Teachers’ Day

Today is Teachers’ Day. In India this day is celebrated on the birthday of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second President of India and a revered teacher/philosopher.

I’ll share in this post with you a few thoughts on teachers. I’ve always had mixed feelings about teachers. I’ve loved some of my teachers, and I’ve, I wouldn’t say hated, but grudged some of them. For instance, from adoring and idealizing my special school’s principal (almost all the students had various levels of cerebral palsy), I’ve told her to just fuck off (in my thoughts, of course). During my school days I only knew teachers as people who were good only when they wanted to be good, otherwise they were happy being opinionated, biased, and even discriminatory. They were mostly hypocrites.

Their capricious attitude turned out to be a blessing. As a totally helpless, clueless, ignorant student they encouraged me, patted my back and tried to instill confidence in me. And when I became articulate, informed and inquisitive, they censored me, discriminated against me and even branded me immoral (I’ll write all this in a book some day) — I wouldn’t say I was totally guiltless but as a grown up when I analyze my teen self, their incessant badgering often drove me to do things that further established my image as a pariah in their eyes. Those were difficult days and I had nobody to turn to. My friends were understandably selfish and indifferent, and somehow I never felt close enough to my family to share my disquiets.

Coming back to the blessing part; their attitude turned me into a strong individual. The more they isolated me, the stronger grew my resolve to do better in life. I read a lot, and a lot means a lot, like, there was a time I was always reading books, magazines, newspapers, anything I could lay my hands on. I wanted to know more than they did (and my mother helped a lot in this). I learned to rely on nobody for my personal and scholarly growth. I understood the value of family ties and even if I was never close enough to my family, I knew I could always rely on them and they could rely on me — we were always there (most of us) for each other, unlike my teachers and school friends. I also acquired lots of self-confidence during those days and learned to feel good about myself.

My perception of teachers changed when I joined a regular government school, and then college after that. Some were patronizing, some were indifferent, some were extra caring and some were harsh, but all in all, I have no negative memories of them. We had difference, but they were mostly scholarly and ideological. For instance, in our 12th class our English teacher always exhorted us to learn the answers by rote. I suggested that we should come up with our own answers in our own writing. He was furious and complained to the principal. The principal visited the class in the absence of the teacher and told us that while it was good to write our own answers, the teachers who check the board exam papers are used to only a set pattern and if they read something different they don’t give marks even if the answer is right; so it’s better to remain in the safe area and use a common way of answering. We totally understood.

Recently a teacher in Delhi was caught forcing her girl students into flesh trade. A few months ago a Yadav teacher beat up a non-Yadav boy with the help of other Yadav students in the class. Students are often maimed, stigmatized, brutalized, and raped by teachers. So has the word “teacher” lost its aura?

Certainly not. Recently Alka’s former students started an “Alka mam’s fan club” on Orkut. Her old students idealize her and often say she redefined their perception of a teacher. All the students who have contacted her again are either working in big multi-nationals or studying in American universities and for a long time a group of them had been trying to locate “mam”. And I’m not surprised. I’ve seen with what zeal she teaches whenever she teaches. It’s a complete involvement — emotional, psychological, and scholarly. Seeing her teaching is always a great inspiration.

We’ve been trying to watch the old movie Jagriti for a few days. It’s an awesome movie about teachers and students. The protagonist is not only a teacher but a guide, a mentor, and above all, a friend of his students. He is not worried about the curriculum — he wants to impart knowledge. He doesn’t want his students to be just good students, but good human beings too. He doesn’t consider teaching a profession, but a virtuous responsibility. He thinks teaching is a crucial part of nation building. Sadly, such teachers are rare.

The most influential lesson my special school principal taught me:

“Amrit, whenever you do something, always be prepared to face the consequences.”

This attitude has seen me through numerous predicaments of life. And I think this is the only wisdom I got from that school. The rest is self-acquired.

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