![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/IMG_20220416_180223-300x173.jpg\")
\u201cOn your mark, get set, go!\u201d shouted their sports instructor, and all the students began running.<\/p>\n
Gopal was watching from a field surrounding the race track.<\/p>\n
He was six years old, elder than many of the students in the race.<\/p>\n
Gopal began sprinting, too.<\/p>\n
He was ahead of all the students, and finished well before them.<\/p>\n
He raised his arms in celebration. There was no one around to applaud Gopal, but when the race finished, everyone gave out a loud cry of excitement for the student who won.<\/p>\n
The headmaster of the school made all the students sit down to tell them how proud he was. As he began his speech to the students in presence of their teachers, Gopal listened intently in the field.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, dear students, will you be disciplined in your life like you were disciplined today?\u201d asked the headmaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, sir,\u201d shouted Gopal, before anyone could reply.<\/p>\n
One of the teachers present there overheard Gopal. His name was Saleem, who had been teaching for twenty years.<\/p>\n
He looked around and spotted Gopal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are you, son? What are you doing there?\u201d asked the teacher.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sorry, sir,\u201d Gopal whispered, his head lowered, as he tried to run away.<\/p>\n
Saleem ordered him to stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not be afraid. I will not harm you,\u201d said Saleem.<\/p>\n
Gopal looked at him. He was about to weep.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Gopal. I was just sitting there and watching the students of your school.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are you not in school?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not have one. My parents cannot afford to send me to school. I work with my father in our field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saleem paused for a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want to go to school?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Gopal nodded.<\/p>\n
Saleem paused again, and went to speak to the headmaster.<\/p>\n
Gopal\u2019s heart was beating fast as he saw Saleem returning.<\/p>\n
Saleem had a smile on his face. He put his hand on Gopal\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome to the school tomorrow with your father. We will enroll you,\u201d said Saleem.<\/p>\n
Gopal didn\u2019t seem happy.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what about the fees? I told you my father cannot afford it,\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will not have to pay anything. You will study for free,\u201d said Saleem.<\/p>\n
Gopal jumped with joy. It was a dream coming true for him.<\/p>\n
And for a moment, he thought he was dreaming.<\/p>\n
He turned to share the news with his father. But Saleem stopped him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHome, to tell my father,\u201d Gopal said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo. Join the other kids. You are a part of them from this very moment,\u201d Saleem said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was another beautiful spring morning in Maple Town. The sun was shining brightly. The grass was still wet with due. The birds were singing. A perfect day to be outside. And that was what the students of the neighbourhood school were doing. They had all gathered to take part in a race, in their…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[13,301,12,11,8,180,245,302,253],"class_list":["post-810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-fairytales","tag-gopal","tag-inspiring-tales","tag-kashmir","tag-kids-stories","tag-poor","tag-race","tag-saleem","tag-school","enable-dropcap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetoad.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}