Kishabhau Patvardhan: Not Just A Teacher But A Transformer!

Generally, people live for themselves, their families or the loved ones but there too are few exceptional souls found in our society who live for others unconditionally. Kishabhau Patvardhan was also one such rare human. After retiring as a principal of a government school for any government teacher, retirement brings rest and leisure to his heart’s content. But some people are ever youthful and even the last moments of their lives are dedicated to the betterment of the society. Late Kishabhau Patvardhan was also one such rare human. After retiring as a principal of a government school in Pune, he chose for himself a new mission. In the second innings of his life, he founded an organisation named “SwarupVardhini” to nurture and guide talented children from unprivileged background. Today ‘SwarupVardhini' is counted among one of those few organizations in India that indeed transforming thousands of lives at the different layers of our society.

Born on 25th December 1920, Kishabhau was multi-talented since his childhood. On the call of Guru Golvalkarji to dedicate one’s time for nation building, Kishabhau left his college education and became a Sanghpracharak. After working for ten years in several cities of Maharashtra, Kishabhau went on to complete MSc and B.Ed. and became principal in a government school. Inspite being a teacher, he kept the tenacity of a science student alive in him, probably this is why he kept on doing new experiments in the field of education. During his service period he became the part and parcel of “GyanPrabhodini", an organisation whose aim was to polish talented students and to sensitize them to the needs of the society.

While working with this organisation, he observed that merit or talent is not a copyright of one group or community. A child from poor family, living in slums, howsoever meritorious could not continue his education because of lack of timely and proper guidance. A child leaving his education because of his inability to pay his fees is injustice to his desire to learn. Such a thought of a teacher led to the birth of “SwarupVardhini” on 13th May 1979. Its first shakha commenced with 12 children, took place under the shade of Ramkrishna binding industry workshop located in Mangalvaar path town of Pune.

Today “SwarupVardhini” has 16 shakha throughout Pune which is attended by more than 800 students. These children are given physical training and are instilled with patriotism through songs, along with mathematics, science and english. Apart from this, the institution is active in many other fields. In 1988 Kishabhau, after constructing this building, inaugurated a childcare program called “Pakudi" in its premises. This program imparts primary education to infants aged three to five years whose parents are labourers.

With age, Kishabhau’s passion also grew and therefore new dimensions were added to “SwarupVardhini”. To make women self-reliant, vocational training such as sewing, embroidery, weaving and nursing was imparted. In a matter of a decade, more than three thousand girls from the surrounding villages have become nurse. Then Kishabhau started coaching for competitive examinations at a nominal fee. This effort lead to more than two hundred officers in a matter of seventeen years. The organisational skills of Kishabhau was acknowledged even by his adversaries.

This swayamsevak who had Sarsanghchalak for laying of the foundation stone of“SwarupVardhini" Bhavan, roped in even his deadliest opponents to work for “SwarupVardhini”. According to Seva-Vibhaag’s caretaker officer, Shri Suhasrao Heeremath, Kishabhau single-mindedly and selflessly dedicated his life to the upliftment of the society and whose demeanor was such that anybody and everybody became his own.