “Terror ruled and many of my students left for other towns. The school had to give emotional support and help victims to move on. We had to also counsel children who were tempted to join the glorified rebels.”
There is a long selection process for the National Teacher Award, from an online application to district selection, online interview and presentation before an independent jury. Out of 151 candidates in the final list, 46 were selected to receive this year’s award.
“It is a hard-earned achievement. It has become more and more difficult to achieve,” Marak said. “Getting selected is a huge achievement and God’s grace to honour me, my school, my town, my district, Garo Hills and my state. My life has been a struggle and I had to plod through my career, mission and goals. I believe the National Award is a true recognition and will help to focus on our area and inspire other teachers to believe in their dreams and achieve their professional goals.”
