How A Pencil Helped Indian Woman Teach Thousands Of Slum Kids, Win $1 Million-Prize

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Twenty-six years ago, during one of her art workshops, Rouble Nagi met a child who would change the course of her life.“He had never seen a pencil before,” she told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the World Government Summit 2026, where she won the US $1 million worth Gems Education Global Teacher Prize.

“I went home to my husband and said that as long as I am alive, I don’t want to see another child who had not seen a pencil.”

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Thus began a teaching journey which has seen her work impact thousands of children across India, especially from the slums. Her teaching model addresses the challenges of India’s slums - poverty, irregular attendance, inadequate infrastructure, and barriers like child labour and early marriage.

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By offering flexible schedules, vocational skills, and creative learning using recycled materials, she helps children gain confidence, critical thinking, and academic success. Her programmes have reduced dropout rates by over 50 per cent, improved literacy and numeracy, and transformed community attitudes toward education.

She said the secret to her success was simple - building a relationship with her students.

“When a teacher treats a child like her own, all the barriers are broken and all the challenges are going to be addressed,” she said.“I have never been just the teacher. I’ve been their friend. I’ve been like their mother. I’ve been their educator, or someone they can sit and chat with, draw something with and express freely. So that bond between student and teacher is extremely important.”

Memorable student

Rouble said that during her years of teaching, she had met thousands of students, many of whom had turned their lives around with education. However, one student stays close to heart.

“At one of my workshops, there was a child who didn’t speak,” she said.“He was very quiet and his drawing caught my eye because it was a plain black paper, with a small square in the centre. When I asked him to explain it, he started crying. He said that as a small child, his stepfather used to lock him in a room, while his mother used to work in people’s homes. It was a dark room with this small hole in the cement between the bricks. That is the only light he used to see. As the light went down, he knew it was evening time, and his mother would come back. What he saw in the room is what he drew.”

Rouble said that the young boy had never shared the experience with his mother, not wanting to hurt his mother but had shared it with her.“He expressed it through art and asked me, ma’am, will you take me back to school,” she said.“That is when I say, art breaks barriers.”

The best gift

She said that as a mother, she understood the importance of education and the impact it can have on kids. However, the spark for her passion to educate children came from her childhood experiences.

“Being the daughter of an officer who travelled across the country every two years to mostly smaller cities, villages, remote areas, I saw children not in school playing on the street sides,” she recalled.“I used to ask my dad, why aren’t these kids in school? So the passion for education was thanks to my growing up days, travelling across the country, and seeing so many things at an early age.”

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