As a government teacher, Archana ensures that she prepares well the unprivileged girls whom she teaches so that they can become independent and empowered in future.

Archana Vyas is a government teacher at an upper primary government school in Balicha, Udaipur.

Archana hails from Jaipur. She received her school and college education in Jaipur itself.

Archana shares that at the age of nineteen, whilst she was still pursuing her formal education, she got married. She says all this while she had lived in Jaipur city and then after her wedding, moving to a remote place where her in-laws lived, entailed some challenges for her initially. She had to dress up in a certain way and had to cover up her face. However, over time, she was able to bring out some changes there.

Archana shares that she didn’t want to study further after her wedding as she had her infant to take care of. However, ladies in her family nudged her to continue her studies. She completed her B.Ed. from RMV, Udaipur. Later, she was suggested to apply for government teaching jobs. She was not interested in doing a job owing to her family obligations. Nonetheless, she was asked to apply for the vacancies and got a government teaching job.

Sharing her struggles in life, Archana says that she was posted at a remote location farther than Salumber in Udaipur, and to commute to that place daily was quite testing for her. However, she did not give up and hung in there for about a year and a half. Later, she got posted at a school in Salumber which eased things for her.

Sharing her COVID experience, Archana says that during the pandemic, she was on a duty to get people vaccinated. People suggested she should not do that task due to the risk of infection, but she fulfilled her duties even during those tough times. Besides, she was also made a booth-level officer during the pandemic and she had to work hard to get people’s names added to voting lists. Furthermore, she also had to teach children by going to their homes. She also had to struggle to convince rural people in her area to get inoculated as they were intimidated by the pandemic.

When asked about her inspirations, Archana says that her father who motivated her during B.Ed days when she felt like giving up, is her inspiration.

Archana thinks that education is necessary to get a job. Just on the basis of your experience, you can’t get a job. However, she says with her experience only she learned how to work for the holistic development of children.

Archana shares that she teaches underprivileged and downtrodden children. Besides teaching them, she also works to provide them with sweaters, clothes, chairs, etc. with the help of NGOs.

Archana shares that earlier facilities at government schools would not be that good. However, now, facilities at government schools have improved. Along with the learning of children, their nutrition needs are also being taken care of which has resulted in an increase in enrollments of children at government schools.

Talking about her childhood, Archana says that she would love going out with her friends and sometimes she would be scolded when she would not arrive home on time. Her two elder brothers always pampered and took care of her.

Archana thinks that she is a born leader as her grandmother was an MLA and she inherited it from her. She has established herself as a leader among her students by dealing with them with love and affection.

In her spare time, Archana likes to go on outings with her group of friends and talk to them.