Meet the Gujarat teacher couple who raised their 8 daughters to become teachers

It is not an easy job to raise 9 kids with the little amount of money a teacher couple could make, but Harishbhai and Madhuben Jadav did splendid in raising their 8 daughters and one son. Yes, they have nine kids in total!

Though the family faced financial crisis like any other struggling family, both Harishbhai and Madhuben were determined to give their children a respectable life to live. The family even survived on ‘khichdi‘ for a few days. However, the things ended the way the determined teacher couple had always wanted. All their 8 daughters had grown up to become teachers and that is all that they ever wished for.

Madhuben, who is 74 years old now, had decided with her husband to raise their first child, Daksha to become a teacher one day.

At this moment, Daksha and her seven younger sisters- Urvashi, Neeta, Kalpana, Parul, Kishori, Krishna and Amita – are all teachers at different private and public schools in Ahmedabad. Their only brother, Anand works in the IT sector.

When asked whether it was easy to raise 9 kids, Madhuben told TOI,

“I managed hundreds of kids in my school, so managing my eight daughters was no big deal. Teachers are also preferred as brides because they have secure jobs and will necessarily know how to raise and educate their children.” 

The sisters idealized their parents. They were inspired by their parent’s lives and their principles.

“They were ideal teachers for hundreds of children, so it was just natural for all of us to get deeply influenced by them and inherit their values,” Daksha says.

Harishbhai was a physical education teacher in C N Vidyalaya. When he retired, he bought a second hand Maruti van so he could spend time with his grandchildren as he would pick them up from their houses and would drop them to the schools, every day. It was his way to talk to his grandchildren about their studies and career.

Sourced from TOI