I studied elementary education in a Corporation Elementary School and continued my studies in high schools, and colleges in India, and Americanican University.

1980 to 1985:

I studied elementary education until fifth grade in a Government Corporation Elementary School in our town Erode. As the school had not got enough infrastructure and facilities, I sat on the floor in classes and sometimes under trees to learn. As my father’s financial situation was not sound in the 1980s, I was enrolled in Tamilnadu Government’s free noon-meal scheme in the school to get free lunch. On many days I went with two meals in a day. Because of malnutrition, I used to get sick very often in my primary school days. Under the government’s free scheme, I got free notebooks as well. As we were 6 children to my parents, my father used to buy each of us one set of dresses (a shirt and pants) every year for Christmas. So I had to preserve the dress to wear to school. I walked to school on bare feet for most of the days and got a set of rubber slippers from my father after several months.

1985-1987:

After I graduated fifth grade from Corporation Elementary School in our town, I joined sixth grade at Kamaraj Municipal Higher Secondary School, and 7th grade at CSI Boys Higher Secondary School, Erode.

As I was physically weak, my father transferred me to CSI Boys Higher Secondary School where he was employed as a Secondary grade high school teacher.

1987 to 1990:

When I was studying in grade 7 at CSI Boys Higher Secondary School, Erode where my father was also a teacher, I attended one of my father’s science classes. At the end of the class, my father asked his students to bring their unused clothes and notebooks to the class and announced that those clothes and notebooks would be given to the poor students in the class. I was overwhelmed and taken aback by my father’s acts of kindness, care, compassion, and dedication toward the education of his students and their welfare. That incident touched my heart and inspired me greatly. Ultimately it was the catalyst that allowed me to make the strong decision to become a teacher. On the same day, I created an unwavering determination to become a teacher to help the poor and needy students of our town.

I learned many life lessons from my father’s experience. At the age of 12, When I was in grade 7, I was baptized and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints of Erode branch of the India-Bangalore Mission to begin my spiritual life. I continued my studies until 10th grade in CSI School.

1991-1992:

After graduating 10^th grade with first-class grades, I continued my 11th and 12th grades at Kamaraj Municipal Higher Secondary School, where I graduated 6th grade already.

1992-1995:

I continued studying B.Sc., Mathematics in July 1992 at Chikkaiah Naicker College, Erode with a government scholarship. In addition to studying mathematics, I also focused on acquiring and developing my teaching skills, and simultaneously I was following my father’s examples of helping the less fortunate. In my final year of college study, I decided to put these skills and talents into practice. For that, I worked very hard in my studies.

1994 -1996:

I decided to become a teacher in 1994

As the Church scripture says in Mosiah:2:17: ”When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God”. So, since my school age, my mind has been set to serve people with my gifted skills and talents. As a result, when I was studying my final year undergraduate degree course in the year 1994-1995, I decided to help poor and underprivileged students of our town by teaching Mathematics, Science, and English free of cost in my small tile-roofed home.

1997-2002:

I wanted to upgrade my studies. So, I decided to pursue a post-Graduation degree in Mathematics. I joined M.Sc., Mathematics degree course at Erode Arts College in the year 1997 leaving the full-time teaching job at Siddhartha School.

2002-2004:

In the year 2002, I enrolled in B.Ed. Special Education degree course through distance education at Indira Gandhi Institute of Higher Education and Research, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India. During this time, my mother fell sick and was diagnosed with cancer.

I reflected on what I valued the most in life and determined that I needed to renew my efforts to help the less fortunate than me. I continued working on weekends to help students academically and wanted to expand my reach beyond the few I could teach in my tuition center and the poor students of our town.

In addition to this, I traveled to different parts of our state Tamilnadu and China by myself and with my teachers-team as well to deliver our motivational speeches and to help students academically in their educational challenges. Even though being a school teacher, I was invited and still being invited by many colleges to speak and train students. As a result, thousands of students in India and China are being benefited a lot. I could recognize the success of these programs through hundreds of phone calls, e-mails, letters, and compliments from students and parents.

2003:

In 2003, I moved to CSI Brough Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Erode, where I taught Math and English to 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th graders. 80% out of 60 students in my classes were from economically poor family backgrounds and so I volunteered myself and helped them academically after school hours by providing them with special tutoring.

2004:

I started an Educational and Charitable Trust to serve the poor and underprivileged students of our town.

2005-2008:

In 2005 I moved to SPK Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Tiruchengode, Namakkal District, Tamilnadu to teach Mathematics. The students who studied at SPK School were from rich and wealthy family backgrounds and their parents were illiterate. So, I helped them academically in many different ways.

In June 2008, I joined the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.,) Degree course at St. Paul’s College of Education, Gobi, Erode District, and pursued a B.Ed., degree.

2009:

I started a Vocational Educational Institution by the name IDK Educational Institution (IDK stands for Isaac Deva Kumar) run by Isaac Educational and Charitable Trust affiliated to BSS, (Bharat Sevak Samaj) the National Development Agency promoted by the Government of India to provide vocational education and teacher training to the students.

2010-2014

In early 2014, my father fell sick and was diagnosed with blocks in his brain. He was hospitalized for several months for the treatments. As his health condition was going down day by day, my family members wanted me to get married while my father was alive. Making me get married was my father’s major concern and desire while he was alive. So, my wedding was arranged in a short span of time and I was married to Jency on 30^th June 2014. I was able to fulfill my father’s desire by getting married. 10 months later since I was married, my father passed away on 4^th May 2015.

