“School was always terrifying for me- we would get punished and beaten a lot for not finishing our work. All of this changed when I was in the 6th grade and Teach for India began collaborating with my school. Regardless of how we felt about going to school every other day of the week, we always looked forward to Saturdays because we had games!

They introduced football to us by taking us to a nearby playground, something that I realized I had a real interest in. The girls had a team in our school as well, and they were exceptionally good! They won so many matches against other schools, but we never did. When I asked our coach why that was, he said that they were good with communication, while we barely trusted our own teammates. I think this is where I truly learnt the meaning of teamwork.

Before these changes came about, I had so much anger pent up inside me. The toppers got all the attention and the rest of us were made to feel worthless. One day, my favourite teacher, Mr. Kevin, told me “Don’t think about other people, think about yourself”. That moment changed me. I began letting go of my anger, being friendly, and interacting with people.

Since CoVID, all of our classes have been online, there’s been no football or activities or my friends or TFI teachers. All I’ve been doing is lazing around the house or playing PUBG, which was great at first, but not anymore. I know it sounds odd for a 16 year old to say, but I really miss going to school!”