UP madrassa teacher teaching students of different communities for free

Education is regarded as the key to achieving progress and harmony in society, and keeping this in mind, a teacher in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district is educating poor children for free.

Nasreen Shamshi, a primary school teacher of Urdu, teaches underprivileged children at a madrassa. She has authored a book to make the learning Urdu easier for her Hindi-speaking students.

Teaching with a motto of keeping education above everything else, students of all communities are welcome to attend her free classes to learn Urdu and Hindi.

"Students of all religions are studying in this madrassa, not only Muslims. We believe that education is for children of religions. I have around 14-15 non-Muslim students, all of them have shown a lot of interest in learning Urdu. This is because they are learning Urdu through Hindi in a very simple manner," Shamshi said.

"We have been coming here for days to learn Urdu. We also learn words of Hindi in Urdu and vice-versa. Hindus, Muslims and students of all communities study here. My friends like Shobhit, Muneer, Hamid and all students study together. It feels really good and our teacher makes us write on the board which makes us learn everything properly," said Tanif Raza, a student.

"I have been coming here for many days now. We are learning words in Urdu, Hindi and Sanskrit. I like learning Urdu," said Shobhit Maurya, another student.

Nasreen has around 150 students in her class, most of whom are primarily Hindi speakers, so learning Urdu for them has not been an easy task.

Not only Nasreen, there are several other teachers who share the same objective of teaching children of all communities.

"There should be amity among students of all religious backgrounds and there is no enmity based on caste or community," said another teacher Suraiyya.

Her experience with teaching students both the languages led her to pen down a book by the name 'Hindi-Urdu Sangam' which means a confluence of Hindi and Urdu.

She was awarded the Malala Award by the Uttar Pradesh government for her book and her initiative to impart education to the poorer sections of society.

Her book shows how Urdu is not too different from Hindi and makes it easier for Hindi-speakers to understand and learn the language.

The book has especially helped the students to overcome their confusion and questions about the language.