Madhu Sareen has lived a total life. She has enjoyed her jobs, her role as a mother and wife, and also enjoyed her work as a social worker.

Madhu Sareen is an educationist and a social worker. She is the wife of Dr. Devendra Sareen, the renowned paediatrician of Udaipur. She has two daughters, both of whom are doctors and a son who is a resident doctor in RNT Medical College, Udaipur. Madhu has been the Principal of Central Academy, Ambamata and the Mahila Mandal School. She also runs an NGO named ‘Suryaansh’ which works for the upliftment of women and children.

Madhu was born in Delhi. As her father was an officer in IDPL, he got transferred from time to time. So, Madhu had her schooling at different places like Bhilai, Durgapur and Virbhadra-Rishikesh. She did her B.Sc. from Miranda House, New Delhi and her M.Sc. in Physiology from Karnal.

Madhu says even in her childhood she was a bold and strong girl. She was also naughty and enjoyed her childhood a lot. Once, when she was in 6th class, she had locked an intruder in their house without fear and then sought help. By her bravery, she got the intruder and thief caught. Madhu says she has learned a lot in life by travelling to various places. Her parents trusted her and gave her an open hand and freedom which gave her tremendous confidence.

Madhu was the Principal of Central Academy school, Ambamata, Udaipur from 1992 to 2002. She says as an administrator she always remained positive and learnt from everyone, be it the teachers or the students. She worked with full commitment and honesty. She believed that giving the children just bookish knowledge was not enough and always strived for their all round development with the cooperation of the teachers. She started a program under which the school adopted 20 slum-area children and taught them in free periods. She even arranged tiffins for them with the help of the parents which encouraged them to continue their studies.

She left her job for some time when her son was born and after a gap joined the Mahila Mandal school as Principal. The school had mostly tribal girls. She found the girls very talented and confident. In spite of the fact that it was a Hindi medium school, she taught the girls how to speak English. The girls learnt English speaking quickly and it boosted their confidence. With the help of her friends, Madhu arranged a Fashion Parade by the girls to instil even more confidence in them.

She is also running the NGO Suryaansh along with ten other lady members. They do various activities through the NGO for the upliftment of women and children. Madhu says she considers age as just a number. She believes, if you keep yourself fit, you can keep on doing things at any age.

Madhu is proud of the fact that due to her excellent time management, she managed both her household and her jobs well. However, she also gives all credit to her husband, who, despite being a busy and prominent doctor, always helped her in raising their children. She made her children independent. Her daughters were very good in the arts, especially in classical dance.

She says Covid exposed that people of her generation were not that much tech savvy. When the need arose to organise and attend zoom meetings etc, she learned from her children, without any hesitation. She congratulates all the teachers of schools who did a marvellous job of learning new technology and conducted the necessary online classes.

Her advice to anyone new in the teaching profession is to never think that you know everything. Never be shy to learn new things in life. She also advises the teachers to go to their class always well prepared and never get irritated by students’ questions. Give your best to students to make them all-rounders.

Talking about social service, she says it should always be ‘Service Above Self’. That is what she has learned in Rotary, of which she is a prominent and active member. She asks everyone to find good in everything, even in bad experiences. She says always set your goals high and try to achieve them even if you have to take the cooperation of others.

Madhu considers her parents as her role models. Her mother, despite being uneducated, taught her confidence to face life. Her father taught her never to consider any job as big or small.

In her opinion a leader should not be a boss. A leader must recognize the capabilities and inner talents of her teammates and give them an opportunity to prove themselves.

Madhu thinks we should always live in the present, forget the past and never think about the future. Her advice for youth is that they must have strong family bonds. She thinks we shall always be friendly with our children and never hide anything from them. She believes we should even make both the boys and the girls aware of the subjects which are taboo in society like female menstruation, sex education and menopause etc.

Madhu says along with work she has always also enjoyed life fully. She likes enjoying and partying with her friends, travelling and going on long drives.

Her message is that experience is a hard teacher, learn from others’ experiences too.