Jileshan Saha
Location: Nepal | Nepal
Jileshan Saha
Jileshan is as truly amazing young man who has overcome many hurdles and barriers in life to become an educator, a social activist and equality, diversity and inclusion campaigner.
Tirelessly he supports the marginalised and disenfranchised in society.
Jileshan promotes the value of education, lifelong learning and active citizenship.
His powerful and first-person biography is below
Please take your time to read his personal account of how he overcame his disability and his journey into the world of academia.
Jileshan Saha
When my father got a job in rice mill, I got the opportunity to at least crawl to a local school every day.
In due course, it happened that my father saw a man walking on a pair of crutches in Birgunj, an industrial hub of Nepal, 150km from the capital of Kathmandu and 55 km from my own hinterland, Sarlahi Bagmati.
Inspired by this site, my father made me a pair of wooden crutches, and I started walking.
Every now and then, looking at the scars on my right paralyzed leg, I wonder what life would have been like if I had not be given the opportunity to walk and have access to education.
Maybe I would be back at my little village in Madhes, wasting my life away, or possibly begging on the streets.
For all I know, I would have remained oblivious to the opportunity that education has given me in my once dark life.
Now, I see myself reflecting on my father and other disabled people crawling to schools.
That’s why my long-term study plan is largely focused on the disabled population, women, and the traditionally marginalized groups of the people in Nepal.
I know that education is the driver of development.
And once received it can help countless people like me to become aware individuals.
Ever since migrating to the capital city of Nepal from inner Madhes, some 32 years ago, I have mostly been involved in educational and social activism, be it as a home tutor, a teacher, a lecturer, an administrator, or as a protestor in the Maitighar, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Campaigning for social reforms, highlighting discrimination and promoting the right to work for people with disabilities.
Having been a teacher and held the position of vice-principal and lecturer in many reputed schools in Kathmandu, I have seen the opportunity of the Nepalese educational system through many different lenses.
I am a transformed individual from once disabled boy, to a social activist, teacher, and a disability rights advocate.
Many have said in the past, I am a source of inspiration to hundreds, if not thousands of young people in Nepal.
I stand, and have been standing, I speak and have been speaking, transforming the lives of the marginalized, the abled and the disabled people of Nepal.
After teaching for more than twenty-two years in Nepal, I am now furthering my studies in Flinders University South Australia.
I was awarded an Australia Awards Scholarship in 2022 to further my studies.
I'm very thankful to the Australian Government and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for providing this life-changing opportunity.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jileshan-shah-94b50036/
