How 22 BMC workers returned to school and changed their lives

Time of India

24-05-2025

In 2017, Jigyasa was pursuing a pharmacy degree, and her younger brother, Prathamesh, was in Class 11 when they saw their 46-year-old father, Anil Pawar, nervously clutching an SSC exam hall ticket.
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It was 26 years since Pawar last faced those exams in 1991 when he failed to clear a single subject. "It felt odd, sitting for exams with kids a third my age... but I am glad I did," he recalls today, seated in a small eatery in Govandi, the pincode he's called home for five decades.
He pulls out his phone to show a before-and-after photo. In the first, he's clad in the familiar khaki uniform of a pest control worker; in the second, plain clothes and a proud, easy smile.
"Neighbours look at me with respect now," says Pawar, who was promoted to supervising field worker soon after scoring 56% in his exams.
Pawar was part of what came to be known as 'Miracle 23'—a group of 23 BMC Class IV employees who, against all odds, returned to school and cleared their SSC exams after a year of night classes. Their quiet triumph, recently rekindled in the public imagination by a new Marathi film, owes much to an unlikely champion: Udaykumar Shiroorkar, the then-deputy commissioner of Mumbai's B Ward—known to many simply as 'Singham'.
A stickler for punctuality, Shiroorkar—whose LinkedIn bio identifies him as the first in the corporation's history to demolish an unauthorized eleven-storey structure built along the railway compound wall near Masjid station—is one of the few municipal officers granted a firearm license. He says he carried a gun after receiving threats while supervising the demolition of the illegal tower.
In 2016, during a routine ward inspection, Shiroorkar chanced upon a struggling night school called Model Light High School.
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Established in 1947 to educate underprivileged kids and mill workers, the institution was gasping for relevance in a rapidly changing city. While students included Class IV civic workers, teacher Nilesh Mali explained a sobering reality: many senior BMC Class IV workers were earning less than their younger, more educated counterparts.
Aware of this inequity, a determined Shiroorkar decided to act. He combed through office records to identify employees who never cleared their Class 10 exams.
"If you haven't passed your SSC, your career options are severely limited. But once you do, roles like meter reader, license inspector, or supervisor open up," says Shiroorkar, whose search revealed 30 such employees.
He called all 30 to his office. Most of them showed up, visibly apprehensive. "We were terrified," recalls Pawar. "Labourers never speak directly to the ward officer." When Shiroorkar urged them to go back to school, the idea initially seemed absurd.
Lalesh Bhingare, who worked in sewers since the age of 14 and failed mathematics several times in the early 1990s, couldn't fathom why a senior official was bent upon him attempting SSC once again.
"Go ahead. I am with you," Shiroorkar told him.
Though seven or eight eventually dropped out, 23—including Shiroorkar's own driver—enrolled in night classes taught by Mali. At 46, Pawar was the eldest. "The kids called me 'kaka'," he says with a chuckle.
His day began at 5 am with his shift at Sandhurst Road. By 3 pm, he was back in Govandi, only to head out again by 5 pm for school.
Bhingare, then 39 and a father of two, kept his enrolment a secret. "I told my family I was working late. I was afraid they'd be embarrassed if I failed again." Ironically, it was social sciences—not math—that proved more challenging this time around.
Yogita, a sweeper and mother of two, juggled her job, household duties, and care for an ailing in-law—all while studying.
Her elder son Pratham, then in the sixth grade, helped her with daunting English spellings. "There were many sleepless nights," she recalls. "But my husband, my mother, and Mr Mali stood by me."
She passed with 44%, earning a 3,000 raise. "I was over the moon." Bhingare scored 60%—sixth in the group—and finally broke the news to his family. "My kids laughed when I told them," he says, "but they were proud."
For several members of Miracle 23, passing SSC marked a clean break from their khaki days.
"Now my children don't have to say, 'My father is a labourer,'" says Pawar, who supervises 20 workers. Bhingare, on his part, not only cleared Class 12 but also completed a bachelor's degree in arts through correspondence. "I've discovered a love for studying," he says. "I'm applying for other roles now."
Piyush, Yogita's younger son, preparing for his own SSC exams, is inspired by his mother's resilience. "When one of my friends, who failed the HSC exam, found out that my mom passed her SSC, he decided to try again."
Despite these success stories, teacher Nilesh Mali remains deeply concerned. Since 2017, he has continued to teach BMC employees—but the night school teachers don't get what they deserve, he says. Mumbai has around 120 night schools. Many shut during the COVID-19 pandemic and have struggled to reopen.
"Most night school teachers have day jobs. While they get double our salary along with benefits, people like us who work a single shift are not entitled to benefits," says Mali, who feels he is where he was even as he watches his students get salary hikes.
Back in Govandi, Pawar finishes his coffee. We ask if we can borrow his pen. He hands it over with a smile. "Before my promotion," he says, almost sheepishly, "I never used to carry one."