There was a time when Sonwa school in Lucknow had very thin attendance. The few students who came would wait for lunch-time to have their mid-day meal. A concerned school teacher, Shipra Tiwari noticed the dwindling attendance and decided to do something about it.

Shipra decided to make learning fun for them so that they came to school by choice and not by compulsion. She resorted to new and innovative methods of teaching instead of the conventional one.

Puppet Show

Puppets were among her first teaching tools that sparked an interest in her students. Shipra started taking lessons and conveying important messages through puppets. For instance, with the help of puppets, she taught the children the importance of hygiene. When word spread about the gudda-guddi (puppet) show, students started attending classes and the classroom was full of students.

Bottle Garden Session

Another activity which garnered a lot of interest among students was the bottle garden activity. In this activity, old bottles were collected and transformed into beautiful planters. The motto here was ‘Best out of Waste’. With this concept, the students went on to decorate the entire school as well as their homes.

Apart from the wacky tools which she brings to make learning fun, she also uses modern tools on android apps. Now, her class is chock-o-block with students. Her presence itself fills the class with excitement as she enters cheerfully with a spring in her feet. She is a funky modern teacher who flaunts tattoos and so students call her tattoo-wali teacher. Hats off to this great teacher who went out of the way to awaken interest and passion for learning among her students.