Tulasi Munda: The Woman Who Taught a Village to Dream
You know how some people just do things? Like, they see a problem and instead of complaining, they roll up their sleeves and fix it? That’s Tulasi Munda for you. Never went to school a day in her life, yet ended up teaching over 20,000 kids in Odisha’s tribal villages. And get this—she started under a tree with just a slate and chalk. No fancy buildings, no government grants. Just raw grit.
The Girl Who Worked in Mines
Born dirt-poor in Odisha’s tribal belt, Tulasi’s childhood was… well, brutal. While kids her age were learning alphabets, she was hauling iron ore in mines. Child labor? Yeah, that was her normal. But here’s the crazy part—even as a kid, she knew education was her ticket out. Irony at its cruelest: the thing that could save her was the one thing she couldn’t get.
How a Slate Changed Everything
1964. Tulasi’s standing under a tree with a handful of kids. Villagers think she’s nuts. “Why teach girls? They’ll just get married off!” But Tulasi? She’s stubborn. Starts with basics—alphabets, numbers, scribbled on that battered slate. No desks. No blackboard. Just her voice against the wind. Fast forward a few years, and that makeshift class becomes Adharshila Vidyalaya. Now it’s a proper school—one that’s freed thousands from illiteracy.
The Ripple Effect
Let me put it this way: Tulasi didn’t just teach kids to read. She broke chains. Girls who’d have been married at 12 became nurses. Boys who’d have worked mines are now engineers. Whole villages that once shrugged at education now fight to get their kids into school. That’s the power of one woman’s stubbornness. Oh, and the Padma Shri in 2001? Nice, but not the point. The real win? Hearing former students call her “Tulasi Aapa” with tears in their eyes.
Her Secret? Keep It Real
No fancy pedagogy here. Tulasi taught in local dialects, used stories instead of textbooks, and never turned a kid away—even if they showed up barefoot. “Education isn’t about exams,” she’d say. “It’s about wings.” And man, did she give those wings. Dropouts, child laborers, kids everyone else wrote off—they all found a home in her school.
Birthdays and Legacies
Every year on her birthday, her students throw this wild celebration. No cake, no candles—just stories. Like the one about how she sold her only goat to buy notebooks. Or how she taught classes with a 102-degree fever. Social media floods with #TulasiAapa posts, each one proof that her crazy idea worked. Honestly? Best birthday gift ever.
Why This Matters to You
Look, I’m not saying we all need to start schools under trees. But Tulasi’s story punches you in the gut, right? It’s a reminder that change doesn’t need permission. No resources? Improvise. No support? Do it alone. That’s the takeaway: stop waiting for perfect conditions. Just start. Share her story. Volunteer at a local school. Hell, even just appreciating your own education counts. Because if a mine worker with no degree could light up villages, imagine what the rest of us could do.
Final thought? Tulasi’s still out there, by the way. Still teaching. Still fighting. That tree might’ve grown bigger, but her mission hasn’t changed. And neither should ours.
Source: News18 Hindi – Nation