Retired Teacher Continues To Serve Students, Fuelled By Past Hardships

Mangaluru: 83-year-old K Narayana Nayak is a retired teacher living in Siddakatte, Bantwal taluk, Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. It is a time in life when one would like to spend time at home. But even after his retirement, this teacher is helping students' education by travelling around daily so that students should not have to cut short their education due to financial stress.

Nayak contacts more than 300 educational institutions every year and provides information about scholarships. Due to his service, students have received scholarships worth crores of rupees. Remembering the extreme hardships of his own life, Nayak has continued this work so that other children should not face financial distress while pursuing studies.

He visits schools and colleges and provides scholarship information to needy students. Nayak interacts with college principals and with their consent informs students about various scholarships. He also guides on how to apply for the scholarships.

Nayak said, "It has been twenty-four years since I retired. I am now eighty-three years old. I am now travelling in both Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. I am providing information on scholarships. I mainly do this work in government colleges. Because there are more poor children there. I go to private colleges a little less. Because there are children of rich people there. My aim is that the education of those studying in government colleges should not be interrupted."

The hardships Nayak faced in his life for education have inspired him to take up this path. When he was going to the fifth grade, his father did not have the money to send him to school. However, he sat on a hunger strike with the demand to go to school, and went to school. His father conceded to Nayak’s hunger strike and sent him to school.

The same problem arose again when he came to the eighth grade. Again, he made his way forward through a hunger strike. Then, from class nine to the SSLC exam, he walked barefoot to a school eight kilometres away and wrote the exams.

After completing the Secondary School Leaving Certificate, Nayak joined as a primary school teacher. But he had a desire to learn. However, there was no private Pre-University Certificate exam in Karnataka. So, he went to Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh to complete his intermediate, and came to Dharwad and completed Kannada MA, Hindi MA, and B.Ed. After serving in a primary school for 20 years, he moved to a high school and became the headmaster there. He later retired from service as a school inspector.

K. Narayana Nayak teaching students (ETV Bharat)

Nayak's service expanded further after retirement. He started the work of providing information about scholarships to children from 2001, before retiring from the Government PU College in Vamadapadavu. In 2007, he started doing this as a full-time service. Even now, he visits all educational institutions in the two districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada, from schools to PU colleges, degree colleges, BEd colleges, polytechnics, and ITIs.

Students of various colleges in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts have applied for and received scholarships through Nayak's guidance. The scholarships received in this way are worth crores of rupees.

He receives pension money from the government after retirement. But he uses half of this for social service. He uses it to cover his school-to-school expenses and provide financial assistance to the needy. He saves the other half for his grandchildren. He also gives money directly to some poor students.

He is healthy and goes up to 25 km on a bike. If it is a longer distance, he uses a bus. He leaves home at 6 AM and returns home at night. He has two children and a daughter. One son is a teacher like him. He is doing exemplary work through this service, and through his service, many poor children have received scholarships and continued their education.

Government First Grade College Principal Prof. Jayakar Bhandari M said, "I have been seeing Narayan for eight years. It is commendable that he is working hard to get scholarships for the children of government colleges."

Student Vinaya Mandala said, "Narayan sir has given detailed information about various scholarships. He told us something we did not know."

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