An Indian man aged 104 has been teaching the children from his village to read for 75 years - and he's never been paid a penny.

Nanda Prasty from Bartanda in Jajpur in Odisha state offers his lessons for free to children by day and also to adults at night.

Prasty has been teaching for such a long time that some of his current crop of students are the great-grandchildren of his first pupils.

Prasty developed an interest in teaching after observing many of the local farmers were illiterate and were forced to use thumbprints instead of signing their names.

He started out just teaching locals to write their own names but many of his students wanted to know more and so he began to teach them how to read the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita.

The village has repeatedly suggested to Prasty that they should build a classroom for him but he has always refused as he says he feels more comfortable imparting his wisdom outside, in the shade of an old tree.

A 104-year-old man has been teaching children for the past 75 years in a village in eastern India's Odisha.

He hails from Bartanda in Jajpur and does not charge a single penny for his services.

Nanda Prasty, the Good Samaritan not only imparts free education to children, but also teaches the elderly at night.

The old teacher has a passion for teaching and he advises that children should be sent to primary schools after Class 4 to complete the rest of their education. Instead of earning a professional livelihood, the old man's passion has made him teach children for free for the last several decades.

Impressed by his endeavours to help children get educated, the village head asked him to continue his teaching in a comfortable setting by availing government assistance. However, he constantly refused it as he prefers to teach students under an old tree and continues with his job.

Prasty said that he used to work on the farmlands and noticed that there were too many people in his village who were illiterate. They were limited to thumb impressions and could not even sign their names. He initially called them only to teach them how to sign but many of them exhibited keen interest and started to read the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita. He now teaches the great grandchildren of the students from his first batch.