Education is the most precious gift- Essay by 9 year old Akshat Singhal from Kolkata

Education is the most precious gift that we can give to someone.

We should care for those who care about us. My household help, Kajal takes  very good care of me during the day. She takes me down to the garden to play  in the evenings.

One day, before going down, I told her to carry a mat and I took a bag with me. The bag had an exercise book and a pencil box inside. I spread the mat in the  garden and told her to sit down. I wrote A B C in capital and small letters and  told her to copy them. She hesitated in the beginning but I saw that she was  eager to learn. I also taught her how to pronounce the letters. This little  evening activity of ours continued everyday and slowly she learnt to write  words, sentences and numbers too. Kajal was a quick learner and she soon  learnt addition and subtraction also. It was a very good experience for both of us. The fresh air, soft wind, chirping of birds and sweet smell of flowers made  learning fun.

Now, Kajal can read and send messages to her daughter and friends in her  village and can dial numbers easily. She can also make simple calculations at  the grocery and vegetable shops.

While I traded my play time with teaching her how to read and write, it made  me very happy. I hope I can be of help to the less privileged people in the  future also.