“Who is a teacher? Is it only someone inside classrooms, or also those who silently empower others with knowledge and dignity?”

Every year on September 5, we celebrate Teachers’ Day as a tribute not just to those who guided us through books, but also to those who gave direction to our lives beyond classrooms. This day belongs not only to schoolteachers but to all who, through courage and compassion, transform the lives of others.

Classrooms and schools remain important centres of learning, but true education is not confined there. Real teaching awakens faith in freedom, lights the lamp of self-respect, and gives the courage to live with dignity.

Two extraordinary women from Bhopal, Kumud Singh and Chhaya Sharma, are living examples of this broader vision of education. For decades, without any stage, award, or publicity, they have quietly kindled the flame of hope among those standing at the margins of society.

Their efforts are not written in textbooks but reflected in the sparkle of eyes they have taught to live with self-reliance and dignity. These women remind us that a teacher is not only someone who delivers lessons, but also one who restores broken confidence, brings forth hidden courage, and instils the belief that every life is valuable.

From Zoology Professor to Life’s Classroom

Kumud Singh began her professional life as an assistant professor of zoology. But even as she taught in classrooms, she felt restless as her true calling lay elsewhere. Having grown up surrounded by freedom fighters and members of the Vilinikaran aandolan, she had been listening to stories of struggle since childhood. Patriarchal traditions, untouchability, gender and caste discrimination in her village in Uttar Pradesh always disturbed her.

Her father’s words stayed with her: ‘Don’t get worried about small patriarchal mindsets, there are bigger fights for you to fight.’ That seed of resistance grew within her, making her impatient with a life confined to academic teaching. After nine years in the classroom, she resigned.

Recalling this decision in a conversation with The Mooknayak, she said that when she told her husband, his response was simple: ‘Shaabash, mere sher.’ With the support of her family and children, she chose the harder yet risky path of social transformation.”

Teaching Without a Classroom

For the last 35 years, Kumud Singh has worked for child welfare, women’s empowerment, gender justice, caste discrimination and the rights of transgender. She is the founder of Sarokar, an NGO in Bhopal that became the first in India to invite transgenders as chief guests, flag-bearers, and speakers, recognising their dignity in public spaces.

Her students are children from bastis (slums), eager for stories and play that awaken hope. She listens to women battling discrimination, and at times counsels transgender people or sex workers who seek dignity and acceptance.

Every year, she holds “Khushiyon ka Summer Camp”, a 40-day space of joy and learning for children and through her NGO Sarokar, she runs the 4S Campaign (Siksha, Swasthya, Suraksha, Samman) on weekends and holidays, turning free time into moments of empowerment.

She recalls Kabir’s doha: “Me bhi bhookha na rahu, sadhu na bhookha jaae.” Her life is an attempt to live this line, meeting her needs only to keep serving others.

Small Steps, Big Transformations

Kumud’s activism has saved countless lives. She worked on improving the child sex ratio. Today many of the girls she once saved from  child marriages and female infanticide are engineers, lawyers or businesswomen who message her with gratitude and love. She helped children who once wandered railway tracks return to school.

One of her earliest interventions was through poetry and nukkad natak (street plays). With her four year old daughter by her side, she performed plays on child marriage and gender injustice. She remembers in the conversation with The Mooknayak that once, a young girl in Bhopal forced into child marriage, recalled Kumud’s slogans from a street play and resisted. That act became news. Today, that girl is an independent women.

These are the small sparks that have lit a fire of change across households and communities. She says, “Don’t cut others’ line, make your own line big.”

Feminism as Equality, Not Division

For Kumud Singh, gender equality means love and respect for everyone. It is not just about freeing women, but also men, from the burden of being sole bread winners or trapped in rigid roles.

Her feminism asks women to define their own freedom and beauty, breaking chains imposed by society. And it asks men to embrace equality as liberation for themselves too.

If Kumud Singh’s life is about courage, Chhaya Sharma’s journey is about independence. A makeup artist from Bhopal, she turned her personal struggles into a mission to empower others. When her husband left her and her young son, Chhaya faced a severe crisis. Returning to her parents’ house, she built a small makeup parlour with grit and determination. That struggle made her realize the importance of women’s financial independence.

Chhaya Sharma: A Teacher of Independence

From then on, she decided to teach what she knew best, makeup and self reliance. Over the years, she has trained more than 500 girls from marginalized communities, free of cost, helping them stand on their feet. Speaking to The Mooknayak, she shared that today, she is working with around 500 tribal women, empowering and supporting them. She has even adopted children from these communities to support their education and basic needs.

Her compassion reached as far as the district prison, where she trained women inmates so that once released, they could start afresh and not fall into the cycle of stigma or crime. During the COVID-19 crisis, when many families lost livelihoods, she taught women skills that helped them earn, survive, and protect their children.

Today, many women call her, saying, “Because of you, we are able to feed, protect, and educate our children.” In 2025, she was honoured with the Madhya Pradesh Gaurav Award for her inspiring work. Her message is clear “Empower and educate your daughters, so that no challenge, be it a pandemic or personal crisis can break their spirit.”

Teachers Beyond Classrooms

Both Kumud Singh and Chhaya Sharma remind us that teaching is not just about textbooks or degrees. It is about awakening dignity, creating opportunities, and giving people the tools to stand independently.

On this Teacher’s Day, tribute must also go to the unsung teachers. Women who have lit lamps of courage and independence in the lives of the most marginalized.

For when a girl resists child marriage after watching a street play, when a tribal woman earns through her skills, when a transgender person is honoured on stage, when a prisoner begins life anew, there is always a teacher behind it.

And sometimes, that teacher is not holding chalk in hand, but hope in her heart.