Teachers’ Day Celebration 2025

Within the ethos of Shikshantar, any day spent with children is a ‘Teachers’ Day’. Every moment is a journey of learning in a continuous exchange of stories and experiences. The bond of trust between the children and their Didis and Bhaiyas encourages the blossoming of young minds and in turn, the facilitators grasp the simple ways to live life.

With this year’s theme for Shikshantar birthday ‘Oorja Within and Around Us’, all of us reflected on what we would like to nurture in our life and the driving energy behind our motivation. Teacher’s Day was an opportunity for the team to encourage inner creativity, collaboration, and a sense of community and to put to paper their thoughts and impressions in the form of artwork, graphics, poetry and prose. It was also a reflection on how one’s own energy is mirrored in the world around us which we carry forward into experiences created around the children.

We welcomed Paro Anand, a prolific author and playwright, in our midst. Having been involved in the Shikshantar family for a long time, Paro Didi was a familiar face to all. She dramatically narrated the story of ‘मैं बिल्ली नहीं हूँ’ and a book ‘A Girl, a Tiger and a Very Strange Story’ highlighting the Pardhi tribal people and the struggles they face. Shikshantar was the “first public outing” of the books that she was set to launch soon! It was an endlessly entertaining interactive session, with the team chirping, barking and roaring, immersing into the world of children and how they see their surroundings.

Closing on a positive note as Didi gave a copy of each book to the school library, all of us left with a simple reminder of the moments we share with the children in our classrooms each day and the joys of storytelling.