It was a huge loss not only to me but also to my entire family members. We lost the pillar of our home. I lost my teacher-father, my noble soul in my life, who was an inspiration for me to become a teacher, a good guide in all walks of my life, and a good motivator of all the progress in my life. As I was the Branch President (Bishop) of the Erode Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints then, I had to conduct my father’s funeral ceremony in the graveyard at Vendipalayam of our town, but because of my unbearable grief and sadness, I was unable to conduct my father’s funeral ceremony at the graveyard. So, I requested President Wilson who was the first counselor in the India- Bangalore Mission Presidency of the LDS Church then, to conduct the funeral ceremony for my father on my behalf.

In our culture, we used to observe the 40^th day of dead persons as a Memorial Day.

One of my father’s dreams about me was that I should become the best teacher in the world.

I decided to fulfill my father’s dream by extending my teaching to international students. So, I applied for a Mathematics teaching job in a school in China. I was called for an online interview by the school and succeeded in the interview and got an opportunity to be an AP Calculus teacher at Chengdu Shishi High School, China in 2015.

In 2015, I moved to China to teach AP Calculus at one of the world’s oldest schools in China Shi Shi High School a public school which is located in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. My father’s dream was fulfilled but he was not alive when I got a teaching job in China. On 12 October 2015, I flew to China for the first time on a flight in my life.

I had been working as a Mathematics teacher at Chengdu ShiShi High School, China from 2015 to 2019. In 2019 September I moved to Great Wall High School, Baoding, Hebei Province, China, and was teaching there AP Calculus, AP Physics, Economics, and Statistics until May 2022, and now currently, I have been teaching IGCSE and A-level Mathematics to Years 9 through 13 at Harrow Beijing International School, Beijing, China since September 2022.

I encounter many challenges since 2014 as I have been teaching in India and Chinese students with diverse backgrounds.

This is a documentary about my story

I always teach some warm-up exercises and do some fun activities before I begin my classes so that students feel energetic, enthusiastic, and comfortable. Next, I create a positive environment in the classroom by appreciating and greeting students for their good work and then teach lessons with simple and clear language and with more examples that connect with our daily life. Not only do I use teaching materials but also use advanced technologies such as PPT, OHP, digital board and graphical board, etc., to make a clear understanding of the course content. If necessary, I teach the lesson with some activities and games. I also teach students subjects with dances and songs to make the lesson more fun and to create a joyful environment. Then and there I design related-course materials and hand them out to the students to learn and practice after school hours. I always pay individual attention and pastoral care to every student in the class. I make sure that every student understands the course content clearly without any questions. After every lesson, I always summarize the lesson and recall all the concepts taught in the class. I give them some time to analyze the lesson and encourage them to ask questions. I clarify all their questions in the subjects. I also conduct a quiz program at the end of each lesson to make sure students have learned all the concepts. I never forget to assign homework from the lesson so that students would carry over the habit of practicing the lesson after school hours. I regularly do formative and summative assessments in my classes. I always spend some extra hours after school, teaching students individually. Sometimes I go to students’ homes and teach them English and Mathematics. I encourage them to do their homework by themselves and encourage them to ask me if there are any questions in their homework. I always follow up with my students to make sure every student completes their homework and submits it to me on time. I appreciate students for their good performance and award them grades and house points according to their work.

For the first time in China, I have introduced Vedic Mathematics, which is the Indian Traditional way of solving mathematical problems in a short-cut method. I incorporated Vedic Mathematics in Calculus to solve maths problems in an easier way than the conventional method. This easy and faster method is very effective for my students, and so they apply these methods to solve Mathematical problems easier and faster even faster than a calculator. As a result, students are scoring good grades on the exams. Many students in my class are scoring A and A* in Mathematics.

I have been writing a book with the title “The World’s easiest way of solving mathematical problems”. I hope this book will be very useful to the students to learn shortcuts and solve math problems very faster.

I have been teaching with many innovations in my classroom.

Increased students’ test & exam results from 40% to 80% through my innovative, creative, and effective teaching strategies.

I have won more than 40 awards and honors from various organizations in India, China, and America for my excellence in teaching, my contribution to education, international achievements, and outstanding community services.

Finally, I feel the greatest achievement that I have achieved in my life is that I was able to make the underprivileged and dropped-out students living in roofed homes and hailing from very poor family backgrounds whose parents were collies such as street cleaners, scavengers, laborers working for building constructions and working for daily wages, graduated in 10th and 12th grades. Most of these students had no hope to get a high school education at all. They didn’t have self-confidence as well. I motivated, encouraged, and tutored them for the 10th and 12th grades. I made them graduate in the 10th and 12th grades as private candidates from my Tuition center. As they had got through the 10th and 12th-grade government public examinations, they were able to get the Tamilnadu Government Jobs. Most of my students whom I taught in this way have got government jobs in the District Municipal offices, Taluk offices, Electric board offices, etc., Many of my students whom I taught have got very good employment opportunities in private sectors as well. Now they are well settled with their families and living a peaceful life. I consider this the greatest achievement that I have made in my life and feel worthy to win the Global Teacher Prize as well.

These are some of the documents in support of my work experience in China.