A Little Master For Little Kids

By Cara

Tuesday, April 20, 2010, 11:40

A 12-year-old Indian girl, who was abandoned at a railway station in Bihar as an infant, has now become the head teacher at a school in Kusumbhara, her adopted village.

Bharti Kumari teaches Hindi, English and maths to 50 village kids who would otherwise receive no education.

She gives them lessons every morning and evening, under the shade of a mango tree. In between, she attends a state school in Akhodhi Gola, a two-mile walk away.

Dressed in her own school uniform, she passes on the knowledge gleaned from her lessons to the village children, aged between four and 10, in her own class.

“I have a long day. My school is from 10am to 3pm and I study late. This is what I love doing. I enjoy teaching children their ABCs as well as the Hindi alphabets," says the little girl.

Kusumbhara is a poverty-stricken village, 87 miles from Patna. Rampati, Bharti"s adoptive father, an impoverished farmhand, said he would not follow the rural tradition of pushing girls into early marriages but would allow her to continue her studies.