The principal fired the teacher for buying shoes for poor students, five hours later when he got a phone call, he shuddered.
That morning, the courtyard of a public school in Jaipur was still surrounded by a few red gulmohar trees, and the early summer breeze was blowing slowly from the old tiled roof. Teacher Meera – a young teacher who had been in school for about a year – was holding small blue canvas shoes in her arms, her eyes red from waking up all night. Yesterday, she used her last remaining month’s salary to buy the shoes for Ravi – a student in her class whose family was so poor that he went to school barefoot every day, rain or shine.

But that seemingly small act of kindness was deemed to “arbitrarily affect the image of the school.” Without any meeting, without hearing any explanation, the principal – Mr. Sharma – angrily announced the decision to sack him. His cold voice echoed in the courtyard of the school:

“Who are you to do all this without permission?” School is not a place where you can show off your kindness!”

With shoes in her hands, bowing her head to apologise without making excuses, Ms. Meera had tears in her eyes. The students of the class were peeping through the wooden window, many of them crying. But he didn’t blame anyone. She felt sorry for Ravi – the skinny seven-year-old boy who had just held her hand yesterday and shouted: “Teacher, I have new shoes for school tomorrow!”

Five hours later, as Mr. Sharma was sitting in his office getting ready to sign more documents, the landline phone rang suddenly. It was an unknown number. He raised his eyebrows and picked up the phone…

“Hello, I’m listening. ”

On the other side of the phone was a deep male voice, unable to hide her anger:

“Hi, this is Arvind Kapoor speaking – Director of Prakash Scholarship Foundation (Light of Knowledge). We have just received information from the community about a teacher at your school who was fired simply because he bought shoes for poor students. I want to confirm that. ”

Mr Sharma was embarrassed: “It’s… There was a misunderstanding. We are reviewing it. ”

The voice on the other side did not accept the denial:
“Ms Meera is the person we are following to give the ‘Inspirational Teacher’ award this year. His work has been shared by thousands of parents and teachers across India. If you think a decision to dismiss is the solution, I’m sorry, we can’t keep quiet. ”

Mr. Sharma’s heart skipped a beat. He hung up the phone with trembling hands. The teacher he scolded that morning was an image academia had always wanted: a compassionate teacher who knew how to love and treat her students.

An hour later, he tried to contact Ms. Meera. But he didn’t pick up the phone. On social media, the picture of the weeping teacher holding small shoes was shared everywhere.

The whole school was now in commotion. The students wrote letters asking him to come back. Parents came to protest. And in the midst of all this, Mr. Sharma sat quietly, distressed in his room. For the first time in more than 20 years as a manager, he felt so small… In the face of such a great, simple task that came out of the heart of a young teacher.