A Teacher Who Swims Through A River Everyday To Get To His Students

September 5, 2013

[color=#000000][font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][size=4]

[img]http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/story_page/Master-Mallik-630.jpg[/img]
[color=#555555][size=2]

40-year-old Abdul Mallik, a primary teacher, wades through neck-high water everyday to reach his school[/size][/color][/size][/font][/color][color=#000000][font=Roboto, sans-serif][size=4]
[b][url="http://www.ndtv.com/article/list/cities/1/thiruvananthapuram"]Thiruvananthapuram[/url]: [/b]At 9 am on a weekday, Abdul Mallik is busy wading through neck-high water, a tyre-tube around his waist, his tiffin box and shoes held in one hand above the muddy river.

It's hardly the average morning commute, but for this 40-year-old teacher, it's all in a day's work.

This is what it takes Mr Mallik to get to the primary school where he has been employed for 20 years in a village in the Malappuram district of Kerala. ([url="http://www.ndtv.com/forums/news/this-teacher-swims-through-a-river-to-reach-his-students-414733"]Comment here[/url])

"If I go by bus, it takes me three hours to cover the 12-kilometre distance, but swimming through the river is easier, faster and I reach school on time," he says, after he emerges from the river 15 minutes later.

He changes into a dry set of clothes on the river bank, and then treks uphill for 10 minutes before he reaches school. ([url="http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/top-10-surfer-comments-on-teacher-who-swims-everyday-to-get-to-students-414801"]Read: Top 10 surfer comments on teacher who swims everyday to get to students[/url])

An average salary for government teachers like him is around [font=RupeeForadianRegular !important]Rs.[/font] 25,000.

The compensation, he says, lies elsewhere.

[img]http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/story_page/Master-Mallik-295.jpg[/img]As he arrives at his classroom, a bunch of excited students surround him with their offerings of cards and letters for Teacher's Day.

A staunch environmentalist, he often takes his students swimming, hoping the field trip will impress upon them the need to save the river, swirling with filth, that he navigates every day.

A seven-year old student, Jahangir, smiles shyly when asked what he wants to be when he grows up. "Like Mallik Master," he says. [/size][/font][/color]