They taught lessons from textbooks, but when crisis struck, these teachers stepped far beyond the classroom and taught courage through their actions. This Teachers’ Day, TOI looks back at the moments when educators became protectors, rescuers and, when every second counted, first responders
3 years before nepal, this headmaster saved 40 kids during Mulugu floods
When floods turned fierce in Mulugu in 2023, headmaster Patam Meenaiah faced a race against rising waters, shepherding 40 children to safety.Meenaiah made the decision to get them out of the Tribal Welfare Upper Primary School in Mulugu. The escape itself meant crossing a swollen rivulet, with frightened children struggling to navigate the rushing water.“I feared for the children as they were already in panic,” he says.So, as the waters rose around them, he carried some of the younger children on his shoulders and waded across to safety. The entire ground floor of the school was submerged.Near the campus in Kondai village, eight people lost their lives as the floodwaters swallowed the area. Villagers, desperate to escape the rising waters, scrambled up trees, clinging to branches as they watched the devastation unfold.For the next four to five days, his home became a temporary shelter for the students. With the help of school cooks, he arranged food for them and waited until the waters receded enough for their parents to cross the swollen Jampanna vagu and bring them home.The state govt eventually recognised his courage, honouring him at Golconda Fort on Independence Day. But the moment he remembers most is not the award. It is the reception from his students.Retirement, meanwhile, has done little to change his instinct to do something for children.At 62, Meenaiah is no longer standing at the head of a classroom or overseeing a school hostel. But he continues to help children in his village in whatever small ways he can — buying them books and stationery and making sure they remain in school.The children he once carried through floodwaters have moved on. But, for Meenaiah, their safety and education remain a responsibility he has never quite retired from.
Calamity came calling, teachers responded
A collapsing roof, pesticide contamination, a swollen stream and a school fire. When every second counted, they evacuated children, detected danger and, in one tragic case, gave their lives trying to save their students
He sensed danger before it struck
At a govt primary school in Narlapur village of Kollapur mandal, Nagarkurnool, headmaster G Janardhan and his staff sensed something was wrong with the ageing building after days of rain.About 70 students were at school when the staff noticed signs that the structure was unsafe. The children were being taken one by one for face-recognition attendance after the morning prayers when the staff decided to move them out of the classrooms and into the courtyard.Soon afterwards, a large section of the concrete roof collapsed into an empty Class IV room.Janardhan, who joined the school in 2024 and is due to retire in 2028, had risen from primary school teacher to headmaster during his career.Two rooms of the school date back to the Nizam era, while two others were added later and the last two were built in 1990. A proposal for a new building is pending.
Pratibha trusted her instincts
At the govt primary school in Dharmapuri village of Ichoda mandal, Adilabad district, headmistress Rayapalli Pratibha returned after two consecutive holidays to find the kitchen door broken open.Oily utensils and a strong chemical smell raised alarm. A search of the premises led staff to a pesticide bottle lying in the school grounds.Pratibha and her staff immediately kept students away from the area. Suspecting that drinking water and mid-day meal supplies could have been contaminated, they stopped children from using the taps, replaced the utensils, discarded suspicious groceries and repeatedly cleaned the water tank.Pratibha, who has been at the school since 2024 and is due to retire in 2028, also rose from primary school teacher to headmistress.Police later caught a local man reportedly suspected to be mentally unstable in connection with the incident.
Santosh carried over 10 students to safety
When heavy rain caused a stream in Jaihindpur village, Penchikalpet mandal, Kumuram Bheem Asifabad district, to swell, primary school teacher Santosh stepped into waist-deep water to rescue 26 children stranded on their way home.The children had crossed the stream when the water level was low, but upstream inflows left them stranded by evening.Santosh carried 10 of the youngest children across one by one on his shoulders, while villagers helped bring the others to safety.
She helped lead children out
When a fire broke out at a play school at Vidyanagar in Adilabad in Nov 2018, teacher Rubina Firdoss helped evacuate 25 children as smoke and heat spread through the building.Working with an Armed Reserve police constable and a hockey coach who was at the spot, she helped move the children out quickly.There was little time for preparation or a formal evacuation drill — the priority was simply to get the children away from the fire.
