Blindness not an obstacle

To make sense of the world around us, everybody sometimes relies on mental visualisation, using the proverbial “mind's eye”. Teacher Sanjit Chakrabarty, 70, from Sayestaganj town in Habiganj has fine-tuned this ability. When he buys groceries at the market, in the 37 years of his remarkable teaching career, it's primarily his “mind's eye” that guides, since it's his only sight. Sanjit is blind.

“As a child,” says Samiron Chakrabarty, who was Sanjit's first student and is currently a teacher at Sreekuta Adorso High School, “I thought he saw my books. It was only later I realised he didn't see from his eyes.”

“I had some exceptional teachers,” says Abdus Salak, another student of Sanjit, who is now a police inspector. “One of them was Sanjit Sir.” Sanjit's teaching has touched many lives, including at least 2,000 students who completed higher education. Among former pupils are bankers and teachers.

“A teacher needs a good mind,” Sanjit says. “Knowledge of subject, the curriculum, and creativity are most important.” He believes it is vital that students learn to think for themselves. “It is most frustrating if students merely repeat their lessons from memory, without developing their minds.”

Sanjit's reputation has earned him the respectful moniker “Sanju Thakur”. “Sanju is able to motivate students,” Jalal Uddin, a college lecturer, says. “Parents have confidence in him.”

Born with normal eyesight into a middle class family, as the son of Dhaka jute mill worker Sudhir and his wife Sunity Chakrabarty, Sanjit at just 8 months old had the misfortune of losing his father, who was murdered during the 1947 riots. Yet Sudhir already had a plan for his infant son: he hoped Sanjit might be a teacher.

Following her husband's death, Sunity brought her son to live at his maternal uncle's house in Madhapasa village in Srimangal of Moulvibazar, where Sanjit attended school. It was then Sanjit noticed problems with his eyesight, finding it difficult to study in class and unable to read at night. Nonetheless in 1968 he completed his secondary school exam.

Sadly, Sanjit's eyesight worsened. For lack of proper treatment he became fully blind.

The setback did not stop him. In 1969, Sanjit took a teaching job at Huglichara tea garden primary school, where he worked for five years until he was forced to quit due to his blindness.

After liberation in 1971, Sanjit and his mother moved to another relative's house in Ganganagar village near Sayestaganj. There, Sanjit wondered how to occupy himself. He started to teach his cousin who subsequently achieved respectable exam results. From that, Sanjit's reputation grew; more and more students found their way to his door. And when word of his efforts reached the ear of the local landlord from Laskarpur, the landlord donated a small parcel of land where Sanjit, now married, could live.

From 1980 he taught regularly, from a tin shed in front of their home. Sanjit never set fees; parents paid as they could afford and sometimes, when students achieved noteworthy results, parents paid more. Sanjit earns up to Tk 6,000 per month.

“I have profound respect for my husband,” says Sanjit's wife Shukla. “The man's eyes do not see but for many years we've lived happily. Blind people can do anything.” The couple has two daughters.

The Daily Star found Sanjit one afternoon, surrounded by twelve students. Sanjit was calling upon each to explain their lessons. “Normally with my students we first read a lesson together,” Sanjit says. “Then I explain the detail. Later I ask the students to teach the lesson back to me. In this way we cover each lesson three times. It's a good way to study.” Currently, Sanjit teaches primary and secondary levels of Bengali, English and Maths.

“When I heard a blind man was teaching I wanted to bring flowers,” says Amatul kibria Keya Chowdhury, the Member of Parliament from Habiganj. “I saw his home is dilapidated, that water leaks inside and students sometimes sit on sand-filled gunny sacks to avoid getting wet. I could not believe he's run tuition like this for 37 years! I thought he should have more than flowers.” Subsequently the MP provided Tk 25,000 from government funds to improve Sanjit's home.

But Sanjit is more focused on teaching. “I think the key,” he says, “is to encourage students systematically. When they can teach me their own lessons with self-confidence, it not only delights me but gives them such positive feelings about their studies.”