The Chalk Came Back
She gave up the classroom. Life brought her a louder one.
She used to walk into a classroom with pride chalk in hand, back straight, eyes full of purpose. Students loved her because of her calm nature, and so did the school staff. And then that day came she made the decision that every mother takes at least once in her life. She quit her job. She packed up her chalks, lesson plans, and the only identity she ever knew was students’ favourite teacher.
Her children had moved to the city to settle for their jobs, studies, and lives. She took voluntary retirement, thinking she’d be needed there as a helping hand, a support system. And she was… for a while. But the city didn’t need her forever. And slowly, quietly, she came back to her village, back to an empty house, and a heart full of questions and maybe some second thoughts about leaving her career midway and renouncing her passion.
“I was educated, experienced, and yet… useless.” That’s how she described herself when she came to meet our Project DHRUV team. She had knowledge. Experience. Deep insight. But no classroom. No students. No platform. And worst of all no permission, being a teacher appointed by the management. As a teacher, she always knew her students carried questions they never asked about emotions, identity, stress, abuse, attraction, rejection, life goals all bottled up behind exam papers and attendance sheets.
But the system never let her answer them. Curriculum came before courage. Marks mattered more than minds. We invited her to become what she was always meant to be a Life Skills Trainer. With DHRUV’s support, she was trained to lead sessions on topics that are real, relevant, and raw mental health, puberty, consent, relationships, confidence, life goals real things no one dared to speak about… but every adolescent desperately needed to hear.
She walked into her first session nervous. The same schools. The same benches. “I see you. Beyond your roll numbers and your marksheets,” she told the children. The response was electric. At first, students did not want to have these difficult conversations. They were more interested in completing their homework and playing with their peers. But the first-bencher students opened up maybe for the first time in their lives. Then the next student. Then the next. And they haven’t stopped asking questions about themselves and their lives to this day.
“Is it okay if I feel angry all the time?”
“Why does my heart race when I see someone I like?”
“Who do I talk to if I’m scared at home of my own family members?”
“How do I go home when I’m continuously under threat, if my drunk father might come home any time to beat me and my mother?”
“How do I get fair skin to look beautiful like the other girls in class?”
And she listened with calm, wisdom, and zero judgment. As every chapter of the Life Skills sessions took shape, children got their answers and found solutions to the problems that didn’t let them sleep at night.
Project DHRUV isn’t just a trainer’s training program. It’s a bridge that connects seasoned wisdom, practical training, and real-world skills with the raw questions of today’s youth. Because life skills aren’t optional anymore. They are survival skills.
Her eyes sparkle again. Her mind is full of the latest examples and stories she wants to share with students. Our Project DHRUV Head’s phone is full of texts from schools asking: “Can you please start Project DHRUV in our school too?”