By Matters India Reporter
Latehar, Aug 26, 2020: A Montfort educationist, who has spent four decades among the poorest of the poor in eastern India, has won the best teacher award given by an NGO.
Brother K J Markose works at Birsa Munda High School Janho-Barwaiya, Manika, Latehar district, Jharkhand.
The Development, Opportunities, Resource, Access, Insight (DORAI) Foundation announced three awardees on August 26.
“It is with much surprise that I received the news that DORAI foundation has selected me as one of the persons for the best teacher award,” Brother K J Markose told Matters India.
The other two awardees are Uma Prabhakaran, Chennai, and Ghulam Ali, Kashmir.
The award consists of a plaque and a certificate.
Since 1980, Brother Markose has been working with the children of Mahadalit, a community that comes under the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), in the eastern Indian states of Jharkhand and Odisha.
PVTG is a government of India classification created to enable improvement in the conditions of certain communities with, particularly low development indices.
The virtual “Teachers Day Award” function will be held on September 5 on Zoom that will be live-streamed on Facebook for an hour from 12 (Indian time).
“I am trying to empower the powerless and living with them, sharing the same food and accommodation. I work for an education-rights-based approach,” Brother Markose said.
He has earned Bachelor’s degrees in education and Law and Masters in Arts.
He founded three schools in extremely difficult localities and situations.
“I take care of hostels and the school, guide teachers and students and management,” he said.
Brother Markose’s name was proposed by Akash Ranjan (Ranchi) and Veenapani (Mumbai).
The Brother currently manages two schools in the Latehar district of Daltonganj diocese.
Latehar is some 110 km northwest of Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand state.
Schools are mainly for Dalits and tribals. Hostlers are mainly from Parahiya (a PVTG community) and Bhuiyans (Mahadalit).
Brother Markose has also worked among the survivors of the 2008 Kandhamal anti-Christian persecution that marked the 12th anniversary on August 25.
“I am happy to say that this mission has been quite successful because of the support of so many people—our church authorities, superiors, well-wishers, friends, collaborators and donors. Thanks to all of them,” he said.
“Reaching out to the unreached children of extremely poor families and empowering them to enter mainstream society has been my mission. It has been a pleasant journey to reach out to the most deserving community,” Brother Markose added.