Maassab (The Teacher) Storyline
‘Maassab’ is a unique film which deals with the state of primary education in rural India, where the concept of mass education did not exist for centuries as education was only for the privileged.
What keeps a society secure, sensitive and prosperous can be called real education. The film is an attempt to bring in focus the obstacles and resistance which education and reforms face even today in rural India.
Ashish Kumar’s heart and soul lies in teaching and educating kids. He even left India ‘s most lucrative government job IAS to pursue this dream. His latest assignment in a far-flung backward area brings him face to face with people and forces entrenched in dogma,superstition, ignorance and corruption.
He sets about handling every hurdle with patience, perseverance and self- belief. Slowly by his conviction and consistency he is able to transform a village Primary school so radically that the school starts competing with the best private schools around.
The title of the film ‘Maassab’ means teacher in colloquial north central rural India. Many reformers, thinkers, teachers went about correcting this wrong and with democracy the speed of educating the masses grew manifold and so did number of schools both private and government.
Private enterprise treated education like a business, provided better facilities but charged exorbitantly too making education elitist and deprived the poor. Government schools lack quality teachers and have poor infrastructure and rampant corruption.
But some people who were swept out by this change hatch a conspiracy against him. How Ashish Kumar faces these new challenges and more importantly is he able to continue his path of spreading education and awareness is what the climax of the film reveals.