His mission: to kill exam phobia

With an aim to do away with study and examination phobia in students and to set an example for achieving success, Ram Lakhan Yadav, a 55-year-old teacher of an non-descript Purv Madhyamik Vidyalay in Sarai Sultanpur, Pure Maqdoom in Baharia block of the district has cleared the High School examination of UP Board nine times and Intermediate examination 14 times in a total of 58 different subjects.

Interestingly, the double MA in Sociology and Hindi from Kanpur University and father of six children, his youngest daughter Anju Devi has appeared in Board's High School exam in 2010 along with him. He has successfully cleared 23 different subjects in High School and 35 subjects in Intermediate.

In two subjects, i.e., Anthropology and Defence which were introduced in 2008 by UP Board, Yadav is the first and only to have had applied, studied and successfully cleared the exam. He will also remain the only candidate in Board's history to have cleared High School in Defence subject as the Board discontinued it the next year in 2009.

This year, Yadav appeared in Tailoring, Agriculture and Social Science subjects in High School exams and is confident to clear the same for the 10th time. The results of UP Board class 10th will be declared on June 1, 2010.

"In my village, people were not ready to send their children to school. I was the first government teacher in my village. I struck upon this novel idea to diminish fear of examinations among students besides promote awareness about importance of education. To achieve my aim, I started appearing in class X exams of the Board from 1986 onwards and in Intermediate exam since 1983 onwards. Every year, I used to appear in different subjects," he informed.

So far he has cleared 55 subjects including some uncommon ones like Logic Science, Military Science, Commercial Geography, World History besides the tough subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Urdu, English, Biology, History, Music and Psychology in both High School and Intermediate exam of the Board.

"It was tough to clear exam in Dancing subject, which I appeared in 2009. I learned Kathak, Odissi and Manipuri dance. I performed Kathak in practical exam. Anthropology subject in Intermediate of UP Board was unheard till I applied and cleared it for the first time in 2008-09. No books on the subject of the Board were available. I studied graduation level books in Anthropology. My answer sheet was evaluated in some university, as the Board did not have a teacher of the subject," said Yadav while sharing his experience..

He wants to clear Arabic and Computer Science in next year's Board exams. "About a decade ago, 20-30 children was the total strength in my Vidyalay, where I teach. Now it is around 210. I receive Rs 24,000 as salary and I spend a good amount on education of my children and myself," he added.