Letter to Future India: Present Teacher

By: Dr Preetha Bhakta, Director - Programme Design & Development (Learning & Future Skills), Magic Bus India Foundation and Purnima Jha, Head - Curriculum, Magic Bus India Foundation

"I started my journey as a teacher. Standing in front of a classroom full of adolescents, I thought my role was to teach them. But very quickly, I realized they were teaching me too, about resilience, about hope, and about the power of small dreams written in big handwriting." - Purnima Jha.

Today, my classroom looks different. Through Magic Bus, I now connect with thousands of adolescents across communities, listening to their voices, their laughter, and recently, their letters to "Future India." What makes this journey unique is the Magic Bus activity-based approach, where adolescents learn not by memorizing, but by doing.

Through sports and outdoor activities, adolescents discover life skills such as teamwork, decision-making, communication, collaboration, adaptability, assertiveness, self-awareness, creativity, empathy, negotiation and then pause to reflect on these experiences as life lessons. At Magic Bus India Foundation, we believe every child carries such potential. By nurturing 11 core life skills, they learn to dream with confidence, solve problems, communicate clearly, and make responsible decisions.

During this year's Independence Day celebrations, our adolescents expressed their dreams for the nation through heartfelt "Letters to Future India." These reflections became powerful reminders of how festivals of freedom can also be moments of imagination, responsibility, and hope.

Help us build the India these children are dreaming of. Partner with Magic Bus.

One such letter has stayed with me: a girl in Class 8 wrote:

A heartfelt letter to Future India, penned by a young student in Marathi.

"I want to become a Police Officer. It is my duty to make India free from tobacco.
I want to keep my India clean and beautiful. For that, I will take proper measures. I will also take appropriate steps regarding traffic-related issues so that accidents can be controlled.
Crime is increasing a lot. To stop it, I will take the necessary and effective measures.
I will make you feel proud of me."

There were many more beautiful letters, our adolescents envisioning what is the India they look forward and how they will contribute to the growth of the Nation.

While I saw these letters with the eyes of a teacher, my senior colleague Dr. Preetha Bhakta, with more than 35 years of experience in education, reminded me of something deeper.

In her words:

"When Purnima looked at the children's letters to Future India, she saw them through the warm eyes of a teacher, celebrating their imagination, the neatness of expression, and the pride with which they articulated their aspirations. I deeply value that perspective. Yet, as someone who has spent decades working in education and development, I find myself reading these letters at another level not just as creative writing, but as windows into the evolving agency of young citizens.

What struck me most is how naturally adolescents weave their personal aspirations with collective visions of nationhood. Their words move beyond "what I want to be" and begin to explore "what kind of India I want to help create." This shift, subtle yet profound, signals the stirring of democratic participation where adolescents see themselves as not only learners but contributors to society's future. UNESCO's Global Citizenship Education framework (2015) notes that early opportunities to express and reflect on collective futures nurture empathy, critical thinking, and civic responsibility.

Turn a child's letter to the future into their reality. Donate to Magic Bus today.

At Magic Bus, we believe this ability to imagine and articulate is not incidental, it grows in safe, enabling spaces. Our focus on capacity building of teachers and facilitators ensures that adolescents experience classrooms as emotionally safe environments. Evidence from CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) highlights that students are more likely to engage, share emotions, and take intellectual risks when they feel respected and supported. Similarly, studies from UNICEF on child-friendly schools show that emotionally secure environments significantly enhance both academic achievement and social competence.
Our facilitators often serve as bridges, connecting curriculum to lived realities, and adolescents' inner worlds to the outer world of opportunities. It is this relational trust that allows adolescents to open up, to articulate dreams without fear of judgment, and to express responsibility with surprising maturity. When a child dares to put into words their vision of India, it is not just imagination at work; it is agency in action.

On this Teacher's Day, as we celebrate the role of teachers across India, these letters remind us of our responsibility as educators. Education is not just about transmitting knowledge, it is about creating spaces where imagination, equity, and agency are nurtured as core outcomes of learning. Our task is to ensure that adolescents' visions are not left on paper but find pathways into reality. In their words, we glimpse not only hope, but a blueprint for a more inclusive, empathetic, and future-ready nation.

Once a teacher, always a teacher. The classroom may have grown beyond four walls, but the lessons continue, through every child we meet at Magic Bus. And on this Teacher's Day, we stand proudly, not as past teachers, but as Present Teachers."

This Teacher's Day let's commit to creating classrooms, inside and outside school, where every child's voice shapes the future of India. Join us in building these spaces of hope, equity, and agency.